English
In English this week, we explored another traditional tale—a beautiful adaptation of The Princess and the Pea retold and illustrated by Rachel Isadora. This version is set in Africa and features princes and princesses from diverse cultures across the continent. The children have loved learning this story and enjoyed role-playing as the different characters. Next week, they will recall the tale and write short sentences to retell it. At this stage in Year 1, we are focusing on children consistently starting sentences with a capital letter, leaving spaces between words, and ending with a full stop—without needing adult reminders.
Maths
In Maths this week, we have been learning about shapes. We began by revisiting the names of common 2D shapes and spotting where we see them in everyday life—the children had fantastic ideas! We then explored their number of sides and introduced our word of the week: vertices, which the children now understand as the corners of shapes. After that, we learned about the most common 3D shapes and discussed which 2D shapes make them up. Next week, we will dive deeper into this topic and also work on continuing repeating patterns and recognising patterns in both 2D and 3D shapes.
Topic
In Science this week, we learned about temperature and how to measure it using a thermometer. The children carried out an experiment comparing the temperature of icy water and warm water, and were fascinated to see the liquid inside the thermometer shrink and expand! We also discussed how seasons and weather affect temperature—for example, when the sun isn’t shining, it’s usually colder. In DT, we began an exciting new project exploring how to bring pictures to life by creating moving parts. This week, we experimented with moving a car across paper using a lever, and next week we’ll use this skill to design and make our own moving Christmas cards
Nativity Performance
We can’t wait to celebrate all the children’s hard work in their Nativity performance next week! A reminder that you can join us for this on Wednesday, 10th December at 2:15pm or Thursday, 11th December at 9:15am. To make sure everyone can enjoy the show comfortably, we kindly ask that a maximum of two guests per child attend each performance. We’re looking forward to sharing this special moment with you!