Year 1 News 2023-2024
Exploring Data Collection
For their Maths lesson this week, Year 1 were exploring how to use tally charts and bar charts. Their task was to find out who celebrated their birthday in what month. First they collected the information needed in their own class, then they continued their research into Reception and Year 2. Once they had collected all the data, they converted their tally chart into numbers and from there inputted this information onto a bar chart. They discovered that July had the most birthdays and March and October had the least!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
Challenge Week - Addition & Subtraction!
This Challenge Week, Year 1 raced to complete 108 addition and subtraction calculations. They worked against the clock to recognise mathematical symbols and complete operations correctly. Well done Year 1!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
Lights, camera, action.........
Year 1 took part in a thoroughly enjoyable workshop delivered by Digital Wizards, they learnt all about green screens and how to navigate an App to create an image using themselves and a Google picture. As Year 1 have been learning all about The Great Fire of London, this inspired their search and enabled them to combine their pictures to create fantastic green screen images!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
Challenge Week
As part of our Challenge Week, Year 1 and Year 2 took part in an afternoon of physical trials. They worked cooperatively as team members and competitors in a variety of basic skills activities. They enjoyed relay running, jumping and chasing events using a variety of equipment.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
Ness Gardens
Year 1 thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Ness Gardens, they enjoyed exploring the gardens and took part in a guided trek, were they discovered The Rocket Monster, a compost machine, they also discovered during their walk, Rhododendrons, Camellias, Snowdrops, Sorbus and a super tall Monkey Puzzle tree. Rose, our guide then took the group for some pond dipping. This was great fun, the children took it turns to scoop a net into the water and then carefully searched through what they had collected, the children found a Water Boatman, a Leech, a tiny fish and many more pond creatures. Following a picnic lunch, the children walked around the Rock Garden were they spotted lots more flowers, trees, frogs and bigger fish in the pond. Finally, they finished off their day with some fun in the play area.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
Habitats and Caring for our Environment
Year 1 have been working so hard this week learning all about habitats, Sir David Attenborough and how to care for the environment. They also created some beautiful collages in art, inspired by Sir David's wildlife programmes about Penguins in Antarctica and the Sea Turtles of the Galapagos Islands. Well done Y1!
Beach School Trip 3
Luckily, the rain stopped just in time today for Year 1's third trip to the beach! The children learnt about rain falling and discovered the water cycle. After that, the children were set a task to use stones to create a tall lighthouse, to help make their structures sturdy, they thought about using sand and shells. To finish off their beach school session they enjoyed a paddle in the rock pools and even spotted a crab!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
Sun Safety!
Year 1 enjoyed their Sun Safety lesson in the sunshine today! They learned about what things they need to do to stay safe in the sun.
Slip on a T-shirt, Slap on a hat, Slop on some sun screen, Seek out shade, Slide on your sunglasses!
Our Second Beach School
Today, for their second Beach School session, the children arrived to the tide coming into shore, so they got to enjoy a quick paddle in the water, lots of fun and laughter was heard as they jumped back from the waves and back into the sea! They then used magnify glasses and binoculars to explore rocks, shells and the sand to search for fossils and other beach discoveries. Once the tide was further in, we safely carried on with our activities on the grass area. Today's experiment was predicting whether a large plastic bag or a small plastic bag would fly better in the breeze as a kite. The children carried out their experiment and agreed both worked well. The children certainly enjoyed testing and flying their kites!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
First Beach School Session!
Year 1 were super excited for their trip to Cubbins Green this morning for Beach School! A windy but warm arrival, so Angela talked to the group about wind direction, points on the compass and compared the strength of the wind at school and on the coast. The children enjoyed the feel of the breeze on their faces! Year 1 then made flags using cloth and paper,they predicted which material would be best to use in the wind, a perfect day to carry out their investigations. Next, the children made large letters in the sand and used the natural resources around the beach to decorate them ready for a game, Angela called out North, South, East or West and the children quickly ran to the correct point. Year 1 are already looking forward to their Beach School session next week!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
Computing - Programmable Toys
In Computing, Year 1 enjoyed exploring programmable toys, they learnt how to use the controls on a Bee-Bot and directional language to programme the bots to move forwards, backwards, left and right. They also enjoyed using a programme on the iPad to control moving a BB8 Robot toy around the classroom.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
Bucket Drumming!
An exciting music lesson for Year 1 this week - Bucket Drumming! The children thoroughly enjoyed following a beat to a song by the band Queen. They demonstrated super concentration and rhythm skills, we certainly have some budding drummers in the making!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
Gillmoss Recycling Centre
The children have been learning all about recycling and looking after our world, today they took an exciting trip to Gillmoss Recycling Centre, were they learnt all about the journey of recycling from our homes to it's final destination. The children helped to sort different materials into the correct recycling categories and then curiously watched through the windows at the tour of the materials recovery facility, here, they saw recycling in action! Finally they explored hands on activities and resources on how to help recycling, from litter picking to solving puzzles.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery
St. David's Day
Year 1 have been celebrating Saint David's Day and the first day of meteorological Spring.
The children have made observational drawings of daffodils using pencil and water soluble pastels. They have made and painted daffodils and located Wales on a map of the UK
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Map Detectives!
An exciting afternoon taking a trip around the world using a Globe and Atlas's today! The children used their geographical knowledge to explore and locate different countries and discussed continents. With Learning about Chinese New Year in their topic lessons, Year 1 were set a challenge to use their Atlas's to locate China, to find their flag and explore the flag colours to then paint their own.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Smartie the Penguin Helping with Safer Internet Day
Smartie the penguin has been helping the Year 1 children on how to stay safe on the internet, this week for Safer Internet Day the children were exploring how to stay safe when using an iPad, they used Pic Collage to design their own informative and creative posters, well done Year 1!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Exploring with Google Maps
Year 1 had great fun exploring Google Maps on the iPads today and discussed the symbols on the page and how to use them. First, they had to find the camera application to scan a QR code, which then took them to a map of and around Avalon School, from there, they explored the local environment and recognised features around their school environment, the children excitedly pointed out what they had found! Using the local map, the children then drew and labelled their own maps.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Travel with Google Earth!
As part of our topic on travel, Year 1 have been learning how to use Google Earth on the iPads. We have visited places around the world and also closer to home.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Making Music
This week, in music, Year 1 explored the handbells and listened to how each bell played a different sound, they discovered the sound went higher as each coloured bell was shook. The children worked together following Mrs Keenan's direction to perform Twinkl, Twinkl and Row, Row, Row your boat!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
12 Days of Christmas
Today the children enjoyed learning the traditional song and actions along to "12 Days of Christmas!"
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
All things Christmassy!
Year 1 have been enjoying taking part in lots of Christmas activities over the past couple of weeks. They have decorated baubles, made a sparkly plant pot for their spring bulb, designed a Christmas card and today they were extremely excited to see that Father Christmas had visited Avalon, he told the children all about his cheeky little reindeer Rudolf! To finish off the day they explored the school fair were they purchased lots of Christmas goodies!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Celebrating Diwali
Year 1 have been celebrating Diwali the festival of light. We have made Diwali lamps and listened to the story of Rama and Sita which inspired stories of their own.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Walk to West Kirby War Memorial
Year 1 and Year 2 visited the local War Memorial today. They enjoyed an Autumnal walk and did some observational sketching. Next we looked at the physical geography of the Wirral . We then had a two minute silence to reflect and show respect. Lest we forget.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Adventures at Chester Zoo
On Tuesday Key Stage 1 enjoyed a trip to Chester Zoo. While there the children had a great time exploring the enclosures and see all the different animals that they have been learning about in science! We also had a lovely time in the Education Hub were the children learnt all about how to identify living things and classify animals according to their characteristics. They particularly enjoyed going around each table and completely the quizzes. They all had a great time and we were fortunate enough to have good weather as well!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Science Topic - "Animals"
Continuing with their Science topic on 'Animals', the children explored reptiles, they were extremely excited when they had a visitor to their classroom; Tiddles the tortoise! The children were very gentle and careful handling him and enjoyed feeling the texture of his bumpy shell. The children were very curious and asked lots of interesting questions, they learnt lots of information, what tortoises like to eat, what they need in their habitat and how their sharp beak helps to bite the food as they have no teeth. The children thoroughly enjoyed meeting Tiddles!
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Bread Making
Year 1 have been extremely busy with lots of cross curriculum activities. They listened to the Parable of the Sower during Religious Education and discovered how the seeds were sown by the farmer and learnt how the seeds that fell on the good soil produced corn, this story led nicely into ‘Harvest’ and our topic on ‘Food’. Year 1 produced some wonderful work on their favourite food, eating well and learning a Harvest Poem. From there the children explored how wheat was made and were very eager to learn how to make bread. So during Wolrld Mental Health Day, the children took part in a fun bread making activity. They measured out the ingredient’s, mixed them together and kneaded the dough, once risen and cooked by Mrs Probert, the children were excited to taste their final product! Thumbs up all round, the children took a piece to Mrs Probert to say thank you for providing the ingredients and equipment.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Healthy Eating
Year 1 have been learning about food and healthy eating. We enjoyed sorting fruit and vegetables and slicing the food into halves and quarters. We talked about eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
In our Art lesson, we used a variety of fruit and vegetables to make colourful printed pages.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
European Day of Languages
Year 1 had a thoroughly enjoyable day using their 'passports' to travel around school to explore a range of exciting and interactive activities for European Day of Languages. They visited Czechia, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Croatia, Netherlands and Denmark. The children learnt how to say hello and goodbye in each language, they built famous landmarks, explored Artists, tasted a few delicious delicacies and ended their day with a 'Hygge' experience in Denmark, here the children got comfortable under blankets with a hot chocolate and marshmallows whilst listening to the traditional tale of Thumbelina.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Healthy Eating
Year 1 have been learning all about healthy eating. Linking this into their Art lesson, the children used their senses to explore a variety of fruit and vegetables. After finding out about the different textures and patterns, the children thoroughly enjoyed using them to print colourful pictures with.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
First PE Lesson
Year 1 worked on their flexibility and core strength in their first PE lesson. They listened well and performed the tasks with broad smiles. A very enjoyable lesson for all.
For more photos click here for the Year 1 class gallery.
Welcome back to school Year 1
