Friday 11th May

This week in maths we started the week learning about doubles. We talked about what doubling means. Look at the table and get your child to explain which images are doubles and which are not.

We played a game with our learning partners which you may like to play at home.

First player shows number of fingers eg 2, partner has to show the same number thus doubling the original number.  Say 2 + 2 = 4. It must be the same number!

We did the same using pieces of Numicon.

We noticed that an odd number add an odd number equals an even number.  What about an even add an even number?  We soon realised that if your answer was an odd number you were incorrect.

Some of us challenged ourselves to solve the problems using our knowledge of doubles. Here are two for you to try at home.

Flora is thinking of a number.

Double her number is 12.

What number is she thinking of?

The following day we made equal groups.  The children started with a given total and then had to make groups of equal amount. This is the beginning of division.

What would happen if there were 21 cubes? You may like to do this type of problem at home.

We also tried to solve problems like these.

At home please keep practising

·        -  doubles (double 1,2,3,4, 5) first to double 5 then to double 10 (double 6, 7,8,9,10) either use Hit the Button or play Hubble Bubble

·         - counting in 2s to 20 backwards and forwards

·         - counting in 10s to 100 backwards and forwards

·         - counting in 5s to 50 backwards and forwards

After counting in 2s 5s and 10s ask your child

·         - how many 2s there are in14

·         - how many 5s there are in 25

·         - how many 10s there are in 40 – can they use their fingers to help?

·         Will 13 or 18 be in the count of 2s – prove it

·         Will 24 or 30 be in the count of 5s – prove it

·         Will 30 or 13 be in the count of 10s – prove it

       This week in English we have finished our books about the rainforest. We have written about the forest floor, understory, canopy and emergent layers. We have also written about the people of the rainforest and how the rainforest, its people and animals are in danger from deforestation. We completed our books by decorating the cover and writing a blurb to hook the reader in. Ask your child what facts they can remember about the rainforest!

 In D&T on Tuesday we practised the skills we will need as part of our 'I’m a TV Chef ' in computing.  We used vegetable peelers to peel carrots, we used graters to grate apples, we used knives to chop cucumber, onions and tomatoes and forks to mash avocados.  Once we had prepared all the ingredients we made our own tomato salsa and guacamole.  Then we used the carrots and cucumber sticks that we had chopped to dip and taste them.  They were delicious!

In D&T on Friday we created our own fabric collages.  We used our plans that we designed last week. We did some simple running stitches and then cut and joined the fabric with glue to our hessian square.  Look at our wonderful creations.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the sewing this afternoon, it was much 

appreciated and we are very proud of the results!

Some children would like to make recycled paper at home. Here are the instructions we used. If you would like some scrap paper to use please come into the classroom - we have lots! 

Royal Wedding Celebrations

The wedding of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle
On Friday 18^th May we will be linking with the Junior school to celebrate the royal wedding.  We would like all the children to wear red, white and blue (a non-uniform day) in the spirit of the occasion! 

During the morning there will be a range of cross-curricular royal activities. There will also be a charity run – the junior children have been collecting sponsors to raise money for the NSPCC; the infants would like to ask if you would be willing to make a voluntary donation that would go towards funds being raised for Jossie’s life saving treatment (there will be a collection pot in each classroom first thing in the morning).

In the afternoon, weather permitting, there will be a 'street party' outside.
The infant children will need to bring in a small, disposable plate of food to eat at the street party (please note that we are unable to store in the fridge).  They will not need a lot of food as they will have had lunch an hour earlier.  As there are some children in school with a severe nut allergy, we politely remind you to ensure that your child's party food is nut-free.

Have a wonderful weekend.

The Year One Team

Friday 4th May

We had lots of fun on Science Day. We investigated like real scientists. We had two experiments in which we used the following science skills - observation, prediction and recording skill. 

Ask your child about the ‘Walking Water’ experiment and the ‘Cleaning Coins’ experiment.

We had a great day at St.Albans Abbey learning about the life of local ‘World Changer’ St Alban. We also made our own clay tiles. Thank you to the parents who were able to accompany us. 

This week in maths we have continued our learning about equal groups. We learnt to represent the equal group as an array. 

An array is a pictorial representation of an arrangement of objects that help us represent a repeated addition and later a multiplication calculation.

We made our own arrays to match the images.

We talked about rows and columns.

Here is an array to match the image above. Can you see it is made up of equal groups of 2?

There are 3 rows (or groups) of 2.

This can be written as a repeated addition  2 + 2 + 2 = 6

Can you also see 2 columns of 3?
This can be written as a repeated addition 3 + 3 = 6

It is important arrays are clearly recorded. If not, it is difficult to be accurate.

Can you spot the mistake? Who has recorded the correct repeated addition?

This week in English we have returned to our learning about rainforests as we have become non-fiction authors. First we reminded ourselves of the research we had done and recorded on our research sheets. We then thought about what all writing must include and what we need to remember for non-fiction information books. Together we created some success criteria.

All writing:

• ·         Finger spaces
• ·         Capital letters and full stops
• ·         Neat handwriting, with letters formed correctly
• ·         Key words spelt correctly, use phoneme fingers for unknown words

Non-fiction information books:

• ·         Clear, factual sentences
• ·         Headings for each page

Some of us also tried to challenge ourselves by also including:

• ·         Joining words ‘and’ or ‘because’
• ·         Interesting vocabulary choices

We have written the introduction for our books, explaining what rainforests are, where they can be found, forest floor layer and understory. Next week will compete our books with sections on the canopy and emergent layers, people of the rainforest, deforestation and the blurb. We hope you will enjoy looking at our books after our class assembly next Thursday. 

Next Friday afternoon we will be creating our fabric collages, inspired by the plants and flowers we have observed in our school grounds and our trip to Batford Springs. We will be designing them during the week and using cutting, sticking and sewing skills to make them. It would be really useful for us to have 10 helpers to assist the children between 1:15 and 3. If you can help, please sign up - no DBS or sewing skills required!

We hope that you enjoy the sunny Bank Holiday weekend!

Year One Team