This week, our young writers stepped into the paws of London’s most famous bear! We composed vivid diary entries from Paddington’s perspective, recounting his travels to Regents Canal, the bustling market, London Zoo, and Regents Park. The children showed fantastic progress in writing in the first person. In Maths, we continued to build our fluency in multiplication and division, while our PE sessions were all about movement and direction. In Orienteering, we mastered the compass points, North, East, South, and West. Then, in Multi-skills, we developed our agility by navigating vibrant cone courses in creative ways. Our Design & Technology project is officially underway! We have finished designing our miniature playground equipment and are eagerly anticipating the "build phase" next week. In RE, we explored the theme of Salvation, using drama and role-play to bring the key events of the Easter story to life. Finally, Science took a chilly turn! As part of our study on the Four Seasons, we investigated how snowflakes are formed. The highlight was definitely becoming "ice scientists" as we created our own textured snow using a magical mix of baking powder and conditioner! For outdoor learning our Year 1 explorers turned into hunters of the night as we dove into the fascinating world of food chains and sensory survival. In Outdoor Learning we kicked things off with a challenge! Each child was given a secret card - either a Producer (a plant), a Consumer (an animal), or a Predator (the hunter). They had to solve riddles to figure out who they were and then work as a team to link up to the other parts of their food chain. We talked about how energy flows:

  • The sun gives energy to the plants
  • The plants are eaten by the herbivores
  • The herbivores provide energy for the predator

It was wonderful to see the children standing in their “living food chains,” explaining how their food chain works to the rest of the group. The highlight of our session was definitely the Bat and Moth game. We learnt that bats are incredible nocturnal hunters that use echolocation to find their dinner in the dark. To bring this to life, we created a “human cave.” One person played the Bat (wearing a blindfold) and another played the Moth.

  • When the Bat shouted “BAT!” The Moth had to shout “MOTH!” back.
  • The Bat had to listen incredibly carefully to “track” the sound and tag the Moth.

It was a fab way to gain an understanding of how a bat uses its superpower of echolocation. Well done Year 1! A wonderful afternoon of problem solving and teamwork. What a great first week back!