Year 1 Class News

Children in Need

Thank you for all your support raising money for Children in Need. 

We have raised £140 for the charity.

Living and Learning: know how to STOP bullying!

We kicked off anti-bullying day with our odd socks to celebrate that we are all unique and different.

What is unique?

We discussed the meaning of the word ‘unique’.

I am unique because there is no one else like me that has my personality or looks.

Nobody has my hair, my eyes, my nose, or my smile. Nobody draws like me, paints like me, sings like me, or dances like me.

I am unique because God made me and wanted me to look and act exactly like I do now.

We explored our school definition of bullying by looking at what some of the words meant.

What is bullying?

We’re all able to make a choice in how we behave towards others. We can choose to be kind or helpful, or we could act in a way that is mean and unkind.

What is bullying behaviour?

Bullying is a type of unkind behaviour, such as being mean to others on purpose. Sometimes, people who bully others may be feeling sad or angry and might take their negative feelings out on other people.

What are the different types of bullying?

Our school definition reminds us of  the different types of bullying – physical (hurting our body), emotional (hurting our feelings) or cyber bullying (online).

How can you STOP bullying?

We used our weekly circle time to think about the role we all have to STOP bullying. Year 1 had some great suggestions.

Our main message is Start Telling Other People!

You can stop bullying by…

saying STOP to the bullies and if they don’t stop, tell an adult – Harry

being kind to people and not hurting others – Poppy

being resilient and saying STOP – Vincent

ignoring the bully, walk away – Athena

How can you get help?

The children were reminded about where/who to ask for help.

Who could you tell? 

The children were reminded about who they could speak to if the need arose.

• Safeguarding team – Miss Beatson, Mrs Freeman, Mrs Small and Miss Walshaw.
• Any other members of staff
• A trusted adult
• Someone in your family
• Friends
• Childline (0800 1111)Write a worry slip and put it in your class Living and Learning Box
  

  Start Telling Other People.

Help at home:

Discuss our school definition of bullying with your child. Do they know the difference between falling out and bullying, and between a one-off situation and something that’s happened more than once?

Living and Learning: Me and My Money

We have had a very busy, money themed, week. The children have been learning the value of coins and notes, sorting coins into groups, discussing different charities, making money boxes, enjoying a song (with prosody) and laying a penny trail in the playground.

During our Living and Learning lesson, the class thought about the difference between a need (something we must have in order to stay alive) and a want (something we would like to have, but we don’t need it in order to stay alive).

Help at home

Watch the Money Matters video clip and have a discussion at home about how we get and use money, where money comes from, the difference between needs and wants, budgeting and saving. Take the quiz at the end to see how much you can remember about using money.

Mad About Materials!

RE: Who was Saint James?

Who was Saint James?

The children have had a wonderful start to the half term. It has been lovely to see so many smiling faces returning to school ready for more learning.

On Monday, the children enjoyed finding out about Saint James. We researched  his life and discovered that Jesus trusted James to become one of His disciples.

We explored our school logo and discussed what the shells could represent. 

Help at home

Ask your child to tell you what they have learnt about Saint James. Share the information below together and then ask your child the following questions.

• What do the scallop shells represent?
• Tell me about St James.
• Who was his father?
• What was his job? 

James grew up by the ‘seaside’. That sea was Lake Galilee. He had a brother called John. They were known for having rows with each other and Jesus had a nickname for them: ‘the Sons of Thunder’. James had a mother called Salome and a father called Zebedee. James was a fisherman with his brother. Jesus went to meet James and he became one of the three disciples who were very close to Jesus, along with Peter and John. Jesus was preparing James to become a leader in the early church.The scallop shell of Saint James is believed to promote courage, strength and hope.

The children really enjoyed painting their own shells and these will be on display in our classroom.

Help at home with phonics

Please support your child to practise and reinforce the phonemes and graphemes we have been learning in our phonic sessions. More information and support can be found on the Little Wandle website – https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

We have read and written these words. Add sound buttons.

We have read and written these sentences. Can you spot any tricky words? Can you read these sentences fluently?

The toads feel so cool.

The boot on my right foot is too hard.

I can see foxes in the car lights.

We can go down to the town on the bus.

We have practised tricky words. Can you spot the tricky part of the word?

• no
• go
• so
• my
• by
• to
• into
• out
• the

We have spelt words. Can you write these words? Can you use the correct phonemes?

• right
• hard
• took
• hear

Reading: Tom Palmer

This year, some children at school attended an online workshop with author Tom Palmer. Tom Palmer has been in touch to let us know about some local events he is attending in half term.

Message from Tom

For children and families – I am also coming to Leeds on Thursday 2 November 2023 :
*       Farsley Book Festival – 10am-11am more here
https://trumanbooks.co.uk/event/flf-kids-day
*       Chapel Allerton Library – 2pm
*       Pudsey Community Hub and Library – 4pm

Geography Fieldwork

For the next park of our Geography learning, we ventured out of school to carry out some fieldwork in our local area.

Before fieldwork, geographers start with a question they want to find an answer to. Our question was “ What is the local ‘green’ space (Sandringham Park) used for and how could it be improved?

Wetherby Town Council owns and maintains most of the parks and open, green space recreational facilities in Wetherby, including Sandringham Park. Sandringham Park is a ‘Field in Trust’ green space which means
that it is protected so that it will be available for the people of Wetherby forever. However, this park is looking very tired and the council are planning to update it.

A green space is open-area reserved for parks and other “green areas”, including plant life, woodlands, water features other kinds of natural environment.
“Our forest school is a green space,” commented Athena.

Together, we mapped the route from school to the park and then we discussed how we would stay safe whilst outside of school.

We will cross the road at the zebra crossing.  Daisy

We will stay with our partner.  Woody

Don’t walk too close to the road.  Ariella

Stay with your group and adult. Poppy

Concentrate and listen to instructions. – Alexa

The children spent some time looking around the green space. Then, in groups, the class asked and answered some questions.

1. Is there a playground? Yes, but it has been damaged. – Millie
2. Are there places to sit down? Yes, but I think there should be more picnic benches. – Oly
3. How many rubbish bins can you see? We counted 5 bins but there was lots of rubbish on the floor. – Ellis

4. Is there an area to walk dogs? Yes

5. Does the park have anything that keeps children and animals safe? Yes, there are railings around the playground and a gate. Dogs are not allowed into the paly area. – Harry

6. Why do you think the council want to change this green space? Because it is very unsafe and there is a lot of damage. People can’t enjoy it now!  Alfie

I think there should be swings for people who have to use wheelchairs. Everybody should be able to use the park. – Freddy

Maths: Less than, greater than, equal to

Today, the children have been introduced to the greater than (>) and less than (<) symbols when comparing numbers.

The class have moved on from describing whether there are “fewer”, “more” or the “same” number of objects to comparing numerical values using the vocabulary “less than”, “greater than” or “equal to” alongside the symbols <, > and =.

Top tip

The open end of the symbol always has the largest number next to it.

Using the images below, the class added the correct symbol accordingly.

Next, using conkers and lolly sticks, the class made up their own statements and recorded them in their books.

Help at home

Children may want to use the word “bigger” rather than “greater”. For consistency of language, encourage children to use the word “greater”. “Bigger” often refers to the size of an object rather than a number, for example a bigger teddy or a bigger slide.
Children may get the symbols mixed up. Using cubes and straws to physically make the symbols can help children to understand them.

Mindfulness Matters

Year 1 began their Friday morning with some mindfulness and yoga. 

Being mindful means having your mind on what you are doing. It’s the opposite of rushing or doing too many things at once. To be mindful, you slow down to take your time, which is hard to do in our busy lives.

The children learnt a breathing technique called ‘Balloon Belly Breathing and were able to demonstrate some basic yoga poses.