Welcome to the Green and Orange Class Page!

2022-23

24/05/2023- Physical Education

This half term during PE we have been getting ready for sports day.

We have been practising a range of different sports.

We have been using eggs and wooden spoons for our egg and spoon race, we had to take our time so the egg didn’t fall from the spoon. We have been getting used to using the relay batton for the relay races, we had to make sure our hand was ready to receive the batton from our team member. We have also been practising our aiming to get the bean bags into the hula hoops to get points for our team.  

18/05/2023- Design & Technology

This week in D&T, Children have been exploring different types of houses, which is also linked to our literacy lesson where we are learning about houses in Kenya.  They used recyclable materials they brought from home and adhered to the design brief to build their houses. Children also explained the importance of having a home.

11/05/2023- Coronation Party!

For Coronation day, Year 1 participated in many activities to celebrate the King’s Coronation. Our favourite activity was creating a collage of the Union Jack flag using tissue paper. We ended the day by having an afternoon tea and dancing with our friends!

04.05.2023- Our Learning During Climate Week

In Year 1 for Climate Change we looked at the ocean and sea animals. We learnt about the pros and cons of plastic and debated whether plastic should be banned in the world or not. We also used recyclable materials to create our own mini oceans! We used tissue paper and pipe cleaners to represent sea animals and plants.

26.04.2023- Maths

In Year 1 this week we have been looking at volume and capacity. We used different sized cups, containers and jugs to compare capacity and volume. We found out which jugs had a greater capacity by seeing how many cups of water was needed to fill it up. We worked in groups to carefully carry the water and pour it out.

18/04/2023- English

In English we are looking at a new story called ‘Lila and the Secret of Rain’. This week we looked at the front cover and made inferences based on what we could see. We found out that Lila lives in Kenya! We were able to apply all our previous knowledge from Geography about Kenya to the setting of this story.

29/03/2023- The Human Body

In Science we have been learning about living things. Today we explored a human skeleton and learnt that an adult body has 206 bones! We also discovered the size of our heart is the size of our fist! We worked with our partner to cut out body parts and put them together to form our own human body finally we labelled each part.

22/03/2023- Mathematics

This week we were able to explore and understand the concept of length in our mathematic lessons. Length is a fundamental measurement that is used to describe the size or distance between objects, and is typically measured in units such as centimeters, inches, or meters. In these lessons, we compared the lengths of objects using terms such as longer or shorter, and we also learned to measure length using tools such as rulers or measuring tapes. Through hands-on activities and practice exercises, we can develop a solid understanding of this important mathematical concept.

14/03/2023- Ark Farm

Year 1 had the opportunity to meet the animals as part of Ark Farm. This tied in really well with our Science topic as we are learning about different groups of animals and classifying them. Whilst touching the animals, we described their fur and said what group they belong to. Goats are mammals because they have fur and have live babies!

09/03/2023- PE

In Year 1, we have been focusing on using bats and balls. We are building our coordination when hitting the ball with the bat or when throwing the ball to a peer. We have also learnt to throw using an underarm throw.

2/03/2023- RE Day

During RE Day we have been busy exploring Sikhism! To begin with, we explored the artefacts belonging to Sikhism and wrote down any questions we had regarding the artefacts or the religion. These questions were answered throughout the day. We then learnt about the story of Guru Nanak and role played this. We ended the day by listing what makes us a good person and comparing this to the religion of Sikhism.

23/02/2023- Oracy in Mathematics

In Mathematics, we worked with our partners to subtract ten from a number. We used our cognitive skills to explain our working out and how we reached our answers. We also encouraged our partners to use the correct vocabulary when using manipulatives.

09/02/2023- D & T

This term in D&T Year 1 have been focusing on creating a healthy snack using fruits and vegetables. First we wrote out our equipment list, ingredient list and our method.  Next, we made sure that we practiced using a knife very carefully before making our snack. Finally, we created our fruit skewers, they tasted so yummy and delicious!

31/01/2023- Mathematics Open Lesson

We had a very special start to our mathematics lessons this week as our parents joined us in our maths open lesson. We focused on addition and subtraction in this lesson and used manipulatives to help us with our understanding. Children challenged themselves by using the commutative law to write their calculation in a different way. Pupils enjoyed sharing their learning with their parents. 

24/01/2023- Florence Nightingale

This term for History we learnt about Florence Nightingale and the amazing work she contributed towards nursing. Children learnt facts about Nightingale and the changes she brought to hospitals such as better food, more medication, cleaning the hospitals, changing bedsheets etc. We learnt that Florence Nightingale was also known as ‘The Lady with the Lamp’ because when she used to treat patients in the night she would walk around with a lamp. This is why we created our own lamps!

20/01/2023- Reading

This term in Guided Reading, Year 1 are learning about plants. We have learnt all the parts of the flower and are able to label them. We can say what plants need to grow and we are able to say how trees change during each season!

12/01/2023- Beegu

This term in Year 1 we are reading the book called Beegu! So far we have only read the beginning of the story and we learnt that Beegu is a yellow alien with long, floppy ears. In our opinion Beegu is feeling lonely, abandoned and frustrated because his spaceship crashed and he is lost! We have created Beegu an alien friend as a companion, out of playdough to keep him company.

7/12/2022- Science

This term for Science we have been using our senses to investigate a lemon. We came up with the following investigation questions:

What will the lemon taste like?

What will the lemon feel like?

What will the lemon smell like?

What will the lemon look like?

We also predicted what we would find out.

This week we cut lemons and used our senses to investigate. We used our Oracy skills to discuss our findings before writing them down.

01/12/2022- 2D Shapes

This week in Year 1 we have been learning about 2D shapes in Mathematics. We incorporated this within our English lessons by creating a rocket using 2D shapes. This rocket was created because our character in our story loves space! Year 1 planned their rocket, used a ruler to measure their shapes and then very carefully cut them out to create their rockets.

24/11/2022- D & T

This week in Year 1 we started D&T. We learnt the different types of mechanisms such as lever, pivot, rotate and linkage. We explored around the school to find these types of mechanisms. During our provision session, we looked at books that pop-up and also experimented with different materials to make pop-up cards. 

16/11/2022-Oracy

This week for English in Year 1 we had a debate to develop Oracy skills. The question we debated was “Should junk food be banned?” Pupils were encouraged to listen to the persuasive points being made and use their cognition skills to give reasons for their view. Year 1 were also encouraged to respond using formal language such as ‘first of all…’, ‘in my opinion…’, ‘I believe that…’

10/11/2022- Cups and Saucers

In PE this week, Year 1 played a game called Cups and Saucers. They were placed into two teams, one team had to flip the cones upside down and the other team had to flip it the right way round! Year 1 enjoyed this game a lot and had a lot of fun!

4/11/2022-PSHCE

This week in Year 1 we are learning how to keep safe. We learnt about the dangers of traffic and how to stay safe on the road! We explored various ways in which we can stay safe, for example, wearing reflective clothing, using pedestrian crossing to get to the other side of the road, looking left and right before crossing with our parent/carer etc. 

20/10/2022- Black History Week

This week has been eye opening because we have had the chance to learn about Black History Month and then celebrated Diversity day.

We learnt about Mo Farah and his life. We know that he is a famous athlete and he has won 4 gold medals which he has dedicated to his four children. 

On Diversity day we came into school dressed in our Traditional clothes and talked about our background and where our families have come from. We also used various arts and crafts materials to make some interesting masks. 

13/10/2022- RE Day
In Year 1 we spent a whole day learning about Christianity and Baptism. Children watched videos to learn about how a Baptism takes place and why. Pupils had the opportunity to discuss the difference between a Baptism and a Dedication Service. Both Green and Orange class ordered the steps of a Baptism in order and created lovely cards to give to a Christian friend! Year 1 also had artefacts that they explored to enhance their knowledge about Christianity. 

5/10/2022- Science

In Year 1, we have been working scientifically to carry out our investigation. Our investigation question was “Will the skittles water change into rainbow juice?” We found out that if you pour water on skittles it does turn into rainbow juice!

Materials needed:

• Skittles

• Plate

• Water

28/09/2022- Reading

In Year 1 we love to read. We read at every opportunity we get. We read in the morning during soft start. We read during provision time and DEAR time. Here are some photos of children reading at different times of the day. We love to share our favourite books with our friends and teachers.

22/09/2022- Mathematics

This week in Mathematics we were comparing numbers to identify which numbers are more than/less than. Year 1 used different manipulatives such as Numicon, Dienes and cubes, to compare numbers. Using manipulatives in lessons is so helpful with building our understanding of mathematical concepts!

14/09/2022- English

This week we have been busy being Poets in our English lessons. We have learnt about Michael Rosen and how he performs a poem. We then looked at his poem and performed it in small groups and added actions.

We loved his poem called Chocolate Cake!!

07/09/2022- Welcome back!

Wow! What an amazing first week back! The children have been excited and eager to start their learning in Year 1. The children have worked really hard during their English, Mathematics and provision time sessions. We were very excited to engage with the activities in the provision. Swipe right to see what we've been up to.

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Reception

2021 - 2022

20/07/2022- Keeping Cool in the Heatwave!

We have had a lot of fun keeping cool in this very hot weather. We enjoyed playing with water in a giant tray as well as making use of our sprinkler. We took off our socks and shoes and walked across the refreshing cold water. We also used the hose to cool down whilst playing in the shade by spraying it all over ourselves.

14/07/2022-Our Learning This week

In Reception this week we have been enjoying using our creative and fine motor skills to make new things. We have tried making origami paper aeroplanes, which was challenging but incredible fun also. We also finished reading our story ‘Naughty Bus’ in literacy so we made our own buses using paper and shapes. It was a very hot week this week, so we spent time playing in the shade outside to keep cool and enjoyed learning how to use a hula hoop.

06/07/2022 - Visit to Barleylands

We had our end of year trip to Barleylands farm yesterday and it was fantastic. We enjoyed a bumpy tractor ride where we saw many different horses. Then we had a chance to feed and pet a variety of farm animals such as lambs, goats and even a calf. After that, we had a cooking session, where we prepared and assembled a delicious rainbow salad. 

30/06/2022- Creative Learning in Reception

We enjoyed many creative activities this week. We used paint and natural objects to create colourful pictures by stamping different objects and mixing colours. We also tried sewing again! It was a tricky activity but we very much enjoyed it. We used needles and material to make our own bags. We then enjoyed decorating our bags, what great fun! We also used our creative imagination outside too, we used the large construction materials to create our own vehicles.

22/06/2022-Science Week

It is Science week this week and Reception have had an exciting challenge! We had to design and make a boat that floats on water. We used recyclable materials and tested whether our boats would float or sink. We enjoyed testing our predictions to check if we were correct or not. Some of us even evaluated our boats and changed the design to ensure it floated better. 

16/06/2022-Mathematics

It has been a very warm week this week, and Reception has made the most of the lovely weather. We have spent a lot of time outside building houses, creating shops and role playing as shopkeepers as well as measuring rocks and sand. We also explored what happens to plants if we don’t look after them and give them water. We noticed how the texture changes and the leaves become very dry and crunchy. In Mathematics, we have been learning about number 16 this week and have used people on buses to represent the number in different ways.

9/06/2022-Naughty Red Bus

We are all so glad to be back to school after a long week away. We have been very busy in Reception this week, as we have begun reading a new story in English called ‘Naughty Bus’. 

This has inspired us during activity time. We decided to create our own buses using 2D shapes. We also used water colour paints to draw and paint pictures of a big, red bus. Some of us were very keen to write about what we thought might happen in our new story also! What a fantastic first week back.

12/05/2022- Making Jet Packs!

This week in Reception we have been very busy making and playing! We tried our best to follow instructions to make a spiderweb of our own as well as creating our own minibeasts using a range of different resources. Using recycled materials we also made our own jetpacks! We thought carefully about how our jetpacks would look and which materials we could use for each part. We also engaged in a challenging problem solving activity which required us to think about how we may arrange the ‘T’ shapes to create a square and then a rectangle. What a great week!

6/05/2022-Ahhhh Spider!

In Reception this week we have been busy as usual. We have been refining our fine motor skills to make playdough spiders, as it links with our story in English. We used the muscles in our hands to roll, pinch and squeeze the playdough to form the spiders carefully. We also enjoyed some problem solving activities using shapes! We used shapes to create pictures, we had to carefully cut out the shapes and arrange them on the page, it was a challenge but we tried our best. We have been enjoying making musical instruments this week such as shakers and guitars. We used different resources to create our instruments and we might even make a band together!

28/04/2022- Problem Solving Workshop

We had an exciting mathematics workshop this week. A visitor came and showed us some very fun and challenging problem solving games. We had to work in teams and help each other out and solve the tricky puzzles. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed being a Challenge Rex!

We have also been learning about minibeasts and were lucky enough to find some in our garden. We found a tiny spider by the sand pit and even a snail in the bushes.

21/04/2022- Literacy

Our first few days back in Reception have been busy! We have begun reading a new story in literacy called ‘Aaarghhh Spider!’ and decided to participate in some spider related activities. We first learnt about a spider’s life cycle and their physical characteristics before making paper spiders ourselves! We made sure our spiders had eight long legs and eight tiny black eyes. We also painted pictures of big spiders using different tools and media and created very lovely artwork.

01/04/2022-Thorndon Park Forest

We had an amazing trip to Thorndon Park Forest to visit the Gruffalo and all his friends! We played fun games and followed the path through the forest to find all the characters from our story! We created a log pile house for the snake, covered our new friend Mouse Mat in leaves to protect him from the fox and collected ingredients to make a tasty Gruffalo Crumble. A great day out!

24/03/2022- Making Bubbles

We made giant bubbles in Reception this week! We had to mix the perfect bubble recipe for this to work, which was: washing up liquid, glycerol and water. We first tried to make bubbles using a hula hoop, however the bubbles would quickly burst soon after the hoop was lifted. Then we tried a string tied in a loop which worked perfectly! This allowed us to make huge bubbles big enough to fit over children! We had a fantastic time playing in the sunshine.

17/03/2022- Developing our skills

This week in Reception we tried to learn how to tie shoelaces. We used pretend shoes with pipe cleaners as laces. It was quite tricky but we were being a Tryatops! 

We also had flowers in Reception this week. We kept some flowers in water and left some without. We noticed the changes that occured over the course of the week to the flowers that were left without water. We drew pictures of what we noticed and described how the texture of the plants changed also.

11/03/2022- The Gruffalo 

We had an adventurous week in Reception! We enjoyed exploring our new book 'The Gruffalo'. We had great fun doing all the different activities! We loved playing in the small world area where we explored the positional language. We also painted the characters of the story. We had a fantastic time and can’t wait to see what adventures next week holds!

04/03/2022- Our Special Visitor in Reception

We have had some special visitors in Reception this week, grasshoppers! We have been thinking about what grasshoppers need to survive and their life cycle. We learned some very interesting facts about grasshoppers, such as; there are 10 different types of grasshoppers, they like to eat salad leaves and can jump as high as 25cm! We used magnifying glasses to get a closer look at their bodies and their features.

We also celebrated World Book Day this week, we got a chance to dress up as some of our favourite characters! We even made some of our favourite characters using different resources. What a lovely week it has been.

24/02/2022- Learning about Plants

It’s our first week back in Reception this week and we have been busy! We have begun learning about plants and what it takes to help plants grow and survive. We thought about the main things plants need to grow, and decided it would be great to grow some plants ourselves! So we planted some cress seeds and have been monitoring how well they grow during the week.

We have also been challenging ourselves by trying new activities. We have been using our fine motor skills to sew and we have also learnt how to make our own paper aeroplanes, it has been a lot of fun.

10/02/2022- Learning Key Skills

We have had another busy week in Reception. We have been practising lots of important skills this week, one of them being how to cut food independently. For this, we used play dough and cutlery, we learnt how to hold the cutlery correctly in order to cut the play dough. We have also continued to make bread this week. We worked with our friends to carefully measure out the ingredients needed and followed the recipe in order to make fluffy bread for our snack table. We have been learning about different countries around the world this week, comparing them to London and noticing the differences between our houses and theirs. This has inspired us to build our own houses outside, and paint the different cities we learnt about inside.

03/02/2022- Chinese New Year

We celebrated Chinese New year this week! It was great fun to learn about this festival that was celebrated this week. We enjoyed doing a range of activities as part of our celebrations. We painted the dragons from the dragons dance. We also made our own dragons and created lanterns and fans. Come and have a look at our amazing work!

28/01/2022-Creative Play

We had a fun-filled week in Reception! We enjoyed playing outside with our friends and did lots of role play! We have been learning about people who help us, so we have role played as teachers and veterinarians. We used our new vocabulary in our play and had so much fun!

21/01/2022- Being a Vet

As part of our learning this week we explored being a Vet. We learned about what happens at the vet and what a vet does. We also discovered how the vet helps animals and what procedures a vet needs to take to help the animals. In Reception this week we have had a fantastic time being vets in our role play area!

14/01/2022- People Who Help Us!

We had such an amazing first full week back to Reception. This week we have begun learning about people who help us, and we started with police officers. We enjoyed lots of role play outside and inside, we even created a jail! We also thought about the uniform a police officer wears and tried our best to make our own police hats. We have also been looking at the world around us a lot more this week, noticing different natural objects so we decided to paint them. We didn’t have any brown paint so we had to think carefully about the colours we needed to mix together to make this.

17/12/2021-Family Friday

Today we had our second session of Family Friday! The focus of this session was early mathematics. We were so excited to have our parents/carers in our provision so they could learn to support us with our mathematics learning. Our parent/carers took away lots of exciting ideas and tips to help us with our learning at home.

9/12/2021-Eco Week

Last week was Eco Week at Sir John Heron and in Reception we made delicious pizzas! We chose healthy toppings for our pizzas such as olives, peppers, sweetcorn and cherry tomatoes. They were very tasty! We also enjoyed painting maps of our journeys to school. We thought about all the different things we see in our local area and how we travel to school also. 

25/11/2021- Blue Penguin

This week Reception decided we would visit our friend Blue Penguin in Antarctica. We created an airport in our garden and thought about the different ways we could travel there. We built a car at first using large blocks and crates but realised Antarctica is very far away. We decided the best way to travel to a country far away would be to fly there on an airplane. So we worked together and built a giant plane to carry all our friends. We made boarding passes and passports and drew the different things we could see from the plane!

19/11/2021-Mathematics

We had another fun filled week this week in Reception. We measured how much slime we could fit into different sized containers, built a town using colourful blocks and designed what we can build in the sand area! We also have two new friends in Reception, our new pet fish! We have been learning about how to properly care and look after them.

11/11/2021-Remembrance Day

This week in Reception we have been learning about Remembrance Day. We also decided to make hand print poppies for Remembrance Day using the three primary colours; red, blue and yellow. We had to think about how we could mix the colours to make green for our poppies stem and leaf. We enjoyed painting so much, we decided to take it outside! We laid a large sheet of paper on the floor and used large brushes to mix paint with. We made some very interesting colours.

5/11/2021-Diwali (The Festival of Light)

It’s our first week back in Reception after a restful week off and we have been very busy! This week we have been learning about Diwali and why it is a special celebration for some members of our community. We have been celebrating Diwali in school by making lanterns and divas as Diwali is the festival of light. We have also made a fruit salad topped with custard as a sweet treat, as desserts are often eaten during the festivities.

21/10/2021-Halloween

As part of our learning this week we explored Halloween. We learned about what happens during this time and how some people celebrate it at home. In Reception this week we have had a fantastic time drawing faces on the pumpkins!

14/10/2021- Reading in Reception

This week in Reception we have really enjoyed spending time and reading in our new reading room! We have also been enjoying reading in other areas of Reception too such as outside in our reading nook. We have been exploring the ‘talking area’ a lot more this week and having conversations with our friends about the things we see in the pictures.

7/10/2021- This is Our House

As part of our English sessions we are reading the book: This is our house. In the story George is playing in a box house and is not sharing the house with the other children. In Reception this week we have been building houses in our outdoor area. We were very excited to share our work with you. We had a fantastic time!

30/9/2021- The Number Three

We have had another busy week in Reception this week! We learnt all about number 3 this week so we decided to make number 3 monsters. Our monsters had three eyes, three arms and some even had three heads! We also enjoyed making bracelets using small colourful beads and thin pieces of string. This was a challenge but we tried our very best to put the string through the beads. We can’t wait for next week’s activities!

23/09/2021-  My Face

We have worked very hard in Reception this week! First we enjoyed learning about our facial features. Next we were very excited to find a photo of our face and then we used the paint to paint our bodies. We explored how to mix the colours and talked about our findings. We had a fantastic time and we are very excited for our next piece of learning!

17/09/2021- Reception Learning

We had a wonderful week in Reception! We enjoyed investigating our new areas, both inside and outside. We explored the sand area where we discovered treasure hidden by pirates! We also hid from a scary dragon in the tree house, but don’t worry we set up a trap to catch it. We played with water and enjoyed drawing pictures using paint markers and coloured pencils. We had a fantastic time and can’t wait to see what adventures next week holds!

10/09/2021-Back to School for Reception 

Our Reception children have had a fantastic start to the new term. They were very excited to have their first PE and Music sessions this week.