Autumn 1

Week 1

We have had a very positive and exciting week here in Year 1. We have been exploring our classroom and getting to know one-another. 

We created our class wish for the year and were shown awards which our children can win in school and the classroom.

We also started to complete some Maths and English activities to get us well-equipped for next week and the rest of the year. 

The children had the opportunity to ask questions to Mr Abnett and Miss Plant to get to know us a bit better. This went down a treat! Especially when Mr Abnett was asked what his favourite ice cream was!

It's fair to say it has been a very exciting and tiring week here in Year 1 but i'm sure like me you can't was what next week will bring!

Best Wishes, 

Mr Abnett

Week 2 

This week in Year 1 we have been getting up too many different things! We started our formal lessons this week with the children sitting at tables for the majority of the day. I am very impressed with how the children have settled into life in a new class and year group. 

In English we started our new book 'The enormous Turnip' the children have thoroughly enjoyed acting out in role play parts of our story, writing sentences about what had happened and completing sentence 'Kung-Fu punctuation' be sure to ask the children to show you how to 'Bow to your partner...Capital letter...Finger space...full-stop...question mark...exclamation mark'.

In maths we have started Numbers 1-10 using concrete resources like number blocks etc. We have all enjoyed creating different groups of numbers using amounts of blocks and completing questions in our books.

Our first foundation subject was science and all about the different seasons. I am very shocked that our children know so much already! It's like I have been taught a few things about what to wear in different seasons! Maybe I do not have great fashion sense! We have learnt what the three types of clouds are and what different instruments we would use to measure the rain and the temperature. Our next subject is History and i for one can't wait to learn about the past.

In Religious Education we have been learning about the creation story and what God did on the different days of creation. Miss Plant and I were amazed at their acting skills when acting out the creation story. We also were able to sequence and write some sentences about what happened on each day.

I could go on for hours and hours but here is a brief snip-it of what the week was like in a busy Year 1 class. Time to rest and re-charge ready for Tuesday. 

God Bless, 

Mr Abnett

Week 3

With the day off because of the Queens funeral we have been very busy this week in Year 1. We have started our phonics lessons properly with both mine and Miss Plants groups starting really positively. 

Our English work this week has been retrieving information from a text. Using capital letters, full stops and finger spaces in our work. We have nearly finished our book already the time has gone quick! We have used our phonics work to inform our writing of words. 

In maths we have been getting stuck into our topic of Place value (Numbers 1-10) the children have impressed me that much i was amazed!

We have also finished our science unit of work which is in time of the knowledge quiz on Friday. Our next unit we have started is History and we are learning about the past and our local history which i can't wait for! We have also started forest school on a Thursday with Miss Mapother. The children had a great time and pictures will be added in due course.

Just a gentle reminder: Please make sure reading books and homework books are in everyday. We have also gave out Prayer bags so please look through these with your children if it's your turn to take them home. These are due back on a Thursday at the latest ready to be given out on Friday afternoon. 

Have a relaxed weekend, 

Mr Abnett

Week 4

This week was slightly back to normal with the return of a full week in school. Our phonics has been coming along nicely and this is showing in their work throughout all subjects. 

In maths we are nearly at the end of our first topic which is Place Value (Numbers 1-10). The children have worked so hard on this and are enjoying the practical lessons. 

In English this week we have completed reading lessons and then had the chance to Draft our own version of 'The Enormous Turnip' with Friday being our Masterpiece big write. We have continued to use phonics when sounding out our work.

In RE we have been thinking about our experiences in Church and how these might shape us as individuals. We have also been looking at the inside of a church and what are the key objects inside our own church. 

In PE we have been focusing on dance and creating our dances in partners thinking about how to move around the hall in different styles and levels! Mr Abnett is loving the music from the Lion King too!

In History we have been looking at our past and Mary Seacole. We also looked at the Local History of Birmingham and what Birmingham might have looked like hundreds of years ago! 

We also had our second forest school lesson so please look out for pictures on the class page soon!

See you all next week,

Mr Abnett

Week 5

Another week completed! This week was jam packed with many different exciting events!

In English we had focused on reading lessons around The Enormous Turnip with the end of the week being Grammar lessons so please ask the children what we use a question mark and exclamation mark for! Next week we will be looking at writing instructions to make a turnip soup!

In math's we have finished our first block of topic. Next week is a new focus topic so assessments will be taking place. 

In RE we have been to church this week and had a look at what key objects are in our church. Father Gary also gave us special permission to go into the sanctuary to look at the stained-glass windows! The children thoroughly enjoyed going to church in a different environment rather than just for mass.

In History the children became archeologists. With the help of Miss Plant and Mrs Edington they found many different artefacts so please ask your children about this! 

In PE we have continued with our topic of Dance and the lion king soon we will have a dance worthy of rivalling the very best dance troupes! 

Our forest school is nearing to the end so next week (Week 6) will be the last week of forest school this year.

Have a relaxed weekend, 

Mr Abnett

Week 6

What a week we've had in Year One! In maths we have started our new topic of Addition and Subtraction. I'm very impressed with how the children have started i expect this to continue over the next week and into Autumn 2! Our phonics is in full swing now so there are some minor changes to groups and finalising books to give to children. 

Thank you to those parents who attended mine and Miss Murphy's Phonic Workshop fingers crossed it was benefitial to see what a typical phonic lesson is and what the Phonics screening test is ready for the summer. Packs are you to keep helping your children at home. 

Our English lessons are nearing an end to the Enormous Turnip. The children are nearing to completing instructions on how to write turnip soup. I am enjoying how many children would like turnip soup!! 

Our PE lessons are nearing the topic of dance with the Jungle book. working in pairs the children have demonstrated mirroring and the use of moving to music. 

We have also started our Music lessons which is all about singing and the use of Dynamics. Some of the singing is amazing!!

This week was our last week of Forest school so there will be no more forest school!

Have a great Weekend,

Mr Abnett

Week 7

Going into the last week of half term is always something of excitement for a much-needed rest but in Year 1 we were really busy again so i expect some tired children during half-term! 

In english we looked at 'a cloudy lesson' and answered questions on this, wrote the days of the week and sang a song called 'Pizza and chips' and completed a lesson on months of the year and added adjectives to sentences to help a penguin! 

In RE we looked at what do we do in Mass and how we might become father Gary giving Jesus's body and blood' to our classmates. 

We have also finished our very quick topic of music which was all about dynamics. This led onto our new topic of Art so Thursday afternoon was spent singing and creating our very own Mondrian painting! 

I hope you all have a very good and well-deserved rest over the half term. We are back to school on Tuesday 1st November, so I look forward to the next Severn weeks before the C-word!! 

Have a good week, 

Mr Abnett

Autumn 2