Years 1 & 2
Welcome to Years 1 & 2!
Children in KS1 are split into 3 mixed ability classes. A Year 1 class taught by Mr Lathan, a Year 1 and 2 class taught by Mrs Watson and a Year 2 class taught by Miss Hunt. Miss Hunt is also the KS1 team leader.
Children in these classes are supported by Mrs Wright (Nursery Nurse), Ms Holme (Learning Support Assistant) and Mrs Beecham (Learning Support Assistant).
Phonics in KS1
Children in all KS1 classes receive daily phonics input. Newlands follows the Letters and Sounds teaching sequence.
Phonics is used to build the children's confidence in speaking and listening and to prepare children for learning to read through the development of their phonic knowledge and skills.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letters-and-sounds
Forest School
At Newlands we are proud to offer Forest School sessions across the school. Each class in Key Stage 1 attend Forest School for one term each.
Miss McPherson and Miss Brown's class in the Autumn term.
Miss Hunt's class in the Spring term.
Mrs Watson's class in the Summer term.
Children need full kit in school to attend their session. This includes full length trousers and a long sleeved top, a coat and gloves and hat when needed. Children need wellies or suitable waterproof footwear. Sessions will take place in all weathers. It may be useful (although it is not compulsory to wear waterproof trousers or a waterproof suit).
The correct kit is needed to minimise the risk of bites.
http://forestschools.com/what-happens-at-a-forest-school/
Our Topics 2019-2020
Autumn term
Bright lights, Big city
Muck, Mess and Mixtures
Spring term
Dinosaur Planet
Summer term
Bounce
Afternoon tea with the Queen
On Monday 16th September, children in Years 1 and 2 celebrated the launch of their new topic 'Bright Lights, Big City' with an afternoon tea with the Queen. They made flags and bunting and learnt to sing the National Anthem before tucking into afternoon tea. Then they were treated to a visit from a very special royal visitor!
Our Topics 2018-2019
This year we continue to use Cornerstones to support our curriculum. Click the links below to discover which topics we will be learning about.
Autumn term- Superheroes https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-1-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-8
- Enchanted Woodland https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-1-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-9
Spring term- Towers, Tunnels and Turrets
Summer term- Land Ahoy! https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-2-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-4
Wicksteed Park June 2019
On Tuesday 25th June, children in Year 1 and 2 were lucky enough to visit Wicksteed Park to celebrate their topic Land Ahoy! Despite the rain, they enjoyed learning about the Victorian era and how going to the beach is different now. They made sand art, had a go at the coconut shy and put on their own Punch and Judy show before enjoying a trip on the carousel and a train ride around the park.
Warwick Castle March 2019
Year 1 and 2 went off to visit Warwick castle as part of our Towers, Tunnels and Turrets topic. During the day we got to visit the Great Hall where we saw the dining room, the knights armour and a huge porridge pot! We got to climb the Mound where we could see all across the castle and then we watched a Birds of Prey display. Overall a fantastic day!
Superhero launch day Sept '18
On Wednesday the 12th September, children in Years 1 and 2 celebrated the launch of their new topic by coming to school dressed as a superhero. Children moved round all 3 classes to test their skills and superpowers. They worked in Miss Bale's classroom to create superhero accessories including shields as well as decorating vegetables as part of the book Supertato. Children worked in Miss Hunt's classroom to solve the clues around the playground then use their super speed to complete team games. Finally children in Mrs Jones' classroom used their super strength to blow the biggest bubbles and their senses to guess the hidden object.
Twycross Zoo July 2018
To celebrate the end of our topic Bounce, children in Year 1 and 2 visited the zoo to find some animals that bounce. They found kangaroos and rabbits and frogs! Although they were a little less bouncy because it was a very sunny day. The children also found some animals that definitely didn't bounce like giraffes, elephants and Anna the tortoise.
Bounce Launch day June 2018
On Tuesday 21st June, children in KS1 celebrated their new topic- Bounce. They spent the day outside thinking of different ways to move their body and different sports that involve bouncing. They explored bouncy castles and space hoppers then bounced their way to the end of the race in a sack race. In the afternoon children thought about bouncing balls by learning tennis and football skills. Overall a fab bouncy day!
Dinosaur Day- launch day Jan 2018
On Wednesday 31st January, KS1 enjoyed our topic launch for Dinosaur Planet. In the morning each class became paleontologists and dug for fossils whilst learning about which dinosaurs were carnivores and herbivores. Then, in the afternoon they had a visit from Jack the baby dinosaur and Sophie the T-Rex who they got to meet up close.
Book at Bedtime 2018
On Thursday the 25th Jan it was lovely to see so many children return for Book at Bedtime. This was a chance for the children to come back to school in the evening in their pyjamas where they enjoyed hot chocolate and listened to their favourite stories.
Art Gallery
On Tuesday the 23rd Jan, the children celebrated the end of their most recent topic by setting up an art gallery to share their hard work with their family. Across the classes children researched the works of Mondrian, Picasso, Kandinsky and Van Gogh. They used a range of materials to recreate their favourite pieces of art.
Silly Science Day Dec 17
On Monday 4th December, the children in Year 1 and 2 enjoyed a 'Silly Science' morning. They learnt about fire and the 3 things needed to light a fire (Heat, oxygen and fuel). Then they learnt about the forces of gravity and friction by firing rockets into the air . Finally they learnt about how to make an explosion with coke and mentos!
Muck, Mess and Mixtures Launch Day Oct 2017
Tuesday 24th October
This afternoon the children in KS1 participated in a 'messy afternoon' to launch their new topic - Muck, Mess and Mixtures. The children visited 3 rooms with a different experience in each. There was the paint room where they were able to experiment with finger paint and textured paint along with using different tools to show off their painting skills. The second room had clay and water where lots of children spread clay on their hands and arms. Finally they visited the mixtures room where there was shaving foam, moudable soap and water beads to play with.
The children had a fantastic afternoon and got thoroughly messy!
End of topic event- The Great Fire of London
As part of our most recent topic, the children have been learning about the Great Fire of London. To celebrate the end of their topic they made houses and created a 3D model of London including Pudding Lane where the fire started. Then, as the children sang London's Burning we recreated The Great Fire of London on the playground by setting light to the houses! A fantastic end to the topic!
Queen's tea party- launch day Sept 2017
On September 5th, to celebrate the launch of our new topic 'Bright Lights, Big City' we threw a royal tea party. The children came to our celebration in special clothes and spent the morning preparing for the party. They made sandwiches and decorated cakes along with making place mats, flags and crowns to commemorate the occasion.
We celebrated with a special visit from a royal visitor which allowed us to practise singing the national anthem.
Our Topics 2017-2018
Autumn term
Bright lights, Big city
Muck, Mess and Mixtures
Spring term
Dinosaur Planet
Summer term
Bounce
Our Topics 2016-2017
September 2016
This year we continue to use Cornerstones to support our curriculum. Click the links below to discover which topics we will be learning about.
Autumn term- Superheroes https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-1-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-8
- Enchanted Woodland https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-1-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-9
Spring term- Towers, Tunnels and Turrets
Summer term- Street Detectives https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-2-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-6
- Land Ahoy! https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-2-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-4
Farm trip June 2017
This year, children in Year 1 who have shown gold behaviour got to go on a farm trip to Fenn Lane farm.
On Monday 19th June the final group of children got to visit the farm and the dairy. They followed a seaside theme in line with our topic Land ahoy!
The children had a fantastic day exploring where milk came from to make a milkshake, learning about the wheat to make ice cream cones and planting seeds to grow mustard plants and potatoes.
Wicksteed Park 7th June 2017
On Wednesday, the children in Year 1 and 2 enjoyed a trip to Wicksteed Park as the launch day for our new Cornerstones topic 'Land Ahoy'. They enjoyed playing in the sandpit, a ride on the train and a chance to win a coconut at the coconut shy. We finished the day with a ride on the carousel and free time on the playground. Overall they had a fantastic day!
Thomas- " The best part was going on the double decker bus. We sat on the top level on the way there and back."
Logan- " I loved the train ride the most. We went on a bridge over a lake and it was like we were out to sea."
Wicksteed Park June 2017
Launch day- Street Detectives
On Tuesday 25th May, each of our KS1 classes went on a walk to explore our local area. Each class took a different route to the park. On the way they looked out for different types of houses, read the road signs and worked out when we needed to turn left or right to reach our destination.
A local walk
Tamworth Castle visit - 28th March
The three KS1 classes were lucky enough to visit Tamworth castle for the day to finish off our Towers topic. On the day the children got to explore the castle building, meet the lady of the castle and learn how to dress the table for the family and the servants, train how to be a knight and learn about the armour and visit the dungeon. Overall it was a fantastic day!
Premiership trophy comes to Newlands!
Towers, Tunnels and Turrets Launch Day Feb 1st
At the start of February, to launch our new topic 'Towers, Tunnels and Turrets", we had a visit from Christina from Bosworth Battlefield. She shared her knowledge about heraldry. We looked at why knights needed different colours on their clothes and we looked at what the different symbols mean. Then we designed our own shields. We had a fantastic morning!
Bridge building (materials investigation) January 2017
This week, children in all 3 classes have participated in a science investigation week. The children have been learning about different types of materials, their properties and their uses.
They applied their learning to a bridge building challenge. They used newspaper and tape to create the strongest bridge they could.
Jaeden "Bridges need to be rigid. This keeps them strong. My bridge was strong because I wrapped it up many times".
Paul " I wanted to make a long bridge. I folded it over lots of times to make it very thick and very strong. This made it heavy so the wind couldn't blow it down".
Rubie " I experimented making lots of different kinds of bridges to find out which one was the strongest. I made one that was folded over lots and lots of times and was held together with tape. This was the strongest".
End of unit celebration Enchanted Woodland Jan 2017
To end our latest topic- Enchanted Woodland- the children chose how they wanted to celebrate the end of topic. Miss Timson's class chose to make masks of woodland animals and visit our woodland area where they played games.
Enchanted Woodland Launch Day Photos
Superhero Day 5th September 2016
Year 1 and 2 launched their topic with a Superhero afternoon. Lots of children came to school dressed as their favourite superhero. Then they made masks and capes to add to their outfit. Throughout the afternoon they took part in three activities. The children tested their super senses by guessing which food they were tasting, smelling or touching. They then had to free the superhero by solving the puzzles and finally they hunted for superheroes outside.
The children had a fantastic day and it was lovely to see them so enthusiastic!
Superhero Day September 2016
Our Topics January 2016-July 2016
January 2016
We have started our new and exciting 'Cornerstones' units this term. We are beginning with 'Muck, Mess and Mixtures' then after half term our topic will be 'Dinosaur Planet'. Click on the links below to find out a little more about what we'll be doing.
Muck, Mess and Mixtures https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-2-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-5
Dinosaur Planet https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-1-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-2
Wriggle and Crawl https://cornerstoneseducation.co.uk/cornerstones-curriculum-topics/year-2-curriculum-projects/#resource-id-9
Conkers Trip June 2016
Dinosaur Day - Wednesday 14th April 2016
As part of our topic this term, Year 1 and 2 spent the day investigating dinosaurs. In the morning they became paleontologists and hunted for fossils in the sand. They looked for herbivores, carnivores and other life forms.
In the afternoon they got to meet a baby allosaurus and Sophie the T-Rex. They had a fantastic day.
"We loved digging for fossils. I found a dinosaur leg" Joshua, Miss Hunt's class
"I liked holding the dinosaur poo. I've never done that before" Justin, Miss Hunt's class.
"Before Sophie came in, my belly was swirling around" Charlie, Miss Brown's class.
"Millie was cute. Sophie was a bit ferocious. When she opened her mouth I thought she might eat me!" Oscar, Miss Brown's class.
Dinosaur day April 2016
February 2016
We launched our new topic 'Dinosaur Planet' with a special dinosaur day where the children painted pictures of dinosaurs, made dinosaur masks, measured bones and finally built and decorated a large scale dinosaur for their class.
Spike the dinosaur (who lives in Miss Hunt's class)
Bread making 5th February 2016
Muck, Mess and Mixtures- Wednesday 6th January
Children in Year 1 and 2 participated in a Messy Mixtures afternoon. The children experienced a variety of weird and wonderful mixtures that they were able to explore with their hands and feet. All three classes joined together to explore clay, paint and various mixtures including hair conditioner, cornflour, spaghetti and jelly.
Messy Mixtures Afternoon photos
Born in the Barn December 2015- Children from Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 performed in the Christmas production. They were fantastic!
