Spring 2 : Week 5

We have reached the end of another busy term and the children have all enjoyed the preparations for Easter. On Monday, the children enjoyed their lesson from the Mental health team learning  how to express their emotions in a controlled way. The children are learning about the zones of regulation, and how to recognise how they are feeling. The team  went through each colour zone describing how your body may feel eg. Blue zone may mean you have a lack of energy, feel sad, sick, tired or bored. We talked about ways we can try to get into the Green zone. The children took part in a Body scan exercise where they took the time to meditate and be still, listening to how their body may be feeling. Please follow the link provided if you would like to use this as a calming exercise at home.

 

In PE, the children practised throwing and catching the balls to their partners. Year one are becoming more confident in their passing skills and moving their bodies to receive the ball when working together.

On Wednesday, Year one took part in a multi sports activity outside with Year 6 children. They enjoyed activities including participating in using hockey sticks to dribble around apparatus, an egg and spoon race, throwing beanbags into a target and basketball.

We finished the week with an exciting Easter egg hunt outside!

There is no set homework for the Easter break, but please continue to practise reading daily Please visit Phonics play for some Phonics games to practise blending and segmenting and reinforcing Phase 4/5 sounds.  https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/5/picnic-on-pluto

Please could we ask if you could check at home, if you have any reading books from our school reading scheme as our library stock is running low.

We would like to thank you all for your support this term, and wish you a very happy and peaceful Easter Break. We will see you when we return on Monday 15th April.

The Year One Team.

 

Spring 2 Week 4 w.b 18.3.24

In Re this week the children retold the story of The Last Supper. They were split into two groups and went off to set their own tables, including unleavened bread, cups and plates. The children then re-enacted the events of the story.

Year one started their week with their second visit from the Hertfordshire Mental support team. This week. the children continued to learn how to recognise and name a range of emotions. They were introduced to the Zones of regulation and talked about how they were feeling. They discussed which colour zone they were feeling they were in on that day. The children were asked to draw how they were feeling and how this would show to other people. Next, the children drew around their hands and wrote down the people who are important to them in their lives and who helps them in their everyday lives.

 

In Maths this week, the children worked on subtracting by counting back using a number line. They used the words first, then and now to help them to subtract by counting back using a number line as a guide. We will be continuing subtraction activities next week.

In English, Year one sequenced pictures from the story of The Last Noo- Noo and retold the story in groups using the pictures to help them.

In PE, the children practised bouncing and retrieving a ball with a partner. The children practised using one and two bounces to pass the ball to each other. It was a very enjoyable lesson, with the children working together and enjoying practising together.

Home Learning – Due Friday.

Mathletics – please complete the activities set.

Handwriting sheet – practice letters sent home. You do not need to send this back as they are also practised daily in school.

Spellings – please practice the spellings with your child for a spelling test next Friday. This also does not need to be sent back.

Reading – 5/10 minutes daily.

Reminder – school finishes at 1pm next Thursday.

Wishing you all a restful weekend.

Mrs Poyiadzis and Mrs Barnes

Year 1: Spring Term- Week 3

What a wonderful week of leaning we have had in Year One! This week was Science week and as a school we all had an investigation to undertake! Our question to investigate  was ‘Does taller mean faster?’

The children made their own predictions and talked about the various ways they could answer this question. As a class, we made our predictions and then planned how we could work out who the tallest children in our class were.  Year one decided  that it would be sensible to measure each child in the class and record our results. The children brainstormed ideas on how to measure each other and it was decided it would be best to use a metre stick, as rulers and measuring tapes were deemed too small to measure the height of the children.

The children worked in groups to measure each other’s heights and record their results in a chart. Next, we would need to race each other to see if the tallest children were the fastest! In PE, we raced individually to record our fastest speed and then raced each of the fastest children against each other. After this, the children were able to compare and discuss their results and noted lots of comparisons. Due to the results, Year one concluded that tallest, was in fact not the fastest.

  

On Tuesday, we were very fortunate to have a parent scientist join us in leading a morning of fun experiments. These experiments ranged from making rainbows with skittles, floating and sinking and investigating mixing liquids in water with other materials. eg oil/ food colouring and Alka- Seltzer to see what happened to them! We would like to say a big thank you to Dr Holly for organising this marvellous experience for everyone.

 

On Monday, we had our first workshop from the Hertsmere Mental Support team. In this first session, the children learned about Emotions and expressing their feelings. They talked about the range of emotions they know about including happy, sad, angry, scared and how these may show in our actions. Over the next few weeks, the children will be learning how to express their emotions and will develop a ‘backpack of skills’ to help them with this.

On Thursday morning, we had an online Road Safety talk. The children learnt some very important lessons about what they could wear to make sure they’re easily spotted when walking. They also learnt some rules about crossing the road.

On Thursday morning we also took a walk to Dame Alice Owens school. When we arrived we were greeted by the Science teacher, Mr Friedlander who took us to their Science lab. The children were very impressed with the lab and even more impressed by the height of the stools! We did an investigation to find out who had drawn a picture of him and all the children were very engaged in trying to work out who the suspect was. Thank you to Bethany’s mum, Freddie’s dad and Anna-Maria’s mum for walking with us.

Well done to Harvey, Amelia and Joshua for finding Fairtrade items!

Home Learning – due Friday
Science
Take a Science Selfie! Can you complete a science experiment at home and take a selfie of you and your family? Below are some websites with some ideas. Please bring in a photo to your class teacher.

Mathletics – please complete the activities set.

Handwriting sheet – practice letters sent home. You do not need to send this back as they are also practised daily in school.

Spellings – please practice the spellings with your child for a spelling test next Friday. This also does not need to be sent back.

Reading – 5/10 minutes daily.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Poyiadzis & Mrs Barnes

Spring 2 Week 2 w.b 4.3.24

Science

As part of our science topic on Materials the children took part in a floating and sinking activity. We tested various items to see if they would float or sink in water. Firstly. the children predicted what they thought would happen with certain items and then tested to find out the results. Year one then proceeded to choose items they would like to test if they would float or sink from the classroom. The children were able to compare their results and found out that some wooden items floated and so did items made from plastic. Maybe you could try this activity at home and let us know what you found out!

Maths

In Maths we continued practising think 5 and think 10 when using number frames and writing out number problems with part whole models. Please practise number bonds to ten with your child and if you would like a challenge number bonds to twenty!

 

E-Safety

On Tuesday. we were very fortunate to be take part in an Internet safety workshop. The children learned how to keep safe online with a visit to Internet Land! They met Dom Dragon, Callie Cat and Ola Owl who taught the children to always keep their personal details safe when playing games online and what to do if they feel worried about anything they may see or hear online. They joined in with the kindness spell to remind them to use kind words when using phones, ipads etc…

Italian

The children are enjoying their weekly Italian lessons. This week year one learned how to name  members of the family in Italian. To reinforce their learning they played a fun game on the whiteboard. The children are becoming more confident in using their knowledge of Italian words learnt so far in their lessons.

Re

In Re, the children were asked to bring in something from home that has a special place in their everyday life for our Box of life. The children learned about a special prayer called The Examen and how it is a prayer that involves praying backwards not forwards, thinking of all the things that we are thankful for that we have to celebrate in our lives.

World Book Day 2024

It was lovely to see all the children dressed up on Thursday in their amazing costumes. They had so much fun talking to each other about their outfits and hearing their very excited conversations about who they were dressed as. We started the day with an interactive assembly where children’s photos were shared and teachers were also photographed reading in lots of strange and wonderful places.  To end the assembly the children took part in an engaging retell of We’re Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen where the children stood up and took part in all the actions. There was much fun had by all the children across the school. Later, the children had a surprise visitor (Ms Pemberton) who came to read a story to the class, the children were delighted to see her again!

As part of their writing, the children drew a picture of their character and wrote the name of who they were. They also had to say why they chose to be that person. Finally, to end the day we read The paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson and the children then went on to make their very own paper dolls.

 

Home Learning – due Friday

Mathletics – please complete the activities set.

Handwriting sheet – practice letters sent home. You do not need to send this back as they are also practised daily in school.

Spellings – please practice the spellings with your child for a spelling test next Friday. This also does not need to be sent back.

Reading – 5/10 minutes daily.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Poyiadzis & Mrs Barnes

Spring 2- Week 1

Welcome back! We hope you all enjoyed  your half term  and had a restful break. On Tuesday, the children took part in a special Reconciliation service with Reception class and Year two. The children took time to reflect on occasions when they may have been done something wrong and would like to say sorry for their actions. We reflected on how Lent is a time for forgiveness and how important it is for us to say sorry and repent.

 

In Re this week. we focussed on the practices of Fasting, Almsgiving and the importance of prayer during Lent. Year one talked about how we can help each other to keep our Lenten promises and how we can support each other during Lent. The children wrote messages of encouragement for their friends in special ‘encouragement envelopes,’ as a means of offering support for each other. It was lovely to see the children share their messages together and to see how valuable their friendships and support are for each other.

To finish off the week Year 1 lead us in a beautiful assembly about St David. The children were amazing and we are so proud of them! They practised all week and delivered wonderfully, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Home Learning – due Friday

Mathletics – please complete the activities set.

Handwriting sheet – practice letters sent home. You do not need to send this back as they are also practised daily in school.

Spellings – please practice the spellings with your child for a spelling test next Friday. This also does not need to be sent back.

Reading – 5/10 minutes daily.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Poyiadzis & Mrs Barnes

Spring 1 week 6 w.b 12.2.24

It has been a very busy last week of term for the children in Year one! We finished our English unit on Poetry with the children writing their own squirrel poems.

In Maths, the children continued practising writing numbers to twenty and representing these in different ways.

In Science, the children were super excited to learn about changing materials through heat and cold. We looked at the properties of water and wax and how we could change their state of appearance through heating and cooling them. The children were introduced to the terms solids and liquids and we discussed other materials we knew that could be changed in a similar way. The children observed  melting wax  with a tealight and took part in freezing water into ice. There was lots of laughter when the children held the ice they had made and used words to describe how the ice felt in their hands!

On Tuesday we celebrated Mardi Gras and enjoyed sharing Pancakes with maple syrup together. The children found out about the History of  Shrove Tuesday and how it is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

On Wednesday the children took part in the Ash Wednesday Service, representing the beginning of Lent. The children showed great respect and maturity during the service, they listened and sang beautifully and showed a great sense of pride when receiving their ashes. Well done Year 1, it was an absolute pleasure sharing that special time with you.

As part of our Seasons learning this week, we made the most of the dry weather and went outside to use our creative skills to complete some tree rubbings. We also used our maths skills to complete a number matching activity and we used our knowledge about February to have a go at a word search. We also took the time to plant some bulbs that the children are very eager to see bloom!

Home learning

We have sent home your children’s lines for them to learn for our assembly on Friday 1st March. Please practice these with them so they can learn them by heart. Thank you.

Phonics, tricky words and HFW

After parent consultations this week some parents requested copies of some or all of the sounds above. You will find a copy of all of these in your child’s blue folder. Please practice all of the sounds with them as and when you can, feel free to make it as fun and informal as you feel necessary. This is simply consolidating their learning to date and is a way of refreshing their memories on the sounds they already know.

Thank you for taking the time to come along to the consultations this week, it was lovely speaking with you all.

We wish you all a wonderful week with your families. See you on Monday 26th February.

Mrs Poyiadzis & Mrs Barnes

Spring 1 week 5 w.b 05.02.24

This week, in Year one the children have been learning a poem called ‘One Silver Speck’ by Laura Purdie Salas all about a little mouse. We practised performing the poem, focussing on projecting our voices and varying the intonation. We talked about what a mouse would like to eat and what would a mouse be afraid of. We are using this poem as a stimulus for writing our own free verse poem about a squirrel.

In Maths, we have been building on the children’s knowledge of numbers to twenty and how numbers ten to nineteen are made up by ten and some more. The children have played games matching digits, dienes and numbers in words to help develop their understanding. We have also been practising counting in 2s, 5s and 10’s which the children are getting very good at.

In Science we investigated which fabric would be good to use for an umbrella. We discussed what the word Waterproof means and what materials we knew may be waterproof. We looked at a variety of materials and predicted which ones we thought would be waterproof. We tested the materials with droplets of water to see what would happen to them if they became wet. Next week, we will be testing to see what happens to materials when they are heated and cooled.

In PE the children performed, reviewed and improved their finished performance pieces to music. They worked in pairs to choregraph a routine and perform it to the class. They then gave feedback to each other before going back to see if they could improve their performances.

 

In Art the children used their imaginations to identify the stories emerging in their paintings. They worked into their dry paintings using pastels, pencils and crayons to build upon their paintings and to see how the materials reacted on watercolour.

In Wellbeing this week the children looked at the different life stages. In small groups they worked together to collect photos from around the classroom that match the different life stages. They were very good at grouping the pictures correctly and explaining why they put them together.

Home Learning – due Friday

Mathletics – please complete the activities set.

Handwriting sheet – practice letters sent home. You do not need to send this back as they are also practised daily in school.

Spellings – please practice the spellings with your child for a spelling test next Friday. This also does not need to be sent back.

Reading – 5/10 minutes daily.

Reminder – KS1 Ash Wednesday Service is on Wednesday 14th February at 2.30pm. All parents are welcome to attend.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Poyiadzis & Mrs Barnes

Spring 1 Week 4 w.b 29.01.24

It has been a very good week in Year One. The children have been progressing with their Animal dance sequence and worked in partners to show each other their animal dancing. They helped each other by discussing how they could improve their movements and took it in turns to demonstrate these. They had fun playing a game of mirror images copying each others movements!

Science

In Science year one have been looking into materials and their properties. We talked about various objects and the materials they are made from. The children each found two items in our classroom and wrote about the materials they were made from. They talked about their use, purpose, flexibility and predicted longevity.

Italian

Year one are enjoying their weekly Italian lessons on a Tuesday with Corrado. They have been learning how to name colours and Seasons in Italian. This week the children learned how to name items of clothing and associate the clothes worn according to the Season.

Maths

In Maths the children have been identifying and representing numbers using ten frames. They are working on adding using ‘Think 10.’ They have been using their knowledge of number bonds to ten to aid calculations.

On Wednesday we sadly had to say goodbye to our cook Lisa. Lisa has worked as a member of the catering team for many years at Pope Paul and she will be greatly missed. Year one made a goodbye card and got to present their card in assembly and to say thanks to Lisa for all she has done for the children at Pope Paul over the years. We wish Lisa all the best for the future!

RE

In RE this week the children focused on scene 3 of The Passover Story. We read through the scene together and then the children went off to work in groups to re-enact what happened. They were very good at identifying the main characters, describing the setting and working together to perform their story to the class.

Art

This week the children used watercolour to work towards developing imagery from imagination. The children watched a video by artist Emma Burleigh giving them a set of instructions and it was very clear to see them using those skills within their own work. They could only choose 2-3 colours and had to draw using lines, shapes, dots, splattering brushes and also using the opposite end of the paintbrush to create mark making. Not an easy task, Well done Year 1!

Seasons
The children went on a trail this week to see how many things ‘Winter’ they could find. They were very good at searching and even made a trip to the Peace Garden to see what they could find in there. They enjoyed exploring the school grounds and were very excited to see what they could find.
Music
It was very noisy in Year 1 on Thursday afternoon. The children have been practising a football chant using syllables, clapping sounds and even using instruments. They were able to perform the chant with clear words and a strong beat, clap a rhythm together in time with the chant and play a simple ostinato on untuned percussion
Home Learning – due Friday

Mathletics – please complete the activities set.

Handwriting sheet – practice letters sent home. You do not need to send this back as they are also practised daily in school.

Spellings – please practice the spellings with your child for a spelling test next Friday. This also does not need to be sent back.

Reading – 5/10 minutes daily

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Poyaidzis and Mrs Barnes

Spring Term – Week 3

Year One have had another busy week beginning with an introduction to their new Science topic on ‘Materials.’ We worked as a class talking about what is an object and what is a material. We brainstormed our ideas and wrote down the different materials we could see in our classroom. On Wednesday, we went on a material hunt in the classroom and categorised our objects into the correct groups. This gave us lots of interesting things to note! We recognised that we had no glass items and talked about the reasons why. Some objects were made of two or more materials and we discussed how we could show this in our sets. We are looking forward to finding out more about materials and their properties, over the coming weeks.

 

 

 

In Maths, we have been learning about positional language and ordinal numbers. We used our attendance poodle to demonstrate positional language, by giving each other instructions on where to put her in the classroom. The children were very excited to give each other instructions, using positional language such as: on top of, under, next to, beside, in between and inside. The children went on to play this game with their friends throughout the day.

   

Home Learning – Due Friday

Mathletics – please complete the activities set.

Handwriting sheet – practice letters sent home. You do not need to send this back as they are also practised daily in school.

Spellings – please practice the spellings with your child for a spelling test next Friday. This also does not need to be sent back.

Reading – 5/10 minutes daily.

The Big Garden Birdwatch 26th -28th January.

The Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Every year, hundreds of thousands of nature lovers like you take part, helping to build a picture of how garden birds are faring. We would like Pope Paul to take part. Please follow the instructions on the leaflets attached to the newsletter.

Count the birds you see in your garden, from your balcony or in your local park for one hour. Use the tally chart attached and submit your results on  www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch

See the information on the link worksheet

Please send a copy of your results to school – see newsletter for more details.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Year One team

Spring 1 week 2 w.b. 15.01.24

It’s been another very busy week in Year 1!

In English the children have been looking at Winter Poetry and created some lovely poems of their own. They have read, rehearsed and responded to poems and also used appropriate vocabulary to describe Winter. They have made list words to describe details and assembled information correctly to create their independent writing.

In Art the children have continued their work on watercolour with a particular focus on the work of Paul Klee and Emma Burleigh. The children discussed the work of these artists looking at the colour, detail, line,  and shape that were used and then went on to create their own interpretation of the work.

In PE this term we will be taking part in Dance lessons. Our Dance unit  this term is called  ‘Animals’  and we began this unit with the children by making a mind map of the different movements of animals and how we can perform actions to represent the different types of animals we know.  We listened to a variety of Animal sounds and talked about how various animals move according to their bodies eg. snake/slithering, bird/flapping wings  etc.. The children were very enthusiastic in demonstrating to the class their own ideas and actions  We have started putting together a Dance to perform to the song ‘I’m the King of The Swingers’ from the Jungle book.  We will be adding to our sequences of actions as the weeks progress.

   

In Science we completed our topic of Animals and Humans finishing with making class pictograms, We talked about our similarities and differences and made class Pictograms of eye colour and hair colour. We were surprised to discover that there were no children in our class who have green eyes! Brown hair and Brown eyes were the most common features found and we decided to test the hypothesis that if you have brown hair do you have brown eyes too? We proved this was incorrect as we discovered half the class with brown hair had brown eyes but the other half of the class with brown hair had blue eyes. Next week we will introduce our new Science unit Materials,

In RE we are learning about The Exodus. The story of The Exodus is known as an Epic story and we have been learning about what features help to make an Epic story! We talked about Superheroes we know and what superhero powers they are known to possess. We discussed what does it actually mean to be a hero and heroic events that can occur in real life.

 

Home Learning – due Friday.

Mathletics – please complete activities set.

Handwriting sheet – practice letters sent home. You do not need to send this back as they are also practised daily in school.

Spellings – please practice the spellings with your child for a spelling test next Friday. This also does not need to be sent back.

Reading – 5/10 minutes daily.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Poyiadzis and Mrs Barnes