Mad about animals
In KS1 this half term, we have been learning about animals. We have learnt about mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. We have been learning facts about these animals and their features. These are things that make the animals unique and identifiable.
We identified each animal and sorted them into groups.
AJ – ‘I think a lizard is a reptile because it has dry scales.’
JJ – ‘A fish has scales and a tail and fins.’
Help at home by discussing animals with your child. What features does it have? Ask ‘Can you tell me what type of animal this is and why?
Reading and Writing : Bog Baby
We’ve been reading The Bog Baby by Jeanne Willis and using it for our reading and writing learning.
It is a lovely story and has enabled us to retrieve information and start to infer the characters’ feelings from the pictures and text. We’ve also talked about wild animals and nature.
We’ve orally rehearsed sentences and been using conjunctions to make them more interesting. The children have also written some sentences, sometimes using conjunctions too.
Help at home by talking about The Bog Baby story. What would you do if you found a beautiful little creature? There is a video version here, read by the author. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)
Learning about toys from the past
Today the KS1 had the pleasure of having a lovely visitor in school. Sue! Sue is a long-known resident at Scholes Primary school. Today the children were able to ask Sue all about the toys she played with when she was younger.
Here are some of the questions we asked:
2C
What companies made toys back then?
What was your favourite toy to play with and why?
1/2B
What material were your toys made from?
What were toy shops like?
1A
Did you have a slide or did you go to the park when you were younger?
Did you have colouring books?
See some of Sue’s answers below.
This half-term we have been learning all about toys from the past. We’ve learnt how to spot older toys and the materials they were made from.
Help at home by discussing toys you played with when you were younger and try to identify differences between toys then and now. It would be brilliant if you could get older family members involved such as grandparents or even perhaps well-known neighbours.
Maths fluency
This week Year 1 have been learning to make 5.
4 is a part, 1 is a part, 5 is the whole.
3 is a part, 2 is a part, 5 is the whole.
2 is a part, 3 is a part, 5 is the whole.
We know that when we add, we can switch the numbers around. They are commutative!
In our Maths learning we have been writing add equations by creating fact families.
3 + 2 = 5
2 + 3 = 5
5 = 3 + 2
5 = 2 + 3
Help at home by writing simple add equations and asking your child to write it commutatively.
1,2B Abbey House Museum Trip
We visited Abbey House Museum to enhance our history topic learning. Seeing how things have changed, looking at artefacts helps to bring learning about things in past to life.
We enjoyed our workshops all about toys. We learnt about how old toys were often made from different materials to modern toys.
Experiencing the Victorian street was so exciting and helped immerse us in what it must’ve been like in the past.
Of course, the coach journey and lunch were actually the most exciting parts. Thank you for your voluntary contributions and to the family members who came as extra adult helpers too.
Abbey House Museum 2C
What an amazing day! 2C have been absolute super stars! We are so proud of every single one of them. We have had the best day learning about the past through real life interaction with historical artefacts. Wow! Ask your child to tell you a new fact that they have learnt today.
1A Abbey House Museum trip
What a brilliant day we’ve had at Abbey House museum!
We started off with a safety talk, before getting on the coach (which was very exciting) and setting off to the museum.
When we got to Abbey House, we dropped off our bags and did a fantastic workshop about household objects from the past. The children listened well and got involved with discussions.
After a yummy lunch, we had a look around the old streets at the museum. We saw a shop, pub, church and school.
We also spent time looking at the displays in the museum. We were on the hunt for a toy we have been learning about in class. It was a wax doll owned by a girl called Miss Maude Cooper. A long time ago, dolls were made of wax because the material was cheap. But children had to be very careful with these dolls as they could melt if they were close to heat. Sadly the doll was in storage, but we saw lots of other interesting toys and played with them too.
Then we came back to school on the coach. We are very tired but have had a brilliant day.
Thank you so much to our adult helpers. We wouldn’t have been able to go without you! We appreciate your help very much.
Living and Learning : British Values (Rule of Law)
We’ve been talking about British Values over the last few weeks. This week, we’ve talked about Rule of Law and linked this to our school rules. We listened to some scenarios and talked about how rules and laws keep us safe, make things fair and help people feel happy.
Science-Plants and Animals
Our strand of Science is Biology-we are learning about living things. In week 1 we looked at the parts of a plant. We can identify the: root, stem, leaf and flower. We have planted some bulbs and put them on our classroom windowsills. We’re hoping they grow well!
This week we have begun learning about animals. In particular-mammals.
Mammals have fur or hair. They have live young and they are warm blooded.- Norah
Using this definition, we have been sorting animals into ‘mammals’ and ‘not mammals.’
Check out the BBC Bitesize pages about Mammals-we love them!
Help at home: Can you talk about the different parts of a plant? Perhaps you can compare different plants when outside. When you come across an animal: discuss if it a mammal or not and why.
We are Historians
This half term our Topic is History. We are learning all about toys from the past.
First we learnt about timelines. We learnt that some things happened a very long time ago. The past means something has already happened. This could be 5 years ago or 5 minutes ago. We ordered events from our lives using a timeline. Some of our timelines looked a bit different to others!
Some children have already lost a tooth whereas others have not lost one yet. Some children have learnt to ride a bike, others have not yet learnt.
We also brought our favourite toys into school. We had so much fun playing with them and explaining why we love them so much.
Each class has also been looking at toys from the past. We know some toys look older than others because of the materials they were made from or their condition. Some toys look dusty, rusty and full of scratches whereas others look shiny, colourful and in better condition.
