Me and My Community Week

We’ve had a busy and thought-provoking week in Year 1! Our first themed week focused on ‘Me and My Community’. We’ve been thinking about what makes us special, how we are all different and how we can help everyone feel happy, safe and included.

Throughout the week, we’ve welcomed some very special visitors. They’ve helped us learn more about ourselves, the people around us and our wider community.

Our school community

We started by learning more about our own school community and what makes it special.

First, we revisited our school vision, ‘a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe’. We thought carefully about what these important words mean to us. We also shared examples of how we can stay happy and healthy, celebrate our achievements and show what we believe in.

Next, we explored our school logo and learnt more about St James, who gives our school its name. We discovered that St James was a fisherman and that the scallop shell is an important symbol associated with him. This helped us understand why our school logo features shells.

Families and friendships

We spent some time thinking about the different families we belong to. We learnt that families come in all shapes and sizes. Other people’s families might look very different from our own.

We talked about how families can provide love, care, security and a sense of belonging. Although our families might be different, they are all equally important. Therefore, we should respect and celebrate these differences.

We also thought carefully about what it means to be a good friend. We discussed how healthy friendships involve kindness, respect and making others feel welcome. Our words and actions can make a big difference to how other people feel.

For example, we considered how it might feel to be left out. We then suggested ways to make sure everyone has someone to play with.

This linked closely to our school value of compassion. We recognised that we all have a responsibility to make our school a happy place where everyone feels they belong.

Neurostars – celebrating our different brains

One of our special visits this week was from Neurostars. They helped us learn about the amazing ways our brains work.

We discovered that everybody’s brain is different. As a result, people might think, feel, communicate and learn in different ways.

We explored how something that one person finds easy might be tricky for somebody else. We also learnt that different people might need different kinds of help.

This helped us understand why we should respect others, even when they are different from us. We thought about how we can show kindness, patience and understanding. After all, everybody has their own strengths and challenges.

Most importantly, we learnt that there isn’t just one way to think or learn. Our differences are something to celebrate!

A visit from the Mayor of Wetherby

We were also very excited to welcome the Mayor of Wetherby to school!

This was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about our local community. We discovered more about the people who help to look after it.

We thought about what a mayor does and why communities need people to represent them. We also explored how people can make decisions to help others.

Our visit linked closely to our learning about British Values, particularly democracy, the rule of law and individual liberty.

We considered how rules help to keep people safe and make things fair. We also discussed how everyone can help make our community a happy place to live.

Finally, we thought about our own responsibilities as members of the school community. Although we might be young, we can all make a difference! We can do this through our choices, our kindness and the care we show for others.

Learning from veterans

Another important part of our week was meeting some veterans.

Their visit helped us learn about people who have served in the armed forces. We also thought about the importance of courage, service and helping others.

We reflected on the sacrifices people have made to protect others. This encouraged us to think about peace, remembrance and the importance of showing gratitude.

We also made links to our school values of courage, compassion and peace. Together, we considered how we can show these values in our own lives.

For example, we can show courage by standing up for what is right. We can show compassion by caring for others. Finally, we can help create peace by finding kind ways to solve disagreements.

British Values and protected characteristics

During a special assembly, we explored British Values and protected characteristics.

We learnt that everyone deserves fairness and respect, regardless of their differences. People might have different beliefs, backgrounds, families, abilities and experiences. However, everybody is equally important.

We revisited the British Values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance. We then discussed how we can show these values in our everyday lives.

We also began to understand that everyone is different, and that’s OK!

Sometimes, people experience unfairness because of who they are. We talked about why this is wrong and how we can challenge unkindness. We also considered ways to help everyone feel included.

This encouraged us to think more deeply about what respect really means. Being respectful involves much more than simply having good manners. It also means listening to others, valuing their opinions and celebrating their differences.

Above all, we recognised that everyone deserves to feel safe, respected and welcome.

Reflect and Connect

At the end of our learning, we took time to reflect on some important questions:

• What makes me special?
• Why is it a good thing that we are all different?
• How can I help somebody feel that they belong?
• Is treating everybody fairly always the same as treating everybody in exactly the same way?
• How can I make a positive difference to my community?

Help at home by talking about the people in your community. How might your family, friends and neighbours be similar or different? Together, think about how you can celebrate these differences and help everyone feel welcome, respected and included.

Living and Learning – Democracy

This week, our Living and Learning statement is ‘I take part in democratic decisions.’

We talked about how voting can help groups of people make fair decisions, especially when they can’t all agree. We learnt that democracy is one of our British Values and discussed how adults can vote in elections to choose representatives who make important decisions on their behalf.

We then put our learning into practice by holding our own democratic election to choose our new Junior Leadership Team members! Everyone had the opportunity to cast their vote and have their say. We also discussed the importance of respecting the outcome, even when our preferred choice doesn’t win.

Congratulations to our new JLT representatives, Elodie and Ezra.

Help at home by taking about a decision you could make as a family using a vote. What could you vote on? How could you make sure everyone’s voice is heard?

Maths – Whole and Parts

This week in maths, we’ve been learning about wholes and parts.

We started by looking at a whole group of objects and understanding that the whole means everything in the group. We practised counting objects carefully to find out how many there were altogether.

Next, we explored how we could identify a smaller part of the whole group. We used rings to circle some of the objects and talked about how the objects inside the ring were still part of the whole group.

We practised using stem sentences to explain our thinking:

• There are ___ in the whole group.
• There are ___ in this part of the group.

We also challenged ourselves to think more deeply about parts and wholes. We investigated the smallest and largest possible parts we could make and explored how we could choose different parts from the same whole group.

Throughout our learning, we’ve been explaining our answers using ‘How do you know?’ questions. This has helped us to develop our mathematical reasoning and use accurate vocabulary.

Help at home by gathering a small group of objects. Ask your child to count the whole group before drawing a ring around a smaller part. Can they explain how many objects are in the whole and how many are in their chosen part?

National Poetry Day – Wonder

We had a wonderful time celebrating National Poetry Day! This year’s theme was ‘Wonder’, which gave us lots of opportunities to think, talk, perform and reflect.

We started our celebrations by joining a live National Poetry Day assembly featuring one of our favourite poets, Michael Rosen. It was brilliant to hear poetry being shared and performed and to think about how poets use words to make us laugh, imagine and wonder.

We also enjoyed reading and performing ‘Woodlice’ by Simon Mole. We thought carefully about how we could use our voices, expressions and actions to bring the poem to life.

The theme of ‘Wonder’ linked perfectly with our learning about spirituality. We talked about how spirituality can be about experiencing moments of awe and wonder. These are those special ‘wow moments’ that make us stop, notice, think and feel amazed by or connected to something around us.

We reflected on how poetry can help us to pause, notice and wonder. A poem might make us think about our own feelings, connect with other people or notice something amazing in the world around us.

The children contributed their own ‘Wonder is…’ statements.

Help at home by finding a poem to enjoy together? Talk about what made you pause, think or wonder.

Philosophy Friday – Rights and Responsibilities

Philosophy is thinking deeply.

Every Friday, we start our day with some time to wonder and ponder.

We’ve a different question each week – there’s no obvious right/wrong answer and no underlying moral message. All children are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas and give reasons for their thoughts.

The children had some lovely responses.

You might hurt their feelings. Ezra

If they’re doing something bad you could stop them to help. Elliott

Yes because they might me making the wrong choice. Margot

If a teacher says 3, 2, 1 stop, you have to stop and listen even if you’re doing something that you want to do.

If it’s something that might hurt them, you should stop them even if they think it’s fun. Lylah

You might have to stop someone to help them follow the rules. Elodie

Help at home by discussing this week’s Philosophy Friday question with your child.

Living and Learning – I use good manners.

This week, our Living and Learning statement was: ‘I use good manners’.

We talked about what good manners look and sound like and why they’re important. We decided that using good manners is a simple way to show kindness and respect to the people around us.

We thought of lots of ways we can show good manners:

We also thought carefully about whether ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ is more important. There were some brilliant ideas and we realised there isn’t always one right answer!

Help at home by looking out for good manners this week and noticing when they happen. You could ask, ‘How did your good manners make someone else feel?’

Reading – Gruffalo Granny

We’ve been very excited this week about the release of the brand-new book, Gruffalo Granny by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

On Thursday, we spent lots of time watching out of the window and waiting patiently for our special delivery to arrive. Luckily, it arrived just in time for us to share the story together before home time.

We also joined a special webinar where Julia Donaldson read the story and Axel Scheffler brought the characters to life with some live illustrating. It was inspiring to see an illustrator at work and watch his drawings appear right in front of us.

We really enjoyed discovering this new adventure and finding out more about the Gruffalo Granny. It was a lovely way to end the day and well worth the wait!

Reading – Collins Hub eBooks

This week, children will be able to access their reading book at home using Collins Hub.

The eBook your child is assigned is the same book they’ve already read four times with an adult at school during our Reading Practice sessions. This means the book should feel familiar to them. Reading it again at home is a chance to celebrate their hard work and for them to proudly show you what they’ve been practising at school.

Please make sure you’re able to access Collins Hub at home. If you have any problems logging in, accessing your child’s book or have any questions, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help.

Some children may have been assigned a wordless book. Wordless books are really valuable for developing storytelling, vocabulary, comprehension and confidence with books. You can support your child by:

• Letting them tell the story in their own words using the pictures.
• Asking, ‘What can you see happening on this page?’
• Encouraging them to use full sentences to describe the pictures.
• Asking, ‘What do you think might happen next?’
• Talking about how the characters might be feeling and what clues in the pictures tell us this.
• Looking closely for small details and talking about why they might be important.
• Reading the book again and encouraging your child to tell the story with even more detail.

Help at home by asking your child to be the reading expert! Ask them to share something they remember from their Reading Practice sessions at school.

Science – Parts of the Human Body

This week in science, we became biologists. Biologists are scientists who study living things.

Our focus this half term is the human body and our senses. We started our learning by looking closely at the different parts of the human body and learning how to name and label them.

We learnt that most bodies have lots of different parts, including:

• a head, neck and chest
• two arms, two elbows and two hands
• ten fingers
• two legs, two knees and two feet
• ten toes
• two eyes and two ears
• one nose and one mouth

We had fun thinking about how many of each body part most people have. We counted and compared different parts, noticing that we usually have one nose but two eyes, two arms and ten fingers!

To put our learning into practice, we drew around some of the children to create life-sized body outlines. We then drew and labelled the different body parts we could identify.

We’re looking forward to building on this learning as we begin to explore our five senses and how they help us understand the world around us.

Help at home by playing a quick body-part challenge. Name a body part for your child to point to, then swap roles and let them test you. You could also challenge them to tell you how many of each body part most people have.

Living and Learning – I Follow the School Rules

This week, our Living and Learning statement was: ‘I follow the school rules.’

We talked about why rules are important and how they help everyone to learn, play and get along. Rules can help to keep things fair and make sure that everyone feels safe and knows what’s expected of them.

We revisited our three school rules:

• We’re respectful.
• We’re ready.
• We’re safe.

We discussed what each of these rules might look and sound like in different places around school. The children came up with lots of examples, such as listening when someone else is speaking, having everything ready for learning, walking sensibly around school and using kind words with others.

We also thought carefully about how following our rules is something we can show through our actions every day, whether we’re in the classroom, on the playground or moving around school.

Help at home by talking about the rules you have at home or rules you follow when you’re out and about. Why do you have them? Can your child explain how a rule might help to keep people respectful, ready or safe?