April News 

It’s hard to believe we are already in Summer Term. Thankfully the sun has started shining and we are managing to get outside a lot more.

The children have been working incredibly hard and have produced some fantastic writing based on our English text Bubbles. Their ideas and creativity have really shone through.

In Maths, we have continued developing our calculation skills. We have been adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Please keep using TTRS at home to support multiplication and division—these can be tricky concepts, but regular practice makes a big difference.

We have also been learning to add on number lines up to 20 and drawing abstract number lines to help us.

In Science, we have been exploring plants. We have planted a variety of seeds and we will be continuing to look after these so that we grow some of our own fruits and vegetables. We have labelled the different parts of a plant and we are also learning about the jobs of these plant parts.

In DT, we have been learning the difference between fruits and vegetables, where they grow, and how we can tell them apart. We have begun tasting and testing different fruits and fruit drinks as we build up to designing and making our own smoothies next week. Delicious!

Thank you for your continued support with homework and reading. The phonics screening check will take place in June, so please keep reading regularly at home.

May News 

What a crazy and busy half term we have had — it has absolutely flown by! The children have worked incredibly hard this half term and have produced some phenomenal work. They should all be extremely proud of themselves.

Last week, we finished our writing unit on Little Blue Riding Hood. The children created their own comic strips using speech bubbles, caption boxes and scream bubbles. They thoroughly enjoyed this unit of work and completely blew me away with their fantastic writing and creativity.

In Geography, we have been learning about physical and human features. We explored different examples within our local area and enjoyed a walk around Ellington to identify them. We then moved on to studying China as our non-European country, where we explored what life is like in Shanghai and compared it to our own local area.

We also had a FANTASTIC day with the Year 6 children for our ‘Bling Your Bike Day’. The children loved cleaning their bikes and scooters, riding alongside the Year 6 children, and even making their own handlebar tassels. At the end of the morning, we checked tyres and handlebars to make sure the bikes and scooters were safe, pumping up tyres and adjusting handlebars where needed. Thank you to all Year 1 parents for enabling ALL children to bring in a bike or scooter and helping to make the day such a success.

After half term, we will begin our final term in Year 1 and the children will be taking part in their National Phonics Screening Check. Please continue to read with your child as often as possible at home. Some games you could play whilst reading include:

· How many red words can you read in one minute?

· How quickly can you read the speedy green words?

· Who can use the best storytelling voice when reading the story?