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Valley Primary School

‘Growing and learning together to be the best we can be’

Year 1

Welcome to Year 1

Curriculum Information & Website Links

Learning Zone

Curriculum Overview

KS1 Curriculum Evening 2021-2022

KS1 Phonics workshop - January 2022

KS1 Phonics Workshop.pptx

Life Skills Activities

Half Termly Life Skills challenges as part of our drive to develop good future citizens:

Valley School Life Skills Map

Weekly Brain Boosters and Curious Challenges as part of our Feel Good Friday initiative:

Feel Good Friday

Home Learning Activities

World Book Day Adventure Story Competition

how-to-write-an-adventure-story.pptx

Isolation Tasks

Sharing Our Learning...Year 1 Photo Gallery

This half term in Topic, we have been exploring Castles as part of our ‘Towers, Turrets and Tunnels’ topic. We have particularly enjoyed exploring the artist Paul Klee, who used colour and shape to express himself in the ‘Castle and Sun’ artwork piece. When researching Klee, we explored the use of primary and secondary colours within his artwork. We then explored the various shapes and lines that he used throughout his artwork. We then had a go at sketching a simple representation of a castle using 2D shapes. After this, we used various shapes to create our own paper collage by combining materials that are cut, torn and glued to create a castle in the style of Paul Klee. We really enjoyed being creative with this topic!

This half term in English, we have been exploring the key text, ‘The Robot and The Bluebird’. We have researched lots of interesting facts about different birds, including bluebirds and robins. We used our research to then create a fact file, including a heading, subheading, key facts and questions. We then focused on instruction writing, where we had to create a set of instructions on how to make a bird feeder. We explored how to write a set of instructions and then followed these to make a bird feeder using lard, seeds and raisins. We have thoroughly enjoyed exploring this text!

We have really enjoyed studying the artist Paul Klee and created our own collage interpretation of his famous artwork, 'Castle and Sun'. We thought carefully about colour choices and used warm or cool colours depending on where we wanted the background of our castles to be. Some of us called our pictures, 'Castle in the Moonlight' or 'Castle in the Sunshine' or 'Castle in the Snow'.

In Year 1, as part of our topic, 'Towers, Turrets and Tunnels', we have explored the different features of castles this week. We thought about which kinds of castles we wanted to make and the features we wanted to include in our designs. Using given design criteria, we designed our castles using Purple Mash. We worked hard to use our computing skills to design our castles, including all the key features that we had in our design criteria.

We took part in exciting experiments and activities as part of Science day. We started by finding out about the planet Mars and what a creature would need in order to survive on Mars. We then created our own creatures out of clay and explained how the creature could survive on Mars. We then had lots of fun making slime from PVA glue, bicarbonate of soda and contact lens solution. We had to work collaboratively and follow instructions in order to make the slime. We investigated how far our slime would stretch and used rulers to measure in centimetres. We found out when we put all our slime together it could stretch around the whole class! In the afternoon, we explored the different effects that we were having on global warming and thought carefully about what we can do to improve this for the better. We watched a video located at a traffic stop and tallied how many vehicles and pedestrians went past in a certain time. We created our own posters to persuade people to walk, cycle or scoot to school rather than go in a car or van. We also thought about the life cycle of a frog.

Year 1 had a fantastic day finding out about the siege of Kenilworth Castle. We looked at the different events of the battle and the various parts of Kenilworth Castle. We had a go at acting out the different parts of the story. After we had acted out the battle, we discussed why it was so important and explored the different effects the battle had on the people living at the time. After this, we then talked about the different tournaments that would be held at a castle. We explored jousting and had a go at this outside. We also created our own class banquet dance which we really enjoyed. To finish our afternoon, we created our own coat of arms.

This half term in Topic, we have explored the home countries of Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky (Spain and Russia) and used an atlas to identify each country. We then identified the physical features and properties that we could see. We used this to compare the amount of mountains, rivers and hills in each country as well as their size and location.

The children in Lee 1 have really enjoyed their PE sessions this week, they have worked hard to create different shapes and travel in different ways. They created a story and pretended to be clothes in the washing machine. The children really enjoyed creating the different shapes and then working with a partner to put these shapes into a gymnastics routine. They shared some of these as a class and loved celebrating each group’s achievements.

The children in Lee 1 have really enjoyed exploring two digit numbers. They have used practical equipment to explore the tens and ones in different two digit numbers. The children have learnt a lot about number formation and different number values this week and they have used this knowledge to solve problems and answer reasoning questions.

This half-term in Topic, Year One have been exploring the life and art creations of Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky. First, they researched facts about each Artist, including when they were born, where they lived, what they did and musical influences on their art work. They then used their new knowledge to compare their lives. Using this information, they then created their own portraits in the style of Picasso using a range of media (wax crayons, paint and felts). Here is some of our wonderful work:

We took part in an exciting Phonics morning in Year One. We made a variety of phonics games that we could play both at school and at home. These included: Snakes and Ladders, Snail Race and Tic Tac Toe. We enjoyed working collaboratively, taking turns and practising learning our Set 2 and Set 3 special friends.

We began our new topic 'Colour Chaos' with our wow day, finding out about the famous artist Jackson Pollock. We looked at the different pieces of art he created and discussed the different techniques he used. We discussed our own opinions of his artwork and explained whether we liked it or disliked it with reasons why. We planned our own piece of work in his style and practised using dripping techniques and splattering techniques to make our artwork look effective. We loved playing and experimenting with different techniques and colours. We really enjoyed our WOW day afternoon.

The children have enjoyed using their cutting skills to create their own Christmas cards. They carefully cut round different 2D shapes and named them correctly before creating some fabulous Christmas trees.

This half term in Topic, Year 1 have been exploring the ‘Space Race’. The children have also been learning all about Neil Armstrong and his rocket. The children got creative and designed a rocket using set criterion, that included a nose, body tube, exhaust flames, a window and a command module. The children also had to ensure that their rocket was stable. Once they had designed their rocket, they then used recycled material to create it following their design. Year 1 thoroughly enjoyed this project!

The children have enjoyed working as a team to investigate materials that are magnetic and non-magnetic. They recorded their results in a Venn diagram.

This week in Topic, Year One have been learning all about Neil Armstrong and the space race. The children have enjoyed creating a fact file about Armstrong including when he was born, when he died and why he was important to space exploration. The children have also enjoyed researching the space race between USA and Russia and have sequenced events in chronological order.

This week in PE, Year One have been learning to dance! We have been learning to create a dance using our bodies to create shapes both standing and on the floor. The children have also learnt how to move between shapes using their bodies following music, including Samba and upbeat tracks.

This week in English we have been focusing on poetry. We experienced lighting a real fire outside and used our senses to describe what we could see, hear, smell, taste and feel. We then wrote our own fire poems using adjectives and onomatopoeia. We enjoyed reading them aloud to the rest of the class using expression.

Fun in PE

This week in PE we have been learning how to balance correctly on one foot. We were able to challenge ourselves further and complete squats and heel raises whilst balancing. We then had lots of fun balancing PE equipment on our partners and counted how long they could hold the equipment for before it came off!

Year 1 Queen in Black WOW Day

Year 1 had a fantastic Victorian wow day! We came into school dressed in Victorian clothing and took part in a Victorian style lesson. We found out how strict Victorian teachers used to be and the punishments they used to give the children. We practised writing on slate and took part in Victorian style games including 'Pick up sticks' and 'Cat's Cradle'. We also researched and found out about Queen Victoria. We are looking forward to finding out more about our new topic 'The Queen in Black' this half term.

Year 1

KS1 Phonics workshop - January 2022

The children have enjoyed using their cutting skills to create their own Christmas cards. They carefully cut round different 2D shapes and named them correctly before creating some fabulous Christmas trees.

The children have enjoyed working as a team to investigate materials that are magnetic and non-magnetic. They recorded their results in a Venn diagram.

This week in PE, Year One have been learning to dance! We have been learning to create a dance using our bodies to create shapes both standing and on the floor. The children have also learnt how to move between shapes using their bodies following music, including Samba and upbeat tracks.

Fun in PE

Year 1 Queen in Black WOW Day

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