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Year 1

Learning Links

Maths

https://nrich.maths.org/

https://ttrockstars.com/

English

For parents – Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)

Brothers Grimm Archives – Storynory

Science

Animals including humans – KS1 Science – BBC Bitesize

Geography

United Kingdom (nationalgeographic.com)

History

Free Learning Resources – Florence Nightingale Museum London (florence-nightingale.co.uk)

Scientists and engineers – KS1 History – BBC Bitesize

  • Oct 232025

    Great Fire of London – Mill Green Museum

    As part of History learning, Year 1 went on an adventure to Mill Green Museum to explore The Great Fire of London and life in the past.  We are very lucky that we are able to walk to Mill Green Museum from our school.

    In the morning they participated in four different activities.

    Visiting the Mill

    They met the Miller and learnt about how wheat is made into flour that Thomas Farriner would have used on that fateful night. They watched the Mill grind the wheat into flour, ready to take to Mistress Farriner for breadmaking.

    Baking Bread with Baker Farriner

    Each child were able to make their own rustic bread roll using wholemeal flour.  They practised the skills of mixing and kneading, creating bread that Baker Thomas Farriner would be proud of.

    What would you save?

    They spent time handling a wide range of replica artefacts from the past.   They identified the purpose of the artefacts and why each one of these artefacts is worth saving. They then decided what to save, what to leave behind and what to hide.

    The Diary of Samuel Pepys

    They helped Samuel Pepys to complete his diary using the correct words. They added a drawing to their diary showing what happened on that fateful night.

    After the picnic lunch, they spent the afternoon in two groups exploring becoming archaeologists.

    Blanket Dig – What can we find and what does it tell us?

    They learnt how archaeologists work and how to carefully unearth finds in an archaeological dig. They explored what may have been left behind after the fire, and what this teaches us about Stuart life.

    Houses in the Great Fire of London

    They explored what houses were like in London at the time of the Great Fire.  They created their own model of a 17th Century London house and added some flames.

  • Sep 232025

    Hartham Common

    Our school theme this year is ‘Life along the Water’.  As part of our whole school outing to Hartham Common in Hertford, Year 1 spent the day exploring Hartham Common.  In the morning they went on a treasure hunt, noticing their surroundings and spotting the photos that Mrs O’Connor had taken. The highlight was chatting with a man who actually lived on one of the canal boats.  In the afternoon they were inspired by our book ‘Art in the Park’, and they had the opportunity to create their own art using the natural resources around them.  It was a great day!

  • Jul 102025

    Hammer and nails with wool weaving

    First we used sand paper to smooth the surface of a piece of reclaimed wood from a pallet.

    We then used a pencil to mark the place to put the nails to create the shape of the first letter of our name.

    After that we used a hammer to fix the nails into the wood.

    Finally we then chose a coloured wool and wove the wool around the nails to create our initial.

  • Jun 092025

    Year 1 walk to Hatfield House

    I wonder where Queen Elizabeth I found out she was going to be the next Queen?  Year 1 decided to investigate.

    We found out that she was reading a book under an oak tree in the beautiful surroundings of Hatfield House.  We are very lucky at The Ryde School to have Hatfield House close enough that we can walk and explore their grounds.  We decided that we would go on an adventure to Hatfield House to find the oak tree.  After a short walk, we spotted the oak tree standing mighty and strong.  In our fieldwork journals we spent time sketching the oak tree, feeling the bark and looking closely at the oak leaves we found on the ground.  We wrote a diary entry imagining that we were just being told that we were going to be the next King or Queen and how we might be feeling.

    A super way to spend the morning!

  • May 092025

    Knebworth House – How Plants Grow

    On Friday 9th May, we set off on an adventure to Knebworth House to explore their gardens as part of our science curriculum.  We used our senses to explore and investigate the different plants growing in their natural habitat.  We looked closely at the oak and redwood trees, thinking about the similarities and differences between them.   We learnt about what plants needed to grow and enjoyed looking and learning about the kitchen garden at Knebworth House with the head gardener.  We explored the herb garden and even made our own relaxing lavender bag using the dried lavender from their garden.

    Visiting the dinosaurs was a favourite and we used our scientific skills to observe whether we could tell if they were herbivores or carnivores.

    We finished off our morning by planting our very own sunflower seed which we were allowed to take home and care for.

    After a lovely walk down the grassy hill, we spent the afternoon having a picnic lunch and exploring the adventure playground and fort area.

    Back at school, using our knowledge from our adventure to Knebworth House we wrote:

    Did you know that herbs can be used for medicine, perfume and cooking.  Did you know to tell how old a tree is you have to see how many rings they have.  Did you know that a redwood tree has a soft trunk.    Anoushka

    Did you know a redwood tree is soft. Did you know an oak tree grows from an acorn.  Did you know you can use herbs for medicine and cooking.   Levi

    Did you know that if you cut a tree and you count how many rings there are that is how old it is.  Did you know if you smell lavender it makes you feel relaxed.  Did you know that redwood tree’s bark is soft.  Did you know that herbivores have flat teeth and carnivores have sharp teeth and omnivores have both.   James

  • Mar 272025

    Exploring Measurement

    Year 1 had the opportunity to explore measurement with their families outside.  As part of their maths topic, Year 1 learn about non-standard and standard ways to measure.  Mrs O’Connor created measurement challenges to complete and discuss with our families.  The children demonstrated their knowledge of using a metre stick to measure and also using their mathematical knowledge to help solve the challenges.  Their feet came in useful as well!

    It was a super morning of measuring!

  • Mar 052025

    Year 1 Science STEM materials workshop

    When SetPoint visited the school we became Scientists, Investigators and Engineers!  We had a fabulous morning exploring different materials and their properties.

    Our first activity was feeling and sorting different materials into the right categories.  We sorted fabric, wood, rubber, plastic and metal.

    Next we explored a variety of words that could describe the properties of different materials.  We each had a turn with a feely bag, describing the properties of an item for our table to guess.

    After sharing the story of The Three Little Pigs, we decided that the pigs needed curtains in their windows to stop the wolf looking in.  Using different fabrics and a torch we investigated what materials would be best and why.

    Finally, a big challenge was set!  We had to design and build a house for a pig that would stand strong if a wolf tries to blow it down.  Using a hairdryer, we tested our houses to see whether they were strong enough.

    A very enjoyable morning, investigating and exploring a variety of materials and their properties.

    Pupils comments:

    I liked when we put our hand in the bag because I liked the guessing.  Sia

    I enjoyed making the piggy’s house because I liked putting the tooth picks and sweets together.  I liked the wolf huffing and puffing but it didn’t blow down!  Kay

    I enjoyed when Helen tried to blow the house down with the hairdryer.  Anoushka

  • Nov 272024

    Design and Technology Parent Activity

    Year 1 have been exploring different fruits and vegetables as part of their Design and Technology lessons. In our first lesson we discovered that strawberries were the most popular fruit in the class. We displayed this information on a pictogram.  Next we spent time using our senses to explore a variety of fruits by sketching parts of the fruit and writing words to describe them.  The following task was to learn how to grate, peel and chop different fruits and vegetables.  We learnt how to handle the different tools safely and had the opportunity to explore using them.

    We then had a very important task to do.  We had to design a new recipe that was healthy and looked very appealing to eat.  We wrote a shopping list with the items we needed to buy.  Our families were invited to come and watch us create our own individual dish using our design.  We were able to show our families how to handle the tools safely and create our healthy dish.

    The best bit – eating it!

  • Oct 232024

    Trip to Mill Green Museum

    As part of our learning about ‘The Great Fire of London’ and the past, Year 1 went on an adventure to Mill Green Museum.  We are very lucky that we were able to walk there.

    We explored how they used to grind the grain to make flour in the past.

    We explored the mill.

    We became bakers like Thomas Farriner.

    We learnt about the past by investigating a variety of objects.

    We used evidence to explore the past.

    We finished our day with the Fireman’s Bucket race!

  • Mar 282024

    Spring Term Explore and Learn

    The children have been busy embedding and deepening their class learning through their Explore and Learn sessions. The children have been finding objects more and less than 1 metre, making doubles and number bonds to 20 with a game of hide and seek the beanbags. History and Science learning continued with Apollo 11 spacecraft and sorting animals into mammals, birds, fish and amphibians. Computing skills developed as we programmed Beebots to move around a grid to different destinations. Finally some children enthusiastically started the development of the growing area focusing on their science skills as they dug and investigated their discoveries.

  • Mar 222024

    Year 1 Reading with Parent and Carers Session

    Reading for pleasure is one of the most important gifts we can give the children. There is no pressure for children to decode unknown words, they can just enjoy.

    The children will develop a rich vocabulary from having books read to them at a higher level. You will hear these words being echoed back along with seeing the structure in their writing and hearing it in the way they speak.

    Keep enjoying reading for pleasure with your children!

  • Mar 142024

    Mill Green Museum: The Great Fire of London

    First we played a true or false game about the Great Fire of London. Then we matched labels to objects from 1666, the time of the Great Fire of London, and matched them to pictures of modern day objects. Next we went into the mill to learn from the miller how wheat is turned into flour. There is a water wheel which turns the cogs which turns the mill stones to grind the wheat to make the flour.

    Then we went into Thomas Farriner’s Bakery (the kings baker in 1666) to make our own bread roll using the flour from the mill.

    After our very happy and yummy lunch we continued our activities. First we learnt how archaeologists find out about the past finding artefacts underground and we then dug for treasures ourselves. We found metal coins, precious jewels, bones and many more clues about the past.

    We made a Tudor house and then to end the day we played a game to race the bucket down the line to put out the Great Fire of London as quickly as possible.

    We have really enjoyed our trip to Mill Green Museum!

  • Mar 072024

    World Book Day

    Year 1 celebrated our love of reading this World Book Day at school … in our pyjamas!

    We shared our favourite books with our friends and then made a class book to recommend them to each other.

    The funniest book of the day was called ‘The Book With No Pictures’ which Lawrie recommended. We could not stop laughing!

  • Jan 082024

    3-D Shapes and Patterns

    3-D Shapes

    We have been learning about 3-D shapes including cubes, cuboids and cylinders. We found objects in our classroom to match each 3-D shape including a cone-shaped carrot and a sphere-shaped pumpkin!

    Pattern

    In one of our lessons we went outside to make repeated patterns.  We used leaves, sticks, stones, didicars and other objects we find outside.

    ‘My repeated pattern is barrier – space – barrier – space – barrier – space,’ said Leo.

    Arthur said ‘My pattern is stone – stick – stone – stick.’