Woodpecker Class Blog
We were invited to take part in the Schools' Tennis Roadshow. Phil, the tennis coach, taught us some tennis skills. We learnt how important it is to always watch the ball and were able to practise some racket and ball skills. There were definitely some budding tennis stars of the future among us!
We got to enjoy our second day of Forest School and thankfully this time the sun decided to shine!
We first discussed what hazards we had identified last time and reminded ourselves how to keep safe in the forest. Then we sat together in the sunshine and enjoyed one of our favourite stories: Room on the Broom! Once we had listened to the story we had a go at making our own brooms using only what we found in the woodland tied together with string.
We continued our excellent team work and followed instructions to make our own campfires which you will see in our pictures below. When our campfires were completed we created ancient tribal headdresses using different materials we found in the woods. They looked amazing and we couldn't help but dance around our campfires in them.
We had an amazing day and were very lucky to have had such beautiful weather. We cannot wait for what is in store next time!
On Friday we got invited to take part in an African drumming workshop. During the workshop we learnt about how the drums were traditionally used and where they originated from. We got given a djembe each and had a great time learning the different sounds it could make. Throughout the session, we did a lot of call and response to understand how the drum works and even came together to perform our own group number. As you can see from our faces we had a wonderful time!
Today Year 1 visited the Sea City Museum in Southampton as part of our topic about the Titanic. We have been learning all about the Titanic and so the opportunity to visit this museum, listen to the voices of survivors and even take part in a workshop has really helped our understanding of this moment in our local history.
We learnt about life on board this magnificent ship for passengers and crew, its final moments and the impact of this tragedy on the families of Southampton. We really enjoyed our guided tour from a historian who was very impressed with our knowledge of the Titanic voyage. Some of our other highlights included 'steering the Titanic' and 'shovelling the coal' interactive exhibits.
We had a fantastic day and have learnt even more about the Titanic that we cannot wait to share.
Many thanks to all the grown-ups who joined us on the trip.
We enjoyed a fantastic day today taking part in Forest School! We arrived at school dressed to brave the weather and ready to spend the whole day outside.
We took part in a range of activities involving a nature walk, making hazard flags using sticks and creating a recipe for spring in pairs! We particularly enjoyed getting our hands dirty and exploring the different woodland areas.
We all had such a wonderful day and even the rain didn't stop us!
Bring on next time!
16 Year 1 children were invited to attend a tri-golf Festival at Harrow Way School, where they got the opportunity to partake in lots of mini activities testing their accuracy and precision, against another local school. The activities involved them using putters to aim at different markers and chippers to try and hit a bucket! Great fun was had by all! A big congratulations to Evie-Mae, Hallie, Thomas and Samuel who were victorious and were on the winning team. A big thank you to Mrs Marie, Miss Donald and Mrs Reid for accompanying us.
We enjoyed a very energetic afternoon taking part in our 'Sport Relief Mile'. The children were set the challenge of running, jogging or walking 4 times around the school field, and as you can imagine, most decided to run! The children's attitudes were amazingly positive and there was definitely a competitive feel among them, with a little corner cutting when they thought nobody was watching! We certainly got moving for Sport Relief.
Thank you very much for all the money you donated which will be used by Sport Relief to tackle critical issues affecting people across the UK and the world, helping to change countless lives.
Today was World Book Day! We came to school dressed up as some of our favourite book characters. Our day was very exciting as we got to take part in lots of different activities linked to our author focus Simon Bartram. We also got to go on a word hunt around the school which revealed a secret message delivered all the way from the planet Mars! Here are some photos of our day.
As part of our Space topic, ‘Out of this World’, a mobile planetarium popped up in our school hall! The children were able to explore the stars and planets and learn about different constellations. This exciting show captivated our imaginations and allowed us to really believe that we were astronauts in space!
We had a special visit from a knight last week! His name was Sir James and he began by telling us everything about knights and showed us the equipment he uses in battle. We then got the opportunity to become knights ourselves, using shields and spears to protect our bodies from flying foam arrows! Finally Sir James told us a story about a knight and every child kneeled to be knighted by Sir James’s sword. It was a fantastic day and the children really enjoyed meeting an real life knight.
We used our knowledge of castles to make our very own functional drawbridge using a winding mechanism. The children had to make sure their drawbridge could rise and fall and solve any problems that occurred. The children worked in pairs brilliantly and helped each other to construct their drawbridges.
We worked in small groups to investigate which material would make the best catapult. We had to make a prediction first and then test out our ideas. We thought about how we could make our test fair and what we needed to change each time. We were then able to draw our own conclusions based on the results.
On Thursday, during our winter walk, we came across a glittery trail. We followed this trail and discovered an enormous egg! We were unsure where this egg had come from, what type of egg it was and why it had appeared at Portway Infants! So the children wrote a letter to a Dragon Hunter to ask if she could visit and investigate our egg. Despite being very busy the Dragon Hunter was able to come in and answered lots of the children's questions. She also told us how she became a Dragon Hunter and shared her exciting collection of dragon findings.
We have been learning about how vehicles move. First we learnt about the forces push and pull and explored what we could push and pull in the classroom. We then looked at two different types of axles: a fixed axle and a free axle and used different types of construction to have a go at building our own.
In year one this week we have been learning about keeping ourselves safe when crossing a road. We went outside and acted out different scenarios showing how to cross a road safely. We have learnt:
1. To find a safe place to cross away from parked cars.
2. To stand back from the edge of the road.
3. To stop and look left/right for traffic.
4. To listen carefully for vehicles.
5. To walk straight across the road.
We are going to be applying all this important learning into our writing and will be writing sets of instructions for safely crossing the road. You will be able to read these instructions at our next ‘Show and Share’.
Mrs Hibberd, from the Valley Gas Speed Shop, very kindly came into school to talk to the year one children about her American Hot Rod cars. She brought in three cars for us to see: a 1949 Pontiac, a red lightning Ford truck and Matt Kenseth's NASCAR named Dollar General.
We got the chance to use our observational skills to sketch our favourite vehicle, complete a treasure hunt and then we got the opportunity to sit in the cars too!
A big thank you very much to Mrs Hibberd for all your planning and making the morning such a huge success.
This week year 1 visited the Museum of Army Flying to learn about the history of military transport. The children were given a guided tour of the museum focusing on the different vehicles the museum has in its collection. We especially enjoyed seeing all the different helicopters we had learnt about in school last week. We then took part in a session in the classroom where we had the opportunity to explore different flying vehicles e.g. parachutes, kites. We also got to make and fly our very own paper aeroplanes! We finally got to explore some of the exhibits in the museum further and were able to dress up in different army uniforms, then sit in a real helicopter and pretend to be the pilot!
Thank you very much to all our parent helpers and to the museum for such a wonderful trip.
On Friday Year 1 celebrated the end of our topic with a pirate day where we all came to school dressed up! We braved the rain and completed a treasure hunt where we had to use a map of the school grounds to find hidden puzzle pieces.
We navigated Bee-Bot to different places on our very own treasure island maps. We really enjoyed creating and using our own instructions for building a pirate ship.
A fun day was had by all!
