Year 1B

Welcome to our class page where you can find out about what we're learning and see pictures of some of our highlights. There is also a section below where you can find links to excellent learning resources that you can use with your child at home.

Year One begins the children's journey into Key Stage One, so it's a very important year!  We are starting off as tiny caterpillars but by the end of the year we will all be spreading our wings as butterflies, flying high in our learning.

We have an exciting year ahead of us as we learn to be mathematicians, writers, readers, scientists, designers, artists, historians and geographers! We will also learn how to be more independent learners. To support us on our journey we have Mr Cleeves and Miss Helm. 

Week beginning 17th July 2023

We cannot believe this is the last year in Year 1! We have spent this week celebrating all of our amazing achievements. We took part in our (very wet) sports day, celebrated our outstanding achievers and said good bye to our Year 6 children for the final time. We are so proud of each and every one of our children and we really hope you have the best summer holiday! We have thoroughly enjoyed spending each day with you for a whole year and growing and learning together. We hope you go on and smash your time in Year 2 with your new teachers!! 

Love, Mrs Burrell and Miss Helm xxxx

Week beginning 10th July 2023

This week in Year 1 was a very outdoorsy one!! We enjoyed a great session with Phil, making and cooking some delicious vegetable soup and having lots of fun in our outdoor area. We also visited Gosforth Nature Reserve where we participated in a number of outdoor activities such as pond dipping, mini-beast hunting, leaf identifying and natural Art. We had so much fun - despite all of the nasty mosquitos!!!! We cannot believe next week is our last in Year 1, let's make sure it is a good one! 

Week beginning 3rd July 2023

This week was a pretty short one in school however it has been an exciting one!! We met our new teaching and teaching assistant for next year, we spent the morning getting to know them which was really fun. We cannot believe our children are nearly moving into Year 2 - where has the time gone?! We also enjoyed watching KS2's performance of Cinderella Rockerfella - it was great!! In History, we finished our topic about explorers and received a very exciting message from Nasa asking us to find the next generation of explorers - how cool!!

Week beginning 26th June 2023

This week, in DT we began to look at cooking and nutrition. We explored where fruit and vegetables come from and also what makes a balanced diet. We also began to design our own smoothie and decided what we would put in it. Year 1 -5 took part in a fantastic music recital this week too, we played a song with the boomwackers in front of an audience and were all  able to follow music whilst looking at the screen. Great job guys!!

Week beginning 19th June 2023

This week, in R.E., we've continued to learn all about Hinduism and we looked at the Festival of Light - Diwali. We learned all about the importance of this festival and how Hindu's prepare for this celebration. 

In History, we continued our research into important explorers. We learned all about Amy Johnson and why we remember her. She was the first woman to fly a plane solo! What an achievement! 

We have been re-enacting the story of Cinderella during our English speaking and listening lessons, in preparation for our retell next week!

Week beginning 12th June 2023

We have continued to work hard in Year 1 this week, we have been looking at different explorers in Science such as Neil Armstrong and finding out about his life and also searching for wild and garden plants in our school grounds. We enjoyed an afternoon outside playing with water to cool ourselves down too!!

We also celebrated our 2 pupils of the week this week which were Eduard and Gabi! Eduard is such a positive energy to have in our Year 1 class, he always comes to school with a smile on his face and it is so pleasing to see!! Gabi has been trying really hard with his work ethic and behaviour recently and we are so proud of the superstar he has become! Well done boys!! 

Week beginning 5th June 2023

WOW! What an incredible week we had in Year 1 this week. We celebrated our diversity over 2 days and were lucky enough to have some of our amazing parents come in to chat with us about their culture and traditions. We are so lucky to be able to learn about all of the different cultures in our school!! We talked about how everyone is different and how that makes us unique, we completed activities to show how we are different and celebrate this. We also had a fantastic visit from the paralympic gold medalist, Stephen Miller. Stephen spoke to us about the challenges he faced with his disability but this did not hold him back. It was great to hear how resilient he has been in his life and how his hard work really paid off!

We also celebrated our 2 pupils of the week this week which were Elsa and Dara! Elsa was incredible during our recent Art topic, her weaving, knotting and designing skills were fab. Dara's behaviour and work ethic has improved greatly recently too - keep us the great work!

Week beginning 22nd May 2023

What a jam packed week we have had in Year 1! We enjoyed an amazing trip to South Shields, completed our Art topic where we learnt skills such as weaving and wrapping and also had a fantastic fun day to finish off our week! We have worked extremely hard this half term and we can't wait to spend our last half term together and have lots of fun things to look forward to! 

Sadly, we are losing our gorgeous Greta this half term. We wish her all the luck in the world as she starts her new adventure in America! 

Week beginning 15th May 2023

This week in Year 1, we celebrated Mental Health Awareness Week and we completed a range of activities to make sure we know how to look after our health such as breathing exercises, mood boosters and yoga! We also enjoyed watching a couple of our amazing children perform in the rocksteady concert. They worked so hard to learn and perform their instruments and we were blown away!! We also completed 2 investigations in Science as we explored materials and whether their properties were fit for purpose. In PSHE this week, we explored different feelings and were able to understand what different feelings were.

Pupil of the week 19.05.2023

Our amazing pupils of the week this week are Riley and Angus! Angus has been trying super hard to improve his writing recently and it has really paid off! Riley's enthusiasm for everything he does in school is always something we admire! Well done to the boys this week!!

Week beginning 8th May 2023

This week in Year 1, we had a fab Muddy Monsters session with Phil where we built dens together in teams. We had so much fun playing in the mud kitchen making mud pies too! In English, we were learning about using different punctuation marks such as full stops, exclamation marks and question marks. We all took part in some games practice in PE too and made the most of the lovely sunshine!! 

Week beginning 1st May 2023

This week in our school, we celebrated King Charles Coronation. We all wore the colours of our national flag to school and decorated the school and our classrooms. We began our morning listening to the story of The Kings Pants by Nicholas Allan, we then decorated our own pants for the King and wrote a letter to him explaining the design we have chosen for him. We also made and decorated a cake each to take home and enjoy!

We hope everyone has a wonderful bank holiday weekend celebrating our new King! 

Week beginning 24th April 2023

This week we continued to learn about the seaside in Geography. We learnt about Wembury seaside and wrote our own postcards to describe all of the fun things we could do at the beach. In Maths, we began to look at shape! We were able to identify, recognise and name 2D and 3D shapes and also create repeating patterns with these. Amazing job Year 1!

Pupil of the Week 28.04.23

Well done to Aylor and Mohammad who are our pupils of the week this week. Aylor's subject knowledge and understanding in Geography this week was incredible, she knew all of our key words and the definitions to these - well done! Mohammad will collect his award this week after he was absent last week. 

Week beginning 17th April 2023

We had a fantastic first week back in Year 1 this week! We have began learning about the seaside in Geography and explored the terms urban, rural and coast. We have also been reading the room on the broom story in English and some of our children even created some amazing wands in our Forest School area - how cool! A fab first week back guys!

Pupil of the Week 21.04.23

Well done to Isabelle and Mohamad who are our pupils of the week this week. Mohamad has been great at contributing during lessons - keep up the good work! Isabelle has worked so hard this week, she has blew me and Miss Helm's socks off - great work :) 

Week beginning 20th March 2023

This week in Year 1, we worked SUPER hard in Maths as we began to think about multiplication - it is a very tricky skill! Some of us also attended a sports event at Gateshead Leisure Centre where we actually won an award for being the most enthusiastic school - well done guys!! We also learnt about why Easter Eggs are important at Easter time and then painted our own eggs in Forest school before rolling them down the hill! We had so much fun!!

Pupil of the Week 24.03.23

Well done to Indie and Vinos this week who are our pupils of the week! Indie is such a great role model in Year 1, always doing the right thing and being an all round star! Vinos has been trying to improve her work ethic and listening skills recently, keep up the good work!

Week beginning 13th March 2023

This week in Year 1, we had a FREEZING cold Muddy Monsters session with Phil where we lit a fire and cooked some pitta, hot cross buns, muffins and crumpets - YUM! We continued our History topic about life in the 1960's and we looked at popular toys from this time - we were shocked to find they were quite similar to the toys we still have now! We also celebrated Sport Relief on Friday where we completed a circuit in the hall to test our fitness levels! A great week guys!! 

Week beginning 6th March 2023

This week in Year 1, we continued to work our socks off! We completed some tricky problem solving in Maths, learnt about a special Hindu festival called Holi where we spent our Wild Wednesday throwing colour on to templates to celebrate Spring and new life! 

Pupil of the Week 10.03.23

Well done to Greta and Isabelle this week who are our superstars in Year 1! Greta completed some fantastic work in Maths this week, her problem solving skills are immense! Isabelle has been a fantastic friend to her peers in our class this week, helping and supporting them where they need help. 

Week beginning 27th February 2023

The first week back after the holidays has been jam packed with lots of fun activities! We celebrated World Book Day with lots of fun tasks such as a reading cafe, a scavenger hunt and the masked reader! We also took part in STEAM day where we learnt what STEAM stands for and worked in groups to complete a number of activities. It's great to see everyone back in school and enjoying themselves! 

Pupil of the Week 03.03.23

Well done to our two boys this week, Gabi and Isaac. Gabi has had a positive week in school and has tried really hard to improve his behaviour and attitude. Isaac worked really hard in R.E. as we began to explore the celebration of Easter.

Keep up the good work boys! 

Week beginning 13th February 2023

It's the last week of term before the holidaaaaaaaays! We cannot believe that the first half term of 2023 has come to an end. This week has been filled with lots of fun activities! On Monday, we visited Gateshead Library where we got to choose our own books. We completed our Art topic where we learn about sculptures and created our own class spider in the style of Louise Bourgois. We also completed our computing topic where we planned, designed and built a bottle rocket! 

It has also been a very sad week this week as we say goodbye to Miss Thompson  we wish her the very best of luck in her new journey and we will all miss her sooooo much! 

Happy holidays everybody!! 

Week beginning 6th February 2023

This week has been Children's Mental Health Week and we have been doing a number of activties based around this. We have read lots of interesting stories such as 'when worry takes over' 'you matter' and 'the huge bag of worries' to allow us to talk more about our feelings and what we should do if we ever felt worried. We had another session of Gymnastics with Hannah where we WOWED with our balances and jumps, as usual! On Tuesday it was also 'Safer Internet Day' and we did a number of tasks which helped us to understand how to stay safe online and how to ask for help. 

Pupil of the Week 10.02.23

Congratulations to Jack and Valentino who are our pupils of the week in Year 1B this week! Jack's attitude to learning has been incredible this week, he also took it upon himself to help his friend who was struggling during Phonics and supported him to complete his work - what a fab friend!! Valentino is just the PERFECT role model in our class, always giving 110% to everything he does and setting the standard for behaviour and attitude to learning. Well done guys! 

Week beginning 30th January 2023

This week we have been hard at work as usual! We had soooooo much fun during our Muddy Monsters session with Phil this week, we were using a hammer to create special pictures with natural resources we found in our forest school area. We also had another session of gymnastics where we focused on linking moves together - take a look at our beautiful balances below!

Pupil of the Week 03.02.23

Congratulations to Mohamad and Franklin this week. Franklin showed amazing resilience in Forest school this week, trying really hard when using tools. Mohamad has been a really good friend in Year 1 this week, helping others with their task - well done guys!

Week beginning 23rd January 2023

This week we have been working hard yet again in Year 1! We learnt about the similarities and differences between animals in their groups in Science. Who knew penguins could not fly? We created our own Torah scrolls in RE as we continued to learn about Judaism and also tried writing in Hebrew! Our Maths work this week was all about place value and we were able to represent numbers using the base ten equipment. We also spent time in forest school during our Wild  Wednesday afternoon, making homes for rabbits and trying to describe what we could hear, smell and see. 

Pupil of the Week 27.01.23

Congratulations to Michael, Angus and Hollie this week. Michael delivered a fabulous retell of the smartest giant in town, are you sure you weren't the author Michael?! Angus worked super hard this week and really tried with everything in school. Hollie's understanding in Maths this week was fantastic, her understanding of place value was 10/10! Well done superstars!

Week beginning 16th January 2023

This week we've been learning how to tell the time! We're experts at o'clock and some of us even know half past! 

In Geography, our learning question was 'What is weather?' We thought about the different types of weather in each season and discussed how most weather can be seen throughout the whole year, appearing in all seasons!. In Science, we took another look at categorising animals, thinking about whether they're herbivores, omnivores or carnivores.

As it is Chinese New Year this weekend, we made lanterns, coloured pictures and watched videos all about the celebration. Kexin and Julia did a fantastic job telling us all about how they will celebrate with their families. 

Pupil of the Week 20.01.23

Congratulations to Aylor this week. She has been a superstar in all subjects, especially her writing where she produced a great retell of the story 'The Smartest Giant in Town'. Keep up the great work ethic Aylor.

Week beginning 9th January 2023

Happy new year everybody!  

This week in Year 1B, we returned back to school after a wonderful Christmas break and were ready to work hard to achieve our goals yet again! We began our gymnastics coaching sessions this week where we worked on our balances and jumps! We also started learning about time in Maths - a tricky subject. 

Pupil of the Week 13.01.23

Our superstars this week were Eduard and Kexin - Eduard returned back to school with such a positive attitude, giving 10000% to everything he did. Kexin worked super hard in English, writing a fabulous character description including lots of amazing adjectives. Well done guys!!

Also - a big HI from me (Mrs Burrell) as I am now the class teacher taking over from Mr Cleeves. I am so excited to get to know the children more and help the children to learn, develop and grow 

For Pupil of the Week this week, we have Mohamad who has been trying really hard with his speech and language and is growing in confidence all of the time. Alara has been doing her best to read regularly and has read her reading book every night!

Congratulations to Indie and Riley for getting pupil of the week this week. Indie did some great work in maths using positional and directional language. Riley worked very hard planning his retell of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, including adjectives and conjunctions.

Week beginning 14th November 2022

In Science this week, we've been looking at the different features of animals and comparing the similarities and differences. We then sorted into categories according to the features. 

During English,  we've been learning about instructions and why it's so important that we write them in the correct order. We then worked in pairs to give each other instructions on how to make a jam sandwich! 

We've been learning about the importance of online safety and we designed SMART posters to inform others.

On Friday, we raised money for Children in Need by donating £1 and coming to school in our PJs! We learned all about why we donate money and where the money goes, then we coloured in some Pudsey and Blush pictures. 

Pupil of the Week 18.11.22

Well done to our pupils of the week! Jaden has been trying really hard to finish his work on time and has done really well!

Jinan puts 100% into everything she does and she knocked our socks off with her knowledge of number bonds to 10!

Keep up the good work guys.

Week beginning 7th November 2022

This week we have continued our science unit by categorising animals according to whether they're carnivores, herbivores or omnivores. 

In history we continued our work on Guy Fawkes and learned the importance of timelines. We ordered the events that lead up to the reason we celebrate bonfire night on 5th November. 

We also learned all about Remembrance Day and why it's so important. We then decorated poppies either black, purple, white or red for our window display. 

Pupil of the Week 11.11.22

Well done to Aylor and Estell who got pupil of the week this week. Aylor has been trying really hard with her maths and answering lots of questions. Estell has been a superstar in RWI, demonstrating great focus and concentrating on her work.

Week beginning 31st October 2022

Welcome back! We hope you all had a lovely half term. 

This week we have started our history unit which is all about remembering significant figures. We began by looking at Guy Fawkes and we learnt why he is so important. 

In R.E. we are learning all about why Christmas is so special to Christians. We began by looking at the Nativity story and we acted it out with our class mates. 

In science we began our unit all about animals, including humans. We sorted images into categories depending upon whether they were mammals, birds, fish, reptiles or amphibians. Did you know that we are mammals?! 

In our English, we looked at the story of Little Red Riding Hood. We wrote a character description using adjectives and conjunctions. 

Pupil of the Week 04.11.22

Well done to our first 2 superstars of Autumn 2. Julia and Franklin! Julia has wowed us with her understanding of adjectives and was able to produce a great character description about Little Red Riding Hood. Franklin has been doing extra work at home with his big brother and it has really paid off! He wowed us this week by writing cvc words independently and accurately sounding them out. Well done guys, keep it up!

Week beginning 17th October 2022

What a lovely week we've had, with lots of action packed activities and challenges! In art, we've been mixing the three primary colours and making predictions as to what secondary colours they might make. We then used these colours to create a piece of art work! Our PSHE lesson had us thinking about keeping safe and the importance of following rules, both inside and outside of school. We had some great knowledge of road safety and confidentiality and we confidently sorted images as to whether they were safe or unsafe. Mr Parkins did a great music lesson with us and we learnt some new songs whilst playing the drums. On Friday we got to 'spend' our 'In It To Win It' points which was very exciting. We chose from a variety of different fidget toys, lucky dip bags, notebooks, pens, hairbands, stickers and more! We also played some games in the hall, watched 'Sing', made some bookmarks, played with the Lego and visited the tuck shop! We're definitely ready for our week off now as we're exhausted! Happy Holidays, see you on Monday 31st October.

Week beginning 10th October 2022

This week we made hedgehog pictures during Wild Wednesday and had fun in the mud kitchen. Some of us built train tracks, towers and animal enclosures and we enjoyed reading stories in the story den. For our Geography lesson, we went for a walk around the local area and pointed out the human and physical features that we could see. We also considered which areas were residential and which were open space. During our lunch time break, we've been playing with the hula hoops, basketballs and chalks. 

Our maths this week had us thinking about number bonds to 5 and 10, and we used the 'part-part-whole' method to add two 1 digit numbers. We've been retelling the story of The Three Little Pigs in English and we used puppets to act out the story! 

Pupil of the Week 14.10.22

Well done to our two superstars this week. Both boys have been trying so hard in all of their lessons. Michael has been putting 100% into his reading and maths and has even been doing extra work at home! Jack was very vocal during our Geography walk and was able to point out different features. Keep up the good work boys!

Week beginning 3rd October 2022

This week we had Muddy Monsters with Phil and made some amazing shelters! 

In Science, we've been investigating the different varieties of trees we have within the school grounds. We compared their leaves and discussed whether or not they were deciduous or evergreen.

In Geography, we used Google Earth to zoom in on the streets around Gatheshead. Some of us were able to locate our houses, Tesco, Nisa, Saltwell Park and our school! 

Pupil of the Week 07.10.22

Well done to our superstars this week. Wil has settled into our school fantastically and is a great asset to our class. Greta has been brilliant with her use of adjectives to describe the characters in the story 'The Smartest Giant in Town'. Keep up the amazing work guys! 

Week beginning 26th September 2022

In R.E. this week our learning question was 'Who made the World?' and 'What is so special about the natural world?' We reminded ourselves of the Creation Story and all of the things that Christians believe God created. We then used our outdoor learning area to discuss the uniqueness and beauty of nature. We looked at signs of Autumn, listened for the sound of birds, went on a bug hunt, made some pictures using natural materials such as leaves, twigs, stones and pine cones, and we explored how each one of us is individual and unique.

In Geography we looked at a huge map and discussed the 4 countries that make up the UK. We then discussed where some of our families come from and we looked at these countries on a giant map of the whole world!

We had a virtual visit from Julia Donaldson this week and she shared one of her stories with us called 'The Baddies'. She also introduced her illustrator, Axel Scheffler, who showed us how to draw the characters for the Gruffalo!

Pupil of the Week 30.09.22

Well done to our two superstars this week! Bella has been fantastic in maths and can identify odds and evens up to 10. She can also count in tens all the way to 100! Julia has been fantastic in her reading; sight reading fluently and using great expression! Keep up the great attitude to your learning girls :)

Week commencing 19th September 2022

This week we've continued our number work in maths and have been comparing numbers. Some of us went outside to use twigs, leaves and stones to represent more and less. In P.E. we brushed up on our ball skills with football coach, Mo. and Mr Parkins had us finding the beat in music. We looked at the difference between deciduous and evergreen trees in Science and we looked at adjectives in our Extended Writing.

Pupil of the Week 23.09.22

Congratulations to our 2 girls this week. Jinan is a wonderful new addition to our year 1 class and she has settled in very well. Estell has been working hard in all of her lessons, particularly her maths. Keep up the good work girls!

Week commencing 12th September 2022

A big shout out to all of the children for having such a great week! It's been a busy 'full week' doing lots of different lessons and the children have adapted really well to the new year 1 routine. 

We had a visit from Mr Parkins this week and had fun listening to and keeping a steady beat. We've been showing off our amazing counting skills in maths; being able to represent numbers in different ways, order numerals correctly and recognise numerals and words! 

We also had a local visit to a new forest school area in Gateshead which was lots of fun. We did lots of different activities such as mud painting, making crowns, toasting brioche and swinging in hammocks! 

We've had a super busy week and are ready for a well earned rest this weekend!

Pupil of the Week 16.09.22 

Well done to our two superstars this week! Isabelle has been counting and ordering numerals to 20 and representing numbers to 10 in different ways. Isaac has been putting 100% into all of his lessons and is a great role model to have in our class. Keep up the great work guys.

Week commencing 5th September 2022

A huge well done to all of the children this week for settling so well into their new Y1 class - look how grown up they all look

This week we've focussed on our art project which has been all about drawing. We began by looking at the work of Bridget Riley, whose art is inspired by lines! Using different materials, we explored different lines (vertical, horizontal, diagonal, wavy, cross-hatch and broken) using string and then chalk. We then used this knowledge more expressively to create a large piece of art called 'Making Waves', inspired by the artist Zaria Forman.

On Wednesday, the sunshine came out for us to take part in 'Wild Wednesday' which was lots of fun. Take a peek at some of our pictures below.  

Pupil of the Week 09.09.22

Well done to our two superstars this week. Valentino has been a whizz with his number bonds and Kexin has been showing off her artistic talent during our art lessons. Both children have settled fantastically into year 1 life. Well done to you both!