Velociraptor Class Blog - Summer Term 1

Date: 23rd May 2025 @ 11:46am

It has been a very short half term but we have certainly packed a lot in!  The term got off to a very good start with our visit to the Yorkshire Mining Museum and this seems to have been a highlight for the children when we reviewed what they think has gone well.  They have also enjoyed our other two outings, firstly to visit the church for RE and then a week later to go once more along the Greenway for some history and geography fieldwork.  These outings really help the children consolidate all their learning, and it was fantastic to hear the children discuss all they knew on every visit.  It’s not every day that you hear six-year-olds talk about the change in the law that meant children their age had to go to school rather than work down a mine or work in a mill!

Once again, the children have worked incredibly hard at their phonics, reading and spelling this term and you can really see the growing confidence and maturity in their work.  After the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check in June, we shall be spending much more time on putting all their hard-earned skills into practice as we extend their independent writing in preparation for Year 2.

In maths, we have again nudged their learning forward, developing their independent addition and subtraction skills by giving them mixed calculations so they have to think much more carefully about their strategies and the size of their answer.  We have also been working on division by 2, 3 and 4 (we call this sharing as well as division), learning about the division symbol and having a go at writing our divisions using correct symbols and numerals.  We have done a lot of work on telling the time to the hour and half past, as well as drawing the hands on clocks to show these times.  Anything you can do to help your child with this everyday skill to put this into the context of real life would be fantastic.  At this stage we mostly work with the analogue clock face but have also exposed them to the digital clock through songs and games.

History and geography this half term have been all about the Greenway and its origins as a branchline railway from Guiseley to Yeadon station, built to support the many mills that were operating in this area.  It is very important for our children to learn about their local heritage so please keep chatting to them about your memories of the local area and how it has changed.  Involve older family members too!  They are a great resource, especially if they can remember things like the day the railway bridge over Henshaw Lane was demolished!

We have been thinking about seasons and weather in science, keeping weather data for the half term, and also taking part in weather investigations to support the development of children’s scientific skills – for example using pipettes.

Design technology has been great fun as all the boxes you have sent in have been transformed into model vehicles with axles and moving wheels.  The children have gone through the whole process from initial design, to making and then to strengthening their models before finally evaluating their work.  They are now desperate to play with them!

In PE we have done lots of running skills and have begun teaching the children how to skip, both on the spot using a rope and also the running skip in case this is an event in our upcoming sports day.  Some of the children are also enjoying skipping in the lunchtime sessions and I have noticed some very determined faces when trying to keep up with the Year 2s!  The parachute has also been out at some lunchtime playtimes and the Year 1 team have been enjoying watching the fun from the classroom as we eat our sandwiches!

Have a great week everybody – the children certainly deserve a rest!  Thank you for all your support at home - everything you do is appreciated by the whole team and makes a real difference to the children’s learning.

We will see you again in June ready for our last term together as Year 1s!  This year has been flying by but we will make sure we all enjoy the exciting things that are coming up before the big summer holiday.

Thank you from Mrs Nolan and the Velociraptor Team!