Welcome to our Legends class page 2021/ 22
We are Year 1 at Warren Hills Community Primary School. Our teacher is Mrs Armsden and our teaching assistants are Mrs Cave & Mrs Cooke who support us in our class.
PE this term will be on Monday
Please ensure that your child has an indoor kit consisting of a white t-shirt, dark shorts and plimsols and also an outdoor kit consisting of dark tracksuit bottoms or leggings, a white t-shirt and a pair of trainers. Please ensure that long hair is tied back, earrings must be removed (if your child cannot remove earrings themselves, please ensure they are taken out before they come to school.)
We Love Reading
In our class, we know how important reading is to help us learn and we follow a reading scheme in our school called Read, Write, Inc. We each have a home reading folder to bring our books home in every day and a yellow reading record. We enjoy reading at home and know how important it is to practise with our parents/carers regularly to help us become successful readers.
A note from the teacher: Please ensure that your child brings their home reading folder back to school every day and remember to enjoy spending some time listening to your child read each day.
Mrs Armsden "It's great to see that lots of progress has been and continues to be made with reading in year 1. Keep up the hard work Legends!"
Phonics Scheme (RWI)
"Children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.
They experience success from the very beginning. Lively phonic books are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases.
Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice."
RWI Reading Top Tips!
Important Information:
Covid-19 - Please continue to keep updated with the latest government guidelines and any advice that is issued by the school.
Sickness and Diarrhea PLEASE remember if your child has sickness or diarrhea, they must be kept away from school for 48 hours after the last time they were sick or had to use the toilet. We have had a number of children off with this bug already this year. It is so important we ALL stick to these rules (recommended by Public Health England) to protect children and staff.
This applies even if your child seems fine on the second day.
Thank you!
Spring 2 - 2022
Our topic this term is Splendid Skies. Imagine floating high above land and sea on a bed of clouds, silently sweeping by on a billowing breeze. Back down to earth, let’s take a walk outdoors. But what should we wear? Wellington boots? A sun hat? Maybe a warm coat? How do we know what the weather will be like today? Read and write poems and postcards, and, if you don’t like today’s weather report, why not write your own? Make a weather station to find out more about the weather in your area. What weather do you prefer? Sunshine, snow, storms or showers? Get your wellies on and let’s go.
PLEASE NOTE: We will be outside for different lessons this term due to the nature of our topic. Please ensure your child has suitable outdoor footwear and a warm outdoor coat/ jacket.
Why don't you take a look at your local weather forecast for this week?
Do you know what all of the weather symbols mean?
Home Learning Ideas...
Glossary
Below are examples of words that we will be learning throughout the course of our topic this term. Do you know any of these words already?
Keep an eye out on this page for some of the interesting lessons happening in year 1 this term.
Spring 1 - 2022
Our topic this term is Moon Zoom. CRASH! What’s that in the playground? Let’s go outside and take a look. Stand back everyone – it looks like a UFO has crash landed. Find out who might have landed by exploring the craft and investigating scattered scientific specimens. Create a ‘Welcome to Earth’ box for an alien explorer. What can you put in it to help explain what life is like on our planet? Would you like to be an astronaut? You’ll need a pretty sturdy spacecraft if you do. Start off small by making an air-propelled rocket. How far can you make it travel? Find out the names of the planets. There’s Mercury, Neptune, Mars and – do you know any others? I’ve forgotten the rest. Then, an alien is found. Can you help get him home? It’s got the experts in a right kerfuffle. Professor Pong doesn’t know what to do. Are you ready for take off Year 1? Hold tight. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… LIFT OFF!
Take a look at the spaceship that crashed in our garden. What materials can you see?
This term our roleplay is turning into the Space Station. Keep an eye out for some pictures!
Home Learning Ideas...
Glossary
Below are examples of words that we will be learning throughout the course of our topic this term. Do you know any of these words already?
Topic Overview
Autumn 2 - 2021
Our topic this term is Bright Lights, Big City. Put on your best outfit because you’re invited to have tea with the Queen. Use your best manners and comb your hair, as one will not be amused if you don’t! What do you know about England’s capital city? Let’s find out all about London, including its history, transport and famous landmarks. Step back in time and discover what happened in the Great Fire of London. Where did it start? How did it end? London’s burning! London’s burning! Fire, fire! Fire, fire! Hang on, there’s someone new in town. Plan a tour for Marley the Meerkat, making sure he takes in all the sights and sounds of London before he finally meets his family at London Zoo. Are you ready for the bright lights of the big city? Hop in a black cab and enjoy the ride.
Home Learning Ideas...
Below are examples of words that we will be learning throughout the course of our topic this term. Do you know any of these words already?
Autumn 1 - 2021
Our topic this term is Memory Box. Can you remember being small? Being a baby and learning to crawl? Do you recall a favourite toy, maybe a teddy bear or a favourite book? Look back at family photos of special occasions, perhaps holiday snapshots or a birthday or two. Remember a wedding or a christening and find a funny photo of your parents when they were young. Learn how to write a diary of days gone by and find out about the days before you were born: it’s called history and it’s all about the past. Memories are special. Let’s make some more.
Take a look at some of the pictures from our Teddy Bears Picnic. We had great fun!
PICTURES COMING SOON!
Below are some pictures of tasks we've completed in class...
Memory Box - home learning ideas
Below are examples of words that we will be learning throughout the course of our topic this term. Do you know any of these words already?
Autumn 1 - 2021
I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer! Our first topic in Year 1 when you return is going to be Memory Box. It's a super topic and I know we will have lots of fun learning about the past all the way up to present day.
Summer 2
Can you believe there are only 5 weeks left of year 1!
I hope that everyone has had a fantastic half term and enjoyed the sunshine. We are so excited to be learning about The Enchanted Woodland for our topic this term. We cannot wait to make the most of the glorious weather and spend lots of time learning outdoors!
Take a look at our amazing role play area for this term. One of our key texts for this topic is Hansel and Gretel. Our role play for this term is a gingerbread house. What do you think?
Why don't you choose a task below from the home learning ideas?
Below are examples of words that we will be learning throughout the course of our topic this term. Do you know any of these words already?
Key Texts:
- Hansel & Gretel
- The Gruffalo
- Stick Man
- Little Red Riding Hood
In Year 1 we LOVE reading Julia Donaldson books. We have read almost all of the books below this year. We love reading!
Summer 1
Our topic this term is Dinosaur Planet. We've been having so much fun learning all about dinosaurs!
- We've been designing and creating dinosaur sock puppets.
- Making dinosaur eggs out of ModRoc and painting them realistic colours.
- We used water colour paints to create prehistoric landscapes.
- We've used salt dough to make our very own dinosaur fossils.
- Below is a picture of Mary Anning, a famous Paleontologist. We researched Mary Anning and created a fact file.
Some dinosaur stories we've read and really enjoyed this term are...
We've enjoyed watching some CBeebies videos of 'Andy's Dinosaur Facts'.
Fire Safety
Normally in Year 1 we are lucky to have workers from the Fire Service come into school and talk to us about the importance of fire safety. Due to Covid restrictions this year this was unable to happen. Instead the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service created a very informative video for us to watch. We learned lots of important information from this video.
PSHE
We have been spending a lot of time this term and last term talking about our feelings. We have been thinking about how we can feel in different situations and also considering how others are feeling.
Daily Mile
We have also been focusing on our physical wellbeing as well as our mental wellbeing.
Spring 2
Our Topic this term is Splendid Skies.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
'Rocking Around The Christmas Tree' with Year 1
The Legends Team would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Please take a minute to watch our class Christmas song. Click the video below to watch and sing along with us, we hope that you enjoy it!
This year we have welcomed 23 children into our Legends class. This term we have really enjoyed our daily Finger Gym sessions which are helping us to improve upon our fine motor skills. We have also thoroughly enjoyed our daily Go Noodle routines where we are working upon our movement and co-ordination. This term we have also introduced Cosmic Kids Yoga which helps us to develop our strength, flexibility and balance. We really look forward to continuing these different activities throughout Year 1.
PHONICS
In year 1, Phonics is a very important part of the curriculum. We have phonics sessions every morning as well as integrating Phonics within Literacy (Reading & Writing). This allows the children the chance to learn new sounds, as well as to build upon the existing sounds they are already familiar with. We follow the Ruth Miskin Phonics scheme working on Set 1 - 3 sounds. Below I have included a copy of the sound that we follow. Upon entering Year 1 most children a familiar with Set 1 sounds. In year 1 we then build upon these sounds and introduce digraphs (two letter sound), trigraphs (three letter sound) and split digraphs .
NEW Topic - Moon Zoom
When we return from the Christmas break our NEW topic is going to be Moon Zoom. We will be learning lots of interesting facts, carrying out exciting experiments and creating some fun design projects.
Our Class stories for this topic are:
Bright Lights, Big City
Our class stories for this topic are:
LEGENDS MESSAGE
As a result of the recent school closures, learning tasks will now be set via the online learning platform Weduc. Please see this site for all the latest posts, links and resources.
Weduc can be downloaded as an app on your mobile phone/ tablet for quick and simple access to home learning tasks.
Remember lots of the activities you'll already be doing at home involve learning such as baking. Baking involves reading, maths and science all in one.
Starting from 27/4/20 I will upload a weekly overview of work onto the Legends webpage.
Advice for parents/carers on using weekly learning overviews at home:-
- Learning overviews will be posted on the online learning platform each week.
- They provide a selection of 'suggested' activities, feel free to tailor and adapt them to suit your child's needs.
- Please remember, children do not have to complete every activity on here if it is not possible. Encourage them to do as much as they can to keep their brain active!
- You can complete the activities in any order, it is to be used as a guide or 'menu' for you to work through and choose from with your child.
- Remember to work with your child to structure each day accordingly. Some children respond well to regular routine with clear timings in a similar style to an 'at school' day e.g. English followed by Maths each day. For others, they might prefer to vary their routine e.g. choosing a subject to focus on each day- Maths on Monday, English on Tuesday.
- Learning from home is extremely different to the classroom environment, at home, short bursts of learning followed by regular brain breaks work well.
IMPORTANT - Home Learning Information for week commencing 15/06/20 until end of term.
Home Learning Weekly Timetable 8/06/20 - 12/06/20
(Resources will be posted on the home learning area of Weduc)
Important Message regarding Home Learning week commencing 1/06/20.
May Half Term 25/5/20 - 29/05/20
There will be no home learning or weekly timetable posted for this week. Enjoy the sunshine, go on some nice walks and spend time with your close family.
Home Learning Weekly Timetable 18/05/20 - 22/05/20
(Resources will be posted on the home learning area of Weduc)
Home Learning Weekly Timetable 11/05/20 - 15/05/20
(Resources will be posted on the Home Learning area of Weduc)
Home Learning Weekly Timetable 4/05/20 - 8/05/20
(Resources will be posted on the Home Learning area of Weduc)
Home Learning Weekly Timetable 27/04/20 - 1/05/20
(Resources will be posted on the Home Learning area of Weduc)
Direct Links
Calling all Art lovers!!
If you love Art & Design and making things just like I do then I have something that you'll really enjoy. The 30 day Art/ DT Challenge. I will attach the full 30 day overview below. Why don't you give some of these activities a try?
If you do try any of these activities please send some pictures to Miss Cowie via Weduc message platform so that we can celebrate your home learning achievements.
Twinkl
Twinkl is a fantastic resource that can be used to find worksheets, e-books, PowerPoints and some interactive games. Below I have attached a picture of the school closure code for Twinkl that allows you free access to these resources for the duration of the school closures.
Staying Active at Home
Staying active in these times is particularly important. Since the schools closed in late March Joe Wicks has been and continues to do daily workouts that you can do from the comfort of your living room. Why not give one of his workouts a go?
I will attach the relevant details below along with the web link to his YouTube page.
If the direct link below fails to work then simply type The Body Coach TV into YouTube and you will be taken directly to Joe Wicks page.
For days when the weather isn't great and we are not able to get out into the garden and go out on our daily walk take a look at 100 things you can do indoors.
Below I have attached a document that shows an example of how you may wish to structure your home learning day. Please note this is only one example and it may not work forevers circumstances.
Below I have attached a document including links to useful educational websites that you can access at home. A number of these links are for websites that the children will be familiar with from school.
Ruth Miskin Training
Below I have attached a copy of the most recent Ruth Miskin Phonics Sessions Timetable. Ruth Miskin is the Phonics Scheme that we follow in school, therefore it is a scheme that the children are familiar with.
Below I have attached an image of all of the resources that are included within the Legends Phonics Screening Pack.
I will explain a bit more in detail what is in the pack:
- The small colourful sound cards should be used to allow children to work on recalling their sounds quickly. We call these our speed sounds.
- Above the speed sound cards there are a set of yellow cards. These are called alien words. Alien words are made up words (that sometimes sound silly). These are used to help us to practice our sounds.
- To the left of the alien words there is a sheet with sounds and small pictures. This sheet tells you the rhymes that we use in class to help us remember the sounds.
- Behind this sound sheet there is a 'Phase 4 Sound Mat'. This is a collection of blends that the children should know and be able to spot when they are reading words.
- On top of the sound mat sheet there is a collection of 'Phonics Screening Practice Lists'. It is exactly that, a list of real and alien words for children to become familiar with using the sounding out and blending back together strategy.
- On top of this sheet you will see some more sound cards. These are blends which link in with the Phase 4 Sound Mat. All I ask if for children to practice saying these blends just as they would do when saying their speed sounds.
- There are then two sheets that have roughly 40 words (which is the amount of words in the final screening check). Again this is more material to help children become more familiar with the screening set up.
- Finally, at the bottom of the picture there are a few worksheets that your children can work through. The children can write on these worksheets.
I will also include a link to Ruth Miskin YouTube page and the Mr T's Phonic YouTube. These are two really good resources to use to help your children recall their phonics sounds. The children will also be familiar with these as we use them in school.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo7fbLgY2oA_cFCIg9GdxtQ
https://www.youtube.com/user/breakthruchris
WORLD BOOK DAY!
We had SO much fun in class on World Book Day. In our class we had people dressed up as The Gruffalo, Where's Wally, Little Red Riding Hood, Thing 1 and Thing 2, Mary Poppins and MUCH MUCH MORE!
Spring Term 2
This term our topic will be Dinosaur Planet!
We have learned lots about Dinosaurs over the course of this term. We know what they are called, what they eat, where they live and how they move.
As a class our favourite dinosaur was the T-Rex.
We learned the definitions of what Carnivore, Herbivore and Omnivore mean.
We enjoyed reading a number of books that linked to dinosaurs. Some of our class favourites were:
Spring Term 1
This term our Topic will be Moon Zoom!
This term we have been learning all about space.
We can name all of the planets in our Solar System.
We have also been reading a great book called 'The Man on the Moon' by Simon Bartram. We have loved reading this exciting book as our whole class Guided Reading text. Two more books that we have enjoyed reading during this topic are 'Aliens Love Underpants' and 'Aliens in Underpants Save the World'.
At the beginning of our topic and alien space ship crash landed onto our playground. We investigated the scene and tested to see what materials the space ship was made out of.
Here is a picture of the CRASH scene!
We also turned out role-play area into a Space Station.
The children thoroughly enjoyed playing in the Space Station and pretending they were in space.
Autumn Term 2
Have you ever been to London before?
This term our Topic is called Bright Lights, Big City. 
At the beginning to term we hosted a Royal Tea Party in our classroom. Before our Tea party we made place mats in the style of flags of the countries in the United Kingdom. We also decorated our very own plates and bowls for the Tea Party. We had lots of tasty treats to eat and music to dance to. We learned how to greet the Queen and the etiquette involved in attending a Royal Tea Party.
During Our Topic we learned all about some famous Landmarks in London:
- Big Ben
- Tower Bridge
- London Eye
- Houses of Parliament
- The Gherkin
- The Shard
We also spent a lot of time Learning about the Great Fire of London. We know that the fire started in a Bakery on Pudding Lane. We constructed 3D model houses and then added yellow, red and orange tissue paper to illustrate the fire. After this we set our houses out as though there were in a street and used model people to role-play the scene during choosing time.
We also joined in the Year 2's re-enactment of the fire out on the school field which was fascinating to watch!
As a class we read the Town Mouse and Country Mouse story. We used this story to help us learn about the similarities and differences of living in the countryside. We sequenced the story, drew a story map and then retold the story in our own words.
Year 1 and 2 performed the 'Angel Express' to the whole school and to parents. Both classes practiced very hard for the production and spent lots of time learning lines and the words to songs. The children thoroughly enjoyed dressing up as their characters and performing to their parents.
The children enjoyed their craft afternoon early December where parents and siblings came together to take part in a range of Christmas Crafts throughout the school.
Take a look at some of our learning from this term!
Autumn Term 1
This Term our Topic has been Once Upon a Time. We have been reading a wide range of Fairy Tales and Traditional Tales. Some of the interesting Stories we have been reading as a class are:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- Cinderella
- Gingerbread Man
- Little Red Riding-Hood
- Jack and the Beanstalk
- Rapunzel
- Three Little Pigs
- Three Billy Goats Gruff
We have been sequencing these stories through cut & stick activities, using adjectives to describe characters and writing sentences with capital letters and full stops. Each week we take part in a guided reading session that is based around a focus text. We identify the red words, use our phonics to decode new and unfamiliar words and talk about the story, making predictions about what we think might happen next.
Our topic has been heavily Literacy focused this term as we are keen to drive the children's confidence within themselves as readers. We have really been focusing in on reading; the importance of reading and reading for enjoyment. As a school we are really aiming to promote the importance of reading across all year groups! In year one we have started Book Buddies. This involves the children pairing up with another pupil in the class, choosing a book from the class library and sitting for ten minutes looking and discussing the book with their partner.
We have been carrying out exciting experiments in Science, construction modelling in D&T and creating beautiful works of art in Art & Design.
Take a look at some of the fun activities we have been up to.
Maths
We have been extremely busy in Maths this term! We have been real mathematicians, learning about Number & Place Value, Addition & Subtraction and Money.
Take a look at some of the activities we have been doing in class.
Phonics
In year 1 there is a huge focus on Phonics. We are currently working our way through the Set 2 sounds following Ruth Miskin. We work in smaller Phonics groups which allows us to concentrate and participate a lot more easily.
We have also been working very hard on our handwriting. Take a look!
We've also been learning our 'red words'. These are words that we cannot sound out using our Phonics. You can't Fred a red! As well as being able to read these words we went on a Common Exception word hunt around the classroom and practiced writing these words on our whiteboards.
Here are some videos that we enjoy in class to help us recall the Alphabet, Days of the Week and Months of the Year. We like to sing these songs together.
Academic Year 2018/19
As our topic was all about animals, we decided to do some fundraising for a local charity Canine Partners. Canine Partners is based in Osgathorpe, they are a registered charity that transforms the lives of people with physical disabilities by partnering them with assistance dogs. We had an enterprise week where we made crafts to sell: cakes, bird cakes, pencil toppers and keyrings! We then invited parents into our classroom to our sale. We raised a total of £50 which we gave to Nick and Gemma from Canine Partners when they came to visit us! Great teamwork Legends!
Topic
As part of our topic "Paws, Claws and Whiskers", we had a couple of pets to visit us!
Science
We've been developing our Scientific Process Skills and doing lots of fun experiments alongside our learning about animals. In our learning about animals, we have looked at animal groups; mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles. Also, whether the animals are carnivores, herbivores or omnivores!
During our "Bird Week", we took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch 2019....
“We have been investigating which birds visit our school and we made a tally chart. There were blue tits, blackbirds, robins and pigeons"
We also made Bird Cakes for the birds to put on our bird feeder in our garden.
Maths
Our Maths focus has been developing our fluency in counting forwards and backwards to 20 and beyond... we're also starting to secure our understanding of place value -focusing on teen numbers in particular. We have been busy working on our number skills in lots of different ways. We are all using our 'colourful brains' to challenge ourselves. We've also been exploring areas of measure.
Academic Year 2018/2019
Academic Year 2017/2018
Summer Term 1
Spring Term 2
Easter Bonnets
We invited parents in to help the children make an Easter Bonnet, check out our creations....!
A visit from Reverend Andy
We invited Reverend Andy to visit us in class and teach us the Easter Story. We had great fun acting out some parts of the story...
Maths
We've been busy developing our understanding of number and other areas of maths...
Science
We've been having lots of fun in science.
"Can people with longer legs jump further?"
"Can I whisk egg whites until I can hold them over your head?"
"What material best protects a falling egg?"
Chicks!
We had the pleasure of these little chicks in our class all day! We learned about the life cycle of a chicken and held the chicks too!
The Highway Rat
This term we have been inspired by some of Julia Donaldson's books. We have read The Smartest Giant in Town, A Squash and a Squeeze and The Highway Rat. Here are some photos of us acting. We pretended to be a Police Detective interviewing all of the victims of the Highway Rat's thieving ways!
Spring Term 1
Children's Mental Health week
This week is Children's Mental Health week. We have been talking about how we are all unique like snowflakes, and each of us has a different talent and things we find tricky. We made some beautiful rainbows which say what our friend is good at, what they find tricky and what makes them a super friend. Here we are working in partners to create them...
People who help us
Florence Nightingale
We have been learning about Florence Nightingale, and how she a became famous nurse. We acted out the story of her life, and we did a story mountain and then we did our BIG WRITE!
Visitors from the Community!
Police Officers
Week 4 - we were visited by NW Leicestershire Police Officers Tiff and Mark. They let us try on their uniform and sit in their police car. We asked them lots of interesting questions about their role in the community and how they help us.
Counting in twos
School Nurses
Week 3 - The School Nurses came into school to talk to us about how to care for our teeth.
Fire Service
Week 2 - we were visited by the Fire Service and they brought their Fire Engine! We got the opportunity to sit in it (it was very high!) and squirt the water from the hose! They also talked to us about other equipment they use to help people.
Autumn Term 2
Our new Topic is On the Move!
Nativity! ... Bethlehem was definitely Buzzin'
The wonderful cast from Year 1...
Parent Christmas Craft Morning
Departures!
We had such an exciting day with Gilly at East Midlands Airport in their onsite classroom and role play 'East Minilands'! We went inside the airport itself and did role play and other fun activities there.
We're 'On The Move'!
We were busy in our PE lesson this week - moving our bodies in different ways; skipping, throwing, balancing, carrying, kicking and jumping.
Traffic Survey
Stinky Senses Investigation!
Miss Canning put lots of different smelly things in identical pots, and we had to rely our sense of smell ONLY to identify what was inside! We worked in teams and wrote our predictions on mini whiteboards. Then we found out if we had made good predictions during the big reveal!
Shared Spooky Halloween Writing
We used our imaginations and worked in pairs to jot down notes about a spooky Halloween castle picture. Once we'd shared all our awesome ideas, we selected our favourites and used them to write an introduction to a story...it was really gripping and exciting. We decided if we read it in a story- it would make us want to read on!
"In a deep, dark wood was a haunted castle. Whilst washing the pots, Winnie the witch was thinking about how she would poison the children..."
Numicon Teen Numbers!
Celebrating Homework - All about Me
We were blown away with some fabulous homework which included handwritten books, family trees and other creative masterpieces!
Autumn Term 1 2017/2018
Welcome to our lovely new Legends!
We have been having lots of fun exploring our new classroom and getting to know the children's interests. The staff have also been developing our classroom environment to make the most out of the indoor and outdoor space.
This year we have decided to trial a child-led approach which is similar to 4+; celebrating learning through play. We are excited to be giving the children opportunities to follow their own interests.
Investigating sharks, creating crocodiles, building zoos and having paper aeroplane contests are just some of the things we have been doing in our ChIL time (Child Initiated Learning Time).
Legends class have been trying hard to show our class values which we chose during our first week of Year 1.
