In Year 1, we have been learning about seasonal changes as part of our Science curriculum. We went on a nature walk to choose a tree that we can visit throughout the year. We will check on our tree regularly and see how it changes from season to season.

This week, we could tell that Autumn had begun! We noticed that the leaves on our tree had changed colour. They were orange, yellow, brown and even red! We also noticed that lots of leaves had fallen onto the ground.

When we picked up the leaves, they felt dry and crunchy. We enjoyed listening to the crunch, crunch, crunch as we walked through them!

We have been learning that when Autumn arrives, trees get ready for the colder months. The leaves change colour and eventually fall to the ground. 

This is what happens when a tree gets ready for Autumn!

We have had an amazing start to Year 1! So far we have been learning about nouns in English and lots of different number representations and shapes in maths. We have looked at different materials in science and used some printing and rolling techniques in art. We have looked at some toys from the past in history and listened to some great pop songs in music. We can't wait for the rest of the half term to learn even more!

During seaside week we were lucky enough to have Hemel Hempstead brass band come in to play for us. We were able to clap, march and even sing along! We had a brilliant time sitting on the mound listening to the band 😃

As part of our 'Seaside Rescue' topic, we have learnt a lot about the RNLI. This week is seaside week and for our science lesson we had a go at making our own boats. We had 3 attempts and then tested our boats in water to see how many 'crew members' (cubes) our boats could hold before sinking. 
Miss Gamble was SUPER impressed because some of our first attempts held more than 40 crew members!! We think we have some future boat designers in Year 1!

We are looking forward to some more fun activities during our seaside week!

We have been looking at fractions in maths. We have learnt that when we are finding a half we must split it into two equal parts, and when we are finding a quarter, we must split it into four equal parts. We have been practising with cubes and sharing circles, cuisenaire and bar models. Next week we will be finding half and quarter of some different shapes!

As I'm sure the children have told you, we have spent the past 5 weeks incubating, hatching and raising baby chicks. 

We have been so good at looking after them and the children have grown very attached to them. We are really going to miss them when they go to their new home next week. 

Here are some of our favourite chick pics to remember them by.