Robins 2021-22
Mrs Byrne, Mrs Murphy and Mrs Musson
Summer 2
Friday 8th July
Keerat is our star of the week. Despite only joining us a few short weeks ago, Keerat has made many new friends and is very settled in our class.
Literacy: Using Incy Wincy Spider as a focus, we have been working on our character descriptions. We have looked at adjectives and using capital letters for names.
Maths: We have been comparing numbers to 100 this week. Children are now very familiar with seeing numbers represented in different ways and then comparing these numbers. Children have also worked on their reasoning skills.
History: This week we have been incredibly lucky to have Mr Coates come and visit us. Mr Coates works for Mercedes and he was able to bring in several items from his office. The children were able to explore the items and ask questions. Mr Coates really brought our topic to life and it was great to hear the children still chatting about his visit a few days later.
Art: Yesterday Robins used clay to make sculptures on the trees outside. The children listened carefully to Mrs Musson and created wonderful pieces of art. If you get time at the end of the day, it is worth having a look.
PE: This week we had Sports Day. I was so impressed with the Robin’s effort and encouragement for their teammates. It was great to see them all try their best and support each other.
Have a wonderful weekend. See you all on Monday morning.
Mrs Byrne
Summer 2
Friday 24th June
Oisín is our star of the week. During assessment week, Oisín was able to show how much he has remembered from our Maths topic this year. Well Done Oisín
Literacy: Today we completed our diary entries from Silverstone. Children have made sure to include capital letters, full stops, and even exclamation marks. This week, children had a go at a reading assessment. This is a very new skill in Year 1 and I am so proud of how well the Robins did. They remembered to check the text before answering their question.
Maths: We have continued with position and direction this week. We have played games while trying to learn our left and right. This is still tricky for some students but we will practise it again. We also had a maths assessment. The children have really surprised me with just how much information they have remembered from September to now. All of their hard work is really paying off.
Science: This week we tested materials to identify their properties. We focused on hard, soft, bendy, rigid, smooth and rough. The children were able to follow the instructions carefully to test the materials.
ICT: Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at coding. Last week, children created a maze with Lego and gave their partner instructions to get through the maze. This week we used a computer software to code. Children were carefully able to make the fish on the screen move by coding the correct instructions.
Have a wonderful weekend. See you all on Monday morning.
Mrs Byrne
Summer 2
Friday 17th June
Max is our star of the week. Max could be star of the week every week. He always tries his best and he is incredibly hard working. Well done Max.
Literacy: We have continued to prepare for diary writing. We have looked at making verbs past tense by adding the ‘ed’ suffix. We have also recapped using exclamation marks and cohesive sentences. Next week we will use these skills to write a diary entry about our trip to Silverstone Interactive Museum.
Maths: We started our new geometry topic this week. Children have looked at position, directions and turns. Using our fraction knowledge from our last maths topic, children have been making, half and quarter turns.
Science: We have started our new topic on Materials. Children are aware that objects are made from a range of different materials and they are able to distinguish between the object and the material. I am impressed with how many materials the children were able to remember from our previous material topic all the way back in September.
History: This week we went to Silverstone Interactive Museum. The children had a fantastic time exploring the museum and learning about the track. Then we looked at race cars over time and saw how they had changed. In the afternoon, children had the opportunity to explore different parts of a race car and learn about their role. It would not be a trip to without seeing some cars racing. We were lucky to see several race cars practising on the track. There was a range of cars from vintage to F3.
Have a wonderful weekend. See you all on Monday morning.
Mrs Byrne
Summer 2
Friday 10th June
Sean is our star of the week. He has worked incredibly hard to master his pencil grip. Well done Sean.
Literacy: We have started the term by looking at diary entries. We have looked at writing I with a capital letter. We will continue to focus on diary entries, as we will be writing a diary entry about our upcoming trip to Silverstone Museum.
Maths: We have continued with fractions from the last half term. This week we have looked at finding quarters of amounts. This has been very tricky for the Robins to become some fluent with, we will come back to this again at a later date.
History: We started our new topic about Silverstone F1. Children have discovered how Silverstone became the home of the Grand Prix. We will build on this learning next week when we have our class trip.
PE: For this half term we are extremely lucky to have tennis coaching. Beth will come in on Thursdays to coach the Robins. Yesterday was their first lesson and they all had a fantastic time.
Have a great weekend. Please remember that our class trip is on Monday, packed lunches need to be ordered in advance via Parentpay.
Mrs Byrne
Summer 1
Friday 27th May
Joshua and Johnny are my stars of the week. They have both worked incredibly hard all week and I was not able to pick one. Fantastic work boys.
Literacy: We have written our own stories based on ‘The Ugly Duckling’ called ‘The Ugly Octopus’. In their stories it turned out he was not an ugly octopus, he was a beautiful jellyfish. Children have worked hard to remember their capital letters and full stops when they were writing.
Maths: This week we have focused on finding a half of a shape and then a quantity. This has been tricky and we have had lots of practise with it this week. Towards the end of the week, children looked at finding a quarter. We did this by first finding a half, and then finding another half.
Queen's Jubilee: We have had a fantastic time getting ready to celebrate the Queens Jubilee. Throughout the week, we have made bunting, learnt songs and learnt about the Queen herself. Today, we had a whole Jubilee themed day. The children have had an amazing time and enjoyed their outdoor school picnic in honour of the Queen. They loved wearing the crowns they had made.
Have a wonderful half term and I look forward to seeing you on Monday 6th June for our final Summer term.
Mrs Byrne
Summer 1
Friday 6th May
Holly P is our star of the week. Holly’s bubbly personality makes us all smile every day. She has shown get learning behaviours this week.
Literacy: This week we have created our own settings. It was great to see the children’s fantastic imagination in their imaginary places. Then we wrote a setting description for our created world while remembering to include adjectives and cohesive sentences.
Maths: We have introduced arrays. This is one of the first steps in multiplication. Children have looked at rows and columns. They are accurately able to identify how many rows and columns in our maths lesson and in the area around us. Towards the end of the week, we introduced writing number sentences to show the arrays. We will build on this further next week.
Science: This week we started by looking at different types of garden plants. Children were able to identify many of the common plants. On Wednesday, we went to Jubilee Gardens to find some garden plants. The children really enjoyed the trip and they found most of the flowers on their checklist
Geography: This week we have continued to explore different types of maps. We studied a map of Greens Norton and were able to identify some local amenities from the map. The children are starting to learn some symbols and use keys to read maps.
Have a great weekend. See you on Monday. Please remember if your child reads at home to record this in their reading record. They need to read at home 5 times to get a sticker.
Mrs Byrne
Summer 1
Friday 29th April
Keira is our star of the week. I have been really proud of her reading at home and effort in school. Fantastic week Keira.
Literacy: This week we have focused on adding adjectives to our sentences. Children have been able to select the best adjective and add it to their sentences. We have also recapped adding ‘and’ to join words and clauses. Next week we will use both of these skills to write a setting description.
Maths: We have now started our multiplication topic. We have done this by completing repeated addition. Children have been adding in groups of 2’s and 5’s. They have solved problems by adding equal groups together. This has been a tricky concept to get and the children have worked incredibly hard in maths this week.
Science: We have been looking at seasons. We went back and visited the same tree we sketched in the Autumn and Winter terms. Children were able to use their observational skills to explain the difference they saw in the tree. We then looked at how Spring affects our senses. We talked about what we can see, hear, feel and smell.
Geography: This week we have explored different types of maps. We focused on aerial plans and children used Lego and building blocks to create an aerial plan of the class.
Enjoy the bank holiday weekend. See you on Tuesday 3rd May.
Mrs Byrne
Summer 1
Friday 22nd April
It has been wonderful to welcome the children back to the summer term. Izzabella is our star of the week. She is hard working, motivated and tries her best. These are fantastic learning behaviours. Well done Izzabella.
Maths: This week we have been working on counting in groups of 10. We started the week by recapping counting in 2’s and 5’s and then moved onto groups of 10’s. They children are now able to count backwards and forwards to 100 in 10’s.
Literacy: For the first time this year we have focused on a genre of writing. We are looking at setting descriptions. We have explored the features of a setting descriptions and looked at the describing words used. Next week, we will look at creating our own setting and writing about it.
Geography: We have started our topic on ‘Our School’ by recapping human and physical features. Children were able to recall this information from the first term and were able to explain what they meant. We then set out on a hunt around school to find different human and physical features.
DT: Children started this topic by exploring different kinds of fruit and vegetables. Then then used the fruit and vegetables to print and create a food rainbow. The children loved tasting the different fruits and sharing what they liked and disliked about them.
Next week we are fortunate to have cricket coaches coming to work with us on Thursday morning. PE next week will be on Wednesday and Thursday. After that, it will go back to Monday and Wednesday.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 2
Friday 1st April
Jayke is our star of the week. Jayke has really upped his game this week in all areas of his learning, especially writing. Well done Jayke.
Maths: We have been counting in 2’s and 5’s this week. To do this we have sung songs and used equipment around the classroom to help us. On Friday, we had maths activities to help us practise all the skills we have learnt this half term.
Literacy: We had a go at writing our own poems based on ‘I had a little turtle’. Children changed the original poem to ‘I have a little lamb’. We imagined all the things the little lamb might get up to and wrote these in our poems.
ICT: This week we have continued making our animated storybooks. All children have no created a character and have been able to add animation and text to their book. After the Easter break, we will continue with this unit.
History: We have now finished learning about Mary Anning. The children have been immersed in this topic and they tell me they want to find fossils of their own. This week they used key words to show me just how much they have remembered about our topic.
Happy Easter. I look forward to seeing you all on the 19th April for the start of the summer term.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 2
Friday 25th March
Henry is our star of the week. Henry has been very engaged in our History this half term. He was able to bring in fossils from home and share his knowledge with us. Great job Henry.
Maths: This week we have been ordering and comparing numbers and objects to 50. On Friday, we combined all of our new knowledge from the week and had a maths challenge. We split into two teams and children had to race to order numbers to 50 in different representations.
Literacy: We have been looking at our poem. ‘I have a little turtle’ this week. We have drawn pictures and created actions to help us remember the poem. On Friday, we acted out this poem.
Science: Our focus this week was mammals. We have looked at the features that are associated with mammals. Then using IPads, children created a mammal fact file. It was great to see the children use their ICT skills to enhance their science learning.
History: We found fossils in school this week. Mrs Marsh informed us that there might be fossils on the school grounds. Armed with our brushes and observational skills we set out on a hunt. Children ended up finding a lot of fossils. When they were cleaned, children then began the process of trying to identify what animals they had come from. We then wrote letters telling the local parish council about our wonderful fossil finds.
Have a wonderful weekend. I look forward to seeing you on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 2
Friday 18th March
Finley is our star of the week. Finley has been working extra hard in phonics this week and he always remembers our Robin’s Rules.
Maths: We have continued looking at numbers to 50. We have had a lot of fun making different numbers to 50 and finding one more and one less than a given number.
Literacy: Today we started looking at poetry. Children had a range of poems to read. They read the poems and then shared their favourite ones with each other. Children then drew their favourite part of the poem. We are very excited to explore more poems next week.
Science: Our focus this week was birds. We took part in a bird watch and photographed the birds that we found. We listened to the different calls of the birds to try to identify them. Finally, using our observational skills. Children drew a bird and identified their features.
Have a wonderful weekend, enjoy the sunshine. I look forward to seeing you on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 2
Friday 11th March
Ella is our star of the week. Ella has listened to feedback she has been given and then used this to improve her work. Great job Ella.
Maths: We have started to look at numbers above 50 this week. Children have used different equipment to represent these numbers. They are able to identify how many tens and ones a number has. We have also practiced counting forwards and backwards to 50. We have played loads of games this week to help us understand numbers to 50.
Literacy: Handa’s Surprise is our new book. This is a story from another culture. This week we have worked on adding ‘ing’ to a word to make it a doing word. Children have then been using these ‘ing’ words in cohesive sentences.
RE: This week children have begun to learn about the Easter Story and its important message. They have looked at different symbols of Easter and why we celebrate it. Over the next few weeks, they will continue to look at the Easter Story.
History: We have focused this week on 4 key events that made Mary Anning an important person. Children then created a poster showing these events. They were able to articulate what each picture meant.
Have a wonderful weekend. I look forward to seeing you on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 2
Friday 4th March
Johnny is our star of the week. Johnny is kind, thoughtful, caring and funny. This week he has wowed us all with his science facts. Well done Johnny.
Maths: This week we finished our subtraction problems. Children have worked incredibly hard on this topic and have impressed me with their ability to solve word problems and explain their answers. Next week, we will start to look at numbers up to 50.
Literacy: We have worked hard to include questions in our narrative writing this week. Continuing to use Dogger as inspiration, children were able to ask characters questions and then imagine their response.
World Book Day: Yesterday saw us celebrate World Book Day. I was fantastic to see all of the children so excited about their books. Mrs Musson said they had a wonderful day. Several children this morning asked me when we could have another book day.
PE: This week again we had Saints coaching for Tag rugby. Already, I can see that children are passing and receiving the ball with more accuracy. All children were very excited for their session this morning.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 2
Friday 25th February
We have had a great first week back. Thea is our star of the week. Thea is always setting a fantastic example but this week her Literacy is what made her our star of the week. Well done.
Maths: We are now very confident in subtracting. I have been very impressed with how quick children have been able to do this. They are able to recognise and explain the subtraction symbol. On Thursday, children starting looking at weighing. They were able to use balance scales to identify the heaviest and lightest item.
Literacy: Children have loved our book Dogger this week. We have explored the story and learnt some new vocabulary. Children have again worked on writing cohesive sentences. They are now starting to add more detail to their writing to make it more engaging for the reader.
History: We started to look at Mary Anning this week. Part of being a good historian means that you ask many questions. Children came up with a lot of questions they want to find answers to about Mary Anning. We look forward to answering these questions over the next few weeks.
PE: We had our first Saints rugby coaching session this morning. It was a massive success. All children loved the games and were able to catch and throw the ball correctly. Saints not only taught the children some rugby they also emphasised the need to be good sports people and congratulate the other team on their win.
RE: This week we were delighted to welcome Ms Elijah to our school. She taught us about Judaism and was able to share her faith with us. The children loved this and enjoyed tasting the Challah bread.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 1
Friday 11th February
Robins have had an amazing half term. I am incredibly proud of the all of the children and their commitment to their learning over the last 6 weeks. Max is our star of the week. Max could be star of the week every week, he always shows us hard work and he is kind to his friends.
Literacy: Children have been looking at the poem ‘If I had wings’. They have had great fun imagining what they would do if they had wings. When I read their ideas, I was particularly impressed with their vocabulary. Robins are starting to use more exciting words when sharing their ideas.
Maths: Today we finished our adding to 20 unit. When adding two single digits, children have been getting to 10 first and then counting on. This has been tricky but when children used their number, bonds to help them it became easier.
Mental Health Awareness Day: Today we looked at mental health and what that means. We explored different ways to keep our mental health positive. Children took part in role-play activities and wrote positive messages to each other. It was great to see Robins take part in this with such enthusiasm; they are a very kind and caring class.
History: We have now finished our topic on Florence Nightingale, after the half term we will look at another Victorian woman, Mary Anning.
Have a wonderful half term week.
See you on the 22nd February.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 1
Friday 28th January
Makena is our star of the week. Focus and determination really does pay off. Makena had amazed us all in school with her Literacy this week. I cannot wait to see more next week.
Maths: This week we finished place value to 20 and now have started our new topic of adding and subtracting. Children have been able to add 1 ones to any number up to 20. We have started to write number sentences to show what we are adding. We will continue with this next week.
Literacy: Our new book is ‘No bot the robot with no bottom’. Children have really enjoyed using their imagination to tell me what has happened to his bottom. I have been impressed this week with children writing cohesive sentences. They have been able to tell me their main idea and then expand on that idea in the following sentences.
History: This week we have looked at how Florence Nightingale made hospitals safer. Children were able to explain and write sentences explaining the problems Florence faced and how she overcame them.
PE: Our unit is object manipulation. This week we have looked at kicking the ball when it is dropped from our hands. Children have experiment by changing the angle of their foot to send the ball high or low. We will work more on this skill next week.
Have a great weekend.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 1
Friday 21st January
Ted is our star of the week. He has worked so hard in and out of school. We are very impressed with his effort. Keep up the good work.
Maths: Comparing numbers has been the theme of the week. We have used symbols and words to compare numbers. Even when numbers are represented in different ways, children have been able to compare them. Fantastic effort by all Robins. Today I have emailed out some key instant recall facts that we have been learning in school. If you could practise these at home with children, it would be fantastic, just a couple of minutes a day makes all the difference
Literacy: Now we have finished with our book ‘How to catch a star’. I have really enjoyed teaching this book and hearing all of the children’s ideas on how they would catch a star and what they would do with it. We have focused on capital letters and using and in sentences this week.
History: This week we looked at Florence Nightingale for the first time. Children are able to retell key events about her early life and explain how those events led to her becoming a nurse.
ICT: Continuing on our work with algorithms, children have looked at making a sandwich. All of the instructions were jumbled up. Children had to use the online platform to fix the algorithm so that they could make the sandwich.
Science: This week we have looked at the human body. We have drawn the body and labelled it. We have had a lot of fun playing Simon Says while learning about the body.
Have a great weekend. See you on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 1
Friday 14th January
Jamie is our Star of the Week. He has worked incredibly hard this half term. Keep it up!
Maths: This week, we have looked at tens and ones. Children are now partitioning their numbers using tens and ones. They are able to find one more and one less of any number to 20.
Literacy: Using ‘How to catch a star’ as inspiration we have written cohesive sentences. We have also looked at using our Fred Fingers when spelling. We have worked on finding the correct sound in the words and then using this to help us spell them.
History: We have looked at rich and poor Victorians. Children were fascinated when looking at pictures from the Victorian Era. They are really getting their teeth into this topic and asking fantastic questions to further their own learning.
ICT: Building on our knowledge of algorithms last week, children had to follow instructions to create a picture online. I gave them very specific instructions to follow; when I compared their pictures, I was pleased to see that they all looked the same.
We have had a good week in Robins; we have missed the children that have been doing their learning at home and hope to welcome them back next week.
Mrs Byrne
Spring 1
Friday 7th January
Happy New Year! Welcome back to school for our spring term. I have been incredibly impressed with how quickly the children have got back into the routine this week and their eagerness to learn. Joshua is our star of the week. He has come back from Christmas focused and determined in his learning. Well done.
Maths: This week we have looked at numbers above 10 for the first time. We have counted forwards and backwards to 20 and have shown this in different representations. It would be fantastic if they could practise counting forwards and backwards at home.
Literacy: We started this week discussing the front cover of ‘How to catch a star’ by Oliver Jeffers. Children came up with imaginative ways they would catch a star. We have introduced some new vocabulary that they will come across in the book that will aid their understanding of the story. Next week, we will begin reading this and using it as writing inspiration.
History: Florence Nightingale is our topic this half term. We started this week by looking at the Victorian Era and some of their marvelous inventions. We then looked at the inventions now and compared how they had changed over time.
ICT: Our new unit is Lego Creators. Children are being introduced to the concept of algorithms and why they are important. Today we started this unit by following instructions to build a Lego structure.
We have really enjoyed our first week back and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Autumn 2
Friday 17th December
Oisín is our Star of the Week this week. He shows real determination and enthusiasm when he is learning. This week has been very exciting and very busy for the children. It was wonderful to see them perform their nativity and it was clear that their hard work paid off.
Maths: This week we have recapped maths that we have learnt this half term. We have been continuing to practise our addition and subtraction skills and children have used their knowledge of 2D and 3D shapes to create shape pictures.
Literacy: This week children have been able to take part in free writing activities. They have enjoyed writing letters to Santa. I am very impressed that children are remembering to use capital letters and full stops most of the time.
Geography: This week we focused on Wales and England. The children have now finished their topic about the United Kingdom and know the capital cities of each county as well as some famous landmarks.
Have a wonderful, well-deserved Christmas break. The children have worked incredibly hard this term and deserve some rest and relaxation time at home. Stay safe over the Christmas break and I look forward to welcoming you back on Wednesday 5th January.
Happy Christmas to you and your family.
Mrs Byrne
Autumn 2
Friday 10th December
This week there is no star of the week as we had our dress rehearsal for our Christmas performance Prickly Hay. All of the children were amazing and they are excited to perform it again next week.
Maths: This week we have combined the skills we have been working on during the half term and we have been completing addition and subtraction number sentences. Children have been encouraged to use number lines to complete these.
Literacy: We have focused on asking questions this week. We looked at some different question words and asked each other many different types of questions. Then Children wrote some question sentences into their book remembering to use the question mark.
Geography: Scotland has been the focus this week, children have learned about Ben Nevis and some famous places in Edinburgh.
Science: This week we have looked at different evergreen trees. Children are able to explain how they know a tree is evergreen and how this is different to a deciduous tree.
Have a great weekend. See you on Monday for our last week before the Christmas break.
Mrs Byrne
Autumn 2
Friday 3rd December
Our star of the week is Lily. Lily is a shining example to all students, she impresses us each week with her determination and organisation.
Maths: We have continued to look at subtraction this week. We have used numberlines and finding the difference to complete our subtraction sentences. We have also worked very hard on fact families. We will continue to practise these throughout the year.
Literacy: I have been blown away with children’s writing this week. It is not easy to remember capital letters, full stops, finger spaces and all of words of a sentence while making sure you are using your kinetic letters. However, Robins are now doing this every day. During independent writing children are even linking their sentences. They have made so much progress in their writing this term. Amazing work Robins.
Geography: This week we have focused on Northern Ireland. Children have identified human and physical features of Northern Ireland. They love exploring using maps and sharing what they have found out.
Science: We have finished looked ay deciduous trees this week and children created a poster about the tress that they have learnt during the half term. They are able to name and identify several trees by leaf and seed.
Have a great weekend. See you on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Autumn 2
Friday 26th November
Our star of the week is Bertie. Kindness really is his superpower. Well done Bertie, you inspire us all to be kinder.
Maths: Children have been working hard on subtraction this week. We have used part whole models to help us to write fact family sentences. They are now about to recognise and use the subtraction symbol.
Literacy: Children have been introduced to exclamation marks this week. They have been using these in sentences. When children are reading they are beginning to add expression when they see an exclamation mark. We have also focused on handwriting, specifically the size of their letters. We have looked at tall letters this week.
ICT: We have been looking at pictograms again this week. Children are now confidently inputting results into an online format. They are then interpreting the results.
Art: Using Yayioi Kusama as inspiration, children have been creating their own patterns using dots. They have been able to evaluate her work and say what they like and dislike about it.
Have a great weekend. See you on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Autumn 2
Friday 19th November
Our star of the week is Rose. Her helpfulness and kindness are wonderful examples to us all. Well done Rose.
Maths: We have continued to improve our adding skills this week. At the start of the week, children were using counters to add two digits together. Now, children are able to use part whole models and number lines to complete additions to 10. Next week we will begin to look at subtraction.
Literacy: Our book is Avocado Baby. We were using this as a writing stimulus this week to write sentences with ‘and’. This has been a challenge but the children have worked very hard to achieve this. We will continue to look at Avocado Baby next week when we children will be introduced to exclamation marks.
Science: Children have been learning about deciduous trees. We have focused on an oak tree and a horse chestnut. Observing closely is key to being a good scientist and children practiced this skill this week. We searched for the tress and then collected some of their leaves. Using our observation skills, we drew the leaves and verbally compared them.
Geography: The children have really enjoyed exploring different types of maps. This week we focused on human and physical features. Children were able to categorise the features into the correct heading. Then children created their own island and picked which human and physical features they wanted to include. The children shared their ideas and one child informed us that they had placed the farm next to the river so the animals would have enough fresh water.
Have a wonderful and restful weekend.
Mrs Byrne
Autumn 2
Friday 12th November
Our star of the week is Ted. His reading at home and hard work in school is the reason he is our stand out star. Well done Ted.
Maths: Adding has been our focus this week. Children have been finding number bonds to and within 10 and then comparing them. I was really impressed that children had remembered how to use symbols and words to compare numbers. Children also looked at shapes this week. They went on a walk around school to spot different shapes in our environment
Literacy: We finished looking at “Can’t you sleep little bear” this week. Children have been practising their cohesive sentences this week. Even in their free writing, they are using cohesive sentences. During our daily kinetic letter sessions we have focused on having all of the letters sitting on the line,
Science: I have heard a lot of parents tell me their children are talking about different types of trees this week at home. I am delighted that they are sharing their learning with you. This week we looked at the different parts of the trees. Children then used question stems to come up with some fantastic questions about trees. One of their questions was how do you know how old trees are? We found a tree stump and they were able to count the rings to find out. Asking questions is such an important part of being a scientist.
ICT: We started our new topic of pictograms today. We looked at different ones and then made our own class one about how we travelled to school. Some children have very exciting commutes to school as they arrive in school on a tractor, rollerblades and an RV. Children were able to read the pictogram and tell me that most children walk or drive to school.
Have a wonderful weekend. I look forward to seeing you on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Autumn 2
Friday 5th November
We have had a fantastic start back to the new half term. Robin’s star of the week is Jasmine. She has shown a real commitment to her learning this week and different adults have commented on this. Fantastic work Jasmine.
Maths: We have been using the addition symbol to add numbers this week. Children have been practising their number sentences all week and are now very familiar with the symbols used in maths sentences.
Literacy: This week we have focused on capital letters, not just at the start of a sentence but also for names. We are using the book “Can’t you sleep little bear” as our main text. As well as using capital letters for names, children have also been writing cohesive sentences.
Art: We have had our first art lesson of the year. Children have been exploring primary and secondary colours. They made colour wheels in class and were able to discuss how they made the secondary colours.
Enjoy bonfire weekend. I look forward to seeing you on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Friday 22nd October
With our first half term as Robins complete, I think it’s fair to say that the children really deserve this half term break. They have all worked incredibly hard over the last 7 weeks and have made the transition into Year 1 fantastically well. Daniel is our star of the week, which was no surprise to the children in the class. Daniel always tries his best.
Maths: We started this week by working with part whole models. Children have been exploring these and trying to find different ways to make the whole. Today we introduced the addition symbol to children. Children have been writing number sentences using the addition symbol today. We will continue to work on this after the half term break.
Literacy: We have been writing cohesive sentences this week. Children have been looking for linking words to make their sentences cohesive. This is a new concept for Robins and we will work on this throughout Year 1.
DT: Children have spent the last 6-weeks looking at leavers and sliders in books. They have designed and made either a slider or a leaver for a page in a book. This week they have evaluated their designs and have come up with ways to improve them.
Have a restful and safe half term. Thank you for continuing to read and do spelling practice with the children; your support at home makes a big difference.
Mrs Byrne
Friday 15th October
Only one week left of our first half term as Robins. The time is flying by. Imogen is our star of the week. She shows us daily how she embodies our school values. Well done Imogen.
Maths: This week children were introduced to the part whole model. We will continue this next week and it is the first step in more formal methods of addition and subtraction.
Literacy: Cave Baby has been our book this week and we have enjoyed exploring the new vocabulary. Our sentence writing skills are really improving and children are now writing sentences using a variety of sentence starters.
History: The history of the Teddy Bear has been our focus this week. We were very lucky to be able to look at a range of Teddy Bears spanning several decades. Mrs Marsh even brought in a Teddy Bear that was 86 years old. Children were able to compare all of the bears and say how they have changed over time.
ICT: We have continued to explore the features of Purple Mash. This week children have combined their science and ICT skills and have used an online platform to categorise shapes.
Have a wonderful weekend. I look forward to seeing you on Monday. Parents evening meetings have now been added to MS Teams for you to join at the appropriate time.
Autumn 1
Friday 8th October
This week we were able to celebrate Harvest Festival in church. It was the first time Robins had been to the church as part of a whole school service. Thank you for all of the food donations.
Maths: We have learnt some new words in maths, smallest and greatest. We have had a lot of fun arranging items and numbers from smallest to greatest and then greatest to smallest.
Literacy: We finished reading our book The Building Boy. The children have been working on their “I can see ________ “sentences. This week we have also focused on making our letters sit on the line when we are writing our sentences. This has been very tricky as the children are trying to remember their sentence and write it using their kinetic letters. We will continue to work on this over the next few weeks.
Science: This week we have continued our topic of materials. Children were able to record information and then present this in a bar chart. I was very impressed that they were then able to interpret their bar charts and share their findings with their friends.
PE: We have continued to work on invasion games. This week we were able to focus on hockey. Children had to guide a tennis ball around the playground using the hockey stick and pass it to their friends. It was tricky to understand how hard or how soft to hit the ball to make sure it lands at our partner’s hockey stick.
Have a wonderful weekend. I look forward to seeing you on Monday. I collected children's reading records today to have a look at them and also to read with them. I will return them on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Autumn 1
Friday 1st October
We have had another full filled week at Robins. Our star of the week this week is Holly Y. Holly has demonstrated resilience and perseverance in class, these are essential to succeed in learning.
Maths: This week children have been comparing numbers. They have been introduced to the symbols for greater than and less than. We will continue this again next week before moving onto ordering numbers.
Literacy: Writing simple sentences in year 1 is a key building block for children’s future learning. We have been working very hard on writing sentences correctly. This week we have focused on capital letters and finger spaces between words. Children take part in daily kinetic letter practise. I am pleased to say this is really paying off and their writing is improving all of the time.
History: Our Toy experience day was fantastic. It was a practical day from start to finish and allowed children to become immersed in our topic. They had a great time building their wooden toy and learning about the history of the toy they made. The children loved playing with some of the old toys; it was great to see how they used their imagination to play with them.
ICT: Children are becoming more and more confident with logging onto Purple Mash and completing tasks set by me. Most children are now able to log on, find, complete and hand in their work online. This week children have used Purple Mash to describe their favourite toy by adding text and pictures.
Have a wonderful weekend. I look forward to seeing you on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Autumn 1
Friday 24th September
We have had another fun filled week in Robins. Our star of the week this week is Stanley. Stanley is a great asset to our classroom and has been a fantastic example to all students.
Maths: This week has been all about one more and one less. Children have been using different representations to show numbers to 10 and more and less. Children have been working hard this week to increase their independence skills in maths. It has been fantastic to see children working independently to solve maths problems.
Literacy: This week children have been using their new sentence writing skills to write a character description. They have worked so hard to remember capital letters, full stops and fingers spaces. Great work Robins. Robins also took part in their first spelling test this week. They have brought home their new spellings to learn for next Thursday.
Science: We have continued to explore materials this week. Children were able to identify a range of materials and categorise them based on what they are made of. I tried to trick the Robins by giving them items made with more than one material but they were able to place this correctly explaining their reasons.
PE: This week we were very lucky to have a tennis lesson with Freestyle. The children really enjoyed the house competition they took part in. We will find out the winning team later in the term.
Next week we have our Toy Experience Day! This will be a fantastic day for the children. Thank you for all your contributions for this day. It promises to be a fantastic experience for all the children.
Mrs Byrne
Autumn 1
Friday 17th September
I know it is only the second week but the children are so settled into Robins it could be much later in the term. Our star of the week this week is Tyler. Being ready with a positive attitude is key to success and Tyler has this in abundance.
Maths: We have been increasing our knowledge of numbers to 10. We have represented numbers in different ways and they been able to discover missing numbers on a number line. This week children had to work as a team to solve a maths puzzle. It was great to see not just their maths knowledge but also how well they can listen to their peers.
Literacy: This week, we have continued our story The Gigantic Turnip. We have created a character description for the Old Man and next week children will write their own character description. We have really focused on capital letters at the start of sentences and our daily kinetic letters lesson is paying off as all children are showing big improvements in their handwriting.
PSHE: This week we explored some of our class rules. The children were able to say why we have rules and what the rules of our classroom should be. I have been very impressed to see these rules in practise this week.
ICT: For the first time this year Robins using the IPads. We discussed online safety and keeping our passwords safe from others. Children used Purple Mash software and created an avatar of themselves. They then saved a piece of work they had drawn. Fantastic first lesson Robins.
Just a reminder that on Tuesday at 19:00 there will be an online parent’s information meeting. I hope to see you all there. Have a wonderful weekend and see you all on Monday.
Mrs Byrne
Friday 10th September
Wow! What an amazing week we have had in Robins. All of the children have settled in well and have really impressed us with their listening and learning. Robins sat in whole school assembly for the first time since joining the school. It was fantastic to see them sit with the rest of the school and participate in the assemblies. I’m sure they are all exhausted after their first week.
Each week I will use this blog to give a snap shot of what we have been doing in class.
Maths- Children have been sorting items into different groups and counting them. It has been fantastic to see how much the children remember from their time in Wrens
Literacy: We have begun to look at our story The Gigantic Turnip. Children have acted it out and had fun retelling the story to their friends.
History: This week it was fantastic for children to be able to share toys from their past. Children were able to identify that the toys they had when they were babies are not the same as the toys they have now. Thank you all for sending pictures, bringing in toys and talking to your children about their favourite toys before this lesson; it really helped to bring our History topic to life.
Reading books and reading records were sent home yesterday; please remember to write in their reading record if they read at home. Have a wonderful and restful weekend. See you Monday.
Mrs Byrne