Year 1 - Squirrel Class

25 October 2025 - Design and Technology - Playgrounds

In Design and Technology we have been investigating playground equipment. We designed a piece of playground equipment that we would like to make and wrote a list of all the materials we would need. This week we had great fun making our designs. We made swings, slides, climbing frames and monkey bars.

27 September 2024 - Computing

This week we learnt that technology is all around us and it is man made. We also labelled a computer and laptop and talked about the similarities and differences. Then, Mrs Hussain showed us how to switch on a laptop. We had a go at turning on the laptops and practiced using the trackpad.

Meet the Teacher

Welcome to Year 1.pdf

20 September 2024 - Cress Heads!

In Tuesday's English lesson we focussed on practicing our reading skills. First, we read a sort of instructions and put them in order. Next, we used our phonics skills to read instructions on how to make cress heads. Finally, Mrs Hussain read out each instruction whilst we made our own cress heads. We are all excited to see how much they grow!

13 September 2024 - Jasper's beanstalk

This week the children have been enjoying our new book in English. We discussed the importance of illustrations and what they can tell us. After reading the book we had to go at predicting what Jasper may find at the top of the Beanstalk. Have a look at some of the ideas we came up with.

6 September 2024 - Safety

This week we have been focusing on staying safe. We researched ways of staying safe online The children agreed. It's important to have a safe adult for them to speak to. We created our very own safe hands with five adults that we trust. These are displayed in our classroom for the children to see.

12 July 2024 - Freestanding structures

This term in art, we’ve been observing birds and planning to create a very own freestanding structure of a bird. We have worked in parts. First, we designed and cut out our bird using foam board. We then designed our wings and tails and place them correctly. Finally, we are working on creating the legs out of wire and finding out away in which there will balance well and hold the bird up into a free standing structure.

21 June 2024 - Whipsnade Zoo!

Yesterday, Year 1 enjoyed a sunny day out at the zoo. The children were really excited to see all the animals. We were quite lucky to have seen the elephants, chimps, giraffes and rhino up close. The children couldn't believe how tall a giraffe is in real life! We had a fabulous day and were intrigued by the animals!

7 June 2024 - Planting Cress

This week in Science we had a go at planting cress. Over the next few sessions we will be keeping a plants diary and observing the growth.

24 May 2024 - Banana Cupcakes

As part of our DT project we made vegan banana cupcakes. We spent a lot of time researching healthy choices and where ingredients come from. The children had a go at baking their own healthy deserts today. Later, we taste tested our cupcakes and evaluated what we liked and what could be improved next time. Many children suggested that we add raisins next time.

17 May 2024 - Counting in 2's

We have been learning to count in 2's. The children explored counting in 2's using cubes. We used this to investigate any patterns that may occur. The children very quick in understanding that when you count in 2's you miss a number and all the numbers you say are even! This means that when you count in 2's you can share the amount equally in two groups!

10 May 2024 - DT

This week in DT we have been learning about where food comes from. In particular, we looked at where milk comes from. The children had a go at pretending to milk the cows. We had so much fun with this activity.

3 May 2024 - Beebots

Over the last few weeks we have been learning on how to use beebots. This week Mrs Hussain gave us some pictures. We had to think about the directions of the Beebot to move it around/ We also played games and challenged our friends.

26 April 2024 - Maths

This week in Maths Squirrel class have been problem solving. We had lots of different robot parts to design our own robot. Each body part had a number. We had to put together a head, body and legs but the challenge was - the total should not go above 20!

19 April 2024 - Letter from Barnaby Bear

Squirrel class received a letter from Barnaby Bear this week! He asked us to help him organise a healthy picnic, so we looked at different food groups and sorted them into healthy and unhealthy.

22 March 2024 - Art collages

In today's art lesson, we combined all the skills we learnt over the last few weeks. We also took it to consideration the work we studied on Flora and Fauna. Last week, the children created collage pieces to use. The children use these collage pieces to create their own mini beast. Squirrel class practiced, cutting and observational skills. We worked so hard on our collages and decided to display this.

15 March 2024 - Healthy Me!

This term we have been learning about healthy choices. In this lesson we looked at different bathroom and kitchen objects and decided whether they were safe and unsafe. We also worked on discussing why something might be safe or unsafe

8 March 2024 - Flora and Fauna

This term in Art we have been learning about artists Flora and Fauna. We looked at a variety of art work which showed lots of nature and insect inspired art work. We used these to inspire us and create our very own sketches.

1 March 2024 - Nature Inspired sketches

In today's lesson we began a new unit of work focusing on Flora and Fauna inspired artwork. We had a look at a variety of different art pieces and analysed the use of colour, objects and minibeasts. We used the artwork to sketch our own inspired pieces.

16 February 2024 - Moving Pictures

This term in DT we have been learning to make horizontal and vertical levers. For our final piece of work we designed a moving picture which had a vehicle of our choice. We the decided what direction our lever would move. After designing, we made the backgrounds, moving vehicle and joined everything together.

9 February 2024 - Safety Day!

We started our day by learning the importance of being a good friend and antibullying. We created a safe space to talk about things a good friend would do and what we should in certain situations. Later we looked at road safety and practice how we would cross the road. We then sequenced the correct order of crossing a road. Finally, we ended our day with learning about online safety. We created lovely online safety posters!

2nd February 2024 - Number Day

For Number Day Squirrel class participating in a variety of fun activities. We started the day by completing a tens frame challenge and 'Buddy's quiz' in small groups. Later, we put a shape puzzle together in pair and went on a number hunt in the playground. We finished the day by designing our own Maths T-shirts!

26 January 2024 - Computing!

This term in Computing we have been learning how to use Microsoft Word. We learnt how to find word in the taskbar and open a blank page. We are now working on typing and experimenting with things like font, size orientation and colour.

19 January 2024 - Viking longboats!

As part of our History of Transport unit we looked at early travels and how Vikings travelled. We found out that people used to travel to trade goods, steal land, money and jewels. From research we found out the Vikings travelled the most and that their boats had a specific design. The red and white sails were to scare enemies as well as the dragon head. We worked in pairs to create our very own Viking longboat!

12 January 2024 - Levers and Leverages

This week was our first DT lesson introducing levers and leverages. The children used a variety of skills like cutting, whole punching and joining to create a moving person. This was quite a tricky activity and Squirrel stayed focused and created their very own moving person. I am really proud of Squirrel class!

15 December 2023 - Pitching in and Helping out!

This week Squirrel class have been extremely busy performing their songs in the Christmas play! We worked really hard to make our own headbands for our song. We did 3 shows this week and are very proud of every single child!

8 December 2023 - Where’s my teddy?

This week we have been reading the book ‘where’s my teddy?’. We used the storyline of the book to create lost posters of our teddy named Freddie. The children used sentence rules, conjunctions and adjectives to write a detailed description of Freddie.

1 December 2023 - Sunflowers

This term in computing we have been learning how to use laptops and IPads. We've been working on familiarising ourselves with the painting app. We used the skills learnt to create our very sunflowers. We even had a go at writing our names!

24 November 2023 - Observational Drawings

This week in art we have been learning about observational drawings. We spend the afternoon looking at different types of shells, the texture and shape. We then created our very own Observational drawings of the shells, paying attention to the texture and details.

17 November 2023 - Multiple representations

This week in maths, we have been working hard at identifying bar models, part-whole models, number sentences and word problems. We have been investigating different ways of representing a number sentence. Here is a picture of one of the activities we completed this week. We worked in partners to match the different representations.

10 November 2023 - Jam Sandwiches!

We have been learning about using Bossy verbs. We then studied a recipe book called 'Grufallo Crumble'. We made Jam Sandwiches and then wrote our own set of instructions on how to make a jam sandwich.

3 November 2023 - Library Visit

This week Squirrel class went on a trip to Watford library. We walked to the library in the morning. First, we sat on the Gruffalo carpet and listened to a story. Next, we had a chance to explore the books and read them on our own or with a grown up. After, we used the story cubes to make our very own stories.

13 October 2023 - Make 10!

This week we have been working on making various numbers using part-whole models. We have been working on using the correct methods and different language we can use to add. We practiced making 10 on our tens frame and using language like add, sum, total and altogether.

6 October 2023 - Guided reading

The children have been working on Guided reading over the past few weeks. They are starting to show independence during these sessions and enjoy the variety of books. I am really proud of how they have settled and are learning to use their phonics knowledge consistency.

29 September 2023 - Part-Whole models

This week we have been focusing on ordering numbers and identifying the correspondence. We introduced the part-whole model and have been working in groups to find different ways of making numbers. We all worked together to identify the whole and the parts. We then recorded our findings as a number sentence on the whiteboard.

8 September 2023 - Settling into Year 1

This week Squirrels have worked really hard to settle into Year 1. They have been most excited about having lots of different books to work from. They have been eager to learn new subjects such as History, Science and Computing. In particular, they enjoyed reading and predicting the ending of the story 'plenty of love to go round'. We then had a go at writing our own predictions.