It was lovely to see the children looking so refreshed and ready for a new term on Tuesday.
Thank you for helping your children complete the weather log over the break - I do apologise for the incorrect days/dates on the sheet, I'm sure that really added to the post-Christmas confusion!
This week we have started our topic 'Paws, Claws and Whiskers' the children are learning bout common animals. We have introduced new vocabulary to the children which you might like to go over at home:
The children started the week by using books to find two new facts about animals that they didn't already know. We then shared them as a class.
Next we learnt about birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects (see definitions in one of the earlier photos).
The children watched this video and then sorted pictures of animals into each category. You might like to watch the video with your child at home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHYi4fqeEdw
Next we learnt about herbivores (plant eaters), carnivores (meat eaters) and omnivores (animals that eat plants and meat).
We talked about the difference between the size and shape of each type of animals' teeth. Ask your child what they know about the teeth of a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore.
The children then made a poster to explain what a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore is.
This week in English we have started a unit of work on instruction writing. To begin, we played Simon Says with the children. The children identified that they were following instructions. Next the children looked at various word mats on their tables. These word mats had 'doing words' on them.
The children learnt that 'doing words' are also known as 'verbs' and we often call them 'bossy verbs' because they tell you what to do.
At home you might like to play a game of Simon Says and ask your child to identify the 'bossy verbs' each player uses.
Next the children looked at a variety of instructions to identify the features of instruction writing.
At home you might like to look at these instructions and discuss how you know they are instructions. You also might like to follow the instructions to make the crafts as well!
After we had identified the features of instructions in class, we did some shared writing. As our topic is Paws, Claws and Whiskers we decided to write instructions for how to walk a dog as a class.
This week in Maths we have been looking at addition calculations up to twenty using our counters to represent the number groups. We discussed what is happening to the numbers when we add and decided that we could describe the process as combining two groups of objects together to make one bigger group. We used tens frames to help us build calculations and showed the first group of numbers in red counters and the group being added in yellow. We then used the flipchart to draw out our calculations on two tens frames to help us to see the addition process. We used base ten equipment and drawings on Friday to show each calculation and talked about the process of changing ten cubes for one tens stick in the base ten to simplify the equation. The children have been using the number sentences below to help them to talk through the process and clarify each stage of the addition.
I start with_____________________
I add__________________________
I end up with___________________
This week in Geography we have been looking at weather patterns and using our home work sheets to compare our findings of types of weather over the festive break. We shared them on tables and discussed how many of each weather type we had seen and which type of weather was the most and least frequent. The children then helped the teachers to use some key words to describe the weather conditions and identify and place them in order of frequency. We then discussed the seasons and what kind of weather we would most expect to see in each one.
Next week we have a special visitor coming in on Tuesday. A volunteer from the Blue Cross will be coming in to talk to the children about how to look after animals - they will not be bringing any animals with them.
Have a lovely weekend,
The Year One Team.
