Welcome to Year 1 AB! 

We are a cheerful, enthusiastic and caring bunch who always try our best.

For more regular updates and learning celebrations current parents can request to follow us on Twitter at @AmberleyYear1. 

Spring 2:

We have loved learning all about Queen Elizabeth II this half term.

As a History/ Geography topic focus the children have been comparing their life to Queen Elizabeth II’s as a child, sequencing the Queen’s life and learning about significant events including her marriage, coronation and jubilee, also looking at the similarities and differences between artefacts from that era to present day. In Geography we have been naming and locating towns and cities in the UK, including its countries with inspiration from the story ‘The Queen’s Handbag’ which was a perfect suit to our topic!

In English lessons we used the text ‘Tell me a Dragon’ as inspiration to design and write our own character descriptions- reinforcing our creative writing skills. More recently we have just finished a Talk 4 Writing unit based on the poem ‘The Dragon who ate our School’ by Nick Toczeck. As a class we innovated this poem using our Talk 4 Writing picture map- we then progressed onto innovating our own individual poems. It was tricky to keep the rhythm and rhyming words however our finished poems are fantastic!

In Mathematics we have developed our number and place value skills with numbers up to 50, focusing on addition and subtraction, counting in multiples of 2, 5 and 10, and measuring length/ height/ weight and capacity. By doing this we follow the CPA approach to give the children as many experiences as possible to consolidate their Mathematical skills. We always start exploring a problem with concrete objects, then move onto pictorial representations, then finally progress onto the abstract form. This works so well with our children to gain a deeper understanding of challenging concepts.

The Wild West

In the first half term of Autumn we are investigating the hook question 'Who lived in the Wild West?'. Y1AB have been looking at the lives of Cowboys and Native Americans; learning about how they lived and comparing their ways of life to ours now. We have even been role playing as Cowboys and Native Americans too. Our Hoe Down Show Down Class Assembly was on Monday 16^th October where we celebrated all our learning from the topic and shared it with parents and carers too.  

Space

Now into Autumn 2, we are investigating the hook question ‘What’s Beyond the Sky?’ Y1AB have been looking at the significant events and life of Neil Armstrong and artefacts from space and space missions that have changed over the years. On Friday 24^th November we are taking part in a Moon Walk around school and dressing up as anything related to space...we will post pictures to share our celebrations with you soon!

Mathematics

We have been working really hard in Mathematics in our first half term in Year 1; especially in developing problem solving and reasoning skills. We have been building Number and Place Value, Addition and Subtraction skills using a range of models such as the whole-part-part model and the CPA approach. Our main focuses have included:

• Reading and writing numbers from 1 to 20 in words
• Reading and writing numbers from 1 to 20 in numerals
• Identifying one more and one less of a given number
• Reading and interpreting mathematical statements involving addition (+), subtraction (-) and equals (=) signs
• Representing and using number bonds within 10.
• Adding one-digit and two digit numbers
• Subtracting one-digit and two digit numbers.

Look below at the some of the learning activities and investigations we have been doing in Maths.

English

We have had a fantastic start to our time in Year 1. Throughout our topic of the Wild West Y1AB have been looking at the text of The Gingerbread Cowboy and learnt the text using Talk for Writing.

This half term we used the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle and innovated it with our choice of character linked to the Space. Below as our picture of the class picture map which enabled us to create the story ‘The Very Hungry Space Puppy’. We have also begun to produce some non-fiction writing about space using all of our knowledge that we have learnt so far in the topic. Look below at some of the writing we have created about Space.

PE

We have been very lucky to work with Newcastle United Foundation this term and we have been developing the following skills:

• To throw and catch a ball with accuracy
• To dodge an opponent in 5 different ways
• To run with agility
• To link skills together in across a range of activities.
• To jump with height and distance.

Take a look at the photographs and videos below to see how our skills have developed.

Music

Throughout Autumn term we have been developing our knowledge of musical terms and applying and linking them to a range of classical and more modern melodies. We have focussed on:

• Pulse
• Rhythm
• Dynamics

Check out the videos and pictures below to view how our skills have developed.