Year 1: Blog items
Date: 5th Jan 2021 @ 9:51am
Date: 5th Jan 2021 @ 9:49am
Date: 13th Dec 2020 @ 8:52pm
For the past couple of weeks in our Music lessons we have been learning the familiar song 'Jingle Bells.' However, we have not been using our voices to sing, we have been learning the song with British Sign Language signing, communicating using signs, hand gestures and facial expressions.
Children have watched an online British Sign Language version of Jingle Bells, following the signs, and learnt each of the BSL signs in turn.
Children also listened to and appraised 'The 12 Days of Christmas,' by the Pentatonix, discussing how the song made them feel, the instruments/voices used and the style of music.
Date: 14th Dec 2020 @ 7:58pm
Today we enjoyed our Christmas Dinner!
We were very excited from the minute we came into school, and couldn't wait until lunchtime. We enjoyed listening to Christmas music, pulling crackers and telling funny jokes!
We are looking forward to our Christmas party on Wednesday!
Date: 16th Dec 2020 @ 8:52pm
Today in Year 1 we enjoyed our Christmas parties! The weather outside was cold and rainy but we enjoyed the most of our time indoors, dancing, playing games and having fun!
We made party hats for the special occasion which we then teamed with some special Christmas glasses to get us into the Christmas spirit!
We enjoyed playing musical statues, pinning the carrot on the snowman and eating party snacks!
Year 1 - Our Learning This half-term
Date: 17th Dec 2020 @ 3:10am
Year 1 – Our half term!
We have had a very busy half term! From exploring 2D and 3D shapes in Maths, to balancing and creating routines in PE, and listening and appraising reggae songs in Music!
In Science this half term we have been learning about animals; learning lots of new vocabulary including carnivore, omnivore and herbivore and the five animal classifications.
In Computing we have been creating our own Christmas artwork using Paintz, exploring the different tools to create shape, images and text and on the 1st December our class elves arrived in Beech and Hazel with a letter - he asked us to find out everything we needed to know to write back to him! So, in Reading into Writing we explored the journey of a letter, finding features, piecing together the layout, and reading the letters from our class elf, before finally writing our own letter.
It has been a very exciting half term, filled with lots of learning and fun!
Date: 12th Dec 2020 @ 12:04pm
We have had a very busy week in Maths this week!
At the start of the week we continued our work on exploring teen numbers, showing the numeral in numbers, words and pictorial representation. We have then worked on showing numbers in different ways, for example on tens frames, part part whole models, with objects and with drawings.
As we continued through the week we then moved onto problems involving one more and one less. We recapped on when finding one more the number gets bigger, and when finding one less the number gets smaller. We learnt that there are 2 ways to describe a number, for example 17 is one more than 16, and 17 is also one less than 18.
In partners we then thought of a number and tried to describe it to each other using the language of one more and one less, and seeing if our partner could tell us the number in our head! We then explored lots of different practical activities to explore the concept of one more and one less, using numicon, objects, counters and more!
Date: 18th Dec 2020 @ 3:00pm
Although it has looked very different from previous years, we have still celebrated the festive season at Boundary, albeit it in our bubbles and via whole school virtual assemblies.
Our carol service was a beautiful event, witnessed, shared and enjoyed (virtually!) by the whole school – a testament to the resilience, patience and determination of both our children and our staff.
During the week, bubbles have enjoyed their Christmas dinner. The hall was set out beautifully with crackers to pull, hats to wear and the odd poor joke to tell for each year group bubble to enjoy their Christmas dinner on their special day! A huge ‘Thank You’ goes to all the staff for making it run smoothly, especially Debbie and all the catering and welfare staff for all their hard work in making our delicious dinner.
Each bubble also enjoyed their party day this week, with children wearing their Christmas jumpers and their best party clothes! Each class spent the last afternoon of this term watching a special virtual pantomime ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and eating popcorn.
Although 2020 has not been the year we would have hoped for, our children, staff and parents and carers have once again united to create a supportive, nurturing environment for the children of Boundary, ensuring that each child continues to receive the best education and start in life despite the events of this year.
We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you for your ongoing support during these strange and difficult times and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful, safe and happy New Year and we look forward to welcoming you all back in January.
Religious Education - a summary of our learning so far....
Date: 11th Dec 2020 @ 1:00pm
At Boundary, our curious and tolerant children have had a busy few weeks learning lots about different religions and we can’t wait to share what we have done…
Reception have been busy learning about the Christmas story and filming our nativity in their outdoor area. They loved dressing up and re-enacting the nativity play.
This half term in Year 1 for RE, the children have been learning all about Jesus and the Christmas Story. They have learnt about the roles of a family and why babies are special. They have read the Christmas Story and then ordered the events. This week, they worked together in groups, to sort out Christmas cards into ones with a religious meaning and ones without.
Year 2 having been exploring the question...
Why do Christians say that Jesus is the 'Light of the World'?
They children have learnt about how lights are used by Christians in celebration and to mark special events, what advent means and how they can be a light to other people!
Year 3 have been learning about Islam and who Muslims follow. They have learnt about the characteristics that the prophet Mohammed showed and how Muslims can be charitable. The children have reflected on this and how they can apply it to the role models in our lives.
In Year 4, they have been learning about Christianity and how Christians show love to everyone. The children have done this by looking at parables such as The Good Samaritan and The Unforgiving Servant. These parables have told them that it is important to 'Love thy neighbour' and treat everyone around them with care and respect.
This term in Year 5 they have been learning about Islam. They looked at Ramadan, The 5 Pillars of Islam, The Holy Qur'an and Hajj.
The Holy book of Islam is the Qur'an, Muslims clean themselves in water that has been blessed, before they hold it. - Lacey-Morgan
The pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) is one of the five pillars of Islam and Muslims must do it at least once in their life if they are physically capable of it. Ihram is the name given to the special spiritual state in which pilgrims wear two white sheets of seamless cloth during their pilgrimage. - Myles
Year 6 children have been learning about the Hindu belief in reincarnation, karma and the 4 Ashramas (stages of life). The children have reflected on the milestones they have achieved in their lives already and possible future ones.
Updated COVID Information - Letter to Parents and Carers
Date: 8th Dec 2020 @ 3:20pm
Date: 3rd Dec 2020 @ 8:01pm
Today we came into school to find out our Christmas elf had returned! Not only was he back, but he had also brought something with him...a letter! We discussed why we might receive a letter, or why we might send one, and what information may be included in a letter.
We then compared the features of three different text types, beginning to discuss how we knew which ones were letters, and which weren't. We have done lots of work on invitations and lists over the past couple of weeks, and so we compared the features of these two text types to those included in a letter, beginning to discuss similarities and difference. We found out a letter is always set out in a particular way, and we write a letter when we want to send a message to someone.
We used our phonics skills to segment and blend the information in the letter, and found out we had received a letter from Goldilocks as well as our class Elf!
We then moved on to identifying the features of a letter in greater depth, highlighting the address, date, who the letter is for and who the letter is from.
We will continue to look and read lots of different types of letters and are very excited to eventually write a letter to the Elf that he can take back to Santa!
Date: 28th Nov 2020 @ 3:09pm
Each week our Year 1 children cannot wait for Thursday to come around! They know that Thursday afternoon means it's computing time!
We began our first session of computing by discussing the devices and technology we use both in school, and at home. We discussed how we use each device, and how they can be important in day to day life. We then discussed what we need to remember when accessing online devices, and introduced SMART. We discussed the importance of staying safe, not meeting up, accepting files, reliability and telling someone.
We have then been practising our essential skills. We have learnt how to turn the Chromebook on and off, click and scroll on the mousepad and type with the keyboard. When using the keyboard to type in our personal log in details, we have also had to get used to the fact that some letters look slightly different to the ones we are used to seeing, but we have all been trying really hard to do this independently.
We have also explored the program Paintz App. We spent some time exploring the different tools available, and we found out we could do things like change the background colour, add 2D shapes, and even add text! During our Reading into Writing sessions we have been exploring the book 'Aliens Love Smelly Jelly,' creating invites to an alien tea party from an alien. We then linked this to our computing session, and we designed the alien using the Paintz App!
Date: 17th Nov 2020 @ 8:06pm
In PE this half term we have started gymnastics, focussing on balancing and spinning on points. We have been learning how to perform controlled spins, supporting our body weight in symmetrical balances, and spinning on apparatus.
We initially discussed what is a spin and what parts of our bodies we can spin on. We practised spinning on our front, side, back, and bottom in symmetrical shapes. We really focussed on performing with control and imagination! After we perfected three spins we then added a balance in between each spin. We had to try and hold our balances for 5 seconds each!
We are going to be practising and perfecting our sequence over the next couple of weeks! We will then be working on peer assessment of each others performances, observing and giving feedback to refine our sequences and performance.
Date: 17th Nov 2020 @ 7:51am
Date: 16th Nov 2020 @ 7:48pm
We began anti bullying week by talking about different types of bullying, and how these types of bullying may occur. We then took part in the whole school assembly, which explored this years anti bullying week theme, 'United Against Bullying.'
This afternoon we then designed our own class jigsaw pieces to show how we are going to be 'United Against Bullying.' We thought about what changes we could make to our class and our school to make it a bullying free zone. We then also designed our own odd socks, and took part in an experiment which helped us explore what bullying can do to people on the inside, even though the effects might not be shown on the outside.
Date: 13th Nov 2020 @ 7:41pm
This week we have been thinking about all the brave soldiers and saying thank you.
On Wednesday, we joined the rest of the school to take part in our Remembrance Service. We each planted a poppy in our school Remembrance Garden. Each poppy has the name of a World War One soldier. We thought of these soldiers during our whole school assembly and two minute silence.
We have also painted Poppies, learning about the significance of Poppies for Remembrance Day and why we wear them.
Date: 13th Nov 2020 @ 7:07pm
This week in Science we began our topic on animals by observing animals in our school environment. We firstly discussed what we already know about animals, and then what we would like to find out.
We recapped on the 5 animal groups, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, and talked about what features animals have to have to fit into these groups. We learnt that we fit into one of these 5 groups, and that we are mammals! We also discussed birds have feathers and wings, fish breathe underwater using gills, and amphibians can live on land and in water.
We then talked about what kind of animals we thought we might see/find on our observation hunt. We recapped on our safety rules when we are using the Forest School area before heading outside! We found beetles, worms, spiders and ants and we saw dogs, birds and humans! We looked closely at the animals, before returning them to their natural habitat. We then headed back in to the classroom to record our observations to help us answer questions!
Date: 6th Nov 2020 @ 8:12pm
This week we have been exploring the effects of Autumn! We discussed what we already know about Autumn, for example 'it is a season,' 'it happens before winter,' and 'trees loose their leaves.' We also talked certain celebrations that happen in Autumn and what animals, bird and mini beasts do to prepare themselves for the Autumn season.
We then focussed on the colour of Autumn leaves, and how this colour changes. We explored mixing colours, changing the tone and identifying colours important to the Autumn season. Firstly learning about the primary and secondary colour wheels, we then practised using varying sizes of brush to develop our ability to paint using clear strokes and brush control.
We mixed our own paint to create different shades of Autumn colours. Starting with a base colour of brown/yellow/orange paint, we added small amounts of white paint, to create lighter shades of the same colour. We then focussed on making darker shades of the same colour. Again, starting with our base colour, we added small amounts of black paint, to create darker shades of our chosen colour. We observed what happened each time we added the amounts of white/black paint and made comments/observations about this.
Date: 4th Nov 2020 @ 1:08pm
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 10:44am
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 10:42am
Date: 26th Oct 2020 @ 12:05pm
This week we have been learning about Black History Month. We started the week by reading the story 'Handa's Surprise,' talking about the characters, setting, and key points in the book, before sequencing and retelling the story.
We looked in depth at the illustrations of the setting and how this enabled us to know where the story took place. We also recapped on the use of adjectives, and how we could describe each fruit. We had ideas such as 'spiky large pineapple,' 'green, creamy avocado,' and 'yellow, bendy banana.' Later in the week we then wrote sentences to describe what was happening in a picture from the story, focussing on using capital letters, full stops, and segmenting and blending the words we wanted to use.
We also spent an afternoon creating and designing African masks. We explored a range of masks from countries we have looked at during the week, discussing the features, colours, and emotions the masks portrayed. Children cut out shapes from different coloured and textured paper to create the features of their masks. We discussed the use of symmetry and tried to make our masks as symmetrical as possible!
Throughout the week we have explored lots of similarities and differences, learning that everyone is different, but everyone is special.
Date: 22nd Oct 2020 @ 12:15pm
In Year 1 this week we read the story 'How Full Is Your Bucket?' We discussed what it meant to be a bucket filler and a bucket dipper, and how the choices that we make can impact those around us. We also talked about how different actions make us feel, and how they can also make others feel. The children then sorted a variety of statements, deciding if they were bucket filler or bucket dipper behaviours.
Whilst learning about World Mental Health Day we recapped on being a bucker filler or dipper, and identified something we can do during our every day routine to be a bucket filler. We drew a picture and explained to an adult/wrote a sentence to explain something positive we had done that week that had filled our bucket.
Date: 14th Oct 2020 @ 4:36pm
Year 1 have had a brilliant Design and Technology journey this half term. They have made their own fruit salads! The were told they were going to a Tiger Tea Party. They had to design a healthy and colourful snack to eat at the tea party. They were going to go to the tea party with characters from a book they are reading. One of the characters, Sophie, asked that the children design and make a fruit salad. The children had lots of fun and even got to do some sensory evaluations tasting the food!
Date: 8th Oct 2020 @ 8:09pm
Today for no pen day we have used physical objects to complete part part whole models, practised our number bonds to ten, ordered a set of instructions for our morning routine, and even completed a little experiment!
Germs and hand washing have been involved with a lot of our work this week and we spent some time today looking at how easily germs can spread around our environment, First we used glitter to represent the germs. We put a small amount onto our hand and moved around the classroom for 30 seconds, touching lots of different things. We couldn't believe how much glitter there was around the classroom, representing how quickly germs can spread across everything we touch if we do not wash our hands properly. We then took part in the pepper experiment. Each child had a small bowl of water with pepper in. We firstly observed what happened when we put our finger into the bowl, ''all the germs went all over our finger!'' We then covered our finger with soap, and put this back into the bowl of 'germs.' ''All the pepper moved away from our finger!'' We talked about how the pepper represented germs, and what we need to continue to do to keep ourselves safe and healthy.
