KS1 – Newsletter – 14.10.22

It’s been a busy week in Key stage one, with lots going on and visitors in to see how we teach and learn phonics.

This is mental health awareness week and so we have been doing various activities in class to support this. We declared positive affirmations about ourselves such as; I am important,  I am good at lots of things, My feelings matter, It’s okay to make mistakes. We thought about ways to make ourselves and others happy, by being kind, playing together, telling jokes and spending time together. We also thought about what things caused us to feel a bit stressed and worked out some strategies of ways that we can help ourselves to calm down and to cope in those situations. 

Please have a look at the link below for a competition from Lidl. “We’re looking for a drawing of what makes your Lidl’uns (under 12 years old) happy, that could be a trip to the park, visiting their grandparents or even a Lidl croissant to support World Mental Health Day! The winning entry will see their drawing and name on one of our billboards outside of our stores across the UK.”

https://www.lidl.co.uk/about-us/competitions/nspcc-world-mental-health-competition

We have continued to use the book ‘How to help a hedgehog and protect a polar bear’ in our English lessons. We have also used other books and resources to find out facts about hedgehogs. We gathered information together and wrote our own fact files.

In Maths this week, both year groups were learning how to  write numbers as words. Year one played a variety of games to help them recognise how to spell the numbers and have been matching them to their numerals, before practising writing them. Year two, have also been looking at how to put numerals and numbers in words onto a numberline.

We are continuing to think about working scientifically in our Science lessons. This week, we were looking at how to record efficiently. We have looked at tally charts and how they can be used to record lots of data that can be added up quickly afterwards. We collected data from our class on what our favourite colour is and what pets we might like and recorded them on tally charts.

After learning about how hedgehogs curl up into a ball when they are scared or to protect themselves, we learnt about rolling in PE. We practised different rolls; a log roll, a teddy bear roll and a forward roll. We all really enjoyed it, but found the teddy bear rolls the most challenging to co ordinate how our bodies needed to move to roll the correct way.

In Geography, we have reminded ourselves of the four countries making up the United Kingdom and their capital cities. We then continued to look at some of the key facts about them including what their flag looks like, what their flower is and what features and buildings you may see there. We then put all this information onto a poster about the UK.

Year One have been looking at special books from the Christian and Muslim faith and thinking about stories they contain. They thought about how the world might have been formed, from a Big Bang and evolution or by some higher being creating it. They noticed similarities between the Muslim and Christian creation stories. In Year two, the children were focusing on the Islamic faith and were learning about some key beliefs about Allah and Prophet Muhammad. They looked at where they go to worship, the fact they read the Qu’ran and about the significance of Mecca – along with the fact they make special pilgrimages there and face towards Mecca when they pray.

In Art, the children have continued to look at the work of Picasso. They have been using oil pastels this week, to create their own versions of his work.

In DT, the children have been learning how to work safely when preparing food and used these skills to make their own raita. They looked at how mint grows on the plant, before smelling it and chopping it to put into the dip.They were then able to taste it on pitta bread, before learning how to clear and wash up correctly. In the other DT group, after designing their candles, they have begun the process of making them!

We finished off the week in style by doing forest schools for National Forest Schools day. Please have a look at the post for more information and pictures.

Ruby Koopman, Mrs Koopman’s daughter is raising money for the Scout Jamboree. Please have a look  at the link below:

World Scout Jamboree Halloween Event poster- RK.

Key Dates:

Next week is week 2.

Forest schools on Monday – Please wear appropriate warm clothing

PE Kits needed for class 1 on Thursday and Classes 2 + 3 on Friday