Year 1 have had a great time at their Christmas party. The showed off their fantastic dance moves, followed by some games and party food.

Year 1 have been taking a closer look at some of the leaves, nuts and seeds they have been collecting as part of their autumn topic. They used a variety microscopes and magnifying glasses, which have been kindly loaned to the school by the Royal Microscopical Society. The children found it very interesting to see the different patterns and veins in the leaves. They even noticed a few holes where insects had been feasting.

Year 1 went to the Open Zone @ The Word to learn more about coding, algorithms and debugging. The used the the Bluebots to create a set of simple instructions, as well as the Code-a-Pillar. The then moved onto the Sphero’s, which were much harder to control.

Year 1 enjoyed an autumnal day at Gibside, as part of their science topic, ‘Seasonal Change’. The children looked for signs that autumn was here and collected leaves, acorns and conkers to take back to class. They have also been learning about animals that hibernate, so decided to make some hedgehog homes. The children used materials around them to create a warm, waterproof shelter for them.

Although it rained most of the day, year 1 made the most of it and enjoyed a treat at the playpark for their amazing efforts.

Year 1 have made a fantastic start to their ‘Colour Creations’ art topic. So far they have looked at art work created by Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Paul Klee and Jackson Pollock. We observed their use of primary and secondary colours, as well as tints, shading and techniques which they used to create their art work. We then took inspiration from them to create our own masterpieces.

Our new Year 1 children have settled into their new class brilliantly this week. They have been excited to see and explore their new classroom, and have enjoyed some Elmer themed activities.

Today we finally pulled up our potatoes that we have been growing since April. We planted 7 potatoes and grew a whopping 36! We boiled the potatoes and everyone had a try. They were delicious!

Year 1 had a fantastic morning participating in their first Sports Day! The children had the chance to take part in every race and they throughly enjoyed it. We had a wonderful morning!