Singlewell Primary School

Year 1 Clownfish

Clownfish May Update!

Welcome back to Term 5 Clownfish!

We have had a busy start back to the term and have been enjoying lots of exciting learning.

We have particularly enjoyed our Careers Week this week. A big thank you to Miss Meredith for organising lots of fantastic visitors and activities and a big thank you to parents that have supported us.

We have had exciting talks from a swimming teacher, air hostess, zookeepers, hairdressers and a construction company. It has really helped to widen our aspirations, and we have some great ideas about what we want to be when we grow up!

We have been working hard in English learning the story Zog, writing stories and even rhyming poems!

In maths, we have enjoyed learning practically about mass and capacity and how much things in our classroom weigh/hold!

We are also very excited about our school trip to Leeds Castle coming up and have been thinking of lots of exciting questions that we can ask when we get there!

As always, thank you for your continued support.

Miss Rivers

Happy Easter from Clownfish!

Dear families,

We have been very busy the last few weeks with lots of fun and exciting learning. We have been very excited to start our new story ‘The 3 Billy Goats Gruff’ and have had a great time creating our own new characters and twisting the ending of the story.

We have enjoyed learning about money over the past few weeks. We have been getting stuck into creating our own shops and buying things with the right amount in coins!

We have had a great time exploring materials in Science this term and have learnt all about different properties of materials and carrying out experiments to test different everyday materials we see.

We are looking forward to our Easter Eggs-travaganza this week and cannot wait to make Easter crowns and have a bunny hunt on the school field!

We have had a lovely Spring Term and are looking forward to a well-deserved Easter Break.

Have a lovely holiday,

Miss Rivers

Clownfish March Update!

Clownfish have had a fun and exciting few weeks at school! Thank you to all parents that attended our class assembly and our book sharing session over the last two weeks. We have worked very hard to make it as special as we could for you all!

We had a fantastic day celebrating World Book Day with our friends. We saw some fabulous costumes and the children really enjoyed getting stuck in to lots of different reading based activities! We enjoyed our ‘Masked Reader’ assembly and loved having Mr Roe come to read us ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ in the afternoon.

On top of all of that, we have been super busy with our usual learning. Here's a little run down of what we have been up to:

Writing: We have been learning all about Dinosaurs over the last few weeks. We have written some fantastic dinosaur 'wanted' posters, some great dinosaur poems and some lovely dinosaur fact files.

Maths: We have been looking at tens and ones in Maths this week and how we can partition numbers. We have been fantastic at using dienes to help us visually see how many tens in a number and how many ones in a number.

Geography: We are really enjoying learning all about maps and the world we live in during our Geography lessons. We have been learning about the continents, the oceans and the countries in the UK so far!

Art: We are loving learning all about aboriginal art this term. We have learnt what aboriginal art is, where it comes from, and we are very excited to make our own clay pots in an aboriginal style in a few weeks.

Science: We love learning all about materials in Science and have been getting very practical on different material hunts and thinking about how we can describe the properties of different materials. We are also particularly excited for Science Week next week too!

Thank you for your continued support,

Miss Rivers

Clownfish February Update!

Hello Families,
Clownfish have been very busy having lots of fun over the last few weeks! Here is a quick run down of what we have been up to:

Writing: We have had a great time learning the story ‘Handa’s Surprise’ over the last few weeks. We have learned how to make our writing exciting by adding adjectives and description and we have had a go at writing our own version of the story! We have also learned how to ‘jump into a picture’ this week. We have transported ourselves to a magical land and used our senses to write descriptive sentences!

Maths: We have started to learn about subtraction up to 20 this week. We have been working hard using practical resources to help us solve subtraction number sentences as well as pictoral resources such as number lines. We have worked hard on making connections while subtracting using number bonds. For example, if 9-5=4, then 19-5=14.

Science: We are still completing our Explorify topic this term where we are exploring a range of different Science topics based on discussions and experiments. We have recently looked at habitats and how to keep animals safe. We are very excited to make our own birdfeeders.

History: We are still learning about homes in the past this term and have been working hard to learn all about Celtic houses, Anglo-Saxon houses and Victorian houses. We have been making comparisons to our own houses and thinking about the type of house we want to live in!

Art: We have been working hard making our 'spacescape'. So far we have made our watercolour background, oil pastel planets and are looking forward to making our rockets out of poster paint! We cannot wait to show you the finished masterpieces!

Storytelling Week: We have had lots of fun this week for storytelling week. We especially enjoyed being in our pyjamas on Monday! We have enjoyed reading lots of stories and have really enjoyed having parents coming in and reading to us! We have had a great week!

Thank you for your continued support,

Miss Rivers

Clownfish January Update!

Welcome Back Clownfish and Happy New Year!

We have started the New Year with a bang and have been very busy settling back into our normal routine. Here is a quick rundown on what we have been getting up to:

Writing: We have been looking at the story ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy. We have been working incredibly hard to write descriptive sentences using adjectives to describe Baby Bear and have been learning lots about bossy verbs while writing instructions this week. We particularly enjoyed writing the instructions and then making our own jam sandwiches!

Maths: We have been focusing on adding 2 digit numbers this term and so far we are doing a fantastic job! We are working on using our number bonds in order to help us add quickly and also learning how to add using a number line.

Science: This term we are exploring lots of different science topics using Explorify. So far, we have been exploring changes in the weather, and have looked at why we need sunlight and what might happen if it was always dark. We have had some fantastic ideas and are great at sharing them with each other.

History: This term we are learning about Homes in the Past. We have discussed what we already know, what we would like to learn and have looked at sorting household objects that we would find in the past, and in the present.

Art: This term, we are going to be making a space scape! We have been learning all about primary and secondary colours and have had a fantastic time learning to mix different colours to create new ones!

Thank you for your continued support,

Miss Rivers

Clownfish December Update!

Hello Families,
Since our last message we have been very busy getting festive! Here is a rundown of our last few weeks:

Writing: We have been reading the story 'Cops and Robbers' by Janet and Alan Ahlberg. We have been very excited being detectives when someone stole all of Miss Rivers' Christmas presents! We have been writing information style police reports and creating WANTED posters for the naughty robber! We have been focusing lots on how to describe a person using special words called adjectives.

Maths: We have started looking at adding and subtracting slightly bigger numbers up to and past 20 over the past few weeks. It has been a bit of a challenge! We have also looked at how we can show, count and represent different numbers using a range of different resources in the classroom.

Science: We are still learning about the seasons in science and have had lots of fun with our rain gauge experiment. We keep checking for updates and we have realised that it definitely rains a lot in Gravesend!

Art and DT: We thoroughly enjoyed creating our dinosaur sculptures out of lots of different materials and worked logically to evaluate our masterpieces, thinking about what materials we might change if we had the choice, or how we would decorate it if we made it again.

Fire Engine Visit: We were incredibly lucky to have a visit from the Fire Brigade last week, the children had the opportunity to explore a fire engine, speak to firefighters and ask any questions they had. They had a fantastic time!

We have also had a great time celebrating our Christmas Jumper Day raising money for Save the Children and have held a Class Talent Show for all of Clownfish to perform and display their talents.

We have had lots of festive fun on top of all of our learning and are very excited for Santa to pay us a visit over the holidays!

Thank you for your continued support,
Have a lovely holiday,
Miss Rivers

Clownfish November Update!

Hello Families,

Thank you to all of those that attended our book sharing session last week. It was lovely to see the children so enthusiastic about sharing their learning and was great to hear them explaining what they have been up to. We hoped you enjoyed it too!

We have been very busy over the last few weeks! Here is a quick rundown for you all:

Writing: We have been enjoying reading Beegu this half term. We are enjoying learning about adjectives, and how to use a question mark, and how to use rhyming words!

Maths: We are still focusing on addition and subtraction this term. The children have found subtraction slightly trickier than adding! We have been using lots of manipulatives such as cubes and counters to help us. We have also been working very hard learning how to add and subtract on a number line!

Science: This term we are learning all about Seasonal Changes. We are pretty fantastic at describing the four seasons and we are going to be taking a deeper look into how the seasons are similar and different and take part in a few seasonal experiments this term!

Art: We have started our Sculpture topic this term and have been busy researching different sculptors and different sculptures. The children are very excited to make their own dinosaur sculpture by the end of the term!

History: Our new topic this term is Toys in the Past. We have been very excited to learn all about toys that are from the past and what makes them different to the toys we have today. We are looking forward to a visit from Miss Hassell’s family to come and show us some old toys later in the term!

Forest School: The children had a fantastic first week at Forest School. They were all incredibly safe and sensible and had a fabulous time exploring and learning the rules!

Useful links:
Some parents have asked for the links to some useful online resources that we use in the classroom. Here are a few:

PhonicsPlay (It may ask you to create an account but you do not need to!) https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

MathsWhizz – We love to play an interactive maths game together if we have time to! These are our go to. https://whizz.com/year-1-maths-games/

Finger Gym – We complete this video before we do any handwriting/long pieces of writing in our books to warm up our fingers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-WQuRdyHqE

Please also remember, the children are able to log into Purple Mash to play some fun learning games. (It is the same login as Year R - it is stuck in the front of their reading records too).

Fun dances and songs:

Dem Bones Song – This helped us to learn about the bones we have in our bodies! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjJONLPzGfY

Superhero Brain Break Dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok7V1pWtRzs&pp=ygUHa29vIGtvbw%3D%3D

Pizza Brain Break Dance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl5dRW4E9hc&pp=ygUHa29vIGtvbw%3D%3D

Thank you for your continued support

Miss Rivers

Clownfish October Update!

Thank you to all parents that joined our Autumn Workshop and donated craft materials. We had such a lovely time crafting together! See some pictures below…

Heres a quick rundown of what we have been getting up to in Year 1 Clownfish over the last few weeks:

Maths: We have begun focusing on addition in our Maths lessons recently. We have learned about the part-whole model when adding and have learned that we can put a number sentence in any order! E.g. 4 + 5 = 9 is the same as 5 + 4 = 9.

Writing: We have been focusing on the story Litterbug Doug over the past few weeks. We have looked at re-writing the story, planning story maps and focusing on what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story so that we make sure we include all of the important parts! Next week we are going to be looking at rhyming words.

Science: We have been focusing on Animal Diets recently, we have learned what a carnivore, herbivore and omnivore is and what they eat. We worked as a team to sort animals into groups.

Geography: We have looked at online maps recently. We are very lucky to have used the iPads to find google maps and look for our houses and our school.

Colour Run: We had a fantastic time at our Colour Run last week. Thank you to all parents for your donations, volunteering and your support!

Reminders:
Please remember to send your child to school with their reading pack every day. We have a fantastic ‘reading mentor’ scheme here at Singlewell and we want your child to get the chance to read their phonics book with a Y6 student

Please also remember book changing day is on a THURSDAY. Please ensure that your child brings back their books on this day so that their phonics book can be sent home with another child that may need it.

Miss Rivers

September Update!

Welcome Back To School Clownfish Class!

We have jumped into Year 1 with a splash! The children have been very busy working incredibly hard on their Year 1 learning. Here’s a rundown of what we have been getting up to so far:

Writing: We have been very busy with our writing so far this term. We have already looked at 3 different stories! We have learned all about ‘The Invisible String’ by Patrice Karst and we have learned about ‘Be Who You Are’ and ‘The Family Book’ both written by Todd Parr. We have been writing labels using our phonics sounds and even writing lots of sentences, making sure that we use Capital Letters, Fingers Spaces and Full Stops!

Maths: We have been learning all about place value to 10 this term. We have looked at counting, subitising, ordering groups and comparing numbers. We have been very busy completing lots of practical Maths activities as well as trying to do some writing in our books!

Geography: This term in Geography we are working on our mapping skills. We have been looking at our local area and familiar places around us like our school as well as creating maps of our own homes and bedrooms. We have learned all about what a compass is and how to use one too!

Science: Our topic this term is Animals including Humans. So far we have learned all about our bodies and the bones we have! We particularly enjoyed our ‘Dem Bones’ song! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjJONLPzGfY) We have also learned all about our senses and what we use each sense for. We had different senses stations in our classroom so we could test each of our senses!
Art: We are focusing on Self-Portraits in Art this term. We are going to be learning all about Van Gogh and creating some self-portraits inspired by his art but for now we have been creating our own style of self-portrait!

We have had a fabulous start to the year and we are looking forward to lots more exciting learning!

Thank you for your continued support,
Miss Rivers