Ladybird Class 21-22

Welcome to Ladybird Class – it’s lovely to have you here!

Your Teacher is Miss Duffett.

Your Teaching Assistant is Miss Brunsden.

Summer Term

Our last Topic in Year 1 is ‘A Pirate’s Life for Me’. We have been busy already this half term, listening to sea shanties and then using our voices and instruments to create our own. We have also learnt how to use a key and created our own pirate treasure maps. 

Spring Term

Our Topic this term is called ‘Down at the Bottom of the Garden’. We will be using a variety of resources to explore habitats, plants and animals. Our role play area is a beautiful garden ready for you to plant seeds, dress up as a bumblebee, Beekeeper or a gardener! Keep your plants fed and watered by using the watering cans to keep them growing. You can also read a lovely story in the garden or write your very own!

English

We will continue reading a range of fiction and non-fiction texts. Currently, we are learning about the journey post takes when we pop a letter in the post box! We are reading the fabulous story ‘Here Comes Mr Postmouse’, written by Marianne Dubuc. 

Maths

We will be learning to sequence events, the days of the week and the months, learning to use measure and using scales to explore equality and balance. So far, we have used the scales to practise using the correct language when balancing equal amounts on both sides. This has really helped us to understand how heavy objects feel. We particularly enjoyed learning why some objects were possibly heavier than others, and were surprised at how light others were!

Art

We will be learning about the Artist Rosalind Monks who focuses on sketching animals with abstract patterns and details. The children will be designing their own insect in the style of Rosalind Monks. They will then be making their insects out of clay. They will be using a range of tools to add interesting and detailed patterns. 

Science

We will be learning about a variety of different Mini-beast. We will be thinking of and asking questions that we would like to find out. We will then research the answers. The children will talk part in Mini-beast hunts, where they explore different habitats.

We will be learning about the names of different materials that we see and use daily in our environment. We will be thinking about their uses and why they are good for specific things.  The children will be designing and making a practical and sensible Spacesuit for a teddy to go up to Space in. They will then evaluate how successful or unsuccessful they think they were and why.

‘ Up, Up and Away’ – Autumn Term

This term our topic is called ‘Up, Up and Away’. We will be researching about the historical figure Amelia Earhart, who was the first woman to fly an aeroplane alone. We will also be exploring and learning about different forms of travel in the sky and imagining what it might be like up there. In Art we will focus on experimenting and using primary colours to paint various pictures, including hot air balloons. In DT we will be designing and building our own aeroplane made out of a variety of resources. Lastly, in Science we will complete a fair test to evaluate how well the aeroplanes did and explore why they worked.

Understanding the World-

Art and Design, DT and Science

During the Autumn term, we will learn about the different seasons and the changes we may expect to see in Autumn. This will include an Autumn walk and leaf rubbing. We will then design and build our very own purposeful aircraft in DT with a variety of materials. We will work scientifically to explore what makes a fair test by competing against our peers in an aircraft race! We will discuss and record our findings, to evaluate why we think our aircraft were successful or unsuccessful in the experiment.

English

We will be reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts. This will include Amelia Earhart, Emma Jane’s Aeroplane and  Stanley’s Stick. We will discuss the importance of the title, punctuation and the illustrations.
We will also perform our key texts to our peers in sessions called ‘helicopter story time’. So far, this has really helped developed the children’s confidence and their understanding of the characters role within a story. The children enjoy using props and resources to enhance their performance. Throughout all of our English sessions a main focus is using and applying our Monster Phonics to help us spell words. We will also be working really hard on using capital letters in the appropriate places as well as  full stops.

Maths

We will be focusing on representing addition in different forms. This will include using tens frames, whole models, number lines, Cuisenaire rods and writing number sentences.  We will be using lots of concrete resources to support with our learning as well.

Our Proud Moments

We are also proud of our friends for achieving the most house points, Star of the Week and the Monster Phonics star award! 

Star of the week: Annalise for really concentrating and using lots of detail when sketching a picture of Amelia Earhart.

Monster Phonic Star: Alexander

 Most house points: Remy