Class 1

Water Fun!

This is the ultimate way to keep cool in the hot weather.  We had so much fun!

Spellings for this week (08.07.22)

Below are the Class 1 spellings for this week which will be tested on Friday 15th July.

There are now 3 levels of challenge for children to choose from:

Mild – 6 simple spellings (3 words that include the week’s chosen sound, 2 green words that can be spelt using phonics and 1 red word that does not follow a phonics pattern).

Spicy – 10 spellings (4 words that include the week’s chosen sound, 3 green words that can be spelt using phonics and 3 red words that do not follow a phonics pattern).

Hot – 10 more advanced spellings (4 words that include the week’s chosen sound, 3 green words that can be spelt using phonics and 3 red words that do not follow a phonics pattern).

British Wildlife Centre

We had a fantastic experience at the British Wildlife Centre and were incredibly fortunate to see so many beautiful animals up close.  We learnt loads of amazing facts from our very knowledgeable keeper.  What was your favourite animal?  Thank you so much to all of our adult helpers for your support.

Growing Marigolds from seeds

As part of our current topic 'The Secret Garden', we are learning all about how plants grow and the geography our our local area.  We planted marigold seeds and have been excited to see how they grown over time.  The photos below show their progress so far.

Equal Groups

In Maths, we have been learning how to make equal groups, which is the beginning of us understanding multiplication and division.

The Platinum Jubilee

We celebrated the Queen being on the throne for 70 years by having a Platinum Jubilee Lunch Party and a workshop all about the history of the United Kingdom!

Golf

In PE this term, we are very lucky to have a golf expert come and teach us each week on how to improve our hand-eye coordination and depth perception skills.

Counting in 2s

We have been looking at counting in 2s and have identified many things that come in pairs.  

Music

In Music, we have been looking at dynamics (how loud our quiet an instrument is played).  We also learnt about the importance of a conductor to instruct the musicians of when to play, how loud to play and how fast to play.  

Phonics Games

Below are a few links to fun phonics games to help with your reading:

https://ictgames.com/mobilePage/forestPhonics/index.html

https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/alien-escape?phase=4

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/spookySounds/index.html

How to say each of the Set 1, 2 and 3 Sounds

Below is a video that goes through all of the Read Write Inc sounds your child will be learning in Year 1 to assist their reading.  It is very important that each of these sounds are learnt correctly.  

For more information about Read Write Inc, you can visit the Ruth Miskin website:

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/

For more video tutorials, visit the Ruth Miskin Training YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/RuthMiskinTrainingEdu/videos

Reading – sounding out and blending

If you are unfamiliar with the terms sounding out and blending, here is a video from Read Write Inc explaining how they are used for reading unfamiliar words.

Ashdown Forest Trip

We had a wonderful day exploring the Ashdown Forest and learnt so many new facts about plants, flowers and trees to help with our current topic.  Thank you to all of our adult helpers for their support.  

Beautiful Butterflies

We are so grateful to Sebi for bringing in his butterflies, which he has been caring for since they were caterpillars.  We had the privilege of releasing them today on the field.  They were very excited to spread their wings and enjoy their new home.  We hope to see them again when we are playing in the playground.

Identifying Plants, Flowers and Trees

As part of our new topic, we became plant detectives and discovered a variety of amazing plants growing in our values garden and around our playground.  How many can you name?

Pause Day - Perseverance

We took a day out from our normal timetable to focus on our school value of Perseverance.  We became engineers for the day and persevered with designing, making and testing bridges that could hold a car over a 40 cm gap.  We also studied which paper aeroplane designs flew the furthest and why.

Recount

In English this week, we have been learning how to retell the story of Sunny's journey.  Below is a shortened version of the story which we can now say off by heart with actions.  We are learning how to use time openers and conjunctions to give more detail.  These have been coloured in purple and blue.  If the children would like, they can practice this story at home so they can become really good at using this vocabulary for our forthcoming writing.

Art

We have been studying the work of Wassily Kandinsky and his influence on abstract art.  He used colours and shapes to show feelings and emotions.  We experimented with these ideas and tried our own version of Kandinsky's Squares with Concentric Circles.  

Sheep and Lambs at St Mary's

We were privileged to have a sheep and her two lambs come and live on St Mary's field this week.  We learnt lots about what sheep eat, where they live and how to care for them properly.  We were so excited when we got to go into the pen and feed and stroke them.  

Sunny the Meerkat

We were visited by Sunny the Meerkat this week.  He left us postcards to read.  Sunny has travelled all the way from the Kalahari Desert in Africa.  We are going to study his adventures in English over the next few weeks.  I wonder if he will leave us any more postcards?

Red Nose Day Challenge

Thank you to the Year 6 Sports Crew for leading our Red Nose Day Sports Challenge.  We raised lots of money today for a very worthy cause and had lots of fun in the process.

Play times

Even during our play times we are exploring and learning.

World Book Day

We had a brilliant day celebrating our love of reading!  The children looked fantastic in their character costumes!  We really enjoyed discussing our favourite books with our classmates and reading buddies!  To mark 25 years of World Book Day, over the next few weeks there will be 25 brand new books added to our class reading corner!  We are so excited!

Counting in Tens and Ones

In Maths this week, we have been using cubes and straws to count in tens and ones to make numbers up to 50.

Home Learning - Friday 18th February

Welcome to our Home Learning for today.  This is not the last day of term that we had planned, but with it being so windy outside, we wanted to keep you safe.

There is a selection of activities for you to complete below including English, Maths, Art, PE and Collective Worship.

Thank you for all of your hard work this half term.

Enjoy your holiday next week.  We will see you back in school on Monday 28th February.

Stay safe.

Mr Johnson

English

Today, we are going to be placing verbs into sentences.  A verb is an action word (something that you do).  Read through the PowerPoint presentation and then complete one of the activities below. 

> If you are not very confident, complete the MILD activity.

> If you are confident, complete the SPICY activity.

Maths

We are going to look at representing numbers up to 50 in different ways.

Watch the video below and complete the activity.

If you would like a challenge, here is an extra activity for you.

Art

Here is a fun and simple art activity that links with our topic about the Great Barrier Reef.  With just a few sheets of coloured paper, scissors and glue you can create a moving fish.  Enjoy being creative!

PE

Joe Wicks is going to guide you through an 8 minute workout to keep you fit and active.

Make sure you give yourself plenty of space in your home to complete these exercises.  They are designed to raise your heart rate and work your muscles, however if your muscles begin to hurt or you get too out of breath please stop and take a rest.  Also, have a bottle of water with you to take if you get thirsty.

Collective Worship

Below is a worship song that combines exciting praise to God and energetic actions to get you active.  Make sure you have plenty of space to move as we don’t want anything or anyone being knocked over.

Hummingbird Facts

In English, we have been studying the book 'Hummingbird' by Nicola Davies.  We found out fascinating facts about Hummingbirds and then wrote our favourite facts in our new writing books in full sentences.  

The Jewish Mezuzah

In RE, we have been studying Judaism.  This week, we looked at the importance of the Mezuzah to remind Jews that God is always with us.  We made our own Mezuzahs and wrote on a small scroll to place inside.

Drama in English

In English, we have been studying the story 'Hummingbird' by Nicola Davies.  In groups, we came up with a drama to show the scene where a little girl is surprised and excited to find a Hummingbird egg in New York City's Central Park.

Creative Art

In Art, we created interesting pictures using positive and negative space.  Every piece is unique.

Fantastic Frost in Winter

This week has been very cold in East Grinstead and we used this as an opportunity to explore what happens in Winter.  We found beautiful frost patterns on the tables in the playground and observed how unfortunately it wasn't long before they disappeared with the rising of the sun.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM CLASS 1

Father Christmas!

We were amazed when Father Christmas came to visit the class and brought us presents!

Lower School Carol Service

On Wednesday, Reception, Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 met together in the church for our Christmas Carol Service, led by Father Adam.  Each class presented an item to show what they had been learning about the Christmas story.  Class 1 produced collages, in pairs, of the key people involved in the nativity and showed them during a retelling.  Father Adam was so impressed with our artwork that he will be displaying it in the church over Christmas.

Santa Circuits

We had lots of fun completing the Santa Circuits PE challenge set up by the Year 6 Sports Crew.

Cheeky the Elf

Today, we had to say goodbye to Cheeky the Elf.  We have loved having him in the class.  As you can see, he has got up to a lot while staying with us.  He has now made his way back to the North Pole to tell Father Christmas all about the wonderfully caring children of Class 1 at St Mary's.  Travel safely Cheeky and we will see you again soon!

British Queen and King Day

We had a fantastic day celebrating the end of our topic of the history of the British royal family.  The children looked amazing in their outfits and had excellent facts about the British royals they had come as.  Each had their portrait taken on the red carpet, created 3 rules to govern the country, made coronation crowns and decorated their own biscuits to eat at a royal banquet.

Collage

In Art, we have been looking at creating pictures using collage.  We created collages of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation crown, which links to our Topic, studying British royalty. 

Children in Need

Thank you so much to all the children of Class 1 for supporting Children in Need by giving so generously.  Here are a few photos from the book, toy and cake sale.  Well done to Class 4 for all of their hard work in organising and running the day.

Number Bonds

In Maths today, we were looking at number bonds.  We discovered 9 different number bonds that make 8.  We also found out that the larger the number the more number bonds it has.

'Harvest Time' Song

Last week, we had a Harvest celebration led by Father Adam with Reception, Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 in St Mary's Church.  Each class prepared an item to share.  We performed a Harvest song with actions.  As parents were not with us for the service, we thought we would share this video for you to enjoy.

Cricket

We had lots of fun with a visiting Cricket coach today.  We learnt how to bowl a ball underarm and protect our wicket by batting the ball away.

Comparing Numbers

In Maths this week, we have been comparing two numbers and explaining if they are greater than, less than or equal to each other.  We also learnt that a crocodile always opens his mouth to the largest number.

Reading Buddies

We love reading and were really excited to meet and read with our new Reading Buddies from Year 5.  We are going to meet together every Friday to practice our reading and share our favourite stories.

Learning how to use Laptops

Today was the first day we used the school laptops to access the Purple mash website.  We were able to select an animal and use paint tools to colour it in.

Using Tens Frames

In Maths this week, we have been using tens frames to find number bonds to ten.

Read Write Inc – Reading at Home

Read Write Inc is the reading scheme we use at St Mary’s to teach your child how to read words and understand their meaning.

Your child will receive a new Read Write Inc Phonics book to read at home each Monday.  Please make sure your child returns this book the following Monday.

This is how we would like you to use the Phonics book in your daily reading with your child.

Day 1 and 2

• Get your child to go through and decode each of the green and red words by sounding and blending.
• Get your child to read through the story while you point to each of the words in turn.  The green and red words you have practiced will appear in the story.
• If your child struggles with a word, help them to sound it out and blend it.

Day 3 and 4

• Let your child read the story to you while they point to each word.
• You are now building fluency of reading the text which is very important.  They should be sounding out less and becoming more confident with saying the words without decoding first.

Day 5 and 6

• Let your child read the story to you while they point to each word.
• Read the questions about the story to your child and discuss the answers together.  This is building reading comprehension – an understanding of the meaning of the text.

Our First Day in Year 1

We have really enjoyed learning and playing together on our first day in Year 1.  Here are a few pictures of what we did today.