Walnut Class 

Year 1

W/E November 14th

In Geography this week we have been learning about aerial photographs and maps. We went onto 'Google Earth' to find whereabouts in the world we were and to find Long Crendon. 
 

We discovered how different our village looks from the sky looking down and began trying to identify different places and objects from above. We labelled the things we could see. 

In science this week, we have been investigating our sense of smell. We carried out a simple test to see if we could determine what was inside some bottles by just using our sense of smell. The bottles were opaque and numbered from 1-8. Inside were a range of scents, some more pleasant than others! 

The children used the table to note down whether the smell was pleasant or unpleasant and to write down what they thought was inside each of them. 

We have also been investigating the seasons and thinking about what happens in Autumn. 

We have become meteorologists for the week and have been keeping a weather diary, recording the different types of weather we are experiencing, as well as monitoring the daily temperature on the thermometer that is on the garden wall (by the pathway leading to the Year 2 classroom).

Please feel free to take a look yourselves if you are early into school. 

Building on our maths work on addition from last week, we starting looking at number bonds within 10 and then onto the number 10. We looked at the patterns within the numbers and how we can use the patterns to help ensure we have found all the bonds to a certain number. 

On Wednesday, we challenged the children to find all the bonds to 7 and this time, instead of using paper to record our calculations, we used a marker pen and wrote them down on the tables - there was a lot of enthusiasm for this challenge!

We then started looking at word problems, still using the same bonds but this time finding links between the problem we were given and correlating that to the different parts of the number sentence. 

For example...

Jenny had three sweets and Tom had four sweets. How many did they have altogether? 

Within this problem, the children are having to read the words three and four and know they written as 3 & 4. 

They then have to identify that 3 and 4 are the two parts, find the whole number and then write this out as the number sentence 3+4=7. 

The children are encouraged to use tens frames and coins, or part/whole models to help with the calculations. 

In Phonics we have been looking at alternate ways of writing the 'igh' trigraph. 

We looked at where these sounds appeared in words and which were the best option to use when writing out our words.

We also noticed how there were some digraphs that share the same spelling but make different sounds for example ie, can make an 'igh' sound in pie or an 'ee' sound in field.

We discussed how, on these occasions we need to try both sounds and see which one makes sense. As the children become more accomplished readers they will manage this more readily.

For anti-bullying week, we have been discussing the importance of being kind to each other. We discussed how we are all different and how it is important to think about how our words and actions might be hurtful to others. We tied ribbons around the front of school to show our commitment to show kindness and love to each other. 

We had a great time on Friday learning some 'Hip Hop' moves in PE with our student teacher Miss Walker and will  continue to develop these skills over the next three weeks to put together a dance routine. 

Thank you for all your donations to 'Children in need'.

Wow - what a busy week!

W/E November 7th

The children have settled back really well into the new term and appear happy and rested.

They were very keen to share their holiday news, it was lovely to hear them so excited as they recalled the details. 

In phonics, we continue to introduce alternate graphemes.

These are the latest sounds for 'ee'. 

We have also been looking at the tricky words called, looked and asked and specifically how the 'ed' ending changes the meaning of the word to something that has happened in the past.

We also identified that that some words that end in ed actually sound as if they end in just a 'd' (as in called) or a 't' (for asked and looked).

We have also been investigating compound words, where two or more root words are merged together to make a new word for example, butter and fly will make butterfly. 

In maths we have started a new module on addition and subtraction (within 10).

We introduced the 'part-whole model' which helps us identify two parts, which when combined together make up the whole. 

We looked at the 'plus' and 'is equal to' symbols and began using them to make number sentences, using practical resources before writing down our answers. 

We wrote down our findings as 

2 is a part

3 is a part 

5 is the whole

and then wrote down the corresponding number sentence as 2+3=5

We began to investigate fact families for these numbers and discovered a new word 'commutative' to explain how (in addition sums) you can change the order of the two parts and still get the same whole number.

2+3=5 can also be written as 3+2=5. 

We also looked at a bar model and then changed the order of the numbers so the whole number came first to complete the fact family.

It was all a little mind-blowing to begin with, but will become clearer the more we practise. 

Have a lovely weekend at the fireworks!

W/E October 17th 2025

We started the week with a super Harvest festival led by Reverend Richard. The children sang their 'cauliflower' song so beautifully and we were very proud of them. Thank you for your generous donations to the foodbank. 

In history, we have been looking at changes to toys over the decades and made a timeline dating back to the Victorian times. We talked about why they were called Victorian (and Edwardian) times and the link to the Queens and Kings of England. We noted how and why toys were different (and much less plentiful) and how things changed with the development of plastics and machinery. This made the mass production of toys easier, cheaper and more brightly coloured - toys were no longer just for the wealthy.

In computing. we talked of the importance of keeping our passwords and our personal information safe and making sure we do not share our details with anyone else. We read the story called 'MonkeyCow' about a girl who carefully locked away her amazing chocolate cake using the password 'monkeycow' but, unfortunately, shared the password with others and soon discovered the cake was no longer where she had left it!

In phonics, we looked at the tricky words Mr, Mrs and Ms and wrote a sentence that included these words. The children referred to themselves as Mr or Ms and then used their surname - some thought it was very strange to

be referenced in this formal manner and thought it made them sound very old!

Surnames proved a little tricky to write too and, although we rarely use them in school, may be a good skill to practise.  

We also learnt we can write the ee digraph as ea

With the sense of taste our focus in science this week, we had the perfect opportunity for a taste testing experiment and it was certainly the highlight of our week. 

We looked at the five basic tastes salty, sweet, bitter, sour and savoury (we also discussed how this can sometimes  be referred to as the scientific name umami). We tasted dark chocolate, salty crisps, lemons, chocolate chip biscuits and cheese to identify the flavours before experimenting with a blindfolded taste test in our table groups to see if we could distinguish the individual tastes without having the visual clues to help us. 

That's where the fun really began with the children showing great bravery in tasting the unknown! 

Their faces were a picture, smiling mostly when tasting the chocolate buttons, skittles and salty popcorn - not so much with the grapefruit and even less when the big guns of brussel sprouts and marmite came out! 

We definitely had a love/hate split with the last two categories with many asking for second helpings while others gasped for water. It was lovely to see everyone having a try - well done guys! 

We finished our module on place value this week in maths by comparing the number track to the number line. 

We looked at how to ensure we write numbers on the vertical line when completing a blank number line and how to jump between numbers to work out the difference - firstly circling the two numbers we are using and then jumping from one number to the next. There was some confusion over how many jumps there would be between two numbers, for example the children circled the numbers 3 and 6 and when asked how many jumps would see 4 and 5 in between and think there were two jumps. We did some extra practise on this. 

Happy Weekend!

W/E October 10th 2025

On Monday, the children were very excited to have finally been able to meet and pair up with the Year 5 Buddies who came in to join in our quiet reading session. They had some time getting to know each other before finally deciding on who they wanted to be with. The children have been looking out for one another each break and lunch time - it has been lovely to see them playing together and enjoying each other's company. 

In phonics this week we have been looking at alternate ways of writing the ai digraph. 

We learnt our first split digraph a-e and the quad-graph eigh as well as ei, ay, ey, We discovered that when we hear a long ai sound at the end of the word, it will be either the ay or ey spelling. 

We also introduced some new tricky words...

Oh, their and people. 

Please help your child memorise these words - thank you!

In English we have been looking at poetry and some of the the features that can often be seen within them. We looked in more detail at words that rhyme and worked together and then individually to think of words that rhyme.  We love to practise funny rhyming names at carpet times to help consolidate this concept. 

In Maths this week we have been getting to grips with the concept of less than, greater than and equal to and learning to use the mathematical symbols < > = for these. We went on to compare numbers using the symbols.

To help understand these terms we have been using cubes to represent different numbers and straws to make the symbols.

In RE we have been thinking about what creation means in relation to the natural world. We asked the children to discuss some statements and decide whether they thought they were true. For example...

Cucumbers are green. Cars are the best toys. It snows at Christmas time. 

We talked about how ‘believing' in something means you are accepting it is true with or without proof (evidence that something is true). 

We then looked at some photocards and sorted the objects in them into two groups, natural or made by humans, and discussed our reasoning for this and how they might have been created.  

We finished by looking at some natural wonders of the world. 

In Art we continued our work on different styles of lines and connected some up to create some shapes. We chose whether to make familiar shapes or organic shapes. We then used a selection of drawing materials to colour in the shapes, remembering how to use them to produce different effects and applying pressure and control to make the colours more vibrant.

The children loved listening to the music so much last week that they requested some more classical hits whilst they completed this weeks work too - what a fabulous and chilled afternoon we had!  

Next week we have our Harvest Festival assembly led by Reverend Richard. We have been practising a song to perform on the day so if you hear your child singing about fluffy cauliflowers and green cabbages that will be why!

I've added the link in case you'd like to hear it  - and remember it in your dreams like me!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PukdaXUzgOU

Happy weekend everyone!

W/E October 3rd 2025

This week in English, we have been further consolidating our knowledge of nouns and adjectives by writing a description of Dogger. We looked at an excerpt from the book before working in group to make up some more ideas and subsequently completing an individual piece of work. 

In phonics, we have now started to introduce the alternate digraphs in phase 5. 

We learnt how the phoneme 'w' can also be written as 'wh' in words such as when, which and whizz.

We also looked at the phoneme 'f' which can also be written as 'ph' in words such as dolphin and phonics.

As always, the reading and recognition of these alternate spellings in words will come before the writing of them. We use phonics mats for the children to use when writing and when relevant, will introduce spelling rules which help the children remember which letters to use on which occasion. In class, we will prompt them to remember which spelling to use and as they become more accomplished writers, they will start to do this more independently.

In maths we continued to develop a deeper understanding of numbers to ten by counting backwards, working out 1 less than a number and comparing groups and matching the numbers. We finished the week by looking by at the terms fewer than, more than and the same as. We played a game using dominoes and a dice where we had to decide whether the dots of the domino were more than, fewer than or the same as the number rolled. 

 In science we investigated our 'hearing'. 

We discussed how people who cannot hear are deaf and how our hearing often deteriorates as we get older. We spoke of the need to be careful and use our senses when crossing the roads and how crossings have been adapted to help people who have hearing loss or who cannot see.  A few children shared their knowledge of grandparents with hearing aids which magnify the sounds and allow them to hear more clearly.   

We went on a listening walk to find out what we could hear around the school. We had to be very still to identify some of the quieter sounds such as the wind turbine, the birds cheeping and the wind rustling the leaves. The aeroplane, car engines and children's voices were much louder and more easily heard!

We had a delightful end to the week on Friday as we practised our mark making in Art using straight, ziz-zag, curved, wavy, dotted and dashed lines. This time we discussed the artist Paul Klee, who used music as an inspiration for his paintings. Working in groups on a large sheet of paper, they drew marks and pictures as they listened to four different pieces of classical music. They moved around their table, adding to the work of their peers and responding to how the music made them feel.

"A line is a dot that went for a walk..."

Next week, we are looking forward to choosing our Year 5 buddies!

Happy Weekend! 

W/E September 26th 2025 

The weather has been glorious this week and gave us an opportunity to take some of our learning activities outside. 

In English we discovered that a 'noun' is a special naming word that identifies a person, place or thing (object) within a sentence. We looked at different sentences together and spotted the noun words before heading for the playground where we went on a 'noun hunt' and searched for words that fitted the criteria and then wrote them down. - it was great fun!

Later in the week, we discovered how words that describe a noun are known as adjectives. We thought of words that might describe a dog's special features, using adjectives for its size, colour and how it felt to name but a few.  We then wrote down some adjectives to describe other objects such as cars, animals and places.

In Maths, we have been representing different objects using counters on a ten frame. We looked at numbers when written as words and learnt how to count on from a given number - we played a game with dice and used blank number tracks to write down the numbers needed to count on from the number we rolled. We finished the week by adding one more to a number. 

We also highlighted the maths 'working wall' for children to use as a way of remembering the equipment and methods of learning we have used in lessons. 

In Science we started our investigation on the different senses by 'looking' more specifically at our eyes. 

We discussed what it might be like for someone who was blind and then carried out an experiment as we tried to throw beanbags into a bowl using both eyes, one eye closed and then both eyes closed - mind out everyone! 

In computing this week, we discussed how important it is to keep ourselves safe when using the internet and how the information we read on the internet is not always truthful.  

We read a story called 'Penguin Pig' which explains how a girl was tricked into believing that a penguin pig actually existed and went off in search of one at the local zoo. 

In History we looked at our museum artefacts and made comparisons between these old toys from the past and more modern toys from our classroom. We looked at the differences we noticed and how we might tell them apart. 

We discussed the materials they were made from and how many old toys would have been handcrafted and taken a long time to make, which meant they were very expensive to buy. This meant that children had very few toys compared to nowadays. 

A special thank you goes out to Orlando's Granny who came in to explain the traditions of the Jewish new year.

The children helped to set up the special table and learnt what each item represented. We saw some Hebrew writing and saw pictures of the religious book, the Torah, and discovered that, unlike books written in English, the text is read from right to left. 

To finish, the children tasted some special bread and some apples with honey which symbolises hope for a sweet and good New Year.

And finally, on Friday afternoon the children had a great time practising some rugby skills with our visiting rugby champion Isaac Ridge from Chinnor R.FC. 

All in all another very busy week!  

Have a great weekend!

W/E September 19th 2025

 Thank you for coming to view the first blog for our new Year 1 children.

We will regularly update the pages to give you a flavour of what is happening in class.

The children are settling in beautifully and getting more familiar with routines and expectations. There is a lot to remember, so they may be tired! Hopefully they are not too exhausted as I hear a few of you have plans to visit the Thame fair - I hope you have fun!  

In English this week we started to look at our core text Dogger. 

We looked at the front cover and items from a story sack to think about questions

we would like to know about the story Dogger. 

We then wrote down a question of our own using an interrogative words such as who, what, where, when or why? 

We then read the blurb to see whether it might answer any of our questions but discovered that although some were answered, there were still some outstanding questions. 

Next, after reading the book through to the end, we discovered where each of the story sack items fitted into the story. We finished the week by ordering some pictures that identified the main events of the story and then used the words first, then, next and finally to recall what happened.

In phonics, we will be spending the next couple of weeks recapping the phase 3 digraphs and trigraphs, these tend to be more challenging to remember. This will ensure the children have a strong foundation on which we can introduce the next phase of learning. The English language presents many different ways of writing one sound and these are introduced in Phase 5, we call them alternate graphemes. As the children become more practised in their reading they will be exposed to new spellings of a sound and be taught where and when to use them in their own writing. 

As always, regular reading practise is vital to build the children's confidence in recognising the sounds and to build fluency as they read.

Thank you for remembering to return the reading envelopes on Wednesday, your reading practise is much appreciated. Just in case there is any confusion, the children have two bug club books each week, the third book is their own choice of library book and is meant for you to read to your child as a way of developing their love of reading and modelling how exciting a book can be. 

In maths we have been meeting some of the characters from the White Rose Maths programme. We discovered how one of the characters 'Tiny' the turtle can sometimes get a little muddled and make mistakes.

We talked about how it was OK to make mistakes and how we can learn learn from them and the importance of not giving up if we find things tricky - the teachers are always there to help!

We learnt how our lessons always start with 'flashbacks' to help remind us of all that we have learnt previously and then we move on to the new learning. We will be using practical materials as much as possible to make the maths more easy to understand and will use games and challenges to help consolidate the learning. We finish our lessons with a problem solving question that helps us apply the knowledge to practical situations. 

This week we started our module on place value within 10. We have been learning how to sort items such as shapes and buttons into different categories. We looked for similarities and differences between items, using colour, shape and size as a starting point.

We learnt the word 'subitise' to describe how to identify how many items there are without having to count them. The regular patterns on dice are ways that people regularly subitise numbers, as they instantly see two rows of three dots and know it represents the number six.

We introduced a 'ten frame' which, when full of counters, represents the number ten and then looked at ways of splitting up ten cubes by counting out a chosen amount and seeing how many were left over. 

In History, we had some very special artefacts in class this week, a collection of old toys on loan from Amersham museum. The children showed great care as they handled some cherished teddies, spinning tops, building bricks, and some cup and ball games to mention just a few. We discovered that many of these items were made before even their grandparents were born!

In the coming weeks we will be looking more closely at how and why toys have changed over time.

 Please chat to your child about toys you played with when young, or maybe encourage your child to ask their grandparent/great grandparent what they played with. 

In Science, we started our topic on the human body by naming all the body parts we could. We sang the head, shoulders, knees and toes song and played a game of 'Simon says'. They were very difficult to catch out! 

The children finished by labelling some diagrams. 

Over the coming weeks, we will be looking at our senses and will be taking part in practical experiments to understand how they work.

Happy Weekend Folks!