Year 1 and 2
Welcome to Year 1 and 2!
There are 3 classes in Key Stage One this year. The classes are:
Team Jade - Miss Berry
Team Emerald - Mrs Bramer (Monday - Thursday) Mrs Champion (Fridays)
Team Lime - Miss Howard
All 3 teams are supported wonderfully by Mrs Robino, Mrs Egan and Miss Gray!
Mrs Brookes is currently on maternity leave.
Key Stage One Reminders
PE is on a Tuesday (Team Jade) Thursday (Team Emerald and Lime) and Friday (all 3 teams).
Fruit is available free of charge daily. Toast and milk are available for the half term via Parent Pay.
Remember you can change your reading book every day! Show your reading record to your teacher in a morning when you come in.
Your child will have a 'Reading Reward Card' in their reading record. Please read with your child at home each night. If you sign your child's record (they don't have to change their book) 5 times in one week they will receive one stamp. When they have achieved 4 stamps your child will be given a reward in school. If you are unsure please speak to a member of the team. Thank you for your continued support and happy reading!
Online Home Learning Links
Click on the images to access the websites.
Maths Seed is a fantastic website/app for you to use at home. Children have login details in their reading record.
We set online spellings and maths games for all children on EdShed. Children have login details in their reading record.
Oxford Owl is a wonderful website with lots of free online books to share at home.
Reading Eggs is an amazing website/app that you can use from home. You can have great fun playing games and reading.
Children have login details in their reading record.
Homework Grids
Homework Grids are now up and running on Google Classroom. Access Google Classroom in the usual way, ask if you're unsure, and this half term's homework tasks are ready and waiting. We can't wait to see your submissions.
Google Classroom
In the event of home learning we will be providing continued learning via Google Classroom.
We have a new Google Classroom suite that can be found via this link.
https://sts.platform.rmunify.com/Account/SignIn/stedmunds
Information Briefings
Poetry Challenges
We are launching a new half termly poetry challenge for all children. You can access the poem and submit your performances on Google Classroom. We can't wait to see your performances!
Autumn 1 Poetry Challenge-Funny Faces
Autumn 1 2023
R.E.
Liturgical Prayer
We discussed our mission statement and thought about what it means and how we could carry this out through school and home. Then we created pictures, words and phrases to explain some of the words we felt were special in our mission statement onto love hearts. Finally we reflected on what we had written and said a prayer. We loved this calm and peaceful time.
Bible Studies
Session 1 - Listen and create an image.
We enjoyed listening to the Story of Moses. We were very sad to hear about the treatment of people in Egypt. We focused on God speaking to Moses and sharing that he’ll be with him. We worked hard on creating a class image to represent God speaking to Moses.
Session 6 -Prayer and Reflection
After reflecting on what the story of Moses meant to us, we created a prayer lantern in the image of the burning bush. We wrote our thoughts and feelings to God on the prayer lantern and came together to create a whole class prayer.
Black History Month
We talked about Mae Jamison and her achievements. We discussed our aspirations and talked about how we could reach for the stars like her.
All Year 1 & 2 have made a great start to the year! We are already so very proud of them.
Science
Materials
In science we explored the debris of a rocket crash. We worked as a team and in pairs to sort and classify the objects we found into the correct materials.
Investigation
We planned and prepared a fair test to see which material is best suited to make a MAG for the astronauts. We investigated different materials to see which was the most absorbent.
Music
Ourselves
We had lots of fun exploring and changing pitch through noises made by different park equipment.
Art
Sculpture
We made different sized tubes and stuck them to a base. We enjoyed arranging them in different ways and creating our 3D sculptures. Marina and Maya decided to arrange their tubes first before they stuck any on their base so they could decide how they wanted their sculpture to look. Harry said he had created a King Charles sculpture by making his tubes look like a crown!
3D Drawings
We had great fun today using paper strips to make a sculpture. We folded the paper to create curves, loops, zig zag and spirals. We talked about the composition of the paper pieces and even tried to overlap some pieces. Our creations look amazing!
'Tree of Life'
Creating a 3D Picture
We had great fun working as a team to create our ‘tree of life’.
Autumn 2 2023
Religion
Bible Stories
Session 1- Listen and create an image.
We listen to the Story of 'Jesus Feeds the 5,000'. We really enjoyed creating an image of Jesus performing a miracle with 2 small fish and 5 barley loaves.
Music
Steady Beat
We had lots of fun keeping a steady beat.
We also took turns being the conductor!
Science
Seasonal Change (Y1)
We went on an Autumn walk around school to observe and describe signs of Autumn. Look at what we found!
Liturgical Prayer
St Edmund the Martyr
We talked about how our school is named after Saint Edmund and who he was.
We wrote a message to St. Edmund to thank him for his belief in his faith and his bravery. We also represented Saint Edmund in a stained glass window like the one we saw in St Edmund's Church. It looks beautiful with all our messages to Saint Edmund!
Computing
What is an algorithm?
We enjoyed exploring the importance of giving clear instructions in the correct order. We worked in pairs to give and follow clear steps.
English
Instructions
We needed to help Scaredy Squirrel. He had really bad tooth ache and he didn't know how to brush his teeth!
We worked really well together to sort a set of instructions into the correct order for him.
Spring 1 2024
History
Kings and Queens
Historical Enquiry
We looked at some Tudor artefacts and explore what we thought they were, who they belonged too and what they might be used for. We had great fun exploring. Eventually we found out more information about each artefact and that they all belonged to King Henry VIII
Religion
Bible Stories -The Good Samaritan
Listen & Sequence
We listened again to the Good Samaritan story and joined in with more confidence. We then worked as a team to act out the story. Finally, working in pairs, we sequenced the story and retold it with our partner.
Music
Machines
Factory Robots
We loved moving like robots to the beat. We talked about the tempo getting faster then slower and keeping a steady beat. Then we selected different instruments to represent the different actions and tempo.
Science
Seasonal Change (Y1)
Living things and their habitats (Y2)
Investigating Seasonal Change
Exploring Winter
In Year 1 we had great fun exploring signs of Winter. We also made our own snow and used all our senses to explore it.
Investigating Micro Habitats
In Year 2 we really enjoyed investigating micro habitats to find different mini beasts. We recorded what we found and where we found it. ✍️
Interpreting Results
We discussed our results in our groups to see if we could interpret our data and find patterns in our results. Milo said “We found more worms in the soil and under rocks than any other mini beasts because it had been raining and they like a lot of damp places.” Oliver said “We found most of our mini beasts under logs because it is damp and in the shade.” Franco said “We had to lift up the logs and rocks because they like darkness.”
Children's Metal Health Week
Wellbeing Day
In support of Children’s Mental Health Week we enjoyed a well being day. We completed guided drawing, guided mediation, bubble breathing, mini worry monastery and much more. We had a wonderful day.
Design Technology
Mechanisms
Wheels and Axles
We enjoyed finding out more about a chassis, wheels, axle and axle holder. It was great fun making and testing out our axles, wheels and axle holders using card and masking tape.
Designing
Today we worked with out partner to make designing decisions. We looked at the materials on offer and made design decisions about our moving vehicles. We thought carefully about our chassis shapes, axles and potential axle holders. We also added the style of wheel we’d like to use. We are very excited about making these vehicles next week.
Make day!
We worked in teams to use our designs to make our moving vehicles. We worked hard to create axle holders and on the base of our chassis. We then attached our wheels and made sure that they could move.
Spring 2 2024
Digital Literacy
Mouse Skills
We enjoyed using sketch pad and controlling our mouse. This was much harder than we thought, lots of us are used to touching screens. We managed to navigate our mice to help us select different pen options, shapes and even change colours.
World Book Day
We loved making our bookworm bookmarks on World Book Day!
Geography
All around the world
Naming the 7 Continents
Our knowledge is improving. We created a large scale map and travelled to the different continents. We also used atlases to cement our understanding.
Science
Plants
We investigated the outdoor area to see what trees and plants we could see and name. We talked about how to spot if a tree was evergreen or deciduous. Some children spotted some buds on trees as a sign that leaves and blossoms were beginning to grow because it is nearly Spring.
Art
Observational Drawing
We loved sketching our teddies. We used light lines for the outline of the teddy and then added more detail. We used some of our skills that we learned last week such as stippling, circular scribbling and squibbling and scribbling to create texture. Then we had a look at each other’s drawings and told each other what we liked about them.
Summer 1 2024
Geography
All around the world
Atlas work
We looked closely at the continent Asia. We used the key to find the largest mountain, Mount Everest and the longest river Yangtze River.
Religion
Bible Stories
Listen and create an image.
We enjoyed listening to our new Bible story, Jesus Walks on Water, and creating an image.
Ascension
We loved making our prayer spirals.
We explored how Jesus returns to his Father in Heaven. Although we can’t see him he is always listening.
We created our own prayers to tell Jesus what is important to us.
English
Traditional Tales
We had lots of fun looking at characteristics of traditional tales. We talked about traditional tale phrases such as ‘once upon a time’ and ‘happily ever after’. We also looked at the different characters and how some of them were farm animals who could talk. We found that they were set in a forest or woods in the countryside. We spotted lots of these characteristics with our partner!
Then we played a quiz. We looked at clues to guess the character and which traditional tale they came from. Some were a bit tricky and we had to think carefully!
Science
Animals Including humans
Zoo Lab
In preparation for our science unit ‘Animals including humans’, the Zoo Lab came to our school. We learned lots about different animals and even got to hold some! We took turns to hold and feel an African snail. It was a bit slimy! We also looked at a scorpion. We learned that it looks blue when you shine a torch on it. We held a millipede and it tickled our hands!
We also looked at an Australian green tree frog. It's feet were very sticky and we watched it jump and climb! Finally we held a corn snake. It didn’t feel slimy at all! We had to be very gentle with all the animals.
Music
Storytime
The children chose an instrument to describe each sentence from a fairy tale. We discussed whether we should play the instrument fast or slow and how loudly and quietly to play.
Choosing actions and instruments to express different images and phrases from the story of the Magic Porridge Pot.
Sean chose his instrument because 'it sounded like the porridge overflowing and getting louder and louder'.
Food Technology
Smoothies
Is it a fruit or vegetable?
We enjoyed investigating foods. We looked closely at each piece of food and talked as a group before deciding if it was a fruit or not a fruit. We used our knowledge of fruits have seeds to help us. Some of us were very shocked that cucumber and tomatoes are fruit.
Cutting and Juicing Skills
We explored how to cut safely with a knife using a chopping board. We practiced our cutting skills with our partner using strawberries, bananas and pineapple. We also practiced juicing oranges and lemons. We had great fun and talked about how we will use these skills when we make our smoothie in a few weeks.
Tasting Ingredients
After our initial taste tests we then made fruit combinations. We selected 2 fruits that we wanted together. After exploring we made decisions about our juice and fruit combinations.
Time to smell, taste and evaluate.
We enjoyed smelling our smoothies, they did smell delicious. Then the all important taste test went well, despite some interesting combinations, and lots of us loved our smoothies. Not all were a success though and we thought about how we might have a change next time.
P.E.
We developed our skills of dribbling using our hands, feet and equipment. We also learnt how to work together and find spaces.
Summer 2 2024
History
The Great Fire of London
Pre learning task.
What do we know about the great fire of London?
A few of know a little from a home reading book but most of us know that it was fire in London. We all knew that London is our capital city.
Mathematics
Describing 3D Shapes- Year 2
We used our previous knowledge of curved surfaces and faces along with our new vertex and edge knowledge to describe the 3D shapes.
Grouping Shapes
Talking about why shapes are in certain groups or why they don’t belong.
Science
Animals Including humans
Year 1
Exploring Invertebrates
We explored how their bodies are soft and usually protected by a shell.
Year 2
Keeping our body healthy
We worked hard to create a poster to inform people about why exercise is important for a healthy body. We also gave them some ideas on the different types of exercise they could do.
Religion
The Boy Who Threw Stones at Trees
We discussed how Muhammad wanted the boy to learn patience, and to think about how his actions can impact on the world around him. We role played parts of the story.
Simeon said "Muhammad is like Jesus because he wants us to be kind".
Art & Design
Painting & mixed media
We had lots of fun mixing primary colours to make and explore secondary colours.
We also looked at a song about primary colours to help us to remember how to make secondary colours.
Here is the link to our song:
Exploring and Creating Texture
We looked closely at different objects and used words to describe the texture of them. Then we used our painting skills to try and paint them and create the textures we could see. Our colour mixing skills came in handy because we needed lots of green, orange and brown! We tried to create different textures using sponges, straws, scrunched up foil, forks and paintbrushes. We were very proud of our paintings!
P.E.
Multi-Sports
We had a great day playing lots of team games with children from Christ the King School.