Velociraptor Class Blog - Autumn Term 1

Date: 25th Oct 2024 @ 8:03am

This might have been a long term but it has flown by and the children have blossomed into proper Year 1s!  We have been incredibly busy and have had some great fun.

So first of all let’s congratulate all our children on learning the songs for the Harvest Celebrations this week.  They have worked very hard on this in our weekly singing practices, a time together as a key stage that they seem to greatly enjoy.

Over the past eight weeks we have not only worked on our daily phonics (don’t forget to check out the FFT Phonics Parents’ Portal by the way), reading and writing lessons and maths lessons, but have covered a full range of other subjects.

Under the umbrella topic of Dinosaurs, the children have learned about the amazing lady fossil hunter Mary Anning in history lessons.  This week they have reflected on what they learned about her and I was so pleased with what they could recall and what good historians they are becoming! To tie in with this, we learned in geography about the countries of the UK and where in the country Mary Anning found her fossils, as well as learning that dinosaur fossils have been found in every one of the current seven continents of the world.  If you want to know what the world looked like in the time of the dinosaurs, just search for Pangea Time Lapse on YouTube!

In science, the children have learned about the different groups of animals and their characteristics, about grouping them into carnivores, herbivores and omnivores and whether they lay eggs or give birth to live young.  Currently we are thinking about seasons, so please help us with this by supporting the children in their Autumn Scavenger Hunt (sent home this Friday).  They should bring this back completed after the half term holiday so it can be stuck in their science books and they will then receive a certificate.

With Mrs Gilligan, we have learned about different religions and stories in RE and the children have done some fantastic work in computing using all our laptops to explore digital imagery. Favourite lessons with many have been PE times in which the children have practised a variety of jumping and ball skills, including using rackets to hit a tennis ball that has been sent towards them.  Why not work on some ball skills over the holiday?  You don’t even have to have a proper ball – they seem to be quite happy to use a screwed up piece of paper!  Try using your hand as a racket too!

Thank you for all your support over the half term.  We do hope you all have a well-earned rest and come back refreshed at the beginning of November ready to learn why we celebrate Bonfire Night on the 5^th.

Mrs Nolan and the Velociraptor Team