Year 1 Class News

Reading with prosody

This week, the children will be using their knowledge of nouns and adjectives to create and write about a monster. To support this learning, we have chosen a monster themed poem to learn.

As well as developing fluency skills, we are teaching the children to add some prosody to their reading too. This simply means  to read with expression. Prosody is taught through a variety of texts, not just stories.

On Friday, I (Mrs Freeman) read the text aloud and modelled using prosody and asked the children the following questions.

How have I changed my voice?

Why have I changed my voice and does it help us to understand the poem more?

Am I telling you about the character is an expressive/funny way?

Can you tell who is speaking? The monster or the reader?

Using prosody, gives early readers an insight into what reading for meaning should sound like. More importantly, it shows children how books can speak through readers, and how words on the page can come to life – which our monster poem certainly did!

By modelling this reading skill, children begin to learn how you can change the tone of a sentence simply by stressing different words and phrases.

After listening to me read, the class then echoed my prosody several times.

Help at home

Listen to this recording of the poem and discuss prosody with you child. Let me repeat back each line using expression.

Use prosody in your daily conversations. Emphasise certain words/phrases together.

Topic Review

Thank you to those families that were able to join us today for our topic review. We are continually recapping previous learning and today was a great opportunity for the children to showcase their knowledge. It was lovely to see the children discussing their work with families and friends.

If you weren’t able to attend, here is the quiz that the children did for their review. Topic Review quiz slides December 2023

Barbara Hepworth Art Gallery

Last Friday, we had an absolutely fantastic school trip to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield .

The day included looking around the garden, the different galleries in the art museum and sketching some of the sculptures.

We also enjoyed a print-making workshop which included looking at some Barbara Hepworth sculptures and finding inspiration from their shapes. We learned that Barbara Hepworth was inspired by nature to produce her own art.

Using different materials, we created a tile with different textures, lines and shapes. Then, we rolled ink over our tiles and printed them onto paper.

Our finished masterpieces are on display in the classroom. Please pop in and check them out!

Artists at work

Our current topic is an art focused one. The children are studying the work of two featured artists: Paul Klee (modern artist) and Leonardo da Vinci (Renaissance artist).

Here is a list of our art related vocabulary and definitions.

• shape: a two-dimensional area which may be created using lines or colour
• tone: how light or dark a colour is
• primary colours: three colours (red, yellow, blue) that can’t be made by mixing other colours, but can make other colours
• secondary colours: three colours (orange, green, purple) that are made when two primary colours are mixed using paint
• pattern: arrangements of things such as colour, shapes and lines that repeat in a logical way
• texture: how something feels, like smooth or rough

Today, the children learnt about primary and secondary colours.  We had fun mixing the primary colours to make the secondary ones.

Mixing colours

The primary colours are blue, yellow and red. When you mix these colours you can make new colours.

When you mix red and yellow together, you make orange.

When you mix red and blue together, you make purple.

And when you mix blue and yellow together, you make green.

Children in Need

Thank you for all your support raising money for Children in Need. 

We have raised £140 for the charity.

Living and Learning: know how to STOP bullying!

We kicked off anti-bullying day with our odd socks to celebrate that we are all unique and different.

What is unique?

We discussed the meaning of the word ‘unique’.

I am unique because there is no one else like me that has my personality or looks.

Nobody has my hair, my eyes, my nose, or my smile. Nobody draws like me, paints like me, sings like me, or dances like me.

I am unique because God made me and wanted me to look and act exactly like I do now.

We explored our school definition of bullying by looking at what some of the words meant.

What is bullying?

We’re all able to make a choice in how we behave towards others. We can choose to be kind or helpful, or we could act in a way that is mean and unkind.

What is bullying behaviour?

Bullying is a type of unkind behaviour, such as being mean to others on purpose. Sometimes, people who bully others may be feeling sad or angry and might take their negative feelings out on other people.

What are the different types of bullying?

Our school definition reminds us of  the different types of bullying – physical (hurting our body), emotional (hurting our feelings) or cyber bullying (online).

How can you STOP bullying?

We used our weekly circle time to think about the role we all have to STOP bullying. Year 1 had some great suggestions.

Our main message is Start Telling Other People!

You can stop bullying by…

saying STOP to the bullies and if they don’t stop, tell an adult – Harry

being kind to people and not hurting others – Poppy

being resilient and saying STOP – Vincent

ignoring the bully, walk away – Athena

How can you get help?

The children were reminded about where/who to ask for help.

Who could you tell? 

The children were reminded about who they could speak to if the need arose.

• Safeguarding team – Miss Beatson, Mrs Freeman, Mrs Small and Miss Walshaw.
• Any other members of staff
• A trusted adult
• Someone in your family
• Friends
• Childline (0800 1111)Write a worry slip and put it in your class Living and Learning Box
  

  Start Telling Other People.

Help at home:

Discuss our school definition of bullying with your child. Do they know the difference between falling out and bullying, and between a one-off situation and something that’s happened more than once?

Living and Learning: Me and My Money

We have had a very busy, money themed, week. The children have been learning the value of coins and notes, sorting coins into groups, discussing different charities, making money boxes, enjoying a song (with prosody) and laying a penny trail in the playground.

During our Living and Learning lesson, the class thought about the difference between a need (something we must have in order to stay alive) and a want (something we would like to have, but we don’t need it in order to stay alive).

Help at home

Watch the Money Matters video clip and have a discussion at home about how we get and use money, where money comes from, the difference between needs and wants, budgeting and saving. Take the quiz at the end to see how much you can remember about using money.

Mad About Materials!

RE: Who was Saint James?

Who was Saint James?

The children have had a wonderful start to the half term. It has been lovely to see so many smiling faces returning to school ready for more learning.

On Monday, the children enjoyed finding out about Saint James. We researched  his life and discovered that Jesus trusted James to become one of His disciples.

We explored our school logo and discussed what the shells could represent. 

Help at home

Ask your child to tell you what they have learnt about Saint James. Share the information below together and then ask your child the following questions.

• What do the scallop shells represent?
• Tell me about St James.
• Who was his father?
• What was his job? 

James grew up by the ‘seaside’. That sea was Lake Galilee. He had a brother called John. They were known for having rows with each other and Jesus had a nickname for them: ‘the Sons of Thunder’. James had a mother called Salome and a father called Zebedee. James was a fisherman with his brother. Jesus went to meet James and he became one of the three disciples who were very close to Jesus, along with Peter and John. Jesus was preparing James to become a leader in the early church.The scallop shell of Saint James is believed to promote courage, strength and hope.

The children really enjoyed painting their own shells and these will be on display in our classroom.

Help at home with phonics

Please support your child to practise and reinforce the phonemes and graphemes we have been learning in our phonic sessions. More information and support can be found on the Little Wandle website – https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

We have read and written these words. Add sound buttons.

We have read and written these sentences. Can you spot any tricky words? Can you read these sentences fluently?

The toads feel so cool.

The boot on my right foot is too hard.

I can see foxes in the car lights.

We can go down to the town on the bus.

We have practised tricky words. Can you spot the tricky part of the word?

• no
• go
• so
• my
• by
• to
• into
• out
• the

We have spelt words. Can you write these words? Can you use the correct phonemes?

• right
• hard
• took
• hear