KS1 – Newsletter – 23.1.26

We have had a great week in Key Stage One and are well into our topic on Africa now.

After reading other people’s diaries of going on safari last week, this week we had a go at writing our own. We thought about what animals we might see and what the animals were doing. We practised writing in the past tense and putting in sentences about our feelings. At the end, we checked that the sentences made sense and that we had used capital letters and full stops correctly, before we published them for our folders.

In Maths, Year One have been working on addition again. They have been finding numberbonds to 20 and have been using numberlines, part whole models and bar models to answer number sentences to 20 and beyond. In Year Two, one group were finishing their subtraction topic, completing word problems using bar models and whole part models. The other group have been working independently to complete missing number problems.

Year One have been listening to and learning some African songs in music. They passed the bean bag round whilst singing African folk songs, listening to the steady beat. They also read ‘Lila and the secret of the rain’, which is a Kenyan story and they have been adding sounds to make a rain composition. Year Two have been watching Ravel’s Bolero (Torvill and Dean’s dance music) which had a big crescendo (getting louder) in it. They then made their own compositions using the stick notations that they learnt last time.

We had a provision time for Science, where the children were able to choose and explore what they would like to do. They looked at various objects and decided if they would float or sink and if they would be magnetic, before testing their theory. They also categorised items according to what material they are made from and whether they are hard or soft.

In history, we began to look at how things have changed in South Africa from the 1900’s to now. We learnt about Apartheid and how the white people ruled unfairly over the black people. The children were sad to hear how different race groups were separated and couldn’t go to the same schools or even live in the same cities. They were pleased to hear how things have changed, how people can live together and be friends and also how equality was brought in with all people being allowed to vote.

In art, the children have been looking at the textures of African animals. They have been experimenting with different materials to create animal collages.

After designing their elephant in the last session, the children began to cut out their design in design technology. They chose the colours that they wanted to use and thought about how to make it easier to cut the felt depending on the shape/ pattern they have chosen.

We are taking a new approach to PSHE and giving children problems and seeing how they solve them – without telling them that’s what we’re doing! This week, we put out a range of crafting materials, some that were bright and colourful, or bows etc.. some small bits or scrap paper. We then observed what the children did when there wasn’t enough for each of them etc.. We sat in a circle to show what we’d made and observed the differences between them either because of what materials they had been able to get or how they’d used them.

In RE, We read some stories that Jesus told called parables. These parables always had a moral or a meaning. This week, we read the parable of the lost coin and the lost sheep. The children thought about what Jesus was teaching people about them and how important even one person is.

Our week finished with alternative PE. This week’s slots included Bollywood dancing, Bench ball, axe throwing and table tennis. It’s always really interesting to see who has a hidden talent as we try some new things!

Dates for your diary.

Friday 13^th January – Break up for half term