Year 1 - Spring 1 - Week 2

What a brilliant week we’ve had in class! The children have continued to show such enthusiasm, kindness and happy attitudes towards their learning. It’s been lovely to see them challenging themselves, supporting one another, and celebrating their successes together.

In Maths, we focused on numbers greater than 10, with lots of work on recognising, reading and writing numbers from 11–20. The children really enjoyed the different games we played to put their skills to the test — snakes and ladders was definitely the class favourite this week! It was wonderful to see them confidently identifying numbers, counting carefully and using their growing understanding of place value to help them succeed.

In English, we spent time unpicking the characters in The Lion Inside. We explored describing words and used these to build a clearer picture of both Mouse and Lion. The children did some fantastic roll on the wall work, describing how each character might feel on the inside and how they appear on the outside. Their ideas were thoughtful and imaginative, and it has been lovely to see their confidence with vocabulary growing.

History was another exciting part of our week as we delved deeper into the story of the Titanic. This time, we explored the different social classes on board and discussed why their experiences may have been very different. We also began to think about what it really means to be a historian. Working in teams, the children used sources of evidence from the past — including photographs and illustrations — to decide which facts were true or false. They approached this with such curiosity and teamwork, and it was fantastic to see them reasoning and justifying their ideas like real historians.

In Science, we continued exploring everyday materials, this time looking more carefully at their properties. The children discussed examples such as wood being tough and strong, and glass being transparent. They enjoyed identifying these materials in the classroom and talking about why each material is helpful for certain objects. Their observations were brilliant and showed how well they are beginning to understand the world around them.

In PSHE, we talked about what it means to have a goal. The children shared wonderful personal goals — from getting up and dressed in the morning, to earning a sticker, to trying their best in a game. We’ve also been thinking a lot about being more like Leo the Lion from our story: trying our best, even when things feel tricky, and not giving up when we make mistakes. I have been so proud to see the children practising this throughout the week, showing resilience and courage in their learning.

Overall, it has been a happy, busy and inspiring week. The children continue to amaze us with their enthusiasm and positivity — we can’t wait to see what next week brings.