Welcome to Shaugh Prior Primary - Class 1

In Class 1, we have Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children. 

The Teachers are Mrs Claire Moss and Mrs Claire Evans 

The Teaching Assistants are Mrs Caroline Jutson, Mr James Gibbs (mornings) and Mrs Sarah Williams (Afternoons). 

Week ending 14th July 23

Class 1 have had a productive week this week, rounding up all of this half's terms units and trying to squeeze in our swimming lessons between the showers. 

In PSHE, we discussed ways in which we can effectively manage our feelings during big changes in our lives, such as a new class or year group with increased expectations. The children had great ideas and were able to link back to previous learning; calling upon the support of a trusted adult. In preparation for Y3, our Y2 children visited Class 2 for a transition session with Mr Cozens. Whilst Mrs Boulton and I will be sad for them to leave Class 1, we are proud of all they have achieved this year and look forward to seeing how they flourish in Y3! 

In maths, Y2 have been continuing to develop their understanding of statistics. It has given them the opportunity to demonstrate their other number skills as well. "Tennis has 4 more votes than football!" noticed Clay, calculating the difference between votes with ease. In Y1, the children have been practising finding and recalling their double facts. They particularly enjoyed playing a board game which asked them to recall the facts for each move. In EYFS, the children have been working on using their knowledge of number to identify missing numbers in a pattern.  

Next week, we will have our last lesson of DT on Wednesday (the last day) where we make our fruit kebabs for a teddy bear's picnic. Please could you send your child into school with a small teddy (not a giant, life sized one please!!) to join in with the picnic. 

Week ending 7th July 23

We’ve had a bit more rain than we’ve been used to this week and unfortunately it meant that we missed out on swimming on Tuesday. However, we used the time to talk about water safety and learnt all about the meanings of the beach flags.

In English we have been using our text Traction Man as inspiration for our own stories entitled ‘Traction Man goes on Holiday!’ The children came up with some great adventures that their characters could have in places like the beach, aeroplanes, campsites and zoos!

Year 1s have begun multiplication and division in maths and this week, they have been practising making and adding equal groups using lots of different practical resources. Year 2 have started a unit on statistics and have been looking at different ways to collect and present data including tally charts, tables and block diagrams. EYFS have been working on their number bonds to ten using cubes and Numicon to help them.

We have been putting our knowledge of habitats and food chains to work in Science over the last couple of weeks by designing and carrying out our own investigation. The children posed the question, ‘What animals live under logs and why?’ and then went out into the garden to investigate. They presented their information using tally charts and pictograms and have also used their findings to draw some food chains involving animals in the local habitat. 

Week ending 30 June 23

This week class one have been enjoying innovating our English text. They have been working as a class to imagine the adventures Traction man could have if he came to school. They have had some fantastic ideas and have loved thinking about objects coming to life and getting up to mischief. In maths Year 1/2 have been learning to tell the time. It would be great if you could continue to practise this at home on an analogue clock. Foundation have been practising their subitizing and recall of number facts. 

In DT, the children are getting excited as we approach the end of our unit. We have decided to make picnic kebabs. The children designed them today ahead of our making lesson next week, they are mostly looking forward to the evaluating part! 

It was fantastic to invite Zarrah in to spend the afternoon with us this week. The children were all very welcoming to him, keen to show him around and help him to settle into our school. They can't wait for him to come again soon, ahead of him starting in September. 

Week ending 23rd June 23

We have had a super week in Class 1, the children have been demonstrating great attitudes to their learning and have really been trying their best.

We’ve had loads of fun familiarising ourselves with our new text ‘Traction Man is Here’ in English. The book is all about a toy action figure and the adventures he gets up to around the home. We story mapped the plot and enjoyed making up actions in order to recite it from memory.

In maths, Year 1 and 2 have started a new unit on Time. They have been practising telling the time to the hour and half past the hour and are getting quick at using mini clocks to position the hour and minute hands correctly. EYFS have been learning about odd and even numbers using lots of different resources such as Numicon and cubes. They spotted that the odd numbers do not have a ‘friend’ or pair.

We’ve continued to explore food chains in science and have learnt more tricky vocabulary such as predator and prey. We listened to the story ‘The Gruffalo’ and made food chains out of the characters in the book- the children thought that the Gruffalo would definitely be at the top of the food chain!

Week ending 16th June 23

We’ve had another hot and sunny week- thank goodness we have our pool to cool off! This week we’ve been practising swimming front and back paddle with a woggle and pushing and gliding from the side of the pool, the children have been impressing us with their water confidence.

In English we have planned and written our own story all about our favourite toy having an epic adventure! This is in preparation for our new exciting text, ‘Traction Man is Here’ by Mini Grey

The Year 2s have been getting to grips with unit and non-unit fractions in maths and learning about equivalent fractions such as 2/4 and 1/2. Year 1s have been exploring place value up to 100 by finding 1 more and 1 less and comparing numbers using the appropriate language and symbols. EYFS have been having fun with positional language! They have been creating maps and playing movement games while using lots of different vocabulary such as on top, under, next to, forwards and backwards.

We learnt all about food chains in Science this week, the children were great at remembering the tricky vocabulary associated with the topic such as producers, primary and secondary consumers. The children enjoyed going out into the playground to act out the energy transfer in a food chain. They all took on different roles to represent how all animals get their energy from food and how this energy is passed along the food chain. 

Week ending 9th June 23

It has been lovely to welcome back Class 1 with more sunshine. It has allowed us to make the most of our wonderful grounds with some outdoor learning. In DT, our first lesson of our new unit was to explore picnic products and evaluate what's available in the shops. It was certainly a beautiful day for a picnic, and our enormous tree in the garden gave us the perfect amount of shade to sit beneath. The children were excellent at trying new foods. We sampled cheese and onion sandwiches, sausage rolls, cheese and onion rolls, dips and crudites, frittata, watermelon, tortillas and jammy flapjack bites. 

The children loved getting into the pool this week for the first time this year. How lucky we are to have our own pool! The children have been practising their safe entry and exit to the pool and developing their water confidence. 

On Wednesday we were joined by a coach from Ivybridge Community College, Miss Dodds. who gave us the first of 5 football training sessions. The children listened very well and tried their best to master the skills she taught them. 

Week ending 26th May 2023

What a beautiful sunny week we’ve had to finish off the term! We’ve made the most of the weather in our garden which has had an upgrade in the form of a canopy- this will provide us with a bit more shade in the summer and some very useful shelter so wet weather won’t have to stop the outdoor fun!

We have continued to explore the text ‘Outdoor Wonderland’ in English. The children have been identifying the conjunctions used in the text to join sentences and then wrote some great sentences of their own using a range of conjunctions.

In maths, Years 1 and 2 have been working on fractions. They have learnt how to recognise a quarter and how to find a quarter of shapes, objects and quantities. EYFS have been exploring doubles and have had great fun making doubles using the wings of butterflies and ladybirds!

We had a great time hunting for minibeasts in Science this week in order to learn all about microhabitats. We discovered that our school has loads of different microhabitats and the children were excited to find creepy crawlies such as woodlice, spiders, worms and snails.

In between our usual learning, the Year 2s have also completed their KS1 SATs assessments. We have been so impressed at how hard they have worked and the perseverance they have demonstrated even when some questions felt trick

Week Ending 12th May 2023

Well it’s been our second short week in a row but we’ve packed in a lot after the weekend’s celebrations! 

In English this week we started a new sequence focusing on the book ‘Outdoor Wonderland’; a great non-fiction text full of instructions for exciting outdoor activities. We have explored the layout and features of the text and thought about how these help the reader engage with the information. 

We rounded up our measure unit in maths and the children were brilliant at demonstrating their knowledge of how to measure length, mass, volume and capacity. EYFS have been exploring shapes this week and have had great fun shape hunting, making shape pictures and building/ modelling. 

In Art this week, the children explored how to create tints and shades by adding Black or White to a colour. The children's work in their sketchbooks was quite impressive! They will be able to use this skill when creating shades and tints to match their emotions. 

We enjoyed using our new atlases (purchased by FOSPs this year) to locate countries of the world and find out what seasons they have. The children were fascinated to learn that not all countries have 4 seasons like we do. 

Week ending 5th May 2023

We're having a fabulous week in class 1. We have been very excited to get to the end of our english sequence which means 'writing time'! The children have written some fabulous stories with the theme of friendship. They have used conjunctions, adjectives and accurate punctuation. 

In maths we have been exploring capacity and Year 2s have spent some time with Mrs Moss practising some SATs style questions ahead of our KS1 sats week before half term. The children have been enjoying completing the booklets and have been excited to return to them. 

In geography we recapped the 7 continents of the world and looked at the climate in each one. The children role played getting off the aeroplane and describing the weather and what they could see. 

Our garden area is developing well, the strawberry and bean plants went in this week. Hopefully the rain across the weekend should help them to grow. If anyone has any plants they would like to donate, we would welcome any extras. 

Week ending 28th April 23

Class 1

Class 1 have settled into the summer term and have all been putting amazing effort into all their learning.

We have continued to familiarise ourselves with our text Sylvia and Bird in English this week. The children can recite most of the story brilliantly using our story map and have thought about their likes and dislikes about the text. We have also been picking out the expanded noun phrases in the book and using them as inspiration to write our own.

Foundation stage have been learning all about length and height in maths. They have collected lots of objects, compared them using the vocabulary longer and shorter and had a go at building towers of cubes which match the length of the objects. Year 1 and 2 have been focusing on weight/ mass. Year 1 have had great fun using balance scales to compare the mass of objects while Year 2 have begun to measure mass in grams.

In Science, we have started a new topic all about living things and their habitats. We have learnt about the life processes using the acronym MRS GREN in order to identify if something is alive. This week, the children observed and collected objects from our garden and then classified them using the categories living, dead and never been alive. 

In music this term we are learning about African music through a song called Hands, Feet, Heart. This week, the children enjoyed using glockenspiels to play along to the song- they were great at following the notes on the board!

Week ending 21st April 23

Class 1

This week Class 1 have been enjoying our new unit about measures. We have explored measuring in metres, centimetres and have been comparing lengths and heights. Our foundation children have learnt to identify heavier and lighter objects using the balance scales. They have taken the scales into the role play post office to continue their learning through play. 

In English, we have just started a sequence based on the beautiful Catherine Rayner book 'Sylvia and Bird'. The children have been immersing themselves in the themes of friendship, loyalty and kindness that are explored in the story. 

In Geography, we looked at the four seasons of the UK, recapping our previous learning on the seasons and adding some extra facts on top! 

Week Ending Friday 31st March 2023

Class 1 

What a super busy and exciting week we’ve had to wrap up the Spring term! In between all our trips and Easter fun we’ve also been working hard to finish off all our units of learning. 

On Tuesday, we had a fantastic time on our trip despite getting a little bit soggy! The children loved the experience of riding on the steam train and had fun spotting the pixies and goblins out of the window. The otters were very cute and obviously loved having an audience of children to perform to! We were also able to watch the otters being fed. The children then had a great time exploring the museum and model railway before hopping back onto the train for the return journey. All the children did us proud and behaved beautifully- and it was a very long and busy day so well done Class 1! 

Week Ending Friday 24th March 2023

Class 1 

We have had a super week in class one this week. The children have loved making their wheeled vehicles in DT.

They had to solve a problem for a story character. Mrs Armitage had called Mrs Moss and explained that she needed a vehicle to travel home from the beach with all the items she had bought in the story including a surfboard and a boathook. The children were great problem solvers as they created their models. They showed great perseverance and resilience when faced with challenges like wheels falling off! 

In English, the children have been playing around with different sentence starters for our dragon poetry. Here's some examples: Curled around my hip, my dragon dances the hula-hoop. Hiding up an oak tree, my dragon keeps watch in the moonlit night. 

I can't wait to hear their final poems next week! 

Week Ending Friday 17th March 2023

In English this week we have started a new sequence focusing on the book ‘Tell Me A Dragon’ which is full of beautiful illustrations and wonderful descriptions to spark the children’s imaginations. We have had a go at writing some instructions for how to look after a dragon’s egg and begun to familiarise ourselves with the text through story mapping. 

EYFS have had great fun exploring the number 10 in maths this week. They have explored the number practically and also been introduced to the concept that 10 ones can also be represented as 1 ten. Year 1 have been working on subtracting by finding the difference and starting to think about related facts. Year 2 have continued working on multiplication focusing on the 2 times table and have then put their skills to the test by learning how to divide by 2. 

In Science this week we began to think about what makes certain materials suitable or unsuitable for purpose. We thought about objects such as spoons which can be made out of different materials and what makes them suitable for being used in certain situations. The children were also given a list of objects and were able to suggest suitable materials based on their properties. 

In RE we have continued to explore the Easter story and how Christians celebrate this festival. The children are great at recalling the events of the story. 

Week Ending - Friday 10^th March 2023

Class 1 

In class 1 this week we have been very busy!   We completed our non-fiction writing in English presented as a double page spread. The children wrote about their favourite pets using facts they had collected through reading and our recent visit from the cats protection lady. 

In Maths, foundation had been learning about the number 9. They noticed how 9 makes the shape of a square when arranged as an array, they ordered the numbers to 10 and investigated different ways to make 9 (number facts). In Year 1, the children have been learning how to subtract by using number facts or counting back. I gave them the opportunity to rehearse recalling number facts at speed before applying them to calculations that are harder. Year 2s were busy securing their understanding of arrays and how they can be described using the x symbol. We then went on to learn about division as grouping and sharing. 

The children showed off some of the new vocabulary we have been learning to describe how the railway network developed over time. They were fascinated to find out about one of the more modern lines that can transport people under the sea to get to France!  

Week Ending Friday 3rd March 2023

Class 1 

In English this week we have been using the structure of our text, Penguins, to plan and write a class non-fiction report about Superheroes. The children are all very knowledgeable about this topic so have had loads of great ideas! They will use this guided writing to help them to plan and write their own non-chronological reports. 

EYFS have enjoyed learning all about the number 8 in maths this week. Using the Numberblock ‘Octoblock’ as inspiration they have explored the number using lots of different resources. Year 1 have been using their knowledge of number bonds to 10 in order to help them find number bonds to 20. They have also been exploring doubles. Year 2 have been learning how to write multiplication sentences using the correct symbols. They have been great at using all the different vocabulary for multiply such as groups of, lots of and times. 

In Science we have been comparing and classifying different objects and materials by their properties. We had a look at some materials which all have the same purpose of keeping food fresh; cling film, tin foil, plastic containers and beeswax wraps. We then discussed their properties and which were similar/ different and how these made the materials fit for purpose.

Week Ending Friday 24th February 2023

Class 1

This week Class 1 have started a whole host of new learning as its the start of the new half term.

In History, we will be learning about the evolution of trains from Steam to Electric. We started by looking at ordering some forms of transport from the oldest to the newest. It was rather tricky and took a lot of discussion. We are looking forward to the end of term when we will get to ride a real steam train on our school trip! 

We are learning about what we can do with money in PSHE. Our first lesson looked at the different forms of money and which are appropriate to pay for different things. 

In maths, Foundation have been exploring the number 7, noticing that it links to the rainbow and the days of the week! Our Year 1s have been learning to add and subtract up to 20 and Year 2s have started learning about identifying, making and adding equal groups which is a prerequisite for learning to multiply. 

In English, we are building up to a piece of writing about superheroes so have been researching superhero facts, playing and making top trumps before we begin our writing. 

Week Ending Friday 10th February 2023

Class 1 

 We’ve had a busy last week of term and the children are ready for a well-deserved break.

In English, the children have been looking at some of the layout features of our non-fiction text, Penguins, such as diagrams and fact boxes and thinking about why the author might use them. They’ve also been exploring grammar features such as verbs and conjunctions.

EYFS have been learning all about the number 6 this week and exploring the patterns for numbers 1-6 on dice and dominoes. Year 1 have finished their place value unit and have demonstrated super understanding of numbers up to 50. Year 2 have been practising the tricky task of subtracting two 2 digit numbers crossing ten. They are getting really good at spotting when it is necessary to exchange 1 ten for 10 ones!

This week in Science, we finished up our unit on seasonal changes with a nature walk. The children were thrilled to discover some early signs of spring starting to appear in the form of snowdrops, daffodils and primroses!

We also completed our RE unit on Judaism by learning about the Jewish festival, Chanukah. The children learnt about the story and how Jews celebrate today. We hope you all have a fantastic break and look forward to seeing you after half term for all the exciting things we have planned!

Week Ending Friday 3rd February 2023

Class 2

Class 2 have loved sharing our class novel, Kensuke's Kingdom and this week we got to the end. It's a wonderful book full of adventure, friendship and emotion and I encourage you to talk to your children about the story and encourage them to look up some other Michael Morpurgo books like War Horse, Private Peaceful or Why The Whales Came (my particular favourites).

In English we are reading 2 biographies about famous and inspiring women. These will help us to develop our own biographical writing, including expanded noun phrases and fronted adverbials. 

In maths we have completed our units on multiplication and division and the children have done really well in their end of unit assessments. 

Science has seen 5&6 finding out which materials are soluble in water and 3&4 have begun classifying plants. 

In computing, the children are programming their own race games in Scratch and they can use their accounts at home so I encourage you to have a look at what they have done. They are the game makers of the future!

Week Ending Friday 27th January 2023

Class 1 

 It’s been a chilly week which has fitted in perfectly with our science topic about seasonal changes! The children have been thinking about similarities and differences between the seasons and the changes that happen between them. EYFS had fun out in the garden exploring (and breaking!) the ice that had formed on our water tray overnight!

In English, the children have come up with some great characters and ideas for a shared write inspired by our class text. They have then been using the same structure to start to plan their own stories. 

Year 2 have been working really hard in maths to master the tricky task of adding 2 digit numbers. They have been using resources such as base ten to help them work out when they might need to swap 10 ones for 1 ten when crossing the tens barrier. Year 1 have been practising how to count large numbers more quickly by grouping them into tens and then adding the rest. EYFS have been using resources to split the number 5 into different parts based on this week’s Numberblocks episode. 

The children have really impressed me with their knowledge of Judaism in RE. They have been learning about Jewish beliefs and special objects and have been brilliant at remembering all of the vocabulary! 

Week Ending Friday 20th January 2023

Class 1 

This week Class 1 have enjoyed getting outside and enjoying the snow and sunshine. What a pleasant change from all the rain we have been having! 

In English we are building up to writing our own story and have been practising writing in the past tense, using adjectives to describe characters and remembering to use capital letters and full stops! We are also having a big push on improving handwriting at the moment so if your child is keen to practice at home, please encourage this. They are welcome to bring in any home learning to show us. This is always a joy to see! 

In Art, the children are enjoying exploring the techniques used by Eduardo Paolozzi. We used last week's collage of colourful shapes to work on top of this week, cutting out images from magazines, newspapers and pictures linked to space (which was of particular inspiration to Paolozzi). 

Your child might come home chatting about 'Helpful or Harmful' things we put on or in our bodies this week after our PSHE lesson. They discussed how some things could be both helpful and harmful. For example, if you consume too much medicine it would be harmful so it's important to only have medicine when a grown up gives it to you so they can check it's the right amount.  

We continue to develop our outside learning space (The Garden) and we are in search of some shortish length of planks (decking planks would be perfect) and shortish lengths of guttering (the half pipe variety). If anyone is able to source anything like that, please let a member of the Class 1 team know. 

Week Ending Friday 13th January 2023

Class 1 

We've had a busy week getting stuck back into our learning and dodging the miserable weather!

In English, the children have been exploring the characters and vocabulary in our text, A Mouse Called Julian. They have enjoyed role-playing what the characters might say and acting out some of the verbs in the book.

The children have continued to work on place value in maths with the Year 1s exploring the numbers 14-20 in depth by representing them using a range of different resources. Year 2 have been practising writing numbers to 100 in words as well as numerals and using a numberline to count and estimate. 

In Science, we have begun a new unit in which we will be observing the seasonal changes as we move from winter to spring. This week, the children discussed winter weather and thought about how daylength changes through the seasons.

We have started learning about different genres in music as this term we will be focusing on a song which will be presented in a different style each week. The focus, this week, was Blues music and the children enjoyed sharing their opinions in the genre!

Week Ending 6th January 2023

Class 1  

Welcome back everyone! It has been wonderful hearing the children's tales of Christmas since returning. I think we're all feeling a little bit tired at the end of this week.

It has been a very busy week for learning with little time to ease back in. We have kick-started our English unit with some story writing and we have had a sneaky peak at the first few pages of our new book: A Mouse Called Julian. The children have been immersing themselves in the text by learning and remembering it, creating story maps and exploring the meanings of new vocabulary they have not come across before.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

In Maths we have been furthering our understanding of place value (for Y1 up to 20 and Y2 up to 100).  In Foundation stage the children have been reinforcing their knowledge of subitizing with links to an episode on numberblocks. 

In Art, we began to explore the work of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. He is an artist famous for his work during the Pop Art era. The children enjoyed finding interesting objects within his busy pictures and loved the vivid colours he used. 

For next week, please can I remind everyone to make sure that children's reading books, library books and link books are in school every day along with their PE kits. Thank you. 

Week Ending Friday 16th December 2022

Class 1 

Class 1 have had a very busy week this week. Amidst the excitement of the last week of term before Christmas, they have been finishing up their end of unit assessments, making Christmas crafts, mince pies and decorating a gingerbread house.

They very much enjoyed watching the Christmas production that Class 2 put on for us all. Although there were a few concerned faces when they heard the title was 'Santa's on strike'. They needed a little reassurance that it's just a show and that Santa isn't really on strike! 

The touch of snow that we had gave us the opportunity to learn how to make a snow ball and a snow angel. We had a great time running around in the snowy field. 

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas break. See you in the New Year! 

Week Ending Friday 9th December 2022

This week Class 1 have been super busy preparing for our Nativity and making the classroom Christmassy! We decorated our Christmas tree to go along with some of the decorations we have made during our RE unit. We have been learning all about why Christmas is so important to Christians so have made some Advent wreaths and paper chains with sentences about what we have to be thankful for at Christmas. 

In Science this week we carried out our investigation to find out which material is best at keeping a hot drink warm. The children enjoyed measuring the temperatures with a thermometer and recorded the results carefully in a table. Our results showed that bubble wrap was the best at keeping a drink warm! 

Week Ending Friday 2nd December 2022

Class 1
This week in English, the children have continued to explore our Christmas themed book, Snow in the Garden. We have been reading the lovely poetry in the book and spotting lots of patterns such as rhyming, repetition and number of syllables.

In maths, Year 1 have had great fun investigating 3D shape shadows. They used their knowledge of different shapes and their properties to guess which one was creating the shadows. They showed great reasoning skills during this activity and discovered that there was often more than one possibility! Year 2 have been creating and continuing patterns using 2D and 3D shape including solving tricky problems such as working out what the 10^th shape in a pattern would be. Foundation stage have been comparing and ordering numbers 1-5 using vocabulary such as bigger than and smaller than.  

The children planned an investigation involving the properties of materials this week. We posed the question ‘which material is best at keeping a hot drink warm’ and designed an experiment in which we will wrap different materials around a cup to see which one is best at keeping the drink warm. The children decided that we are going to test tin foil, bubble wrap, paper and fabric- we can’t wait to carry out our investigation next week!

Week Ending Friday 25th November 2022

Class 1

This week the children have begun a new sequence of learning in English using a Christmas themed book written by the very well-known author; Shirley Hughes. It's a beautiful collection of stories, poetry, recipes and craft instructions. We will be particularly looking at the poetry side of the book. The children have started strong by writing using descriptive language about a Christmas scene. 

In Maths the children have continued to learn about 2D and 3D shapes. Y1 have been using their understanding of shape to create 2D shapes using smaller shapes. They tested their shape and spatial awareness by trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle. It was a group effort! Y2 worked hard to count the edges of shapes, tackling the challenge of making sure they don't double count them. In Foundation the children have been applying their knowledge of numbers up to 5 in all their learning areas, noticing number patterns in their play, counting with confidence and linking to their junk models. They are able to apply their understanding flexibly in a range of situations. 

In History, the children have been learning about Explorers. They have been fantastic at remembering facts about a local explorer called Sir Francis Drake. On Wednesday, we questioned what would motivate explorers to tackle some of the harshest of environments on our planet. The children came up with some great ideas and were very safety conscious. Many of our Y2s recalled their learning from two years ago about Robert Falcon Scott and how he died trying to return from the South Pole. 

The children have begun rehearsals for the Nativity play. Please try to practice a little bit each day. Even the children who are able to read from their script must be fluent in doing so. Practice makes perfect!