Friday 27th June

As Mathematicians, we have been learning about measuring time. We learnt this is measured in seconds, minutes and hours. To explore this, we carried out a range of tasks, both inside and outside the classroom, measuring how many could be completed in 10 seconds and how many could be completed in 1 minute using a stopwatch. From this we identified that minutes were a longer measurement of time than seconds. We explored how many times we could write our name, jump on the spot, throw a bean bag, build a tower of cubes, squats etc. We also discussed the types of activities that we would measure in hours, such as being in school and sleeping. The children thoroughly enjoyed it! Have a look at our pictures...

Friday 20th June

It's Sports week at Stanway Primary and 1 Donaldson have enjoyed a variety of activities out in the sunshine. On Wednesday, it was our Sports day in which the children took part in many exciting races, such as hurdles, dress-up and the good old egg and spoon race! It was great to see the children cheering each other on and showing their support. We also enjoyed sessions in which we practised our skipping with skipping ropes, relaxed with some Cosmic Yoga and a quick HIT session too. The children have also been lucky enough to have learnt about a different person linked to sport each day, such as Sir Chris Hoy, Mo Farah, Serena Williams, plus many more! It has been a fantastic week to promote sport and discuss why it is important for our health and wellbeing, as well as inspiring the children of 1 Donaldson to take part in different sports too. 

"I loved the running races because I won!"         " I enjoyed the dress-up race because it was fun!"

Friday 13th June

This term our Science learning focusses on scientific enquiry and encourages children to make connections through stories. This week's story was the wonderful picture book, 'The Oak Tree' by our class author, Julia Donaldson, alongside the scientific enquiry strand: spotting patterns. To investigate this we were given the question, 'Do tall trees have wider trunks?' The children made predictions, and then we went outside to investigate this further. We chose 3 trees: a tall tree, a short tree and one in the middle. To measure these, the children used wool to place around the tree trunk. Once we had collected all three measurements, we measured the string to identify the width of the tree and began to spot a pattern. Donaldson class noticed that the longest string, and therefore the widest trunk, did belong to the tallest tree. They also spotted the shortest tree had the smallest trunk. The children loved exploring the question together and identifying if their predictions were correct!

Friday 6th June

This week in 1 Donaldson we have looked at understanding our emotions. As a class, we discussed the different emotions we can feel and how these can change over the day. It was noted that we can often tell emotions in others by looking at their face, so we practised using our facial expressions to relay different emotions with our learning partners. We then looked at 4 emotions: happy, excited, sad and worried, and discussed what actions or scenarios happen for us to feel like that. The children then recorded this on a poster to share with a friend. Can you guess our emotions from our facial expressions?

"I feel happy when I get cuddles"                     "I am excited when I go swimming"                       "I am sad when I lose my teddy"

Friday 23rd May

This term our topic was ‘Nature Detectives’ in which we have learnt all about different plants and trees. During this period we learnt the names of common wild and garden plants, as well as a range of evergreen and deciduous trees. For our Fabulous Finish to our term, Year 1 went on a walk to Gryme’s Dyke to explore nature in the local area. We put our new-found knowledge to the test and challenged ourselves to name as many of the plants and trees as we could. The children were fascinated by just how many of them there were right on their doorstep!

"I saw some daisies and dandelions in the grass".                              "We saw a humongous oak tree. It is a deciduous tree."

 

 

Friday 16th May

This week 1 Donaldson have been exploring the important artistic skill of observational drawing. We discussed how it is important to look carefully at what we are drawing, before we draw a bit and then look again. We began our exploration by looking closely at a variety of leaves to identify the lines and patterns we could see and drew them in our sketchbooks. After that, we were challenged to use our new observational drawing skills to draw an indoor plant, again by closely looking at it. We all did an amazing job. Soon we are going to be creating our own artwork based on the artist Georgia O' Keeffe.

Take a look at some for yourself! 

"We had to look carefully at the plant and keep looking."          " I carefully used my pencil to draw the lines of the plant".

Friday 9th May

We have been very lucky to have Essex Wildlife Trust deliver some Forest Fun sessions with our class. We have had so much fun exploring the wildlife area, letting our imaginations run free, as well as completing a range of activities provided for us using different tools. During these sessions we enjoyed swinging in the hammock, climbing the trees, whittling sticks, building dens with ropes and pegs, bug hunting, balancing rope walks and much more! This week we were given Forest Fun names linked with things in nature too. Have a look at the pictures to see the fun we have been having! 

" I like digging to build a bridge"          "I like making a swing, so we can swing on it!"          "We get to build dens and go inside."

 

Friday 2nd May

This week in 1 Donaldson we have been learning about instructions and how they contain imperative verbs. We gave our teacher some instructions for planting a seed, which went a bit wrong-whoops! So, we tried again together and made sure they were in order and had extra detail too. We then followed some instructions to plant our very own sunflower seeds. We are now going to give them water and wait and watch them throughout the rest of the term.