Year One’s Right Royal Fiasco

This week in Pre-Prep we visit Year One. The children have settled into their classes well and are thriving under the careful guidance of Mrs Leatherdale and Miss Attwood. It is clear to see that the children are loving being back together after the summer break and it has been wonderful to see friendships growing. The children have been eager to crack on with their learning and have really impressed their teachers with their positive attitudes. The focus this term has been the Royal Family as part of their ‘Right Royal Fiasco’ topic. In class the children have enjoyed learning about the roles and responsibilities of monarchs at home and abroad.

This week Year 1 have also been on a royal adventure! The week started with a new book – ‘The Queen’s Knickers‘ by Nicholas Allen. The book proved very popular (especially the part when the Queen’s knickers get stolen!) and set up the rest of the week’s learning. On Monday, after reading the book, the children designed and decorated their own knickers. In their English class they used adjectives to describe the different knicker designs.

After eating their snack, the Year 1 classes received news from Matron that there had been sightings of some knickers on the play area! Upon checking the classroom for their knicker designs, the children quickly realised, with dismay, that they were missing! The children grabbed their coats and we set off around the school on a ‘knicker hunt’ to search for the missing garments. This caused great excitement amongst the children but we are happy to report that all of the knickers were safely retrieved from the school grounds.

On Tuesday the children spent time in their English lessons writing descriptions of their where their knickers were found. Later in the week the children decided to write a letter to the Queen to invite her to a Tea Party at the school next week. The children incorporated this into their Forest School visit by making tea and cakes in the mud kitchen and discussing what they would serve for the Queen.

On Friday we used speech marks in English to write what the Queen would say about our knicker designs- the children decided the Queen would say ‘oh no! Far too frilly!’. We also shared stories on the library bus and the children finished the afternoon with their Games session.

In science this week Year 1 have been looking at the senses, specifically the sense of sight. The children undertook a tally chart of eye colour. Maths lessons have taken an imaginative turn with plenty of fun! Squeals of delight could be heard around the main School House as Year 1 took part in games of hopscotch and bingo. The children worked in small groups, exploring 1 more and 1 less and ordinal numbers in different, hands on ways. They used special pens to write on the desks, they used chalk on the floor outside and they used the interactive whiteboard to help their learning. For ordinal numbers they decorated medals and awarded them after carrying out races.

With so much going on in the classroom it is a wonder how the children managed to squeeze anything else in, but they did! This week the children had a super P.E session in The Barn, practising skills relays and in Games they have been exploring football, hockey and rugby. The children have also enjoyed more taster sessions on the violin with Mrs Hughes!

It really has been a fantastic week for Year 1, they have had a great start to the year and we are excited to hear more about their adventures as the term progresses.