Farewell butterflies

As it was the last day of term we decided to release our butterflies into the wild. It's been lovely having them in class. Perhaps we will see them flying in our gardens during the holidays.

Pasta Picnic

This week our learning has been based around our picnic at Vassals Park. On Monday we looked at and tasted different salads and used our ideas to design our own pasta to be eaten at a picnic. Today we made our pasta salads and ate them out on the grass at Vassals Park. We thought about how they looked and tasted and we will be doing a full evaluation tomorrow.
At Vassals park we also went on a flower search and a bug hunt and got to play in the adventure playground. We had some very tired children by the time we got back to school.

Butterflies!

Our first butterfly hatched this morning during assembly! A second hatched just before lunch and the whole class were able to watch as it emerged. The two butterflies are trying to stretch their wings whilst another chrysalis is wobbling frantically. Hopefully we will have five healthy butterflies by the end of the day.

Van Gogh Paintings

Year One have been looking at the artist Van Gogh this week. We have looked at his painting techniques and had a go at recreating them in different ways. I think we have some very talented artists.
We were going to paint our own sunflowers but they have quite a way to grow before they'll be suitable to paint! Have a look in our window to see them growing.

Chrysalis update

Our chrysalises seem to be doing well. Actually, they don't do very much! But the children have been checking them regularly for any changes. We've read that they will turn dark hours before the butterflies emerge and if the go transparent then the butterflies will emerge within minutes. So we are being very vigilant. Exciting stuff! It would be fantastic if they emerged just before our Big Write tomorrow, which is a non fiction booklet about caterpillars and butterflies.

Using a glossary

In literacy today the children have been matching up glossary words to their definitions and putting them into alphabetical order. Some children also wrote their own definitions for words. What word do you think this definition belongs to?
"An insect that lives on a web."

Special objects

Our class were shown a very special natural object from one of the children from 1G. It was the skin of a corn snake! She had brought it in for their RE display and kindly showed us and talked about why it was special to her and how the corn snake sheds its skin. Fascinating stuff! Remember, we are still collecting natural objects for our wonderful world displays. Keep them coming.

Visitors from another school

This afternoon we had some special visitors. Year One from St Joseph's Primary School came to visit and see if all schools and Year One classes are the same. The children talked to each other about similarities and differences. Some of 1S also gave our visitors a tour around the school. They were amazed at how much bigger our school was and the space on the field. It was lovely to see how welcoming our children were and how quickly they made friends. Both classes should be proud of their behaviour. Thank you St Joseph's for being such polite visitors and well done 1S for being good hosts.

An amazing creation

For our RE display about creation the children have been asked to bring in natural creations that they think are special. This morning we had an amazing natural creation but it wasn't able to stay in class. I.B brought in his bearded dragon to show the class!
"She is very nice and special to me. When I feel upset I can hold her and she makes me feel better." By I.B

Wonderful creatures in our wonderful world

Yesterday we thought about creatures we think are special in our wonderful world. The children created them using clay and talked about why they are special. We had a lot of minibeasts! We also changed some of the lyrics of Louis Armstrong's 'Wonderful World' to reflect the wonderful things we see.

Programming beebots

Today in ICT the children have been giving instructions to a beebot to make it move. They had to give and record a sequence of instructions to make it move. The children found it harder with a robot than with the screen turtle we have practiced on but started to get the hang of it.

Our growing investigation

Our growing investigation had some interesting results. It wasn't the results the children had predicted and even Mr Sherwin was surprised the seeds with no water grew!

Chrysalises in class

We came in this morning to find three of our caterpillars already wrapped up in their chrysalises. As for the other two caterpillars, one was crawling all over the jar and the other was hanging upside down ready to transform. So we set up a camera to take a photo every 10 seconds. It finally changed during our numeracy lesson and the children were able to watch the exciting process. We're expecting the fifth caterpillar to be a chrysalis by the morning.

Caterpillar update

They certainly are looking longer, fatter and hairier today! The side of their jar is covered in silk they have created. What will they look like after the bank holiday weekend?...

Observational drawing of a flower

This afternoon children have been doing observational drawings of flowers. They have been looking carefully at the details and making sure that they draw them clearly and fill the whole page.

Our beanstalk stories

Today in Big Write the children have been writing their own adapted versions of Jack as the beanstalk. Their stories are very exciting and they are checking they have achieved their targets.

Our class assembly

Just a little reminder that it is our class assembly tomorrow morning (Thursday 2nd May). It starts at 9.05 in the big hall and parents/carers are all welcome. We hope you can make it.

Fat and hairy caterpillars

Our caterpillars are growing really fast! They have become quite hairy and have been spinning silk threads in the jar. How long do you think it will be until they create their chrysalis?

Growing update

There is lots of growth in Y1S! Our beans, vegetables, sunflowers and caterpillars are growing very fast!