Year 1

WB 3.7.23

This term in science, Year 1 pupils have been learning about plants and at the beginning of the half term, we planted our very own runner bean seeds. Pupils have spent 3 weeks looking after their plants and making sure they get enough water and sunlight so that they could document the changes of the plant. Well, they must have done a fantastic job as this week we measured our plants and some almost reached over 1.5 metres tall! Well done Year 1, we hope they continue to grow at home and hopefully you get some runner beans! 

WB 19.6.23

What a fantastic return to Dilkes for the last half term Year 1 have had!  

Over the past two weeks children in Year 1 have travelled across the globe learning about new and exciting places, from places they have travelled to places they have never heard of before. We have explored the seven continents and the five oceans where children have looked at the earth in a variety of ways including maps, atlases, globes and even on the internet.  

We have also learnt 2 brilliant songs to help us remember the names of the oceans and continents! If you want to have a listen at home, here are the links 😊  

Continents song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6DSMZ8b3LE  

Oceans song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6BE4VcYngQ  

WB 9.5.23

What a fantastic two weeks we have had in Year 1 from diving into information texts, their features and researching all about the different dinosaurs that existed through the different time periods to writing our own information texts all about them. Children have been engrossed with the Jurassic period and facts relating to dinosaurs that their writing has been detailed and accurate to describe not only their appearances, habitats and diets but the features that make a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Triceratops so unique and different to those also seen in this time period.  

Did you know Triceratops translates in Greek to three horned face? 

WB 24.4.23

This week in Year 1, pupils have been looking at all things nature! In science we have been on a local walk to look at plants in our local community. We identified a variety of common wild plants and garden plants and sorted them into different groups. In art we have also been using nature to create pictures. We used natural materials to make different pictures and drew our own pictures to show the texture, detail and shading of different natural objects such as sticks, leaves and stones. Look at all of the amazing learning we have done in these first 2 weeks back! 

WB 20.3.23

In year 1 this week the children have had great fun making their own bird feeders. They hung them in various places in the outdoor areas and spent the week observing the different birds and locations that the birds were found. 

WB 6.3.23

This week in English, Year 1 pupils have been immersed into the genre of poetry, specifically Mr Magnolia’s poem written by Quinton Blake. They have come up with a range of different rhyming words, such as dog, log, jog as well as creating their own rhyming couplets based on their rhyming words. Next week, we will be writing our very own version of the poem and we are excited to see what amazing innovations they come up with! 

Why not ask your child what words rhyme with boat? 

WB 27.2.23

In Year 1 this week we have travelled in time to the past to explore the toys children before us played with. 

We have looked at a variety of toys and began to question what it was, how we play with it and what the toys were made with. We found out about a lot of different toys from a diabolo, whip and top and a cup and ball game. We even had time to play and experiment with them ourselves and realised how different and difficult some toys and games were in the past. 

What a great time we had investigating the toys! 

WB 20.2.23

What a brilliant first week of the half term Year 1 have had! 

Children have been transported into the deep, dark woods for our new focus in English, traditional tales. This week we have explored our new text of 'The Three Little Pigs'. We have immersed ourselves into the story by reading, learning and role playing the story. We have discussed and looked at the different features of a traditional tale from the story telling language, once upon a time, to the adjectives and repetitive nature of the characters speech. 

Why not ask your child if they can recount the story and add in their own actions? 

WB 6.2.23

This week in maths children have been working in pairs to solve division and multiplication questions. The children have been sorting objects into groups and making arrays. They have worked collaboratively and undertaken conversations of reasoning and problem solving to why this must be the answer and why it cannot be incorrect as they have proven the question and answer to be true. 

We have had great fun using objects, denies and cubes from around the classroom to share and make arrays.

WB 30.1.23

In humanities this week, pupils used items from around the room to devise a map of their classroom. They have labelled their map using post-it-notes to ensure that they have all of the vital and key elements and locations that make their classroom unique and special from tables, desks and a bug rug in the middle of the room. 

WB 23.1.23

We have had a busy week in year 1 this week. In PHSE, the children have explored the environment and the impact we have on it. We have researched and discussed ways in which we can protect the environment and what would happen if we did not.  

Children have created some beautiful and informative posters surrounding the environment and ways we as humans on the Earth can help protect it. 

What a fantastic job they have done! 

WB 16.1.23

In year one this week we have been joined by parents and carers in maths where we have explored all four calculation methods. Children have been learning the different methods of multiplication and division where we share an amount between a number of groups and draw accurate arrays to find the answers we are looking for. We have had gad great fun exploring the new methods and was overjoyed to share and show these with the adults in the room.  

What a great job they have done! 

WB 9.1.23

This week year 1 have been learning about measure in maths, through practical activities, we have explored weight, capacity and length and the children have conducted several experiments to understand and measure the items around them. Did you know that a dictionary weighs 96 cubes?

WB 3.1.23

This week year 1 have started the New  Year by exploring our local area and where Dilkes is located. We have looked at digital maps, aerial views and images to distinguish different key places within the locality. Children used their own maps to locate the school within its local area. Children have then extended their learning by looking at addresses and the purpose of each line.

What a great week we have had!

WB 12.12.22

This week in Year 1 children have written amazing letters to Santa where they have explained what has happened in our classroom and what Santa could do to keep the reindeers safe in the future. In their work they have used questions and commands to enhance their ideas and writing. They have used some fantastic adjectives to describe the reindeers and came up with creative ways to keep them safe, they reasoned these with the conjunction because!

Fantastic job Year 1!

WB 5.12.22

This week in English, Year 1 pupils have been on the scene of a very bizarre mystery! On Monday when we arrived at school the classrooms had been destroyed, chairs had been tipped over, P.E. bags were thrown on the floor, pencil pots had been tipped out and some apples had been bitten into! We decided to look at the CCTV footage and found out that three reindeers had broken into the school over the weekend! Now there are lots of theories as to why they broke in, maybe they were hungry, maybe they wanted to show off their dance moves or maybe they wanted to find the elves, but whatever the reason for their escape, Year 1 are desperate to find them. We have created wanted posters so that the people of South Ockendon can be on the lookout for them! Please let us know if you see anything!

WB 28.11.22

This week in art, Year 1 have been putting all of their knowledge that they have built over the half term into practice, and they have started to paint their final piece of artwork. Our topic of ‘Exploring Colour’ has allowed pupils to learn about the primary and secondary colours, how to mix colours to get a variety of shades and how to paint neatly so that it stays within the lines of the picture/shape. It has been lovely this week to see their learning come together as they have shown they remember how to mix colours and paint neatly inside the lines. Why not ask your child if they remember the colour sums to make the secondary colours?

Red + Yellow = __________

Yellow + Blue = __________

Blue + Red = __________

WB 21.11.22

This week in English children have been exploring their new topic of non-chronological reports. Children have not only understood what a non-chronological report is, but how they are written and what sort of information we put within them. Children have been playing many games where they have acquired new knowledge on France’s location, cuisine and famous landmarks. They have been real researchers, investigating the variety of facts they know and have learnt about France.  

What a brilliant job they have done! 

WB 14.11.22

This week children in Year 1 have been writing an innovated story of ‘Argh Spider’ in English. They were even joined by their parents and carers on Tuesday within our writing workshop where they were not only able to look at their children’s writing but also help them write their next box of their plan. Looking at the amazing adjectives, the interesting sentence openers and of course the incredible activities their character was doing to prove to the kind, loving family they were a worthy pet. Many children used conjunctions in their work to add depth and reasoning!

What a fantastic week of writing we have had!

WB 7.11.22

This week in Geography Year 1, have travelled into the sky and started to explore the continent of Europe. In particular our chosen location for this half term, France. Children have used their prior knowledge of countries in the UK to identify England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and France on a map. Many children did not stop there when they began to seek out other countries that bordered France or was in the continent of Europe, including Spain, Italy and Germany.

What a fantastic job they have done!

WB 31.10.22

To start off our new term Year 1 has dived into poetry. They have read and analyse a poem called ‘What is fog?’ before exploring different weathers using their prior knowledge of senses. They have been thinking deeply about how they can describe wind and rain in an imaginative way. Children have used not only amazing adjectives to describe the different sensations but even used similes to uplift their poems to make them even more creative.

What a fantastic way to start our new school term!

WB 17.10.22

In our final week of science children have started their season’s diary, where they have begun to understand that in a year we experience 4 different seasons. They have explored the different weathers, the clothes we wear and activities we may do in autumn. As part of a longitudinal study, children have observed a large tree in the playground and will be observing it through the different seasons and months of the year. We have noticed our tree is turning orange and starting to fall off may ask your child to describe the changes that might occur heading into winter.

WB 3.10.22

This week in year one children have explored homes of the past as part of their history topic. We have explored our own locality by looking at homes in front the school grounds where we discussed the variety of features of homes from different time periods. The children discovered that many of the homes were from a similar time period therefore we used Google maps to explore a smaller local village for a to see a variety of homes. We found some homes from time periods such as Victorian, Georgian and Tudor. There was even a house with a straw roof like a medieval house!

WB 26.9.22

This week in year one children have explored homes of the past as part of their history topic. We have explored our own locality by looking at homes in front the school grounds where we discussed the variety of features of homes from different time periods. The children discovered that many of the homes were from a similar time period therefore we used Google maps to explore a smaller local village for a to see a variety of homes. We found some homes from time periods such as Victorian, Georgian and Tudor. There was even a house with a straw roof like a medieval house!

WB 19.9.22

This week Year 1 have been learning about the story “Handa’s Surprise”. We have sequenced the events from the story and acted out different scenes as the characters. As the story mentions some fruits we may not have encountered before, we even got to taste test them and use adjectives to describe the taste, smell, look and feel of each of them. We look forward to writing our own version of “Handa’s Surprise” next week! Why not ask your child which fruit was their favourite or least favourite?

WB 12.9.22

This week in science Year 1 have become Sensory Scientists! We learned about our five senses, what they are and what we use for each sense then we focused on the sense of sight. Using magnifying glasses, we investigated inside and outside of the classroom to see what we could find. Outside we found lots of bugs that looked very big through the magnifying glasses! Back in the classroom, we turned off all the lights and closed the blinds. Then we investigated the room again and found that it was a lot harder to see! We even linked this to nocturnal animals and how they have special eyesight to see in the dark.

WB 5.9.22

Last week Year 1 have settled into school fantastically. They have taken the change from Reception to Year 1 extremely well and embraced their new learning.  

In DT, we are learning about structures with a focus on windmills. We explored the different uses of windmills and the features that make a windmill work. Using paper, we made prototypes to see if our plan would fulfil the purpose of a windmill. Unfortunately, some did not spin, and others were unable to stand. So, this week we will be going back to the drawing board and assessing how we can make our windmills meet the design criteria.