Yeadon Westfield Infant School: Keystage 1: Blog items

Spinosaurus and Dilophosaurus Class Blog - Autumn Term 2

Date: 20th Dec 2024 @ 10:24am

Christmas already?!

What an amazing half term we’ve had! The children have settled into their new classes now and we are having a great time.

In literacy, year 2 have looked at fiction and non-fiction texts. The children have continued to use adjectives to enhance their own versions stories and have worked hard on writing skills. We are continuing to work hard on the presentation of writing and accuracy in spelling. You could help your child at home by practising to spell the Common Exception Words (the sheet was given out at parent’s consultation meetings). Year 1 children have been looking at sound families in phonics and working hard to use new sounds in simple sentences.

This half term in maths, year 2 have looked at multiplication, division, 3D Shape, time, money and fractions. We continue to use practical games and methods to work out the answers. The children in year 1 have worked hard on measuring length, 3D shape, multiplication, early division skills, finding half of numbers and more!

In Topic (science, history, geography and DT), we have had focused weeks on Guy Fawkes and Remembrance Day and have become quite the historians! In geography, our key question has been: ‘Where is our school?’. We have been doing lots of fieldwork outside, looking at maps of our school grounds, using a compass to find north and making our own maps. It has been really interesting and lots of fun. In DT this half term we have made pictures with moving parts (sliders, levers and wheels). The children have loved building up their picture over 6 weeks and have followed the design criteria in order to make a successful product. As the seasons changed we enjoyed looking at evergreen and deciduous trees that are on our school grounds in science. We have also looked at the structure of animals and compared a rhino to a triceratops. The children also carried out an investigation and compared the teeth of herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. We are so proud of the children but more importantly, they are proud of themselves.

In PE, we have been looking at gymnastic movements and particularly rolls. Mrs Jones and Mrs Sharp are now confident in teddy rolls after much practise! We have also been working on team work skills and games in our outdoor P.E lessons. It has been a little chilly but the children love going outside and so we have wrapped up and got stuck in!

We have had lots of other busy and exciting events this half term including our Beauty and the Beast pantomime, the Santa dash, Christmas fair and, of course, our nativity. What a show! Thank you to all the parents who showed their support and came to watch the performance. The nativity will also be uploaded on to the school website. We are so very proud of the children and they thoroughly enjoyed it!

Thank you so much for your support this half term. If you have any questions, then please speak to a member of staff and we will be happy to help. Mrs Jones will be moving to a new school in January. She has been a wonderful part of our team as she covered Miss Worton’s maternity leave. She will be truly missed and we wish her every success in her new school, they are lucky to have her. We are also looking forward to welcoming Miss Worton and Mrs Whitehead back to our team in January.

Many thanks for your continued and happy holidays.

Mrs Jones & Mrs Sharp

PS, please bring in shoeboxes after Christmas for our art project. They are needed the first day back.

Velociraptor Class Blog - Autumn Term 2

Date: 20th Dec 2024 @ 10:19am

The year is nearly at its end and, can you believe it, the children are one third of the way through their time in Year 1! Once more they have worked incredibly hard and are certainly in need of a good rest over the next few weeks.

They have continued to make great progress in phonics, reading and writing, learning lots of new ways to make different sounds and becoming more and more fluent in their reading. It is great to hear them reading along with me in their everyday work in all our subjects!

In maths, we have been learning the different ways of making ten, which is one of the most important things children ever learn as it is a crucial building block for future calculations. In our main lessons we have covered measuring length, 3D shape, multiplication and division skills, using coins to pay for shopping, comparing mass, finding half of objects, 2D shapes and amounts and, finally, odd and even numbers.

The children loved learning about Guy Fawkes in history and then thought carefully about Remembrance Day and why we wear poppies. We have been doing lots of fieldwork around our school in geography, starting with thinking about the physical and human features surrounding our school, then using compasses to find north, learning to use a real plan map of school then adding detail to the map, and finally having a go at drawing our own maps of a small area of the playground.

Continuing under our umbrella topic of “dinosaurs”, in our science we have been investigating why animals (including humans) have different teeth, whether there is any correlation between body height/length/size and foot length, and comparing the structure of various animals to think about their similarities and differences.

Mrs Gilligan has continued to teach the children about different religions, their customs and their stories, as well as introducing them to a range of music skills. The children love these lessons, so thank you Mrs Gilligan!

In PE, the children have been building up their stamina for running around the playground as well as skills in body management, problem solving, team games and jumping.

The last few weeks have been particularly hectic, what with our “special visitors” and the preparations for the nativity performances. The children really rose to both occasions, impressing the visitors with their confidence and attitudes, and impressing the staff with how they quickly became performers in their roles as busy villagers and lambs in our nativity. They can’t wait to be Year 2s so that they can dress up in the various costumes and take on the major roles!

So I think we all deserve a well-earned rest! We will see you in the new year, ready for the next stage in our Year 1 journey! Have a great Christmas everybody!

Mrs Nolan and the Velociraptor Team

Year 1 Learning Division Skills

Date: 27th Nov 2024 @ 3:16pm

Today Year 1 have been using cubes to practise division skills.

Antibullying Week

Date: 13th Nov 2024 @ 2:49pm

Year 1 children have been creating anti-bullying themed graffiti in the playground.

3D Shapes

Date: 13th Nov 2024 @ 2:37pm

Year 1 have been working on 3D shapes.

Measuring in Year 1

Date: 13th Nov 2024 @ 2:00pm

Spinosaurus and Dilophosaurus Class Blog - Autumn Term 1

Date: 25th Oct 2024 @ 9:42am

Welcome to the first blog of the year! This first half term has gone incredibly fast as we have all been busy settling into a new year. The year 1 children have transitioned extremely well into KS1, they have made new friends and settled into new routines. KS1 comes with more responsibility for the children who are now the role models of the school! There are lots of weekly jobs the children can volunteer for such as ‘Playground Friends’, bell ringers, door openers, chair monitors and more. Year 2 children who have school dinners are given the opportunity to be ‘servers’ and help at lunch time, and we have found that the children have risen to these roles brilliantly. Well done everyone.

The topic for this half term has been ‘Dinosaurs’. It is such an interesting and engaging topic and will run through until the end of the next half term too. Our highlight was having the dinosaurs visit!

Year 1 children have been consolidating their phonics knowledge from reception and have been introduced to lots of new digraphs and sound families. They have been working hard on letter formation and writing simple sentences based on the phonics they have been taught.

In English, year 2 have consolidated key phonics skills that were taught in year 1 and looked at the story ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’. The children used adjectives to enhance their own versions of the stories and adapted them to, ‘The Dinosaur Who Came to Tea’. We have been impressed with their originality and unique ideas. They have been working hard on the presentation of writing, correct letter formation and spelling key words correctly.

In maths, year 1 and year 2 children have impressed us with their understanding of key concepts. This half term we have looked at place value, counting in 1, 2, 5,10s, naming familiar 2d shapes, doubling, halving, addition and subtraction. We continue to use practical games and methods to work out the answers. We have a bank of favourite maths songs on YouTube, ask your child to show you these!

In Topic (science, history, geography, art, DT, PSHE), we have looked at continents and were amazed that dinosaur fossils have been found on all 7 continents! We have classified living things (living, dead and never been alive) and identified and named dinosaurs that were carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. In art, the children have been looking at the work of famous artists (Michelle Reader, Barbra Hepworth and Eva Rothschild) and have made their own abstract sculptures inspired by these artists. Did they tell you about their marshmallow dinosaurs? It was been lovely watching them work individually, in pairs and in small groups.

In PE, we have been looking at body management and how to control our movements. The children have also spent several weeks developing their ‘send and return’ ball skills. Rolling, pushing, bouncing, catching and working out which is their dominant and non-dominant side. We stress the importance of being physically active in school and encourage the children to develop these key skills at home. If you don’t have a ball to hand, you could play catch with a pair of socks!

The children in Year 1 and year 2 take part in whole class reading sessions. These sessions help to develop confidence, pace, fluency and reading with expression. Please continue to read at home with your child at least three times a week. Please return reading books promptly and we will exchange the book and send a new one out.

Thank you so much for your support this half term. It has been a great start to a busy and fun year. If you have any questions then please speak to a member of staff and we will be happy to help.

Many thanks,

Mrs Sharp & Miss Dales

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

Science - Dinosaur sorting

Date: 10th Oct 2024 @ 8:11am

The children sorted dinosaurs into carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.