It was great to see so many of you during parents’ evening this week. Please do remember that you can always email us if you have any further questions.

Tuesday Book Look

We are looking forward to seeing many of you from 9.05am – 9.25am on Tuesday morning to look at your child’s books.

Easter Bonnet Parade

Get creative this weekend because next Thursday 30^th is the Easter Bonnet Parade at 9am. Think of using recycled materials to create anything Easter/Spring themed.

Library Books

With the Easter Holidays next Friday, we now ask that all library book be returned on Monday. Please can you all do a thorough search of your homes to check for any missing books.

What we have been up to

In English, we have been using the book Tidy by Emily Gravett as our text to understand different aspects of grammar. We began the week thinking about plurals and adding, s, es or ies to nouns to make them more than one. We then looked at how adding the prefix ‘un’ to a word made it opposite in meaning. We then learnt about present and past tense and how to recognise different tenses from their endings.

In Maths, we learnt all about length and measurement and had a fun day measuring different things in our classroom. We also talked about centimetres and how to use a ruler to accurately measure.

In RE, we talked about the importance of Good Friday and then discussed the other events in the Easter story. The children were all very interested and sensitive to the events and I’m sure they’d be happy to discuss what they have learnt with you at home.

Science was all about trees specifically understanding the different between deciduous and evergreen trees.

In Relationships and Health we spoke about how sometimes we have bad days and that’s ok as long as we realise our mistakes and try harder to do the right thing.

In Geography, we talked about the difference between urban and rural environments.

The week ended with a fantastic Art lesson where the children made their own Tree of Life complete with flowers, leaves and wildlife!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Allen

It was lovely to see so many of you at the Mums and Chums breakfast today, we hope you like your cards!

Library Books

Quite a few children are still forgetting to bring in their library books to change on Mondays. It is really important that these come back to school so the children are able to experience a range of books and genres.

What we have been up to

In English, we continued using We’re Going to Find a Monster to inspire us and made a map of the school with different parts of it being locations for our stories. We then wrote our stories thinking about the different places we could explore to find the monster!

In Maths we finished the week with a place value assessment recapping everything we have learnt about numbers to 50. We will begin our unit on measurement and length next week.

In RE, we learnt all about the Last Supper and thought about how Jesus’ disciples would have felt.

In Geography, we learnt about different compass points and had to describe where different parts of the farm were in relation to one another using North, South, East and West.

Science, was all about classifying different plants and flowers.

Finally in Relationships and Health Education, we heard about the importance of not sharing photos online ever.

Have a lovely and restful weekend, especially if you are celebrating Mothers’ Day!

Kind regards

Mrs Allen

What an amazing week for McNaughton Class! Of course I have to start by saying an enormous well done to all of the children for their absolutely brilliant performance! They had worked so hard to learn their lines, songs and dances and it definitely paid off- they were brilliant! Thank you to all of the parents for your kind words about the Collective Worship, and thank you for your support sourcing costumes and helping the children practise. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Hyde Park Visit

Year 1 absolutely loved their visit to The Look Out Discovery Centre in Hyde Park on Monday. The children had to explore Hyde Park looking for different types of flowers and plants. They also learnt about what seeds need in order to grow. The absolute highlight of the trip though, was planting their own seed in a biodegradable pot they made themselves!

PE and Library next week

You’ll all be glad to hear that PE and Library are back to normal next week!

PE will be on Monday, so the children will need to wear their PE kits to school on Monday.

The Library session will also be on Monday, so children will need to return their library books to school on Monday morning.

What we have been up to

In English, we have started reading We’re Going to Find a Monster. The children had to design their very own monster and describe some of the creepy places you had to travel through to get to the monster. Next week, we will be writing our own journey to find a monster!

In Maths, we have been learning to count in 2s, 5s and 10s. This is a challenging topic for lots of the children, so if you have time please practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s to support the children with their learning.

In RE, we began our unit on Easter by learning about Palm Sunday. We listened to the story of Palm Sunday and then designed our own palm leaves.

In Art, we continued our learning about sculpture by creating 3D artwork using different techniques to bend paper.

Kindest regards

Mrs Allen

Well done to all the children (and parents/carers!) on the spectacular costumes yesterday, to celebrate World Book Day. Everyone looked amazing! Year 1 were lucky enough visit a lovely second hand book shop in Shepherd’s Bush Market where an author read them a story and they were able to buy their very own book.

Class Assembly

As will know, we have decided not to send homework this week as we would like all the children to learn their lines for the class assembly on Thursday 9^th March. Alongside their individual lines, they need to practise the lyrics for our three songs and the dances that go with them!

Please can all costumes come into school on Monday with names on the clothes in named bags?

On Thursday morning, all children need to in school for 8.30am so that they have time to get changed and ready before the class collective worship starts at 9am.

Parents, carers and family are more than welcome to come and watch our performance! We’d love to see as many as you there as possible to support the children!

School Trip

Just a reminder that we have a school trip next week. Having looked at the forecast, we have decided to eat our pack lunch in class before we leave.  Apologies in advance if we are running late on the way back. If this is the case we will alert the office and they will notify you by Parentmail (and we will also contact the class reps to notify them).

PE next week

Due to the school trip, McNaughton Class’ PE will be on Friday morning next week. The children will need to wear normal school uniform on Monday and their PE kits on Friday.

Library next week

Due to school trip on Monday, we will have to reschedule our library visit to Thursday afternoon. Please can all library books be returned to school on Wednesday ready to be changed on Thursday.

What we have been up to

Today in Relationships and Health Education, we talked about keeping our ‘privates’ private. We showed the children a funny little video of a dinosaur called ‘Pantosaurus’ that teaches us about good and bad touches. This video is from the NSPCC and part of the Year 1 curriculum. If you have any questions about it please do let us know and don’t be surprised if your children talk to you about it this weekend.

We kicked off the week with a fabulous show in the hall about fairy tales, myths and legends. Then today, the fairy-tale theme continued when the children enjoyed a storytelling of different fairy-tales with actions, in the library.

In English, we have also based our learning on Cinderella. We started by creating a ‘story web’ where you sit in a circle passing a ball of string to one another while retelling the story of Cinderella. We then wrote invitations to our grand ball at the palace and looked at different adjectives for the word pretty.

In Maths we have been comparing numbers to 50 using the greater than less than and equal to symbols. We have also been ordering numbers from greatest or largest to smallest.

In Science, we looked at different types of plants and flowers you might come across in a garden or park. Let’s see how many we can spot on Monday!

Geography was all about what you might see on a typical farm. We looked at pictures of Fairview Farm and found out there are often barns for housing animals and crops alongside a farmhouse, pig sty, henhouse and fields and sometimes orchards.

We ended the week with a fun art lesson today where children made their very own magic wands!

Now you can all relax and have a lovely weekend (and start planning outfits for the Easter Bonnet Parade on 30^th March!!)

Kindest regards

Mrs Allen

Welcome back! We hope you all had lovely and relaxing half term breaks. If you can believe it, we’re already half way through Year 1! It’s been another fun and exciting week, and the children are working hard already learning their class assemblies.

Library

Our library slot this week will be on Wednesday afternoon again. Library books should be returned to school on Tuesday so that they are ready for our session on Wednesday.

Our library slot will return to our usual Monday slot from the week after.

World Book Day

Next Thursday 2^nd March will be World Book Day! The children will be enjoying lots of really fun activities to celebrate not just on Thursday but throughout the week.

On Thursday, the children will need to come into school dressed in character. The theme this year is Fairy-tales, Myths and Legends, so it would be great if you could dress in the theme, but it’s not compulsory.

Winkworth World Book Day Art

To celebrate World Book Day, we have partnered with Winkworth Shepherd’s Bush. In your reading folders this week. On your paper, draw your favourite character from a book, movie or cartoon OR make up your own character and story. Please return your work to school on Monday so that we can deliver them to Winkworth to be displayed in their window!

World Book Day Visit to Shepherd’s Bush Market

On Thursday we will be visiting a second hand book shop in Shepherd’s Bush Market. There will be an author reading to the children and then they are welcome to buy a book. Each book is no more than 50p so if your child would like to purchase something please send them in with no more than 50p on Thursday morning. We will confirm exact timings on Monday but need two parent helpers to join us for half an hour from 10am for Donaldson Class and 11am for McNaughton class.

Phonics Teachers from Monday

From Monday, Mrs Hardy will be working in the Nursery to support them. Unfortunately, this means that she will no longer be able to take a Phonics group in Year 1. However, we are very lucky because Miss Hana will be taking over one of the groups. We’ve decided to have a swap around of our Phonics Teachers because of this, so from Monday your child’s Phonics teacher may change. It will not have an impact on the group they are in.

Class Assembly

The children have been working hard already to learn their parts for the Class Assembly. Please spend time learning the lines with the children, as well as the line of the person before them, so that they know their lines for Monday.

You can also find the list of costumes here: Costume list

What we have been up to

In English we have really enjoyed finishing our unit on Mr Magnolia. This week we had a go at writing our own poems inspired by the book!

In Maths, we have been learning about place value within 50. We have been representing numbers using Dienes, by partitioning them into tens and ones.

In Science, the children absolutely loved planting their own sunflower seed! We’re very excited to watch them grow throughout the half term.

In RE, the children loved reading the story of Noah’s Ark. They then had to order pictures of the story in the right order.

In Geography, the children had their first lesson learning all about the different types of farms- arable, livestock and dairy!

In RHE, we learnt about how every family is different, but that all families are wonderful.

Finally, in Art, we started our unit all about making paper sculptures. The children used rolling techniques to create their own 3D artwork.

Have a lovely weekend.

Kindest regards,

Mrs Allen

We really enjoyed welcoming our special guest, Katie Piper, today. Katie Piper has written a wonderful book called All You Need and the lucky children in Year 1 were read the story by Katie before asking her some very interesting questions. Very excitingly, they have all been given a copy of the book to keep and share with you all at home.

Class Collective Worship

If you can believe it our Class Collective Worship is right around the corner! Our performance will be at 9am on Thursday 9^th of March, which is just three weeks after we return to school.

The children have started learning two of the three songs they’ll be performing and are already sounding quite excellent!

I’ve uploaded a copy of the script to this blog, which also includes all the lyrics of the songs, for the children to start learning over half term. I’ll send home a physical copy of the scripts as well once we return to school. I’ve tried to be as fair as possible when assigning children with lines, so each child does have at least 2 lines to learn.

I would be incredibly grateful if you could spend some time practising these lines with your children over the break so that they can return to school at least familiar with the lines ready to start rehearsing in earnest!

Class assembly script

What we have been up to

In English, we have been learning all about words that rhyme. The children have been finding rhyming words and also discussing words that nearly rhyme but not quite. They then wrote some excellent silly sentences today using one of the ‘oo’ sounds repeated in the book Mister Magnolia by Quentin Blake.

History was a highlight this week as the children made their very own cup and ball game based on the Victoria version. The children decorated cups and then secured string and foil balls to the end before competing to see who could catch their ball the most times in a row!

In Science, we rounded off our learning about materials with a recap on different types of materials and their many purposes. Next term we will begin our new unit on plants.

In Maths, the children practised finding out inverse addition and subtraction sentences and then compared different calculations and said which totals were greater than, less than and equal to.

In RE, Rev. Denis visited us to talk about all the amazing things the church do for the local community. We heard how St Stephen’s and the other local churches, feed, clothe and find homes for people in need.

Finally in Art, we made Valentine’s wreaths and gave them to friends and family.

Half term homework

Along with practising their spellings for a test on the Thursday after half term and reading of course, we ask that your child practises their number formation and writing numbers in words (up to 20). Each child has these sheets in their bag and any practise you can do with them will be hugely beneficial. Thanks so much.

Red Card to Racism Art Contest

Half term is the last opportunity to complete this piece of art. Please can children return any entries on Monday 20^th after the half term break.

You can find out more about the competition by following this link: ​

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/574451fe37013bd0515647ac/t/6388d1793e498f0edcead03d/1669910910116/School+COmpetition+2023+Flyer.pdf​

1 Minute Maths App

Finally, we have come across the White Rose Maths app in a recent training session and encourage you to download it on to a device at home and use with your child.

https://whiterosemaths.com/1-minute-maths

What a busy term! Can you believe we are half way through Year 1? The children are growing up so quickly and really developing in their learning and all deserve a lovely rest this week. Have a wonderful half term!

Kindest regards,

Mrs Allen

We’ve had another wonderful week in Year 1! The children loved being visited by Ranjana, Reya’s mum, to learn about the NHS! They were so impressed by all the hard work she does. They also loved celebrating Coding Day, today. They had a lot of fun during the Hour of Code on Rodocodo!

Thank you to all those who volunteered to help us on the 6^th of March for our trip to the Look Out Discovery Centre in Hyde Park. We have now filled the three volunteer spaces.

Entering in the morning

As we mentioned in the Parentmail this week, we encourage all children try to be in school at 8:45am so that they can take part in our soft start activities, which give us opportunities to practise skills we have been learning like handwriting. Next week, the children will have activities to complete all to do with Children’s Mental Health Week, so it would be great for as many children to be in to experience this as possible! However, all children need to be in school by 8:55am ready for registration at 9am. Well done to all those who have been achieving this so far.

As we also mentioned, it is incredibly important that the children enter the school building by themselves and that no adults come inside the school building. Not only does this help the children to build vital independence skills that they need as they go further up the school, but it also means that we are limiting the number of people in the coat area, which can become very congested with people. Next week, we will also be bringing the children into the classrooms via the white doors that enter directly into the classrooms to help the children to come in by themselves.

What we have been up to

In English, we finished our unit on Non-Fiction. The children loved learning facts about the planet Earth using IPads and made absolutely brilliant non-fiction fact files all about Earth! On Friday, we began our new unit all about Mr Magnolia and had to think of words using our ‘oo’ sound.

In Maths, the children practised subtraction within 20 using number lines and ten frames to support them. They then practised answering word problems involving subtraction.

In History, the children read the story Teddy, which told them all about the story of how Teddy Bears came to be after President Teddy Roosevelt saved a baby bear!

In RE, the children discussed what it meant for humans to have been created in God’s image. They had to pick a random child in the class and write about what makes them special.

In DT, the children absolutely loved finishing their DT project making puppets inspired by characters from Little Red Riding Hood. They loved using glue and fabric to decorate their puppets.

Finally, in RHE, we discussed what happens to our bodies when we feel anxious. We then wrote down who we could talk to if we felt anxious about something and who could help us.

Red Card to Racism Art Contest

Please be reminded that our Red Card to Racism Art Contest is still ongoing and there’s still plenty of time to enter! Children can make their entries at home and bring them into school to enter into the national competition! Please return all entries to either Miss Hall (Year 5 Blackman) or Mrs Allen (Year 1 McNaughton).

You can find out more about the competition by following this link: ​

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/574451fe37013bd0515647ac/t/6388d1793e498f0edcead03d/1669910910116/School+COmpetition+2023+Flyer.pdf​

Have a lovely weekend.

Kindest regards,

Mrs Allen

Mrs Allen

Wow, what an amazing and wonderful week we’ve had this week! Of course, the highlight was celebrating Lunar New Year today! The children were absolutely amazed by the dancing in our Collective Worship and had a fantastic time trying to learn some of the moves they had seen during the Ribbon Dance Workshop. They also loved being visited by Wing Kei, Beatrice’s mum, who taught the children all about how she had prepared for Lunar New Year in Hong Kong! The children also got to practise their calligraphy skills and had a go at writing a Chinese blessing in Chinese on red paper to put in their red packets – what lucky children!

What we have been up to

In English, we have been learning about fiction and non-fiction texts. The children had to sort between fiction and non-fiction texts and learnt some of the features of a non-fiction text. This topic can be quite tricky so if you have time please go over these concepts- especially before you do any reading!

In Maths, we have been learning about addition within 20 using a number line and counters to help us count on. We have also learnt our number bonds to both 10 and 20. These are really vital for children to know confidently, so please take time to practise these as well!

In Science, the children had a wonderful time with Miss Mercedes during their Scientist in Residence workshop. The children explored different materials and then they had to build a house out of different materials!

In Computing, we started our new unit Robot Words. The children loved writing silly sentences on Busy Things.

In RE, we continued our learning about the Christian Story of Creation. The children had to think of questions they wanted to ask God about his Creation! They came up with some amazing and thoughtful questions.

In History this week, the children had to sort between pictures of old and new toys and think of adjectives to describe the old toys.

Finally in Relationships and Health Education, we thought about the importance of sleep and ordered a perfect sleep routine for Harold the giraffe.

Red Card to Racism Art Contest

Please be reminded that our Red Card to Racism Art Contest is still ongoing and there’s still plenty of time to enter! Children can make their entries at home and bring them into school to enter into the national competition! Please return all entries to either Miss Hall (Year 5 Blackman) or Mrs Allen (Year 1 McNaughton).

You can find out more about the competition by following this link: ​

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/574451fe37013bd0515647ac/t/6388d1793e498f0edcead03d/1669910910116/School+COmpetition+2023+Flyer.pdf​

Homework

Hopefully everyone is now into the swing of the slightly different homework routine. Just to remind everyone that homework books and story books are returned on Wednesday, book bag books are returned on Thursdays, and library book are returned on Friday!

Have a lovely weekend.

Kindest regards,

Mrs Allen

It’s been another busy week in Year 1 and the children seem to be growing in confidence and maturity every day!

In McNaughton this week, we really enjoyed a visit from Chris Argyle, Gigi’s Grandad, who is an artist! He came to do an Artist Workshop with us all about mixing colours! We had an amazing time!

Homework

Hopefully everyone is now into the swing of the slightly different homework routine. Please can we request that you send back the coloured story books when you return the homework books – we seem to missing a few this week.

Please also make sure you are practising the spellings with your child daily so that they are prepared for their spelling tests on Thursday morning.

A gentle reminder about library books too please. As said previously, the children love getting these every Monday but will not be allowed to take a new book out unless the one before is returned. Library books should be returned on Friday (or Monday at the very latest). Thank you.

Phonics Parents Meeting

Thank you for joining us for the phonics catch up on Tuesday. Today, your children will be coming home with the Read Write Inc. sounds (sets 1-3). These are for you to keep at home and practise regularly with your child. Any questions please do get in touch.

What we have been up to

In English, we have finished our learning on Toys in Space by Mini Grey. We began the week thinking about the type of planet Hoctopize came from and finished the week by writing some amazing descriptions of this planet with adjectives and commas.

In Maths, we ended the week with an assessment on place value. From next week we will be moving back to addition and subtraction of numbers to twenty. Any practise on number bonds to ten in preparation for this would be a great help.

The children loved drawing posters in RE about how we can look after earth by recycling, reusing and saving on energy. This lesson tied in with our learning about the Christian creation story.

More posters were made in History too but these were collaborative efforts illustrating the different toys children played with in different decades from 1950 to 1990.

In Science, we investigated the properties of different materials and worked out in they were stretchy, rough, hard, absorbent etc. next week we are lucky enough to have a lesson with Mercedes, the school’s scientist in residence.

In Computing, we continued learning how to stay safe on the internet. We drew pictures of who can help us if we have a problem online.

Finally in Design and Technology we began decorating our puppets based on Little Red Riding Hood. We will be finishing them off next week and bringing them home to show you all!

Red Card to Racism Art Contest

On Monday Miss Hall introduced all the children to the Red Card to Racism Art Contest that is running. Children can make their entries at home and bring them into school to enter into the national competition! Please return all entries to either Miss Hall (Year 5 Blackman) or Mrs Allen (Year 1 McNaughton).

You can find out more about the competition by following this link: ​

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/574451fe37013bd0515647ac/t/6388d1793e498f0edcead03d/1669910910116/School+COmpetition+2023+Flyer.pdf​

Let’s hope this lovely sunshine continues! Have a lovely weekend.

Kindest regards,

Mrs Allen

We’ve had another wonderful and exciting week in Year 1! The children have bounced right back to doing their very brilliant work! The children particularly enjoyed the visit from Harold the Giraffe and the Life Bus this week!

Homework

This week, you will have noticed that the format of the homework has changed. In addition to these spellings on a Thursday, your child will now come home with the story book they have been reading in their phonics classes that week. Instead of writing sentences using their spelling words, we ask that they write one or two sentences answering the questions at the back of the story books (see attached the photo example of these questions). They are either called ‘Questions to talk about’ or ‘Questions to read and answer.’ Children should write at least one full sentence – but more if they would like – in their homework books. This change will now be the case for the rest of the academic year.

As per last term, they will receive a reading book on Fridays and Mathletics tasks to complete.

Phonics Parents Meeting

There will be a Parents Meeting this Tuesday the 17^th of January at 6pm. The meeting will give parents some additional information about Phonics in Year 1 and how you can support your children at home, especially as we work towards the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check.

The meeting will take place over Zoom. You can access the meeting by following this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81419562877?pwd=a2JUb0dmNGlZYnZaZndzM0pWU1JvZz09

We look forward to seeing many of you there, however if you are unable to attend we will share the PowerPoint with you after Tuesday.

Artist Workshops

​As part of enriching our Art learning, we are looking for any parents, carers or even grandparents who are Artists or work in an artistic career, such as architecture, who would be willing to run an Art workshop with the classes. It can be linked to to the curriculum or a stand alone lesson in the year group of your choice. If you would be interested in volunteering your time with us, please get in touch with Mrs Allen (e.allen@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk).

What we have been up to

In English, the children have absolutely loved reading the book Toys in Space by Mini Grey. The children made excellent predictions about what would happen to the toys when they saw the spaceship. They also did some fantastic writing about how Hoctopize feels when he has lost his Cuddly, and learnt some brilliant new synonyms for ‘sad’.

In Maths, our learning about place value within numbers to 20 has continued. This week, we focused on partitioning numbers into groups of 10s and 1s. This topic can be a bit tricky for some children, so if you have time please practise this with your children. The children also practised finding 1 more and 1 less of a number within 20.

In RE we continued learning about the Christian Creation Story. This week we thought about how the world looked and was when God created it and compared it to how the world is nowadays. We discussed whether we thought humans had done a good job in caring for God’s creation.

In History we started to learn about different toys from the past. We looked at pictures of old toys and even found out what some of our teacher’s favourite toys were when they were children!

In Science, we continued to learn about different materials and their properties. In this week’s lesson, we had to identify different materials used to make objects in our classroom.

In Computing, we began a new unit all about being safe online. We read a story about Smartie the Penguin who taught us who can help us if we find something unsafe online.

Finally in Design and Technology we began making our hand puppets of characters from Little Red Riding Hood. This week we designed our puppet and cut out the fabric using a template.

Enjoy your weekends.

Kindest regards,

Mrs Allen

Happy New Year! We hope you all had a lovely restful break. The children have enjoyed being back in the class, catching up with friends and chatting about all the lovely outings and trips they have been on (and also what presents were under the tree!)

Homework

As you will have seen, spellings for next Thursday are red words for all children. From next week we will resume the spellings based on their phonics groups. In addition to these spellings on a Thursday, your child will now come home with the story book they have been reading in their phonics classes that week. Instead of writing sentences using their spelling words, we ask that they write one or two sentences answering the questions at the back of the story books (see attached the photo example of these questions). They are either called ‘Questions to talk about’ or ‘Questions to read and answer.’ Children should write at least one full sentence – but more if they would like – in their homework books.

As per last term, they will receive a reading book on Fridays and Mathletics tasks to complete.

What we have been up to

In English, the children planned a recount of what they did in the Christmas holidays. They made a plan by drawing pictures of their four favourite activities and then wrote about them while trying to include adjectives and joining words.

In Maths, we continue to look at place value but this week have been looking at numbers to 20. We have been counting forwards and backwards and also practising writing our numbers in words.

In RE we have started looking at the Christian Creation story and this week we ordered pictures and captures detailing everything God created in the seven days.

In History this term we are looking at old and new toys. For the first lesson in the unit, we asked the children to draw their favourite toy at home and describe was it is like to look at and touch.

Science this term is all about different materials. We introduced the children to the main materials (wood, glass, fabric, stone, metal and plastic) and thought about their different properties.

Finally in our Art lessons this term we are focusing on Design and Technology. The children will be learning to make puppets using cloth with different joining techniques.

Maths Workshop

How Maths is Taught – a Workshop for Parents & Carers

9am Friday 20th January – Music Hall

Come and join us for 45 minutes of Maths, what else would you want to do on a Friday morning!?

This very brief workshop aims to give parents & carers an overview of how we teach Maths from Early Years to Year 6. You will see the structured stages of how mathematical concepts are developed year on year in a progressive way that lead your children’s learning in a comprehensive and systematic manner. With much focus on reasoning, we’ll also have learners on hand to help you have a go at some reasoning challenges.

No sign up needed, just come along promptly and enjoy!

Enjoy your weekends.

Kindest regards,

Mrs Allen

Examples of the Read Write Inc

What a wonderful term we’ve had! The children have worked so hard this term and have very much earnt a restful and enjoyable Christmas Holiday. This week has been another exciting week, and has been a lovely end to the term!

We’ve enjoyed a lot of Christmas related activities this week and getting ourselves into the spirit! We had a great time at our Chrismtas Party on Wednesday with Year 2 where we really enjoyed dancing and playing games to celebrate the end of term! Lastly, we had a wonderful time at our Christmas Church Service on Friday, and it was the perfect way to end the term.

Phonics in January

Following on from our Phonics Assessments carried out at the end of term, we are now adjusting our Phonics groups. As a result, the group your child is in, and their teacher, may change in January. Changing the Phonics groups allows us to make sure that each child in in a class that is pitched at the right speed for them, and will help them to make the most progress possible.

In the meantime, keep reading a wide of stories and genres with your children!

If you didn’t manage to return library books or reading books due to illness, please make sure these come in on the first day of term in January.

Have a wonderful and relaxing Christmas Holiday. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Mrs Allen

It has been another amazing week here in Year 1! Of course the highlight was our performance in The Nativity on Thursday – the children were brilliant and loved showing all the adults their wonderful songs and dances. Thank you to all who came to see the performances – we hope you loved watching them as much as we loved performing them! Thank you as well for your hard work providing costumes and practising songs and dances with the children. They were real stars!

Book Bag Books

This week we ask that all Book Bag Books could be returned slightly earlier on Wednesday 14^th December. This way we can make sure that all the books are safely back in school ready for the Christmas Holiday.

Can we also ask for any outstanding library books to be returned ASAP, please?

Homework

As you will have noticed, we have not set homework or Mathletics this week and there will not be any during the Christmas break either. We do, however, encourage you to read as much as possible with your children.

What have we been up to?  

As we said, it’s been a jam=packed week filled with lovely Christmas activities and Nativity rehearsals! But in between all our amazing singing and dancing we’ve done lots of learning!

In Maths, we finished our unit on 3D and 2D shapes by creating patterns. We then checked all our learning and understanding for the whole unit. Keep working on identifying 2D and 3D shapes in real life!

In English, we have learnt the days of the week. We practised ordering the days of the week and spelling them. This is a very tricky task so please keep practising them at home.

In History, the children absolutely loved learning about the first moon landing as our final lesson all about transport!

In Art, we’ve enjoyed decorating our Christmas tree decorations ready to be sold at the Christmas Fair tomorrow!

In Science, we really enjoyed learning about our sense of sound. We listened to different clips and had to guess what the sound was.

In Computing, we continued learning about algorithms. We had to play a game where we helped a chicken pick up food and escape a maze. We really enjoyed having to debug our algorithms to help solve the puzzles!

Have a fun and happy weekend – we hope to see you all the Christmas Fair tomorrow!

Mrs Allen

We had a wonderful trip to The Puppet Barge on Wednesday. The children were enthralled with this alternative take of Little Red Riding Hood. Mrs Allen and I were also extremely proud of the children’s manners and behaviour during the morning – the theatre even commented on what ‘great kids’ they were.

Scientist in Residence

Today, McNaughton class were lucky enough to spend the day with Mercedes, our Scientist in Residence. Working in groups of fifteen the children explored the senses of smell, sight, touch and sound to complement our class learning. The children particularly enjoyed the exploring their sense of touch by putting their hands into boxes and touching baked beans and their sense of smell to identify vinegar, coffee and oranges.

Library Books

Thank you for returning library books this week. The children will not now be receiving any more library books before the Christmas break so ALL books must be returned on Monday please.

Costumes for the Nativity

Please remember to bring in all costumes by Monday 5^th ready for our dress rehearsals on Tuesday and Wednesday. Any problems please contact your class teacher.

What have we been up to?

We have continued reading and learning about Little Red the Very Hungry Lion. We discussed how this story was a twist on the traditional story of Little Red Riding Hood. We thought about how we could change the story ourselves to make a new version. We came up with a new villain and a new person for Little Red to visit! We then planned our new version and had a go at writing our own stories!

In Maths we continued learning about shapes. This week we identified and sorted 3D Shapes.

In RE, we continued our learning about the Nativity story. We learnt about why Mary and Joseph were chosen to be Jesus’ parents and what made them good people.

In History, we learnt about the invention of the aeroplane. We really enjoyed making our own paper aeroplanes and seeing how far we could make them fly!

In Art, we enjoyed making salt dough decorations ready to paint for next week in time to sell at the Christmas Fair!

In RHE we discussed who our special people are and made our special person a card explaining why they are so special to us.

Christmas Jumpers and Own-clothes day

On Wednesday 7^th December, it will be our Christmas Dinner in school. To celebrate, the children may wear a Christmas jumper, along with the rest of their normal school uniform.

On Thursday 8^th December, the children may wear their own clothes to school and bring in a bottle for the adult tombola or a jar of goodies (sweets, hair bands, stickers, beads etc) for the child tombola.

Have a wonderful and restful weekend.

Mrs Allen

Thank you to all those who have been practising their songs for our Nativity on Thursday 8^th December. Please continue to help your children learn the words and dances to the songs so they are confident and happy during the actual performance. On Thursday 8^th December there will be two performances at 9:30 am and 2pm. Please do come along, younger siblings and other relatives welcome! You do not need to book to attend a specific performance.

Class Trip

As you know on Wednesday, we are taking the whole of Year 1 to see Little Red Riding Hood at the Puppet Barge in Little Venice. The performance is in the morning so we will be back for lunch in school as usual, so the children will not need a packed lunch or any snacks. Thank you to all those children who volunteered for the trip we will confirm departure times and details on Monday next week.

Library Books

We have noticed that lots of the children are not returning their library books on time, which unfortunately means they cannot have a new book this week. As a result, the children often get sad because they are missing out on experiencing new and exciting books. The library is an excellent resource as it helps the children to experience a wide range of books and genres and will help them with their learning.

Reading Cloud

To support with using the library, the children having been given logins to Reading Cloud. Reading Cloud can tell you which book your child has taken out currently. It also has a record of every book in our library, so you can use it to help your child explore the titles available to them and pick which book they would like to take out the following week. You can access Reading Cloud by visiting: https://www.readingcloud.net/ . The children’s logins can be found on the inside cover of the yellow Reading Logs. The 4 digit number above the barcode functions as both their username and their password when logging in.

What have we been up to?

We began the week reading another traditional tale: Little Red Riding Hood. The children then drew a story map of the book to help them retell it to one another. For the rest of the week we looked at an alternative version of the book called Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex Smith. We compared this story to the original and then looked at describing how the characters were feeling at various points in the book.

In Maths we finished our learning about addition and subtraction by comparing number sentences. This is a tricky topic so please feel free to practise again at home if you have time. On Friday, we started our new unit on 2D and 3D shapes and enjoyed colouring in pictures by identifying the shapes in them.

In Computing we began a new unit all about journeys using BeeBots. We absolutely loved exploring how to use the BeeBots and programming them to travel around the room!

In History we learnt about the invention of the car and how cars have developed over time. We then became inventors ourselves and designed what we thought cars in the future will look like.

In Science we continued learning about our senses- this time focussing on taste! We had a taste test experiment where we had to try 5 different foods: olives, crisps, a biscuit, lemons and an orange. We had to predict what it would taste like and then after we had tried it write down how it really tasted.

We’ve also really enjoyed continuing our practise for the Nativity. We are loving learning our songs and dances. Please keep practising these this week so that we’re polished and ready for our performance on the 8^th of December.

Winter Uniform

We just wanted to remind all parents and carers about the Winter Uniform expectations. The winter uniform includes a tie, jumper or cardigan and school shoes not trainers. If you do not have any of these items, such as a tie, you can purchase them from ParentMail or Gooddies School Uniform website.

Have a wonderful and restful weekend.

Mrs Allen

This week we have started practising our Nativity songs. Yes, Christmas is nearly here! As many of you may know, Year 2 take the main parts of the Nativity and each Year 1 class sings two songs, one on their own and then the finale. The children seem to really be enjoying themselves and we encourage you to help your children learn the words of the songs (attached). We will be sending out costume requirements the week beginning 28^th November.

What have we been up to?

In English, we continued looking at The Three Little Pigs. We began the week thinking about describing words for the Big Bad Wolf and then learnt some synonyms for bad. We also introduced the idea of question sentences and question marks and discussed using the prefix ‘un’ to change the meaning of a root word. Finally, we created brilliant Wanted posters looking for The Big Bad Wolf.

In Maths we carried on looking at subtraction specifically thinking of taking away a part from a ‘Part-Part-Whole’ model. The learning was tricky but the children really tried and worked hard. We then used number lines to work out subtraction sentences and the children flew through the tasks.

In RE we have begun our unit on Nativity Characters. Today’s lesson was thinking about the role of the Angels in helping spread the Good News.

In History, we thought about old and new trains and discussed how they are different and how they are the same. We found out the main difference is that today trains are electric but before they were powered by steam.

In Science, we continued learning about the five sense focussing on Touch. We worked in partners to describe how various objects felt using scientific vocabulary such as hard, soft, rough, rigid, smooth etc.

In Art we loved learning how to block print with Lego pieces. We practised making different patterns before trying to paint out our initials.

Keeping Warm

As the colder days approach please make sure your child is appropriately dressed for school with jumpers and cardigans and coats. On PE and gym days they should be coming in to school in tracksuit bottoms and hoodies/sweatshirts. Please do also keep sending in water bottles so that children remain hydrated even in the chilly weather.

Mathletics

This week, some children may find the ‘addition and subtraction’ Mathletics task a bit trickier. We have been using number lines in class and we encourage you to do the same at home with these challenges. Number lines can be quickly drawn with numbers from 1-20.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Allen

Song 9 Finale

McNaughton Angels Gods messengers

What a wonderful and exciting week we’ve had this week! We’ve all earnt a lovely and relaxing weekend!

Spelling Tests

Thank you for all your support with the spelling tests. We don’t want them to be overwhelming for the children but would like to request that the children are learning and practising these spellings throughout the week so that they are completely embedded in the children’s memory. These spellings are important because they help the children revise their sounds and will support their writing in the future.

What have we been up to?

In English we’ve absolutely loved learning about The Three Little Pigs. We started the week by acting out the story and on Tuesday we did a comprehension on the story. On Thursday, we were really excited to receive a Wanted poster looking for the Big Bad Wolf from the fairy-tale police.

In Maths we have begun learning about subtraction. We have practised taking away from the whole number using number stories, and have been introduced to the subtraction symbol and begun using it in number sentences.

In RE we have continued to learn about the Saints and this week we learnt about different famous saints including the Patron Saints of the United Kingdom.

In RHE we learnt about the difference between bullying, unkindness and teasing. We discussed who can help us if someone is unkind to us, or if we see someone else being unkind.

In History we enjoyed learning about the history of trains and learnt that George Stevenson is the Father of the Railway!

In Science we continued learning about the body. We learnt about our senses, focussing on sight.

Finally, in Art we continued to learn about mixing primary colours to make secondary colours.  This week we created artwork inspired by Numbers in Color by Jasper Johns. We loved using broad brush strokes to create exciting artwork.

Read and Share

Thank you to the children who shared their favourite books in Read and Share this week. Each Friday, the children who are going to present the following week will receive a letter telling them, so please keep an eye out for the letter!

Bible Verse

Please remember to continue practising our Bible verse when you can.

“1 John 4 vs 16 – And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Allen

We hope you all had a restful half term – the children certainly seem full of beans to be back!

Next week we have a change to the PE schedule. No PE on Monday (as Alastair is out), instead PE will be on Friday afternoon for both classes.

What have we been up to?

We began the week making our very own Leaf Men out of lovely autumnal leaves. We then used our English lessons to write instructions for how to make a leaf man. We learnt about sentence starters, to tell someone the order of the instruction, and then bossy (imperative) verbs to tell us what to do.

This week we have also had more of a focus on handwriting. Please do encourage your children to keep their writing sitting on the line with finger spaces in between when doing any writing. They also need to remember capital letters and full stops in all sentences.

In Maths, we have been adding two numbers together to make a whole and then writing the number sentences correctly in our Maths book. We have been comparing different groups of numbers using the greater than, less than and equal to symbols.

We have started a new topic in History this term. The focus is on old and new transport with Wednesday’s lesson looking at different modes of transport in the past. The children were asked to imagine what it would be like travelling by horse and cart and then had to work out which transport was used in the past and what types of transport we have now.

Science this term is all about the human body. The children really enjoyed trying to guess what part of the body I was describing from the clues! They then labelled and named the main parts of the body.

In Art we learnt about mixing primary colours to make secondary colours. Using colouring pencils, pastels and paint we experimented with mixing different amounts of primary colours to make new colours.

Finally, in RE we have been thinking about saints and what they are. We talked about our school’s saint, Saint Stephen and what characteristics and qualities a saint must have.

Read and Share

Thank you to the children who started our Read and Share time today. As mentioned, every Friday two children from each class will be asked to share a book they have enjoyed, with the rest of the class. They need to be able to talk about why they like it and what it is about but don’t need to prepare anything else.

Bible Verse

Please remember to keep practising our Bible verse when you can.

“1 John 4 vs 16 – And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Allen

What an amazing end to the half term! We have absolutely loved learning about other cultures during Black Voices Week and Show Red Card to Racism Day! It has been a brilliant week learning about Nigeria and Nigerian culture through our wonderful core book Chicken in the Kitchen.

What have we been up to?

The highlight of our week has been Black Voice Week. In English our work has been based around the book Chicken in the Kitchen by Nnedo Okorafor and Mehrdokht Amini. The book tells the story of a little girl from Nigeria, Anyaugo, who wakes up in the night to discover an enormous chicken in her kitchen the night before the New Yam Festival! The children enjoyed making predictions about the story and describing the chicken. Through our learning we explored brilliant new words that mean ‘big’!

In Art, we also did work inspired by Chicken in Kitchen. We replicated the beautiful patterns in the drawings of the chicken’s feathers and used watercolours and pastels to create our own bright feathers for the chicken.

In Maths we’ve started learning about addition and have practised forming addition number sentences using counters and bar models.

In Science we had an exciting lesson making rain gauges using water bottles and jelly! After the half-term holiday we’re very excited to start measuring the rain in the playground.

Following our Red Card to Racism Collective Worship, in RHE we took part in an experiment that helped us consider the impact of racism on people. We thought about the different groups we belong to, for example if we have brown hair or blonde hair, and how we would feel if someone treated one group better than the other. We then discussed how we should respond if we, or someone around us, experiences racism.

We also really enjoyed a visit from our special guest- Wing Kei, Beatrice’s mum. She came to visit us as part of our Black Voices Week, and helped us learn about other cultures. We learnt about a wonderful Chinese poem and then created artwork inspired by the poem.

We also had an excellent time learning about Diwali, and enjoyed a special Diwali inspired lunch.

Bible Verse

Each year we have a Bible verse for the children to learn.

This is Year 1’s Bible verse:

“1 John 4 vs 16 – And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

Over the holiday, please spend some time reading through the Bible Verse and have a go at learning it.

Read and Share

In order to encourage a love for reading and books within the children, after half term we will be introducing ‘Read and Share’. Each week, 2 children from each class will be asked to share their favourite book with the class.

Have a wonderful and relaxing half term holiday!

Mrs Allen

The children love a trip – even a short one around the local area! Thank you to our parent helpers who accompanied us on a loop of Shepherd’s Bush for our Geography learning on ‘Where I Live’. Along the way we spotted the local landmarks and thought about what we could hear and smell too!

On Friday 21st October, we will be holding our annual ‘Red Card to Racism’ day. For those of you unfamiliar, this is an opportunity to show support and raise money for the UK’s largest anti-racism charity. On the day, children can wear their own clothes and we encourage them all to wear something red. If you are able to, we ask that children make a contribution to the charity in the buckets that will be in the playground before school that morning.  www.theredcard.org/.

Homework and Spelling Test

The children had their first spelling test on Thursday. As a reminder, the spellings and green homework books go out every Thursday to be returned the following Wednesday. The spelling test will be the Thursday after they are returned. Spellings should be practised daily, if possible, and not just once so that the children really are learning the words. All the spellings will include a sound that has been taught that week so all the children should feel comfortable with the words.

Reading books will continue to be sent out every Friday to be returned the following Thursday.

A note on the library books. Year 1 is very lucky to have a library session with Mrs Pereira every Monday morning. At that time, they choose a book which they can take home for the week. These books must be returned by the Friday so they can receive a new book the following Monday. Books that are not returned will incur a fine and a new book cannot be issued until the fine is paid.

What have we been up to?

In English, we spent the week looking at the poem A Dragon in the Classroom by Charles Thompson. We thought about rhyme and adjectives and finished the week writing our own versions of the poem.

In Maths, we have started looking at addition by focusing on ‘Part-Part-Whole’ models. The children have been learning that the two parts make a whole and can be written as an addition sentence.

In RE we looked at the importance of prayer for Muslims and the children designed their own prayer mats.

In Relationships & Health education we thought about all the qualities a friendship needs such as kindness and laughter and then filled in a friendship flower about our best friends.

In Art we continued working on our drawing from observation skills and created final still life pieces using all the skills we have learnt this half term.

Finally, in Science we looked at how the seasons affect food and humans.

Mathletics

A message from Mr Gane:

Mathletics is our eco-friendly homework setting system for Maths and children’s weekly work is monitored and assessed in exactly the same manner as traditional written homework.

Homework tasks set on Mathletics are expected to be completed on rough paper, with the final answers then entered in to the device – unless specifically stated, it is NOT mental Maths, so ‘workings out’ are expected/required at home, but not to be handed in. Remember that most questions have an animation that explicitly explains the method, demonstrating each step to solve the problem, if your child needs a reminder of how to complete the task.

We have checked that your child’s login details are correct, if in doubt do ask the teacher to check again. That means that for any other issues, parents/carers should contact the Mathletics helpline, as it will be an issue with your internet set up at home, or iPad setting or browser or any other number of issues – we can’t help there. See the information below that might help.

Mathletics can be accessed by PC/Mac, iOS and Android devices as well as Windows tablets and Chromebooks – on the laptops at school we find that it works best using either the Microsoft Edge or Chrome browsers. See http://www.3plearning.com/tech/mathletics/ for more details and if you experience difficulty in loading the Mathletics website at home please contact Mathletics ‘LIVE Chat Online’ help or email via https://www.mathletics.com/in/contact/

Thank you again for your support.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs Allen

We hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. Despite a four day week, the children have been very busy.

Homework and Reading Books

On Thursday, the children received their homework books and the homework task. These need to be returned to school by Wednesday next week. We have not currently been testing the children on their spellings but hope that they will all practise these red words at home. As soon as the phonics groups are set (next week at some point) we will start basing spellings on our phonics sounds and bringing in spelling tests but we will give everyone warning on this!

This week, we have also set two more tasks on Mathletics homework for the children to complete.

Book bag reading books also went out today to be returned on Thursday next week please.

What have we been up to?

This week, we have continued to focus our English learning on Daisy Eat Your Peas. The children have been introduced to the idea of singular and adding ‘s’ and ‘es’ to words to make them plural and we have been looking again at capital letters and full stops

In Maths, we have been finding one more and one less of numbers and counting forwards and backwards to twenty in numbers and words.

In Geography, we continued to think about where we live and learnt about the countries and capitals of the United Kingdom. This is quite a tricky topic for Year Ones to remember so please do go over these if and when you have time!

We continued to learn all about the seasons in Science and Islam in RE. In Relationships and Health Education we carried on talking about our feelings and the children wrote about how they were feeling at the start of the day (thankfully most of them were happy and excited!)

Finally, Art was a highlight this week. We created group wave artwork whilst listening to La Mer by Debussy. We were inspired by the artwork of Zaria Foreman called Maldives. We loved creating all different kinds of lines and waves whilst being moved by the music.

Sports Morning

We have a Sports trip on the morning of Wednesday 28^th September organised by Alastair. Please can all children come into school in their PE kits. They do not need a packed lunch (unless they have one normally). This trip is in addition to the normal PE lesson on Monday.

Have a lovely relaxing weekend,

Mrs Allen

The children have had another excellent week. They are settling in very well to Year 1 and are starting to begin more structured work.

Homework and Reading Books

We would like to clarify the homework and Reading Book arrangements for Year 1.

On Thursday the children received the homework books and the homework task. These need to be returned to school by Wednesday next week. Usually in Year 1, the homework is closely linked to the learning the children are doing in Phonics. However, the children are currently being assessed in Phonics, and this homework style will not begin until after all these assessments are complete in a few weeks. In the meantime, the homework will be given to you on a sheet for the children to complete in the homework books.

The children have also been given Mathletics homework and you can find their login details on the inside of their homework books.

The children will also be given a weekly Book Bag Book linked to their Phonics level. They need to take this home to read every day to revise and practise their Phonics skills. These books need to be returned to school on Thursday to be changed and given back out on Friday.

Lastly, the children are given a Library book during their Library sessions with Ms Pereira. These books are to be read for pleasure and the children can either read these to themselves or you can read to them. They must come back into school on Mondays when the children will change them themselves during their Library session and choose a new book.

What have we been up to?

This week, we have read Daisy Eat Your Peas, and have begun our unit of work learning all about that story. We have also been learning about counting to twenty in Maths and being able to read and write the numbers using both numerals and words! In Geography we learnt about where we live and about the seven continents. Lastly, in Art we have begun experimenting with making lines, using pencils, pastels and even string!

A request for Photos

In Geography this half term, Year 1 will be learning all about where we live. We are making a display in the classroom to celebrate this learning. In order to create this display, I would be very grateful if you could bring in any photographs of your child in front of a landmark from around England or the world. This can be a London, Shepherd’s Bush, or international landmark.

A request from Reception

If you have any old spare, small, school uniform, underpants or socks, could you please donate them to the Reception unit so that they can have some spares for the children?

Thank you for all your support this week and any questions please feel free to email on e.allen@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk

Have a lovely long weekend,

Mrs Allen

What a brilliant first week we have had. Your children have all been amazing; listening, trying their best and most importantly being positive and smiley. We are very impressed about how independent they already are, coming in and getting straight on with any activity or work set (with very few grumbles or tears!). Mrs Hayes and I are very excited about the coming year.  This morning we went to a special church service to celebrate the life of Her Majesty the Queen. We sang songs and even lit tea lights in the church in her memory.

Homework

There will be no homework set today but your child should have come home with a book bag book. This book should be read for pleasure a few times over the week and returned (in its folder with the reading record signed) on Thursday next week.

In Year 1, homework is linked to our Read Write Inc. phonics programme. We will start setting homework once we have assessed all the children’s phonics and grouped them accordingly. Homework will then be set each week on a Thursday and will need to be returned by the following Wednesday. The homework will consist of a phonics book (that your child will have read every day that week), a green homework book to write sentences and a spelling sheet. They will have a spelling test on Thursday morning. On Friday, we will be sending home a book bag book which should be read for pleasure. In addition, on Fridays we will be setting Maths tasks on Mathletics, to be completed by the following Friday.

Information on blog

We have uploaded a copy of our weekly timetable and the Year 1 curriculum map (outlining key topics in all subjects).

What have we been up to?

This week has very much been about settling in to Year 1, getting to know their new teachers and getting used to the new classroom, playground and routine. We have also worked in small groups in English and Maths. English was all about writing simple sentences about the summer holidays – remembering those all-important capital letters and full stops. In Maths, we thought about our number formation and counting and recognising numbers to 20.

What an artistic bunch of children! We have done lots of art this week. We started by creating some eye-catching book covers for our Art books and have also each drawn a self-portrait which we will be putting on display soon.

We have been revisiting our Set 1 digraphs in Phonics as a whole class and will be assessing the children on their sounds next week before putting the children into smaller phonics groups.

A request from Reception

If you have any old spare, small, school uniform, underpants or socks, could you please donate them to the Reception unit so that they can have some spares for the children?

Thank you for all your support this week and any questions please feel free to email on e.allen@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Allen

We’ve had another fantastic and jam-packed week of exciting learning! We especially enjoyed taking part in our sports morning and being taught by the Year 6 Sports Captains! We also had a fantastic time during our special Harvest Church Service, and we were so impressed by the extremely generous donations made by the parents.

Reading Books

Now that we’ve had a few weeks to settle we’re really trying to encourage the children to understand the importance of reading books. It’s really important that the children are heard reading by an adult at home using their reading books. Please make sure that you then sign their reading log to show that you have read with them so that we can change their books the following week. If the reading log is not signed the children will be given back their book to make sure that they have read their story with an adult.

Encouraging Independence in the Morning

In Year 1, something that we really work on is building the children’s independence both in their learning and in their life. We really encourage the children to become more responsible for looking after their belongings such as their book bag. In order to support them in gaining these skills please make sure that you drop your child off at the door rather than come inside the school building with them. This way they can practise putting away their own things and getting out their water bottles etc. to make sure they’re ready for their day of learning.

What have we been up to?

This week, we have continued with our learning based on Daisy Eat Your Peas. We wrote about foods that we like and dislike and practised using ‘and’ in our sentences. We also learnt what a noun is and had a go at sorting nouns into their types.

In Maths, we have been learning about greater than and less than. We were even visited by crocodiles in class to help us use our greater than and less than symbols correctly.

In Geography, we continued to think about where we live and learnt about the countries and capitals of the United Kingdom. We learnt about the national flowers and animals of each of the four countries in the United Kingdom. Please continue to practise naming the countries with your children if you have time because it’s a challenging topic.

We continued to learn all about the seasons in Science and Islam in RE. In Relationships and Health Education we talked about how you can hurt either your feelings or your body and understanding the difference. In Science, we learnt about how robins adapt to the different seasons in the UK. Lastly, in RE we read the Islamic stories of The Prophet and the Ants, and The Crying Camel. We all agreed with the message of looking after all animals.

Finally, in Art this week we were using different line drawing techniques to create a still life drawing of some fruit. It was very tricky to make our fruits look life like but we managed to make some fantastic finished pieces of art.

Have a lovely relaxing weekend,

Mrs Allen

Wow! What a wonderful and exciting week we’ve had. Of course, the absolute highlight for everyone was Hispanic Day! We absolutely loved seeing the Mexican Folk Dancers perform during Collective Worship and had an amazing time learning how to do some Mexican Folk Dancing in our workshop afterwards. It was brilliant! We also had a great time listening to the female Mariachi band in the afternoon and making Mexican chants and clapping along to the music. We learnt about Spain and Picasso in Art and had a fantastic time making portraits.

A request for helpers

On Friday afternoon, McNaughton Class will be going on a short local walking visit around Shepherd’s Bush. If any parents would like to volunteer to join us please email me. It will be first come first served.

Homework and Spelling Test

Now that the children have been placed into their new Phonics groups we are able to begin Year 1 homework as it will usually be and start the spelling tests. You will have noticed that on Thursday, a sheet with spellings was stuck into the children’s homework books. These spellings are for the children to practise and learn for the week. On Thursday next week the children will be tested on these spellings. The spellings are set based on the sounds the children have been learning in their Phonics groups so should be revision for the children. The children then need to write 1 or 2 sentences using one of their spelling words in their homework books, not on the sheet.

Encouraging Independence in the Morning

Thank you to those who have been dropping of the children outside of the school building in order to encourage independence. We would now like to make sure that all parents are staying outside and not coming into the school building so that the children are in charge of putting away their own belonging and are becoming more responsible for themselves.

What have we been up to?

In English, we started the week by making honey sandwiches! We then spent the following days learning how to write instructions about how to make the sandwiches again. We especially focussed on using time connectives such as ‘first’ and ‘finally’.

In Maths, we have been having some really exciting lessons all about place value. We learnt how to use ordinal numbers, and how to make and use a number line.

In Geography, we continued learning about the United Kingdom. We learnt the difference between rural and urban environments.

In RE we were learning about the Muslim celebration of Aqiqah and how Muslims celebrate a new baby being born.

Lastly, we really enjoyed making portraits in the style of Pablo Picasso on Hispanic Day! First, we created sculptures using Play-dough. In the afternoon we used collage and oil pastels to work together as teams to make giant portraits!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs Allen