Welcome to Grayling 1

Class Blog

Mrs Pratt Mrs Godfrey Mrs Gossage

This week we have been learning positional language. We had fun getting into different positions to match each word.

We learned from our story "Dragon Post" that we needed to 'douse' our dragon so it wouldn't catch fire! We thought about how we were going to do this and then we wrote our own instructions called 'How to Douse a Dragon.'

We have been learning about volume and capacity this week. We had lots of fun in the sun with our water tray exploring how many cups it takes to fill different vessels.

Look at our beautiful artwork inspired by Van Gogh's sunflowers. We used watercolours to create our own interpretation of his art.

Look at all the fun we've had during Healthy Week!

Good Bye Mrs Wright! We will miss you.

Our half term enquiry: What is special about where we live?

Week beginning: 5th May

On Friday we had a street party to mark the 80th anniversary of VE day!

We enjoyed a snack and a drink with the rest of the children in Grayling and had lots of fun listening to music from the 1940s.

In Literacy we read more of our Yeti and the Bird book and found out that the bird was lost in the Himalayas. We then wrote postcards to the bird’s family using the word ‘but’ to link two ideas.

This week in maths we have been learning about time. We can now read o’clock and half past on an analogue clock and we made our own clocks out of paper plates. We learnt that the time is o’clock when the minute hand is pointing to the 12 and half past when the minute hand is pointing to the 6.

Week beginning: 22nd April

Yeti footprints!

This morning we found Yeti foot prints in our classroom! There was also a letter from the Yeti asking if we could help him make friends, as he is finding it hard. The children were very excited and came up with lots of ideas to help him.

Week beginning: 31st March

Over the past two weeks we have been taking part in the Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel. Each day we have counted how many of us have walked, scooted or cycled to school. Some of us who had to drive to school decided to park a little further away than normal so we could still take part. Well done Grayling 1!

This week we are learning about the Christian celebration of Easter. We are looking especially at the first part of the story, Palm Sunday when Jesus was cheered as he rode a donkey into Jerusalem. We will be tasting Hot Cross buns, and Easter eggs too!

In literacy, we wrote our own version of The Sea Saw and imagined what would happen if we lost our own favourite toy at the beach. We focused on using the days of the week and the joining word ‘and’ in our writing.

Look at our fantastic writing!

In Maths we have been sharing and grouping objects to find a half and a quarter of an amount. We used these sentences to help us talk about our learning.

1 whole is equal to ___ halves.
1 whole is equal to ___ quarters.
1 half is equal to ___ quarters.

Here is this week's phonics learning. We have been recapping sounds that we have learnt earlier this year.

Week beginning: 24th March 2025

Here is this week's phonics learning. We have been recapping sounds that we have learnt earlier this year.

We have spent time getting ready for our Strand Sharing assembly which took place on Thursday. We loved being able to show all the other year groups the brilliant work we have produced this term. We were focusing on the arts and were proud of our singing, dancing, art and drama! It was such a treat to get together in our strands and see what the older and younger children have been doing. This is the song we sang which demonstrates the difference between pulse and rhythm. Great job children!

We had a visit from Diversity Mel this week who led an assembly for Year 1. She shared the book And Tango makes Three by Paul Parnell and Justin Richardson, where we met families of penguins who love each other. Mel talked to the children about how there are different types of families and each family is special. If you would like to watch the story and discuss further with your child here is the link.

And Tango makes three

Week beginning: 17th March 2025

Switched On!

We participated in an online assembly to learn about how to stay safe. Can your child remember the important railway station signs?

We have been learning this helpful song to remember how to stay “Switched On”.

Look at our clay tentacles! We were inspired by Yayoi Kusama. Check out this video about her life.

Please see the attached sheet to find out which graphemes, tricky words and spellings have been the focus of our daily phonics sessions this week.

World Book Day! - Dress as a word.

Grayling 1 had an amazing day out at the Sealife Centre in Weymouth! We saw penguins, turtles, sharks, rays, we even touched the starfish and watched the seal's have their health check. We also saw an octopus, just like the one in Leo and the Octopus! What a fantastic way to learn more about the different creatures of the sea and what we can all do to protect them. Thank you to all of the adult helpers who came with us and helped make the day so amazing.

Welcome back Year 1! We hope you all had a wonderful break and that you're looking forward to a new half term full of fun!

This half term we will be reading The Sea Saw by Tom Percival, a beautiful book that reminds us that nothing is ever truly lost if you keep it in your heart! Watch this video and enjoy the story together.

Why not apply for this amazing Blue Peter Book badge? It's really easy to apply and a great activity to complete together at home. It would be wonderful if we could all have one of these badges by the end of the year!

How to get a Blue Peter Book badgeDo you love books and reading? If you do, this is the badge for you! Designed by one of the UK’s best-known illustrators, Sir Quentin Blake – who you might know from bringing to life characters such as Roald Dahl's BFG and Matilda! To apply all you need to do is tell us about a book you've enjoyed reading recently and draw a character or scene from the book. We'd also love to hear about any books that have sparked your imagination. Use My Blue Peter to apply online.

Week beginning: 3rd February

In art, we drew octopus arms!

We used what we have already learnt about lines to draw each tentacle.

We looked at buttons from different angles to see how the circle looks different depending on which angle you are looking at it.

We then used this idea to draw each of the suckers on the octopus arms.

Week beginning: 27th January

This week we have been looking at shapes and number patterns. We made our own AB and ABC patterns using different shapes and colours.

We went on a hunt for 3D shapes around our school playground.

Week beginning: 20th January

In geography we have been learning about coastal features.

We used paint and clay to represent each part.

The children have painted the sea and beach and made the cliff from clay.

Week beginning: 13th January

We have been practising our Curly Caterpillar letters in handwriting.

We have started to read Leo and The Octopus by Isabelle Marinov and Chris Nixon. You can watch a video of this story being read aloud here.

Here is Olive the Octopus who has come to stay with us while we read the story!

This week have started our 'seascapes' and have explored how using bubble wrap and paint can create interesting textures.

We have use the 'Doodle' app on our ipads to create different under water scenes.

We are naming and grouping animals in science.

Happy New Year Grayling 1!

Week beginning: 2nd December

Year 1 had a very special visitor this week: Sam Peacefulday. Sam repairs old and damaged teddy bears. We learnt how she makes her repairs and got to look at (and cuddle!) lots of very special bears. Each of her bears had a story behind it. The children called Sam the "Teddy Bear Doctor".

We looked at the structure and different shapes found in the Effiel Tower in Paris. We practised using straight lines and and rectangles. We were all very pleased with our pictures.

Week beginning: 25th November

We learned that many children in the 1940s made their own toys, using wooden pegs. Look at the wooden dolls we made using scrap material and pipe cleaners.

What a wonderful welly walk we had!

Look at the different pieces of nature we found that show us winter is definitely here!

Brown, green and yellow leaves.

We learned that wild flowers become dormant - they stop growing to conserve energy until Spring when it gets warmer.

Week beginning: 18th November

Fun in the snow!

This week we were fortunate to see some very old toys! Our visitor (a Year 1 grandma) showed us her favourite toys from when she was little. We noticed that many of these toys were very well loved and had missing parts and worn materials.

Week beginning: 11th November

This week we have been looking at number sentences in Maths. The children had to organise the number in to a 'part-whole' model and then write the number sentence. For an extra challenge, we change the order of the number sentence. For example 4 + 3 = 7 can also be shown as 7 = 3 + 4.