Welcome to Life at KPS for Year 1

Mrs Sandhu and Mrs Richardson warmly welcome you to Year 1.

The aim of this page is to highlight some of the fantastic learning that has been happening in Year 1, this page will be updated monthly, with photographs and information about the learning we have completed during the month.

We hope you enjoy looking through these updates and do discuss your child’s learning with them to celebrate their success. We look forward to any suggestions you may have to make your child’s learning a pleasant experience.

May 2021

Art

In Art, we have started to look at our new artist – Chuck Close. He is a photo-realist painter, who uses lots of bright colours within his work. In our sketchbooks we created an artist page to showcase some of his painting that we liked. We also learnt some facts about him. In this unit, we will be developing our painting skills. We will be looking at the colour wheel and how the primary colours make the secondary colours. Make sure you keep up to date with our progress, because we will be using our painting skills to create one big collaborative piece!

English

In English, we have been annotating and writing our own poems about bees. We looked at different poems and used different coloured highlighters or pencils and coloured in all the verbs and adjectives in each poem. We had a lot of fun looking at bumblebees more closely! We observed their characteristics and behaviours then created 2 spider diagrams showing adjectives and verbs.  We then wrote SVO sentences, but this time we focused on using interesting verbs, like ‘floated’ instead of ‘flew’. We also tried to include adjectives to add more detail and create an image in our reader’s mind. We finally used all the information over the weeks and wrote out our ‘bee’ poems.

Gardening

We have been very busy in our garden. Our alliums that we planted in December are finally starting to bud – we look forward to them opening up into beautiful purple flower heads. Above our raised beds is a huge sycamore tree. One day when we went to check our garden for weeds, we noticed lots of tiny sycamore trees growing! The seeds must have planted themselves into the soil and started to grow. Some of us took our own sycamore plant home to see if we could grow it.

History

In History, we have been learning about David Attenborough. He is a broadcaster and naturalist who has inspired many people to make changes and save the planet. We have really enjoyed watching his documentaries and learnt a lot about his life. We found out how non-recycled waste can damage our oceans and cause our marine animals to fall ill or even cause death. We have made a timeline of David Attenborough’s life, starting off as a child and his journey to a 95-year-old adult now. We matched the dates to his pictures and discovered why those years were so significant.

Maths

In Maths, we have been learning about money. We learnt about the different coins and notes in our currency and discussed their appearance. We then moved on to adding amounts together and recognising the value of coins rather than the quantity of coins. After we had mostly secured adding coins together to make a total, we then looked at exchanging coins or notes for change. Most of us found this very tricky! We have now implemented a price menu for classroom resources. Everyday the children get a set amount of money, e.g. 20p, and then they have to work out the coins and change needed to buy paper for 4p. So far it has really helped our money skills!

Music

“I have been very proud of the attitude of the students this term as some music restrictions are still in place.” Mrs Stoker

Year 1 children have been learning about rhythm and pulse and how to follow a simple graphic score using drums, guiros, tambourines and triangles.

I have used an online resource called Musication and they have followed graphics along with the piece ‘Tchaikovsky Waltz of the Flowers’ as well following rhythms. They are now recognising when to be silent as other children play.

PE

This month in PE we have been practicing a range of athletics events.  Children have learnt various sports such as the javelin, short distance sprint and the relay race. Children have learnt the importance of pacing themselves when running longer distances and learnt to use the correct technique when throwing a javelin. We plan to continue practicing more athletics events such as the long jump and standing high jump after the May half term. This will help to get us prepared for our summer sports!

PSHE

In PSHE we have been learning about our mental health. During Mental Health Awareness Week, we though more about the different things we do to look after our wellbeing. Some of us discussed how we like to walk outside or ride our bikes, while lots of us find playing or being creative relaxing. We were also lucky enough to be visited by our community police officers, who taught us about stranger danger. We learnt to ‘Tell and Yell!’ and to never go off with strangers or tell them our personal details.

Science

In Science, we have been learning about the parts of a plant and recycling. We have been busy roleplaying I the garden centre, using money to buy seeds and different plants. We have been labelling the basic parts of a plant and exploring its functions. We have been really inspired by David Attenborough and how we can make our planet a better place. We have been recycling in class and been identifying products that are recyclable and non-recyclable. We are now aware of all benefits of recycling and how it can impact our future.