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.