Welcome back everyone! We've had a fantastic first week back after and nice relaxing half term. Look at what we've been up to! 
Writing 
We have been reading the story The Tiger Who Came to Tea. Its a fantastic book that we're al really familiar with from Bear cubs. We've been using the story this week to learn a new spelling rule, using the suffix -s. Its been a tricky rule to learn but we're starting to understand. 

Maths 
We have been learning about using language to compare height, length, weight and capacity. Everyone worked really hard and was able to learn to so many new words! 

Wider curriculum 
We started a new art unit this half term, working with clay to build our own sculptures. We began our first lesson by practicing some different techniques for modeling the clay with our hands. We found this really tricky, clay is so much harder than play dough! But we still had a great time. 

Writing 
This week we have been reading the story Beegu, its about a little alien that crashes to earth and struggles to find her way back home. We all really enjoyed this story and wrote some fantastic sentences to go with it! 
Maths 
In maths this week we have been learning to count in 10's. We're picking this up quickly and really enjoying doing it! 
We've been listening to this song to help us: Count 10-100 | Count by 10 Song | The Singing Walrus 
Wider curriculum 
This week for our topic lesson we went out for a walk, it was very exciting! We walked around the streets in Kexborough and kept an eye out for the places and types of houses we have been learning about. We all carried with us a clipboard and check list to tick off things we saw. Everyone behaved beautifully on our walk and really did our school proud! 

Writing
This week we have been reading Cops and Robbers. We have worked really hard to make our own wanted posters to help the cops catch Grandma Swag. We put our posters up around school so that everyone can keep an eye out for her! 
Math's
This week in maths we have been working on ordering and comparing numbers to 20. We have focused on the language 'more than' and 'less than'. 
Wider curriculum
This week we made a start to our final project in art. We have been learning about printing and after lots of practicing we're ready to start our autumn trees. We have begun with the trunks and branches, using a sponge and brown paint. We carefully dabbed the sponge to make a nice texture and tried our best to stay in the lines. We'll add the leaves another day! 

We are all now well settled into our Year 1 routine, showing much more independence and really putting effort into our tasks.
Writing
This week in writing, we have been practicing forming and writing sentences after they have been modelled to us. We have focused on our handwriting, making sure each letter sits on the line and is formed correctly. Our writing was inspired by the story The Elephant and the Bad Baby, which we really enjoyed, especially the cheeky elephant who stole lots of food!
Maths
In maths, we have been learning to use specific vocabulary to describe number values. We practiced using “greater/more than” and “fewer/less than” to compare numbers or amounts. It has been tricky, but we are excited to continue practicing and improving our understanding.
Wider Curriculum
In art, we have been exploring printing using different materials. We dipped objects in paint to make prints, experimented with painting around objects to leave shapes, and used different mediums to make rubbings through paper. We’re really excited to start our final project of creating an autumn tree!

Everyone is much more settled into routines this week and has already started tackling jobs independently – what a super week it has been!
Writing
This week in writing, we have been practicing how to hold and write a sentence. Our inspiration came from the story Little Red Riding Hood. We spent time discussing the different characters and forming sentences to describe them, which helped bring our writing to life.
Maths
In maths, we focused on matching numerals to the correct amounts. The children revisited previously taught counting skills and practiced forming numbers accurately to record their answers.
Wider Curriculum
We all really enjoyed our science lesson this week! We learned the difference between evergreen and deciduous trees and how they change during Autumn. We explored the school grounds and collected leaves from each type of tree to compare and observe their differences.
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We’ve had a very busy start to the term, settling back into school life, getting used to new routines, and taking on lots of exciting new jobs. Everyone has settled in really well and is trying their best to be the best Year 1 they can be!
Writing
This week in writing, we’ve been practicing how to hold and write given sentences. Our work has been inspired by the stories Oi Frog! and Oi Dog!, which have made us all laugh and enjoy writing even more.
Maths
In maths, we’ve been revisiting some previously taught skills and practicing counting forwards and backwards within 10. The children have shown great focus and are building confidence every day.
Wider Curriculum
We had our first PE lessons this week! PE will now take place every Wednesday (indoors) and Thursday (outdoors). Getting changed was a bit tricky at first, but we are all going to practice and become more independent over time.
It’s been a fantastic start to the term, and we’re looking forward to lots more learning and fun ahead!

We have been reading the story Avocado Baby and using it as inspiration for our writing. In the story the baby would only eat avocado which made him very strong. 
It got us all thinking what avocados might smell, feel and taste like. 

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Miss Ashton bought 2 avocado, we started by looking at and feeling the skin, we noticed it was bumpy but soft. After this we cut it open to find the stone inside. We all felt the stone and had a smell inside the avocado. The everyone had a slice of avocado to feel and taste. Almost everyone was brave enough to try the avocado and everyone was well mannered and respectful. Most of us were unsure about the flavor, some of us really didn't like it and a couple of us said we would try it again!  

Once all the tasting was done we were left with two avocado stones. We wondered if we would be able to plant them, we watched a video that explained to us how to grow a new avocado from the stone by suspending it in water. We gathered the things we needed and got to work. This is how they look now, we have put them in the windowsill and keep checking for changes! 

We had a fantastic time on our school trip to Cannon Hall Farm. For most of us this was our first every school trip and everyone was on their best behavior. Year 1 proudly represented our school by being respectful, calm and doing their best listening all day. 

We learnt a lot about our science topic (Animals including humans) while on our trip. We got to see different mammals, reptiles, fish, birds and amphibians. We made sure to notice different animals characteristics so we knew which group they belonged too. 

We started our trip and the farm by having a tour around the indoor animals, we learnt lots of information about how different animals grow and how they are cared for. After this we all went on a tractor ride before breaking for lunch. After lunch we had a look around the reptile house and the mammal house. We then finished our day with a well deserved play on the park. 

In maths we have been working hard to partition numbers in to 2 parts. We are now progressing to using the plus symbol to combine both parts to make a whole. Today we represented this using counters and a whiteboard. We worked together with a partner to partition 6 counters in different ways and then represent the parts using numerals and the plus symbol. 

We have been practicing spotting mistakes and correcting our writing. We first read through our writing and focused on looking for finger spaces, full stops and capital letters all in the right place. After this we looked at our handwriting and took the time to fix any incorrect letter formation. Finally we read our sentence again and checked if we could add anything extra. 
We are all becoming fantastic writiers!