Phonics
In phonics we have been focusing on consolidating our phase 4 sounds such as ck, sh, th and ng and introducing phase 5 sounds, such as ie, ea, ou and oy. We have been working hard to segment and blend, which has helped us with our daily reading. We have been practicing our precursive handwriting and sounding out our words phonetically to help with our writing across all areas of learning.
English
During this half term in Year 1, we have been reading the books ‘Pattans Pumpkin’ and ‘Beegu’. Our story ‘Pattan’s Pumpkin’ is based on an Indian folk story, and we started our topic by looking at the traditions and customs of India. This linked in with our Geography topic where we discussed the climate of the warmer parts of the world such as the Saharan desert. We used lots of role play to understand the character’s thoughts and feelings and created story boards to re-tell the story. This half term, we have also been reading ‘Beegu’ we discussed her location which involved looking at the difference between a city and a rural area. We have continued to compose pieces of writing on character descriptions, setting descriptions and action scene narratives. We have focused so much on our handwriting these past few weeks, developing our vocabulary, grammar and punctuation and we are super proud of our improvement!
Maths
In our Maths lessons this half term, Little Marvels have been continuing to count, order and add numbers up to 10. We have focused on forming numbers correctly. We have been working very hard on our arithmetic learning; we have been using part whole models to calculate addition stories. We have been learning composition and understanding what numbers we can add together to create another number. We have been using number lines to help us calculate our addition problems.
Science
This half term, Little Marvels have been learning about the range of everyday materials we have in the world around us. We have learned about how materials look and feel and what they are used for. We focused heavily on the properties of materials and why objects are made from varied materials. We have read books and looked at a scientist called Ole Kirk Christiansen who invented Lego. Linking to our DT we created a range of things using Lego and expressed how interesting we found Lego. We conducted experiments to classify and group the materials to see which materials are waterproof, absorbent, opaque, transparent, dull, and shiny. We identified materials that can have one or more properties.
DT
In our DT lessons, we have been creating 3D moving storybooks, we have been learning how to cut around shapes and lines, stick objects together using glue. We have been creating sliders using cards and discussing the mechanism of the sliders and how things move. We linked our Science learning into DT and discussed how durable varied materials are.
Computing
Little Marvels have enjoyed their first term learning about how computers work and the importance of technology. We learned all the parts of a computer, how to power it on and off. We practiced how to hold a mouse, scroll up and down and click. We also have been learning how to drag and accurately click onto something. We have been building our own houses, treehouses and decorating our own cakes. We have certainly got more confident with using computers!
RE and PSHCE
In Little Marvels we have been continuing to learn about the religion of Christianity, linking it into our history learning we have learned about Protestants and Catholics. We visited the church for our Nativity which was a memorable experience for us all. In our PSHCE lessons we have been initiating discussion around how we value the differences between one another.