This week has been even busier than usual in school and the year one children have had a full and fun timetable to explore.
In maths this week we have been looking at the concept of measuring the mass and capacity of objects. On Monday we looked at the meaning of mass and weight and ordered a range of objects from the lightest to the heaviest. children discussed ways of measuring using on standard measurement such as weighing each object in our hands and estimating which one we felt was heavier.
We made a mind map about our ideas and the mathematical language used and considered what we could use to measure the weights accurately.
As a group we cam up with the idea of using weighing scales to measure which items were the lightest and heaviest by comparing the position of each side of the scales.
We then went to our tables and measured the weights we recorded using sentence stems and whiteboards.
On Wednesday we had a double lesson where we discussed the meaning and concept of capacity.
We defined capacity as being the amount of fillable space inside a container and then explored strategies in which we could measure how much capacity each container had. We decided that the more space inside a container the larger the capacity and then discussed how we could measure the amount of water in each item.
We mind mapped our ideas and then decided to use yogurt pots to measure how many pots filled each one.
We then went outside with our clipboards and recording sheets to measure and compare the capacity of different shape and sized containers.
We then came back in and shared our results to find the largest and smallest capacity.
If you feel like some wet play fun this weekend you could collect a range of containers and then use a yogurt pot to measure how many pots fills each one and which has the largest capacity. Maybe theme it around a picnic and then select the container that would allow the most people to have a cool drink.
In English this week we have been writing stories! On Monday we were told about the Harpenden Schools Writing Competition, we were very excited to hear all about it. We read Miss Aukett's story as a class and then magpied some ideas to use in our own stories.
Next we began to plan our own stories, using the planning sheets we have used before. We came up with lots of creative ideas for our story. We discussed on our tables our best ideas and began to plan.
On Tuesday we discussed choosing the best word for our story and not using the first word we though of. We also thought about which words we could use to describe our charavters and places within our story. For example; Karen the enchanted penguin who lived in an igloo! We began to write our stories, using our planning to help us. Ask your child what they wrote about in their story.
On Wednesday we were nearly finished with our stories and very excited to share them. We thought about how to end our stories, and the importance of solving problems in the story. We had some very creative ideas which included eagles with robotic arms stealing nuts!
At the end of the week we have all completed our stories and are looking forward to finding out which child from year 1 will have their story submitted to the writing competition.
This weekend you could sit with your child and come up with a story together!
In computing this week we looked at the application word and discussed what it is used for. We recapped the main keyboard functions and discussed ways to edit and change the text on the screen.
We explored the application on the computer and then made a poster to show someone how word works and what it could be used to do. Children talked about their favourite tool and why they liked using it.
We played around with the font, colour, text type and size and looked at how to delete the mistakes we made when typing out a text.
If you have access to word on a computer at home you could play the following game... write a short text and then roll a 6 sided dice. each number equals a different command that you need to follow. take it in turns to edit and change the text. 1= change font. 2= change text size. 3= change text colour.
4= delete and change a word. 5= add a capital letter. 6= save the text. play around and then at the end of the game print out your edited text.
This week Year 1 have been exploring what a scientist does. We got to meet a real scientist who came and told us about the different types of scientist we could grow up to be. We were very interested in robotic scientists!
Following our incredible science assembly on Friday, we conducted an investigation in our classrooms. We investigated the mystery of 'what was in the box?' We investigated five different boxes to make informed guesses about what mysterious items were inside. We were surprised but some of the items but we were right about others. We used scientific vocabulary such as: hard, solid, plastic, metal and round, to help us work out what was inside of the boxes.
It was a very exciting session and we learnt lots about what scientists do!
Also this week we made our flapjacks in our fair trade design and technology lesson. We discussed fair trade and what it means to the Farmers who benefit from the proceeds. We watched an informative video about the work of fair trade and then in our groups made our treats to sell at the cafe on Wednesday.
A huge thank you to everyone who supported us by coming and sharing the event. Year 1 raised an impressive £127.10 for fair trade and the turn out was spectacular.
We also shared stories and dressed up as our favourite book characters to celebrate world book day.
Each child was given a sticker and a book token and we discussed what books we enjoy reading and why reading is an exciting and important thing to do in our world book day assembly.
Have a lovely weekend,
The Year One Team
