We have been focusing on the story Stanley's Stick. We have loved all of the different things that Stanley imagined his stick to be. Today we found our own stick and thought about all of the other imaginative things it could be. We came up with some super ideas such as a toothbrush, a bubble wand, a lolly pop and many more. We all had a wonderful time acting out these different things. Afterwards we wrote a label about what our stick was, so everyone would know. 

Next week we are going to be using these imaginative ideas to write our own version of the book.

In English this week we have enjoyed exploring a new book, 'Stanley's Stick' by John Hegley. In the book, Stanley is a very curious character who loves to use his imagination. He imagines that his stick might be a dinosaur, a fishing rod, a broomstick or even a saxophone! 

Just like Stanley does in the book, we imagined that the stick was a dinosaur. We wrote sentences about what dinosaurs like to do, for example:

'I like to hunt for meat.' 

'I like to roar and snap my sharp teeth.'

We focused on starting our sentences with a capital letter and using a full stop at the end. We began to extend our ideas by using the conjuction 'and.'

This week we have been looking at instructions. Yesterday we read 'The Gruffalo' and thought about who the Gruffalo might want to invite to his party. There were lots of animals we wrote invitations for, but the class said there were other things needed for a party too, such as balloons and food. We had a look at the recipe book 'Gruffalo Crumble' and followed a recipe to make ‘Terrible Tusks’. First, we washed our hands with soap. Then we chopped up the banana, and after that pushed pieces of fruit onto our skewer. Finally, we added a piece of banana to the end to look like a tusk. We then ate our ‘Terrible Tusk’ to see if it would be a good recipe for the party, we all decided it would be!

This week, Year 1 had an exciting opportunity to share their creativity and storytelling talents with Reception. Over the past few weeks, the children have been working hard to write their own versions of a traditional tale inspired by 'Stop! That’s Not My Story!', a fun and imaginative twist on classic storytelling. The Reception children were captivated, laughing at the funny parts and gasping at the adventures. Afterwards, the younger children had the chance to ask questions and share their favourite parts of the stories. Thank you Reception for being such a great audience! 

In Maths lesson this week we have been learning about the importance of place value in numbers up to twenty. Using practical resources to help us, such as dienes, we've been working on our understanding of recognising the numbers and then creating pictorial representations on tens frames. We then moved onto partitioning numbers using part-whole models. We really enjoy our maths learning and are becoming more confident with our numbers up to twenty! 

In science we were learning about the weather in different seasons. We talked about how it gets colder in the winter and might be frosty or even snow. In summer it is hotter, and it much sunnier. We found it trickier at first to talk about the weather in spring and autumn but soon learnt about the weather in these seasons too.

We then got to be weather presenters. In a group, each person focused on a different season, and we sorted weather cards for our season. One person then filmed the presenter talking about the weather in that season. We took it in turns to be the cameraman and the presenter.

In this week’s science lesson, Cherry class took a journey through the year... tree-style! Our young scientists have been learning all about deciduous trees and how they change across the four seasons.

Spring:
We discovered that spring is a season of renewal for trees. The children noticed how buds and blossoms emerge, promising new leaves. We drew pictures of trees bursting with pink and white blossoms!

Summer:
When summer arrives, deciduous trees are at their fullest. The class observed how the trees provide shade with their lush, green leaves.

Autumn:
Autumn brought a splash of colour to our lesson! Everyone loved exploring how the leaves changed to shades of red, orange, and yellow.

Winter:
Finally, we reached winter, when deciduous trees shed their leaves and stand bare.

The lesson ended with each student creating a “Tree Through the Seasons” poster, showing how deciduous trees transform throughout the year.

Year 1 had so much fun exploring the trees through the seasons!

We have been really enjoying exploring a range of traditional tales in our English lesssons. We particularly loved the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff! To help familarise ourselves with the story, we worked in small groups and acted out key parts of the book. You can see how much fun we had from the smiles on our faces! 

In computing today, we were recapping what all the different paint tools did. As it is Remembrance Day soon, we drew poppies in today's lesson. We used a brush to create the shape and then the filler tool to make it all red. Finally, we added some detail such as the black middle and the stem. We had great fun and are looking forward to next week’s computing!

This week, our creative Year 1 children have been hard at work in their Design and Technology lessons, learning all about habitats! To bring their learning to life, each student got the chance to build their own miniature habitat, carefully designed for specific animals. From hot and sandy deserts to the freezing arctic, the class explored the materials and conditions that animals need to thrive.

Working with a variety of materials—such as cardboard, cotton wool and paint the children carefully planned, constructed, and even added finishing touches to make their habitats look as real as possible! Not only did they have fun crafting and building, but they also gained a deeper understanding of the natural world and the importance of protecting these special spaces.