Outdoor adventures
We finished the term with a wonderful trip to Cuffley Camp Outdoor Learning Centre where the boys worked in teams to make hedgehog homes using natural materials from the woods such as sticks, logs, leaves, moss and bark. They explored the woodland discovering bugs that hedgehogs eat including worms, centipedes and slugs. Then they played in the forest school area on the rope swings, mud kitchen, and climbed low-level trees before eating lunch in a yurt. A great day was had by all and it was a fitting end to the term.
Well done boys for all your hard work this term. I will leave you with the Cuffley photos to enjoy.
Happy Easter!
Mrs Todd
Sublime Science and Easter Fun
We have had a wonderful week in 1P!
During maths lessons we continued working on word problems. The boys thought hard about whether the problem was an addition or subtraction question and used practical resources such as number lines and cubes to help us work out the answers.
Once again we were fortunate to be joined by Suzi Hutchins for another session on mindfulness and wellbeing. Suzi spoke to us about the positive effects of helping others and this was followed by an activity where the children had to guide each other to complete a task.
Our English lessons centred on Helen Stephens’ book The Problem with Penguins, a lovely story about a child who climbs aboard an iceberg and befriends a penguin. The boys worked on comprehension and practised writing alphabetical lists.
Humanities lessons continued our Extreme Climates topic with children learning about Scott and Shackleton’s adventures trying to reach the South Pole. The boys located the Antarctic on a map before creating a list of items to include in their own imaginary expedition kitbag.
We also enjoyed a fantastic Sublime Science workshop with ‘Jurassic James’ who encouraged us to make scientific observations and conducted several experiments with help from the boys. He demonstrated various experiments using vibrations to make sounds, conducting electricity, air pressure, and chemical reactions.
Finally, the boys were treated to a fun Easter Egg hunt by the PTA, including a visit from Pikachu!
What an enriching week! Now all that is left is to enjoy the weekend.
Mrs Todd
Poetry and World Book Day
We were delighted to be joined on Monday by poet Zohab Zee Khan who spoke to us about Writing for Wellbeing. Zohab encouraged us all to think of ourselves as poets and to understand that poetry can be a way of expressing our thoughts. He talked to us about his journey to success as a poet, which involved lots of resilience. It was an inspiring and fun way to start our week.
Maths lessons involved us reviewing what we had learnt about place value using physical resources such as Unifix to represent the tens and ones, before moving onto pictoral and abstract representations. Then we began our next chapter solving word problems.
In English we read The Polar Bear and the Snow Cloud by Jane Cabrera. The boys re-told the story in their own words focusing on sequence, adjectives and time connectives. Then we wrote sentences using the word ‘because’ to explain which snow animals we would like to make friends with and why.
On Friday we celebrated World Book Day by dressing up, with all the boys looking super and enjoying talking about their chosen characters.
Then we finished the week with an extra Welly Time session during which the boys made nests out of natural materials for their dinosaur eggs.
Congratulations to Clancy and Ishaan for their wonderful performances during the Pre-Prep Poetry Competition Final and well done to all the boys for their entries. They really did themselves proud.
I wish you all a great weekend.
Mrs Todd
Arctic Tales
We started the week with our poetry competition, where the boys did a sterling job of reciting poems to their classmates. It was clear that everyone had put a lot of effort into their entries and I commend them all.
We then began learning about our new topic, Extreme Climates, in our English lessons. We read Ice Bear by Nicola Davies, a non-fiction book about polar bears in the Arctic. Children sorted various facts from fiction before writing their own fact files about polar bears.
We continued this theme in humanities lessons with children locating the Arctic Circle and Arctic Ocean on a map before using atlases to find other information about the Arctic region. Then we considered what might be appropriate clothing in the Arctic and the particular traditional clothing of Inuit people.
We were delighted to be joined by Suzi Hutchins from Sit With Will, who came to train Year 1 children as Wellbeing Warriors. The session included several breathing and mindfulness techniques that I hope the boys can demonstrate for you at home.
Maths lessons focused on place value, with children identifying the tens and ones in two-digit numbers and using this to compare. We also worked with numbers lines to find number patterns.
It’s been a great first week back and I wish you all a lovely weekend.
Mrs Todd
End of term
We finished the half term with another busy and varied week.
In English lessons we focused on correct sentence demarcation, using pictures as a prompt to write sentences with capital letters, full stops and finger spaces in all the right places. We then worked on extending our sentences using adjectives and conjunctions.
The boys enjoyed learning the ukulele in their music lessons. You can see from the photo that they were really concentrating!
We started the week consolidating some of our maths knowledge of part-whole models and subtraction and addition fact families, before moving on to learning about the concept of tens and ones using subitisation and arrays.
We completed our Titanic watercolour paintings by adding detail using fine-line pens, exploring the concept of mixed-media art. They really do look great.
Humanities lessons extended our understanding of non-fiction writing while learning about the work of the RNLI. The boys were able to write fantastic non-fiction pieces including the facts and knowledge they have acquired.
Well done boys on working so hard this term!
Wishing you all a relaxing and enjoyable half term break. I look forward to hearing your entries for the poetry competition next half term.
Mrs Todd
Titanic Tales
Our week started in a lovely way with the Wellbeing Breakfast. We then had the pleasure of connecting via Zoom with Southampton SeaCity Museum for an online workshop with a Titanic expert. We learned about RMS Titanic’s sister ships, details of the facilities on board, and many tales of the passengers. The session was interactive with quizzes and questions during which the boys remained thoroughly engaged. They also impressed the presenter with their existing knowledge – very well done boys!
Our English lessons have centred around the book ‘The Smallest Whale’ by Elisabeth Beresford. It is the story of a young whale who loses contact with its family pod and ends up stranded, with a young boy and his father doing all they can to rescue the whale. The boys then worked on identifying nouns, ordering the story and re-telling it in their own words.
Maths has been a week of review, where we have recapped our learning from the term with the boys demonstrating their skills and knowledge.
In science we continued our learning about materials by investigating which materials would be best to make a waterproof jacket for the classroom teddy. The boys considered factors such as flexibility, resilience, water resistance and comfort.
This week’s drama lesson saw the boys using physical theatre to portray feelings and emotions.
Well done boys for all your hard work. Have a great weekend!
Mrs Todd
Hands on!
This week in mathematics we have been using non-standard measurements such as hands and feet to measure a variety of objects. We focused on ensuring that each unit of measurement was consistent and positioned correctly in relation to the object. We then introduced the concept of centimetres, making our own 10cm long rulers which we used to measure several items in the classroom. The boys really enjoyed these very practical lessons.
In English we read ‘Saving Sinbad!’ by Michael Foreman, a wonderful story about a dog who rescues another dog from a sinking ship. We thought about all the characters in the story such as the butcher, barber, artist and builder and wrote sentences using verbs to explain their jobs.
Science saw the boys continuing to learn about the properties of natural and man-made materials. The focus was on investigating different materials and deciding if they were transparent, translucent or opaque. The boys were able to discuss the properties of various materials, make predictions, test their predictions and take note of the results.
We continued learning about RMS Titanic in our humanities lessons by looking at some of the dining room menus for the different classes. We then created our own menus and wrote a message in a bottle imagining that we were passengers enjoying the ship before disaster struck.
PSHE lessons focused on the idea that challenge allows us to grow. We thought about ways to help ourselves when challenges feel daunting such as taking a break, doing things one step at a time, and persevering. Well done boys for coming up with such great ideas!
What a busy week!
Please remember that Monday is our Wellbeing Breakfast morning, so do bring your breakfast into school. Until then, have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs Todd
Friday 26th January 2024
We have had another great week in 1P!
We completed our shapes module in maths, during which the boys made some fantastic patterns using 2D shapes. We then moved onto our next module of measurement, concentrating on the importance of measuring from the same start point and using the language of longer, shorter and taller.
Our English lessons centred on another fantastic book in the Lighthouse Keeper series called ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Rescue’. The boys worked on comprehension, wrote party invitations and finally a letter. Some of the party invitations sounded very fun!
We continued our RMS Titanic topic by learning more about the differences between first, second and third class compartments.
We then introduced the concept of emigration, discussing why some of the passengers on that fateful voyage wanted a new life abroad. The boys thought about what they might pack if they were to move to a new home. Lastly, there was great excitement when we painted our RMS Titanic models.
In PSHE the boys thought of goals they might like to set themselves and then worked with partners to identify some of the steps they would need to take to achieve their goals.
You did fantastic work boys! I wish you a rejuvenating and fun weekend.
Mrs Todd
Friday 19th January, 2024
It’s been a pleasure working with the boys during my first week as their class teacher and, as always in school, it has been busy!
In maths we have been learning about the differences between 2D and 3D shapes. We enjoyed finding shapes in our classroom and the boys learnt to identify spheres, cuboids, cubes and pyramids. We discussed the properties of both 2D and 3D shapes, using mathematical language to describe them.
We read ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’ by Ronda and David Armitage during our English lessons, which prompted lots of discussion about what to take on a picnic, with some interesting food choices! Then we wrote: a shopping list, an alphabetical list of picnic items, and created a menu for the main character, Mr Grinling.
We learnt about the properties of natural and man-made materials in science. The focus was on investigating and describing their properties. The boys were able to discuss various materials and to explain why they are good for different jobs.
Humanities saw us continue the RMS Titanic topic, during which the boys produced fantastic acrostic poems. They also learnt to use a key in order to identify the main compartments of the ship. This was followed by a wonderful art lesson where the boys began to make their own models of RMS Titanic using clay. We tried our best not to get too messy!
Well done boys for all your efforts this week! I wish you all a great weekend.
Mrs Todd
Friday 12th January, 2024
What a busy first full week we have had. The boys have worked tremendously hard and have enjoyed their time in the classroom. They are already fascinated by RMS Titanic and are fast becoming gurus in its nautical history. They have been following with incredible focus and interest, RMS Titanic’s maiden voyage, right through to the moment tragedy struck in the freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
Next week the boys will be exploring the ship itself and understanding the differences between first, second and third class. They will be discovering the importance of aesthetics over safety for the designers of the boat and understanding the significant impact the sheer lack of lifeboats had. The boys will be introduced to the term ‘key’, which they will employ to label the various areas of the ship.
This week the boys have thoroughly enjoyed reading Sophia Blackall’s ‘Hello Lighthouse’. The boys have produced some impressive descriptive pieces, using adjectives aplenty. We worked hard too, to identify verbs in sentences, although this does need some revisiting – any support from home would be hugely appreciated. Our next shared text is Ronda Armitage’s ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’. This is a very special book for me, as Ronda Armitage and her husband are great friends of mine. Ronda has written a huge number of children’s books, and the ‘Lighthouse Keeper’ series are certainly her most famous. These books have all been illustrated by her husband David, who is an artist, as well as an illustrator. We will be using the wonderful story of ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’, to stimulate list and menu writing and to support our work on ordering words alphabetically by the second letter (you will remember from last term this needed some practice!).
In mathematics the boys have been busy honing their subtraction skills within 20 and good headway is being made. Next week we begin our learning on the properties of 3D shapes. We will focus on the sphere, cube, cuboid and pyramid and will be investigating the number of faces and vertices. The boys will also be handling 2D shapes, sorting and classifying them according to their properties. They will also be using them to create 3 and 4 point repeated patterns.
All that now remains for me to say is, I do hope you all have a wonderful weekend. On Monday, 1P’s reports will be released. Should you have any questions on your son’s report, please do be in touch directly. Please remember I will be out of School on Tuesday, as I am leading a large course on inspecting the Early Years Foundation Stage, in central London.
Well done again boys for such a super week!
Miss Paynter