Year 1

Central Idea: 'Discoveries Help Us to Understand the Past'

It has been another busy term for Year 1 and the children have engaged in lots of amazing learning experiences to support them in their understanding of the world.  As always, the children have continued to be inquisitive and open minded and have been reflecting on their prior, as well as newly acquired knowledge, throughout the past 7 weeks, which has been a delight to see.

Line of Inquiry 1 - An Inquiry into Materials and Their Uses

The children have spent a lot of time looking into the different materials that toys have been made from in the past and have compared these with materials that are used for making toys today.  We have discussed the properties of these materials, considering the advantages and disadvantages each one has to offer, and have used this knowledge to form our own ideas about which would be the most appropriate in our own toy designs. 

The children experimented by making some toy boats from recycled plastic and some from paper in order to establish which would hold the most cubes before sinking.  Pupils correctly predicted that the boats made of plastic would float for the longest and discovered that the paper boats simply absorbed the water thus causing them to sink.

Line of Inquiry 2 - An Inquiry into How Toys Have Evolved Over Time

We have had lots of fun exploring the differences between toys that were made in the past and those that are made today, and a lot of children were surprised to learn that some dolls would have made in China and that most toys would have been made by hand.  It has been interesting for the children to study moving toys from the past and to see that, rather than with the aid of power assisted functions, many moving toys used some form of wind-up or pulling mechanism to help them to move.  

The children were also surprised to see just how many older toys have remained firm favourites and are still manufactured today, albeit from different materials and on a larger production scale.

Line of Inquiry 3 - An Inquiry into How Toys May Evolve in the Future

The children have come up with some really imaginative ideas about what toys may look like in the future and have enjoyed thinking about how they could adapt familiar toys so these have more exciting functions.  Pupils produced very creative design plans specifying which materials they would consider using when making their toys, and which mechanisms would be needed to enable their toys to move in more advanced ways.  We have used junk modelling to build toy cars that are able to roll and have sewn fabric to create some beautiful hand puppets.  It has been fantastic to see so many children making their own hand puppets as part of home learning, and to hear about their favourite toys.

This term has been fascinating for the children and has given them the opportunity to make comparisons between the past and present, not only in terms of the different toys but the materials that were once used and may now have changed due to continued scientific research or manufacturing costs.  There has been lots of wonderful writing to support the children's learning and, in spite of the hot weather, the children have continued to work extremely hard,  

We are very proud of our Year 1 pupils, whom it has been a pleasure to have taught across the last academic year, and we would like to take this opportunity to wish them the very best as they continue their adventures into Year 2.  In the meantime, we hope you all have a wonderful summer break and look forward to seeing you next year.