Welcome to Year 1 Buzzards Class

The class teacher for this year is Mrs Alison Dowdeswell and the LSA who works in this class is Mrs Way.

The theme for the Summer term is 'To Infinity... and Beyond - Space!'. We asked the children what their interests were and what they would like to learn about and space was a very popular suggestion! We have already 'kicked off' our theme with a Space Day full of different space related activities. We will continue to inspire the children and explore the subject of space in many different ways within school as well as having the opportunity to take part in a variety of trips! 

For more information on our curriculum please look at our Summer Term Curriculum Plan below.

The theme for Spring Term is a whole school theme called - 'Seven Billion Stars'. We used this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmcRa70LHe8   ) as a hook and initial talking point to discuss what the term 'Community' means. On the first day back all children and adults came dressed in the uniform of a community that they belonged to. We have recently had a visit from Occombe Farm, which gave the children a first hand experience of how to care for chickens. We will be fundraising throughout this term to enable us to purchase and raise our very own flock of chickens!

The theme for last term was 'Explore'. Initially we explored 'Under the Sea' and then be explored other areas according to the children's interest. Some of the exciting learning opportunities included; a trip to Brixham Fish Market and a tour of the Golden Hind, as well as a beach trip where we explored rock pools and created team sand art! There was a History focus during last half term on Sir Francis Drake and the history of pirates. For more information on this, click on the Autumn Term Curriculum Plan.

During the second half of the term, the children explored Rainforests. The children have been to the Paignton Zoo and have explored rainforest animals. They have researched different animals of their choice and have created non-fiction animal leaflets. The children have been looking at the different layers of the rainforest and it's inhabitants, as well as looking into Fairtrade and making some homemade fair trade products to share with their parents  

PE Days: Thursday and Friday

Home Learning: Handed out 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.

Team Leader: Mrs Sarah Jarrett

If there are any issues or concerns, please feel free to come in and see the teacher (Mrs Alison Dowdeswell) or contact the Team Leader. 

adowdeswell@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk​

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

UPCOMING EVENTS

Transition Day - We will be meeting our new teachers on the 2nd of July!

Summer Fayre - Saturday 4th July.

OUR SPACE SHOWCASE

We celebrated our learning with a 'Space Showcase'. Parents and grandparents came into our class first to look at all our learning. They were amazed at our Writing and challenges in Maths. 

Then we went into the hall and sang our space song 'Star Trekking' and shared our 'Talk for Writing'.

Library Van Visit

Buzzards visited the library van this week and were able to choose some exciting new books for our school library. Pop in to our school library and have a look at what we chose... 

The quails have laid eggs!

More 'eggciting' news from the White Rock Chicken Coop. Our quails have laid their very first eggs. We all had a very close look at the egg itself as well as what it looked like inside.

Live Web Chat with Christopher Lintott......

We were lucky enough to have a live web chat with an astrophysicist Christopher Lintott. Christopher used to be a pupil at White Rock and he told us that when he was at our school he loved Science and was always asking lots of questions about why things happened.

He talked to us about Space and the planets and answered lots of our questions.

Space Explorer Dome came to visit us...

Explorer Dome came to visit and we all got to crawl through the tunnel into the dome. Inside the dome we learnt lots of exciting new facts about space and the planets, experienced star gazing and listened to some really exciting stories.

Maths

We have begun to explore the concept of measurement within our maths sessions. We have been investigating different units of measurement and finding the most interesting objects possible to measure! We had the opportunity to go into the playground to complete our learning as well as in the classroom. 

Chicken and Quail UPDATE!

We went to visit our chickens and quails in their new home! We cannot believe have fast they have grown! Everyone had the chance to go into the pen and investigate the new coop. We all think our chicks will be very happy there!

To Infinity... and Beyond!

We had a fantastic space day full of exciting adventures and activities. We all had an opportunity to: sketch ourselves on the moon; dance like astronauts; compose a space inspired soundscape; learn the names and order the planets and witness a rocket experiment. We even got to meet some 'real life' astronauts and a 'NASA commander'...

Year 1 Mathematics Spring Term

Compare, describe and solve practical problems for:

• Lengths and heights [for example, long/short, longer/shorter, tall/short, double/half]

• Mass/weight [for example, heavy/light, heavier than, lighter than]

• Time [for example, quicker, slower, earlier, later]

Measure and begin to record the following:

• Lengths and heights

• Mass/weight

• Time (hours, minutes, seconds)

• Recognise and use language relating to dates, including days of the week, weeks, months and years tell the time to the hour and half past the hour and draw the hands on a clock face to show these times.

   

• Read, write and interpret mathematical statements involving addition (+), subtraction (–) and equals (=) signs

• Represent and use number bonds and related subtraction facts within 20

• Add and subtract one-digit and two-digit numbers to 20, including zero

• Solve one-step problems that involve addition and subtraction, using concrete objects and pictorial representations, and missing number problems such as 7 = – 9.

• Solve one-step problems involving multiplication and division, by calculating the answer using concrete objects, pictorial representations and arrays with the support of the teacher.

   

We visited Torbay Book Shop

We were able to read the blurb and look through the books before we purchased them. We used our free book token and money to buy our favourite book!

Today we all got to hold our new baby chicks!

"Her claws tickled our hands and arms!"

"She hasn't got sharp nails" Gabrielle

"They are very delicate"

"We held a yellow and a black chick" Yasmin

"They are fluffy" Finley

"They wanted to escape!" Theo

"They like to jump"

CHICKEN CAKE SALE

The children in KS1 decided to do a 'chicken cake sale' to raise money for our own chicken coop. For home learning they designed and made their cakes and then sold them to the rest of the school. Thank you for all your help!

We raised an amazing £403.84!

FARMER DAY

The children in Year 1 and 2 had a day of 'immersion' in our topic. They spent the day dressed up as farm characters. We had Verity's Grandma, who is a farmer, come to visit us and talk about different types of chickens and how to care for our eggs.

The activities the children experienced were collage, making chocolate crispy nests, Six Little Chicks quiz, labelling and setting up the incubator and walking around the school grounds looking for the best place for our Chicken Coop! It was a busy and fun filled day!

We studied the school grounds with Mr Wingrove to find the best place to keep our chickens.

Here were some of our suggestions...

Daniel - "Behind the Year 2 classrooms because the foxes won't eat them".

Reef - "On the field because when they're older they'll need lots of room".

Theo - "Near the Year 2 classrooms because it has grass and it is peaceful".

"On the playground because the children will scare the foxes away".

Freya - "Near the classrooms, on the field so we can come and feed them".

"Next to Year 2 so that children will hear them and look after them".

Gabrielle - "In the trees because it's sheltered and the foxes won't see them".

Ben and Luca - "We think inside the classrooms because it is warm and cosy!"

Rainforest celebration

Parents were invited into our classroom to share our current learning about 'Exploring the Rainforest'. The children sang a song and then gave their parents a 'homemade' Fairtrade cake!

Our Leaflets

Animal Leaflets

Year 2 wrote leaflets about different animals and then shared them with us. They taught us some new facts about the rainforests and their focus animal.

The children said:

I liked Abigail's leaflet. I am going to decorate my leaflet with flowers like hers!'

'Olly had really neat handwriting and neat colouring'.

'Toby explained to me what a reptile was because I didn't know!'

'I asked Hetti what a Poison Dart Frog was and she said a frog that is very poisonous with black spots on it'.

Our Trip to Paignton Zoo

As you can see from our photos, we all had a wonderful day at the zoo! We learnt many exciting new facts about the rainforest including the different layers and why the rainforest is so important to us. We got to feel tiger fur, look at animal skulls and even stroked a snakes skin! 

Thank you to all the children who were a credit to the school, also a huge thanks to all my helping parents. Well done to our budding photographers: Benjamin, Harley, Connor, Luca and Alya!   

Our Trip to Goodrington Beach

We went to the beach to look at sea creatures and to sketch our surroundings. Have a look to see what we got up to!

KS1 children went on a trip to Brixham in the second week of term. We had a fantastic time and learnt lots! We went to Brixham Fish Market and had a tour from the harbour master. He showed us a variety of fish the fishermen would find in Brixham, the fishing boats, how they weigh and sort the fish and the harbour master's office.

We had lunch on Breakwater beach and then went and explored the Golden Hind. We are now 'Sir Francis Drake' experts. 

One child said "This is the best trip I have ever been on"

Another child said "Wow, I didn't know that female lobsters had that many eggs under their body"

This week we have been focusing on the text 'Dougal's Deep Sea Diary'. We thought of questions we wanted to ask Dougal. On Tuesday he came to our school and we hot-seated him. He parked his submarine in Paignton's harbour whilst he was in our school. This week we are also learning to describe a setting in the book 'Atlantis' which is a city under the sea. 

Some of the questions we asked him were:

'How long can you stay under the water for?'

'Did you see any sharks?'

'Who was the ghost pirate?'

'Why did you choose the old rickety boat to dive from?'