Academic Year 2018-2019
Welcome to Year 1’s weekly blog.
It has been such a pleasant few weeks getting to know your child. I’d like to thank all parents and children for such a great start to the academic year. Stay tuned in our weekly blog, I know it will be a great year.
Mrs Burbage
Monday, 10th December 2018
This week, we had our Christmas performance ‘It’s a baby!’. We took everyone’s breath away with our performance, we impressed all our teachers and family members. We sang and danced beautifully to our lullaby song and we looked very sweet in our pajamas costumes. We truly did ourselves and Hartsbourne very proud.
We continue to practise our computing skills in ICT. We are as still getting to grips creating our shape scenes on the paint program.
Monday, 3rd December 2018
It’s getting colder and colder these days. We enjoy observing seasonal change and have been collecting data for our science topic. We have been learning how daylight changes during the seasons. We are noticing how daylight hours are becoming a lot less these days and it gets dark get early.
In design and technology we have been learning how to attach materials together. We have been planning and preparing our sock puppet project, which we are very eager to start next week.
Monday, 26th November 2018
This week, we have have been learning how to tell the time. We were keen to spot different type of clocks and times around the classroom. We made great connections with lots of different devices that can tell us the time such as phones, ipads, car radios, kitchen clocks and many more.
Monday, 19th November 2018
I think it’s fair to say Winter has arrived! Please make sure all coats, hats scarves ect. are clearly labelled so we can return to the rightful owner without any confusion!
We stunned all of our families and friends with our Rangoli pattern in RE last week. We collectively designed and decorated our beautiful pattern using chalk and coloured sand.
In maths, we carried out some surveys and graphed our data. We particularly enjoyed out the most popular eye colour was in the class as well as the most and least popular fruit choice.
We started our D&T module for this term. We are learning how puppets are made and we have started to plan and make our own. Watch this space!
Monday, 12th November 2018
We have returned from our half term with plenty of enthusiasm and feeling very refreshed.
We kick started the term with our wonderful Remembrance Assembly. We wrote very touching and heartfelt acrostic poems based on our reflections of the World Wars. We designed and decorated our own war medals and we did ourselves extremely proud in our KS1 performance.
We started our new topic ‘Arctic Regions’ this term. We enjoyed delving into our history unit, getting to grips with identifying people and objects from the past.
We enjoyed discussing anti-bullying awareness week. We came up with lots of ideas ‘How to be a buddy not a bully’.
Monday, 22nd October 2018
We have made it to half term! This week certainly flew by…
We were very excited to present our home learning projects to each other week. Mrs Burbage was very impressed by how unique and special everyone’s project was. It is a real treat to share our passion with each other. Here are only some of our terrific projects.
Monday, 15th October 2018
We have been very busy little bees this week!
In literacy, we published our own versions of ‘Monkey and me’ by Emily Gravett. We came up with our own wonderful stories using repeated phrases and paying attention to the patterned language of our story lines.
In maths, we have been measuring the length and height of an object. We learned how to use standard units of measurement to measure length, we really enjoyed using our rulers and learned how to read centimeters. We made some interesting connections with non standard units of measurements, it got us thinking about a lot of different ways to measure the length of objects.
Next week, we will be presenting our Home School projects. We are excited to present our termly projects to each other, by the sounds of it, it is going to be quite the presentation!
Monday, 8th October 2018
We were very proud to participate in Red, White and Blue Day last Friday. We made lovely connections with our family and friends who are in the Armed Forces.
In maths, we got to grips with 2D and 3D shapes. We sorted the shapes according to their properties. We enjoyed our shape hunt in the classroom and spotted lots of 3D shapes we never noticed before, it really opened our eyes to maths all around us!
In science, we went on a ‘Senses’ nature walk around the school grounds. We explored each of our five senses to observe the changes in nature. We noticed the crispy leaves, chattering birds, the different colors of the changing leaves, the soft blades of grass and the smell of daisies.
Monday, 1st October 2018
What a great week!
This week, we have continued to read ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. We paid close attention to mapping out the story line and ordering the sequence of events. We enjoyed creating our story maps using our bear template. It got us thinking how we could use story maps for different stories.
In maths, we have been consolidating our addition and subtraction. We explored different strategies to solve our sums such as number lines, number grids, counters, using our fingers and mental calculation.
In art, we learned about secondary colors by mixing our primary colors. It got our creative juices flowing!
We are going on our trip to the theatre tomorrow, photos to follow next week!
Monday, 24th September 2018
Here are some of the things we have been doing this week.
In English, we are looking into repetitive words and phrases in texts. We have been collectively reading ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ and have performed the storyline with great enthusiasm!
In maths, we have started to skip count in patterns of 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.
In art, we paid attention to the colour wheel and learned about the three primary colours; red, yellow and blue. We are looking forward to mixing these colours in our next art lesson. We made great connections with RE and on our nature walk we discovered all the beautiful nature around our school grounds.Here are some of our favourite photos that we took!
Monday, 17th September 2018
I think it’s fair to say we are really getting to grips with Year 1!
This week in English, we have been learning how to write lists, labels and captions. We thoroughly enjoyed reading Funny Bones and made some lovely connections with our Topic Work ‘Marvelous Me’.
We got stuck into our science unit ‘The Human Body’ and have enjoyed learning about our skeleton and our five senses.
In maths, we compared and ordered numbers. We paid particular attention to counting forwards and backwards on our number lines.
In geography, we are zoning in on the UK. We were thrilled to learn where we are on the map and we made wonderful connections with lots of cities around England.
Monday, 10th September 2018
We have had a fantastic start to our academic year. We started off the first few weeks establishing some classroom rules and routines. We made some ‘classroom promises’ and will try our best to keep our promises throughout the year. In Year 1, we strive to keep ourselves proud of our achievements and make good choices all year round.
2017-2018
Welcome to Year 1’s weekly blog.
It has been such a pleasant few weeks getting to know your child. I’d like to thank all parents and children for such a warm welcome to Hartsbourne. I know it will be a great year.
Mrs Burbage
Week of 16th July 2018
This week, we were putting our finishing touches to our projects, learning journeys and tying up loose ends to our maths and literacy. We really enjoyed looking back over the year and see how much we have accomplished. We are very excited to be Year 2 students and we feel are ready for the challenge!
Making pizza was the highlight of this week. As part of our Design & Technology module this term, we learned how to read, write and follow ‘How to’ instructions. We were eager to put our cooking skills to the test and we impressed ourselves with our pizza making skills!
In music, we worked in small groups and thought about all the music elements we learned this year and combined our dancing skills to perform a piece in front of our class. We were feeling very brave and enjoyed the opportunity to perform on the stage.
Last week, we did ourselves very proud at our Year 1 class assembly. We blew everyone away with our performance and we enjoyed our immensely. We would like to thank all parents / carers and families who came to see us.
In science, we paid attention to different animal categories. We enjoyed learning about mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and fish.
In math, we practised our fractions. We close attention to halves and quarters.
Week of 25th June 2018
This week, we had the pleasure of visiting Willows Farm. It was such a wonderful school trip and we made Hartsbourne very proud with our exemplary behaviour and enthusiasm. We enjoyed the marvellous weather and came very well prepared with our sun hats and plenty of sun cream! We loved seeing all the wonderful farm animals and enjoyed petting and feeding them. We particularly enjoyed holding the guinea pigs and cheering on the sheep race!
Week of 18th June 2018
We really enjoyed participating in our Sports Week this week. We put our sporting skills and team building skills to the test with the range of activities that our school arranged for us. We thoroughly enjoyed competing in our Sports Day and made our teachers very proud with our great sense of team spirit, resilience and sportsmanship. We had such a wonderful week.
Week of 4th June 2018
I hope everyone had a wonderful mid-term break. It is wonderful to see so many happy faces returning to school. Let’s make this term the best one yet!
As part of our Maths week, we completed many fun maths activities. We really enjoyed putting our problem solving skills to the test. We particularly enjoyed making 2D summer shape scenes and constructing our monster maths figures.
We stretched and challenged our thinking in our money counting activities. We made lovely connections with different coin values and thought about the difference between saving and spending money.
Week of 21st May 2018
It has been a great week leading up to the mid-term. We wish everyone a restful and safe mid-term break next week.
This term we really impressed ourselves with the research skills we acquired in Computing. We spent a lot of time discussing E-Safety and different ways to keep safe on the internet. With this is mind, we discovered some safe apps to use to research our topic ‘Around the World in 80 Days’. We thoroughly enjoyed researching and learning about the countries that consist the seven continents.
In Science, we wrote some very interesting reflections about our ‘Growing seed’ experiment. We gained a lot from our scientific observations and went for another learning walk to our nature reserve to identify evergreen trees, deciduous trees, wild and planted flowers.
In Geography, we paid particular attention to the North American continent and learned some facts about America. We enjoyed identifying America’s famous landmarks.
Week of 14th May 2018
It has been such a great week this week.
In Maths, we revisited solving multiplication problems using arrays. We really enjoyed practising our multiplication strategies when solving word problems.
In Religion, we have been learning about special religious books that have a significant role in a person’s faith.
In Geography, we have been learning about the continents and oceans around the world. This week, we paid particular attention to the continent of Africa. We really enjoyed learning about the Kenyan lifestyle and its natural environment.
In PSHE, we really enjoyed comparing some of our home and school rules. We discussed how all types of these rules keeps us safe. We also discussed all the different types of people that keep us safe in the world.
Week of 7th May 2018
What a fantastic week we had. We are all so happy with the beautiful weather; it’s great to see those extra happy grins coming to school!
This week in Science, we were very busy observing our growing plants. We were very impressed with how each of our plants has turned out. We really enjoyed writing up our scientific observations, using our scientific terms and diagrams of the different parts of a plant. We were thrilled to finally bring home our plants today; we can show off our planting skills to all of our family.
In Maths, we really challenged ourselves identifying properties of 2D and 3D shapes. We really put our thinking hats on when we tried to make a set of shapes using different materials.
We also revisited our number grids this week, paying particular attention to number patterns and place value. We will be doing some multiplication sums next week, so watch this space!
Week 30th May 2018
A very busy week!The weather has seemed to pick up a bit but please remind your child to come to school in suitable attire for the wet weather.
This week in Maths, we have been paying attention to place value and how to solve subtraction and addition sums. We loved applying lots of different strategies to maths board games and domino collections.
In Science, we have been observing our plants growing. They’re looking great! We have also been learning how to identify wild plants and investigating how they grow in such different places.
In Art, we put our drawing skills to the test when we experimented different drawing techniques by being inspired by a range of artists.
In Geography, we paid close attention to the continent of Asia. We found out a lot of interesting facts about China.
Week of 23rd April 2018
We had a wonderful week this week. It’s great to really get back into the swing of things. Although it is warming up a lot, I would advise all students to being suitable clothing for the weather such a light rain jacket and a sun hat.
This week we went on our school trip to the RAF Museum. We really had a marvellous time. We really enjoyed our guided tour of ‘Fantastic Flight’ and were very engaged with our friendly and attentive tour guide Ruben. We loved learning all the amazing facts about different types of air planes and we particularly enjoyed taking part in the ‘spot the symbol’ hunt and making our own model air gliders.
We represented Hartsbourne in a wonderful light and made our teachers and parents very proud.
In Science, we planted our seeds. We were very excited investigating all the different types of seeds. We are taking really good care of our plants!
In Geography, we started our topic ‘Around the World in 80 days’. This week, we paid close attention to the continent of Europe. We compared how France and the UK are quite different and similar in many ways.
Week of 16th April 2018
A big welcome back to everyone after our lovely mid-term break. By the sounds of it, everyone had a marvellous time, we loved hearing each others holiday news. It’s great to see how everyone is well rested and excited to be returning to school.
This week, we welcomed four new students to our lovely class. A big welcome to Gaheez, Harvey, Betty and Dolly. We are so excited to have them in our class.
In Science, we started our new unit ‘Plants’. We took full advantage of the beautiful weather and went on a nature walk in our nature reserve. We spotted lots of different types of plants. We are very excited to start to grown our own.
In Maths, we started our unit on place value. We identified the tens and units place and applied our skills to different tasks.
In English, we started our Traditional Tales. We really enjoyed retelling some fairy tales, paying particular attention to the story elements.
We are very excited to go on our school trip to the RAF Museum next Tuesday, please remember to return the permission forms if you have not already done so. We will need a packed lunch, water bottle and sun hat.
Week of 26th March 2018
We had such a pleasant week this week, Spring has finally sprung!
In Science, we went on a nature walk around the school grounds to collect some data about seasonal change. We observed lots of trees budding, pleasant sunshine and even little rabbits and squirrels scurrying around. We recorded what we smelt, saw, heard and felt.
In English, we wrote some very endearing Spring poems. We were inspired to write very descriptive poetry using some nature pictures.
In Math, we continued to learn how to solve multiplication sums using arrays.
In History, we finished up our Transport unit and recapped all the flight transport we focused on. We particularly loved learning about the hot air balloon and space shuttle! We are very excited about our school trip to the RAF museum after our Spring break.
Week of 19th March 2018
What a fantastic week! We finally polished off our vehicles in D&T. It really was lovely to see how everyone’s vehicle turned out so well. We did find assembling some parts a bit tricky but we took on the challenge quite wonderfully. We needed a little help with the wheel and axels but we were very impressed with each our unique designs.
In English, we finished publishing our diaries. We did a great job recounting all of our daily routines. We also revisited some poetry this week. We proved to be quite poetic when it came to writing some Spring poems!
In RE, we learned why we celebrate Easter and made some very endearing Spring chickens. We really enjoyed making connections with why we recognise new life and re-birth.
Week of 12th March 2018
We had such a great week! Spring has seemed to finally start to come around and just in time for our observations in Science. We have been busy collecting lots of data this week for our seasonal changes log. We have been taking note how we all dress suitably for the milder weather and we put our results in our pictograms. We have also being discussing the change in daylight hours, it’s certainly a lot brighter.
We made a terrific start to our D&T vehicle projects, they are looking great so far. We particularly enjoyed learning how to make the wheel axels.
Some of us attended the Archery tournament this week. We did Hartsbourne very proud with our performance and we had a wonderful time.
Week of 5th March 2018
What a productive week! Thank you to all the parents that took time to attend the Parent Teacher Conferences. It really is a wonderful time of year to discuss your child’s progress.
Due to the snowy weather conditions last week, we celebrated World Book Day today. It really was the talk of the week and we really impressed ourselves and teachers with our costumes. We immensely enjoyed discussing the book characters we dressed up as and made wonderful connections with each other. We really are passionate about reading.
In D&T we learned parts of vehicles and the functions of wheels and axis. We are excited to start our vehicles next week.
In RE, we thought about other ways Jesus showed how he cared for other people.
Week of 26th February 2018
It has been quite the week this week. We’d like to thank all parents/ carers for their wonderful support and kind patience dealing with the snowy conditions.
This week in Maths, we were exploring how to collect data, measure and compare different objects. We investigated different ways to measure by using standard and non-standard measurement. We learned how to construct pictograms by conducting some surveys in our class such as eye colour, ways we travel to school and our favourite animals.
We also practised how to measure weight and length.
In Science, we learned why some materials float according to their density.
In History, we learned about old and new types of trains as well as the history of flight. We really enjoyed making connections with different transport types from the past and present.
Week of 19th February 2018
We all had a lovely half term and shared our news with the class. We got really got stuck into our work this week after such a restful break.
We loved taking part in Cookery Week this week. We really enjoyed our food tasting station and used all of our five senses investigating different tastes. We were very impressed with our healthy wraps and we hope to keep practising our new cooking skills at home!
In Math, we learned how to share objects evenly and started to learn about simple fractions. We applied this skill by evenly distributing pizza toppings on our math pizzas!
In Science, we carried out a scientific experiment to see why some objects sink and some objects float. We really enjoyed investigating the material properties.
We started our History unit this term, we really enjoyed putting car models in chronological order. We made some very interesting connections with the cars we see today and how they compare to older styles in the past.
Week of 5th February 2018
This we week we ran the Golden Mile in the playground. Although it was quite chilly, it didn’t take long to warm up and demonstrate our fitness levels!
In ICT, we have been learning how to use simple algorithms and program our Bee Bots. We were all very eager to demonstrate our programming skills.
In Literacy, we learned how to make connections with our personal experiences. We practised retelling a story and empathising with a character. We really enjoyed taking in our role play for Dogger.
In Art, we really enjoyed experimenting with Printing techniques.
Week of 29th January 2018
This week, we investigated properties of materials in Science. We identified natural and man-made materials and came up with some interesting differences between the two.
We made some interesting connections with materials in Art. We made some beautiful art with natural materials from the playground alongside some man-made art materials. We produced some very creative works of art!
In PSHE, we continued to discuss how to communicate our feelings with people. We came up with very interesting ideas as to express our feelings.
As you may know, some of us took part in a Dodge ball tournament this week. We did our school and ourselves very proud. We came 2nd place and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Week of 22nd January 2018
This week, we really stretched our thinking in Math. We started to learn about multiplication. We made many interesting connections regarding counting in patterns and we paid particular attention to counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.
In Science, we carried out an experiment to explore different properties of materials.
In PSHE we continued our Road Safety Awareness by learning the Safe Cross Code. We Stop, Look, and Listen. Ask me to show you at home!
In P.E we practised our table tennis skills.
Week of 15th January 2018
This week, we were very eager to continue our research in different types of sculptures in our Art topic. Some of us brought in some pictures of sculptures we came across in magazines, brochures, internet searches. We were very excited to discuss our different views on each of the sculptures and we created our own sketches of sculptures.
In Math, we reinforced our money counting skills! We discussed how different coin values make up the cost of items. We applied our counting skills in our money problems.
In P.E, we really impressed our dance teacher with our dancing skills. We performed our theatrical dance beautifully.
In Geography, we discussed and illustrated the route we take to school, paying particular attention to the physical surroundings in Bushey.
Week of 8th January 2018
It’s great to be back to school after such a wonderful winter break. We have all kick started the New Year with a wonderful back-to- school attitude.
Last week, we had our two creative writing themed days. We discovered very Mysterious Giant footprints in our classroom and we were inspired to write our very own Giant fairy tales. Some of use imagined the footsteps were left by a Giant Ogre, a Cyclops, a Giant Friendly Fairy and more!
In Math, we started our unit on place value. We paid particular attention to two digit numbers and we calculated one more and one less using a range of strategies such as a bead bar and number grid.
In Geography, we started our new unit of Our Local Area. Some of us knew our addresses already and some of us were very pleased to find out our address and P.O Box number!
In Art, we got to grips with different types of sculpture. We were inspired to sketch our own Sculptures and got thinking about sculptures we see everyday.
Week of 18th December 2017
Christmas break is finally here! What a fun week. It really has been such a rewarding end of term. I feel each and every one of us has achieved something very special.
I hope all parents, students and staff have a safe and happy holiday. See you all in the New Year!
We loved supporting charity on Christmas Jumper Day.
We presented our Home Learning Projects with each other, it was wonderful to see how we were so proud of our own work and gave lovely compliments to others.
We also made some Busy Bees!
Lots more learning to come next term!
Week of 11th December 2017
What an exciting week! We were delighted to have performed our Christmas show despite the snowy conditions. Thank you to all parents for your extended support and patience coming along to see us perform, the icy and slippery road conditions were a challenge for all.
Next week, we will continue to present our home learning projects with one another so please make sure to send them in.
We thoroughly enjoyed being little woolly sheep in our performance.
In Science, we learned how some animals adapt to the cold. We loved discovering which animals hibernate, migrate and how others adapt and change themselves to survive the winter months.
In Art, we drew some very chilly polar bears with chalk and we learned how to cut out some snowflakes.
Week of 4th December 2017
What a busy week! We are very excited about our Christmas performance of ‘A Little Bird Told Me’. We have been rehearsing and practising our songs every day. You will get to see us proudly performing next week on Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th December.
We will be beginning to present our Home Learning Projects next week, so please make sure to send it with me before Wednesday 13th December.
In Literacy, we wrote some lovely rhyming Penguin Poems. We tried really hard to apply some of the rhyming patterns we learned the week before.
In Design & Technology, we finally finished our puppets. We were very proud of our end products and are excited about presenting them to the class.
Week of 27th November 2017
We have started our count down until our Christmas performance! Please remember to send my sheep costume to school in a labelled bag.
In Literacy, we have been reading and writing poetry. We learned how to identify rhyming words in a poem and we paid attention to some rhyming patterns.
In Science, we are still learning about the impact of seasonal change. We really enjoy learning how both animals and humans adapt to each season. We explored our school grounds to investigate the change of season.
In Geography, we learned more about the United Kingdom. This week, we learned about Northern Ireland.
Week of 20th November 2017
We have started to rehearse for our Christmas performance ‘A Little Bird Told Me’. We really enjoy singing and practising our little dance!
In Math, we learned how to put things in order, we listed the days of the week and the months of the year in order. We also learned how to carry out a survey and we collected data to put it in a bar graph. We were very enthusiastic about our findings.
In Design & Technology, we practised some techniques to colour material. We are very excited to start our sock puppet project.
In Geography, we are still learning about the UK. This week, we paid particular attention to Wales and we identified it on our World map.
Week of 6th November 2017
We had such a great week this week. We really are busy little Year 1’s! Here are only some of the things we have achieved this week;
In Design & Technology, we started to work on our puppet projects. We learned how to join two pieces of materials together. We loved getting the sticky glue out!
In Math, we learned about capacity. We compared different containers of water and investigated which held the most and least amount of liquid. We put our containers in order and made comparisons. We absolutely love applying what we learn in the classroom to outdoor activities.
In ICT, we created a ‘shape city’ on the Paint Program. We are putting our new IT skills into practise!
In RE, we explored how colour is used to welcome guests during Diwali and we created a colourful Rangoli pattern on the playground using coloured sand and chalk.
We had our Remembrance Day Assembly this afternoon. We enjoyed looking and listening to all of the other class’ presentations. We designed War medals and proudly presented them to everyone. We also collectively read out our acrostic poem ‘Poppy’ that we composed as a class. We were very pleased with our performance.
Week of 30th October 2017
Lovely to see everyone had a lovely and refreshing half term. We loved hearing about each others ‘news’. We really got stuck into our week back!
We practised our balancing and climbing skills in gymnastics. We really enjoyed using the climbing equipment.
We learned how to measure objects using non-standard units such as cubes, our hands, feet and fingers. It was a lot of fun measuring the height of our learning buddies! We also investigated the weight of objects using our balancing scales.
We started our geography lessons this week. We learned some basic map skills and located England and its capital. It was very enjoyable to see where we are on the World Map.
We started our Design and Technology lessons. We are planning to make our own puppets so we investigated lots of different kinds of puppets. Exciting things are to come!
Week of 16th October 2017
What a busy week and exciting week! We submitted our homework projects last week and we were really eager to show and share with each other. It was so lovely to see how everyone brought in something meaningful and unique. We really enjoyed doing our classroom ‘gallery walk’.
We had a lot of fun learning how to measure objects using a ruler. It was very exciting to compare different lengths of classroom objects and finding out how many centimetres long some things were!
In PSHE, we talked about how we must T.H.I.N.K before we speak. We illustrated some of our ideas why we need to think carefully before we speak. We discussed how we must think before we speak by thinking is it Truthful? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind? We shared our lovely ideas and illustrations with each other.
I hope all parents, children and staff have a lovely half term.
Mrs Burbage
Week of 9th October 2017
This week we have been investigating properties of 3D shapes. We really enjoyed identifying all the 3D shapes that we see all around us in the classroom and we made great connections with the 3D objects we see at home. We investigated how many edges, faces and vertices each 3D shape had.
In history, we learned some more interesting facts about Sir Ernest Shackleton. He certainly was such a brave explorer!
In art, we discussed four famous artists and practised drawing our portraits using different art materials.
We are still learning how to use our laptops. We are developing our computer skills each week and today we practised some skills on the Paint programme.
Week of 2nd October 2017
This week we have been learning how to count in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. We love to practice our counting skills outside of the classroom!
We have also been investigating different types of musical instruments, we have been learning how each instrument looks and sounds differently.
Today, we participated in Red, White & Blue Day to show our support to the Army forces.
Over the last few weeks, your child has been getting acquainted to Year 1 classroom rules and routines. Encourage your child to discuss all the wonderful things they learn in school every day.
Mrs Burbage