WELCOME TO YEAR 1 BUNTINGS

Buntings are a family of birds that includes the Cirl Bunting. This bird is very rare and can be found by the coast in South Devon. Just like us! Many Buntings are long distant migrants which means they travel many miles around the world every year. Just like we will be doing in our learning in this Term's theme!

THIS TERMS THEME

'# Explore More'

This term, we will focus on cross curricular Science learning by linking Science to Art, DT, Writing and Maths. We will be looking at naming and labelling a variety of plants and trees. We will also be looking at seasonal changes and presenting our findings in our learning celebration. Our class texts 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and 'Tree' will be used to link our Science learning to story writing and picture book creating. 

P.E AND DANCE DAYS

P.E/Dance Days are Tuesday and Friday each week. Please ensure that your child has the correct kit in school all week. We will ensure that they are sent home at the end of every half term.

HOME LEARNING DAYS

Home Learning will be handed out on a Friday and collected in on a Friday and collected in on a Wednesday. This will give you the opportunity to explore aspects of your child's learning if you wish.

                                         UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday 1st April- Final day of Term

Monday 19th April- First day of Summer Term

Monday 3rd May- Bank Holiday

Monday 17th and Thursday 20th May- Parent's evening

Monday 31st May- Bank Holiday

Monday 7th June- INSET day

Wednesday 7th July- Science Museum

Wednesday 14th July- End of Year Reports

Wednesday 21st July- Sports Day

Friday 23rd July- Final day of Summer Term

MEET THE TEAM

f there are any issues or concerns, please contact your class teacher (Mrs Walker) or alternatively please contact a team leader (Mr O'Sullivan, Mrs Jarrett);

nwalker@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

losullivan@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

sjarrett@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021

Summer Term

Summer term curriculum map

Wednesday 21st July 2021- Sports day!

This afternoon, we had our Year One sports day and everyone was AMAZING!!

We had an egg and spoon race, a beanbag race and a hurdles race. Everyone tried their hardest and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Friday 9th July 2021- Dance: The life cycle of a plant

This week we listened carefully to the tempo of the music and moved our bodies according to whether the music was fast or slow. We then listened to Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers and showed the life cycle of a plant through the medium of dance! Check out our photos we worked brilliantly with our learning partners to create different dances.

Friday 2nd July 2021 - Design Technology...All about Trees!

As part of our writing journey we are learning all about the different types of trees and the how to identify them from comparing leaves. In our DT lesson today we got to plan and begin creating a 'lift the flap' leaflet that will hold all of our brilliant learning. We started by adding to our plan in our writing journey. Using a post it note we decided where we wanted our flaps to go to reveal more interesting facts about trees and we then started to create our very own leaflet by designing the front cover with a drawing of a tree.

Monday 21st June 2021- Joseph Coelho, poet and author came to visit us on TEAMs!!!

We had a VERY special and inspiring visitor 'in' school today! Joseph has written several picture books and poetry books and came to visit Reception, Year One and Year Two online.

We learned a bit about his upbringing and motivations to become a writer in an assembly and then we joined in with an interactive reading of his books. 

We finished our session with some questions from the children and all three Year One classes asked some brilliant questions!

Thank you Joe we had a fabulous time!

Friday 18th June 2021-Interactive author workshop

Year One were very excited to be able to watch Julia Donaldson performing some of her stories. They acted out one of her poems too. We watched Axel Scheffler drawing some of his creatures from Tiddler and The Gruffalo and Mrs Walker had a go at copying him (check out the Gruffalo on her whiteboard!). Axel Scheffler then joined the workshop live and some questions asked by the children were read out to him. Some of the children then decided to create their own illustrations during choosing time in the afternoon. We really enjoyed joining in with this workshop!

Tuesday 8th June 2021: Maths- Position and Direction

This week, the Buntings have been learning how to describe turns. They have new learned the following key vocabulary: quarter turn, full turn, half turn and three quarter turn. We also watched the Cha Cha Slide and joined in with the dance to remember our left from our right. Have a go at home!

Friday 28th May 2021: Friday Library Time

In Friday's we explore the wonderful picture books we currently have in the school library. A large selection is chosen and brought into class and the Buntings are able to choose a book they like and either read it to themselves or with their friends. We had lots of lovely discussions with one another and enjoyed exploring the illustrations.

Monday 17th May - Friday 21st May: Choosing our learning

Everyday, we have time to choose our own learning and the Buntings have all been incredibly engaged in the activities we have in class. The playdoh flower labelling activity was very popular with lots of independent writing occurring. Well done everyone!

Monday 11th May 2021- Mental health awareness week: Cloud watching

This week is mental health awareness week and in Year One we had a circle time assembly to discuss how to manage our emotions. We discussed different strategies we could use such as mindfulness, breathing deeply and enjoying being outside. We went out and gazed up at the clouds. We enjoyed finding different shapes,animals and objects formed in the clouds and even learned a new word 'scudding'. Scudding explains how clouds are oved by the wind in straight, fast lines across the sky. We saw lots of clouds scudding too!

Friday 7th May 2021- Science: Labelling the parts of a plant

Our budding Scientists have been learning all about plants. We have planted our very own beans which have started to shoot upwards, created playdoh flowers in continuous provision and made beautiful flowers using Art resources. Today we looked at Scientifically labelling the different parts of a plant. Everyone was amazing at this, well done Buntings!

Thursday 29th April 2021- Philosophy for Children

In Writing today, we had a Philosophy for Children session which was discussion based; our question was 'Is Jack a hero or a villain?'. 

We started by setting out our talk rules which we should all follow. Then we looked at images of heroes/villains and decided which category they should go in. 

By the end of the session we decided that Jack is both a hero and a villain because he stole and stealing is wrong BUT he did it to feed his family!

Monday 19th April 2021- Science and Writing: Bean planting

For our new Writing journey, we are looking at Jack and the Beanstalk which links in with our Science topic on Plants.

We planned and set up an experiment to see what plants need to grow.

We will also be using our observational skills to chart the growth of our plants and link this with our Maths learning on measuring and recording data. 

ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021

Spring Term

Spring Term Curriculum Map

Wednesday 31st March 2021- Science: Classifying animals

This week, we have been looking at different animals and how to classify them into groups. We sorted them into: mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects, birds and fish. We then applied this knowledge to our writing when we included information on which group our animal in our information booklet belonged to. 

Thursday 25th March 2021- Handwriting

We have been carefully practicing our diagonal joins to an anticlockwise letter. Everyone tried really hard to ensure their letters were joined correctly and sat their letters on the line.

Thursday 18th March 2021- Writing: Can I identify the features of an information leaflet?

Our writing journey will end with all children creating an information leaflet on their favourite animal. So today we worked in teams to identify the features of a leaflet so that we know what we need to include once we are ready to create our own.

Our first week back- 8.3.21-12.3.21: Choosing our learning and writing stories

Wow! What a fabulous first week back we have had! We started off on Monday with some teambuilding STEM, Writing and Phonics activities. We were set a challenge to create a bridge from anything we could find but it had to hold four pencils!

We also wrote a short story using a picture stimulus- this was of a storm, everyone worked really hard on these and I am so proud of everyone.

Well done Buntings you have settled in beautifully.

Autumn Term

Autumn term curriculum map

Final week in school- Christmas dinner day and craft sessions

This final week before Christmas we have experienced Christmas dinner day with the rest of the class in the dinner hall. The hall was decorated beautifully as usual but this year we also had the most wonderful winter wonderland themed display in the middle which the children found delightful.

We hope they have enjoyed their final week in school as much as we have! 

Monday 7th December 2020- Polar Express Writing Experience Day

Today, we immersed ourselves in the story of The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. We came to school in our PJ's (including ALL of the Year 1 teachers and LSA's) and carrying our golden ticket and embarked on a train journey to the North Pole! We heard the train 'thundering' and the 'hiss and squeal' of the metal. The children worked in groups to story map and sequence the story. Then we had hot chocolate and cookies. The day ended with all children receiving the first gift of Christmas. We can't wait to see the stories they produce as a result of this fabulous day!

Thursday 3rd December - Fine Motor Skills

This week in our continuous provision we have used the play dough to recreate our dinners. We then used our fine motor skills to practise using our knife and fork correctly to cut up our food.

Friday 27th November 2020- Reading for Pleasure!

In school, we regularly allow our children to access several high quality picture books independently. The children are given free choice when choosing and there is a range of fiction and non fiction stories to choose from. This time is dedicated to acting out stories, sharing stories with one another or reading alone. As you can see from the pictures this is a time of the day the children love! See if you can spot the hidden Buntings!

Week beginning 16th November 2020 - Continuous provision learning.

This week wanted to show have often we are busy learning through play in Year 1! We have been creating worry dolls in keeping with our topic Free to be Me and using them to act out stories which we then wrote independently in our Learning Journeys.

We have been zoo keepers at the Science table and spent a long time putting the escaped animals into the correct enclosure according to whether they are Amphibians, Reptiles, Mammals, Fish or Birds.

We were independently sorting 2d and 3d shapes in a variety of ways.

We also have a designated role play area based on the children's interests and the children have enjoyed using their Maths, Writing and knowledge of the World to stay in role having fun and learning too! 

Wednesday 11th November 2020- Geography naming the continents of the world.

For our Geography learning this week we have been identifying the World's continents. We also looked at a globe and a map and had an interesting discussion about whether or not they were showing the same thing! After much debate we realised that they were both showing us the World! We then worked in teams to place a continent in the correct area of the map. See the photos below to see how we got on.

Tuesday 3rd November 2020- Science: Animals and their habitats

For our Science journey this half term, we will be looking animals (including humans). This week we are focusing on sorting animals based on their habitats. We had to work scientifically by using our observation skills. We also ensured we looked and felt the part by wearing our very own scientist lab coats!

Looks at the photos to see how we got on!

Wednesday 21st October 2020- Spanish lesson numbers and colours.

We have Spanish once a week and the children thoroughly enjoy joining in with the fun learning activities Mrs Head does with them! 

So far we have learned the Spanish for; good morning/afternoon/evening, how to say our name, how we feel, some types of food, colours and numbers up to 6.

In this week's lesson we learned a song and recapped how to count to 6 in Spanish.

Here are a couple of phrases we now know;

Como te llamas? (pronounced commoh tay yammas)- this means what is your name.

Que tal? (sounds like kettle!) - this means how are you?

Wednesday 14th October 2020 - Handwriting

This week in our handwriting we have been practising our Long Ladder Letters 'u' 'y' and 'j'. We practised them each day, take a look at our amazing letter formation!

Friday 9th October 2020 - PE

Today in our PE lesson with Mr Leaman were were working on developing our teamwork skills. We took it in turns to move the beanbags or balls from one hoop to the other. We worked out that the beanbags could be dropped in the hoops, but the balls had to be put down carefully or they would roll away.

Tuesday 29th September 2020- Writing Hook Lesson An Alien has Crash Landed!

This week, we had an exciting incident on our playground!

An alien crash landed and we had to look around the outdoor area for clues as to its whereabouts.

This was to help 'hook' the children into their new writing journey studying the story of Beegu.

We also received a letter from the 'Secret Alien Police Force' asking us to write them a letter explaining what they thought the alien looked like and were it may be.

We also then acted out the story of Beegu to show a clear understanding of the beginning, middle and end of a story.

Monday 21st September- Learning Journey: I am Amazing

For our learning this week, we have been thinking about what we are amazing at in school. We then went into our continuous provision activities to show our fabulous learning skills. Check out our amazing learning below!

Wednesday 16th September 2020- Science sorting materials

This week, we have been looking at the materials that everyday objects are made from. We identified metal,wood, plastic, cardboard and glass. We have also had lots of fun sorting materials outside and creating structures from plastic only or wood only. See the pictures below!

Monday 7th September 2020 - Our First Day!

Wow, What an amazing day we have all had today! Everyone settled back into school really really well I am so proud of you all well done! We have been working together to build structures, we showed perseverance when making straw houses and showed off our creative side making puppets.

Check out some photos of our amazing learning.