On Monday we became secret spies attempting to decode a message using our super spy reading skills.
Each letter of the alphabet had a number given to it between 1 and 26. The children matched the number code to each letter in order to the read the message. Children were then encouraged to use the letters to try and write their own messages and decode each others.
Have a go at writing codes for each other at home using this key:
We have started our phonics this week with a re-cap of the phonic flash cards and key sounds, including our common digraphs.
We had our first handwriting session using the letter-join program that we use at Crabtree The children practised using their pincer pencil grip, hand and wrist mobility for letter forming and muscle memory to form each letter.
Our last lesson of the day saw us discussing a video all about being unique but still being a part of a team. The video "only one you" shares ideas about how different and colourful we all are and ways that we can celebrate being an individual. After the video we shared ideas about what makes each of us unique before decorating our stones in colours and patterns of our choice.
On Tuesday we explored our observation and memory tray game. The children sat in a circle and talked about the objects they could see on the tray in front of them. After a few minutes of studying the tray the children were asked to close their eyes while the teacher removed one of the objects from the tray.
Once eyes were re-opened children took turn to try and guess the missing object. After the game we discussed different strategies that children had used to help them remember and what skills we had used as we played.
After break we enjoyed a postcard writing activity where we wrote to our favourite book character, a friend or family member to tell them all about some of the activities we had been doing.
We talked about the need for capital letters, letters on the line, finger spaces and full stops. The children were then given their own postcard template and encouraged to write their own postcard.
In the afternoon we explored two CHIL sessions and made the most of the outside space and the lovely sunshine. We had an English writing activity session and then a construction CHIL exploring building with a wide range of building resources.
Wednesday started with a maths CHIL session exploring number counting and matching numbers.
After lunch we enjoyed an art lesson about the artist Kandinsky and looked at some examples of his paintings. We talked about the colours and techniques that he used to create his artwork and then used our own colour mixing to make marks on our paper in his style.
We enjoyed our first RE lesson and learnt all about creation and what that means to different people. Christians believe that God created the world, so we made our own creations out of building materials. We talked about how they were special to us and why it is important to look after our creations.
We all visited the Library in our class groups at the start of the afternoon and had an opportunity to change our reading books if we wanted to. We listened to our teachers reading and then shared ideas on what makes an exciting story. our last lesson of the day was our Creative art CHIL where we explored a range of materials and used our colour knowledge from last week to mix up some colours to use to create our pictures.
Friday gave us some time to practise our letter-join handwriting patterns and to improve our letter formation muscle memory.
After lunch we took part in another of our Jigsaw sessions all about being unique but also being a part of a class we discussed our rights and responsibilities to ensure everyone has a safe and happy learning experience at school.
Have a lovely weekend,
The Year 1 team.
