Etz Chaim Jewish Primary School

Year 1

The children have learnt all about the Hebrew months, what Chag falls into which month and when our Hebrew birthday is.  They hope you will support our work by holding 2 birthdays, an English birthday and a Hebrew one!

A beautiful pinwheel from one of the children. The children followed the instructions carefully to create a summer pinwheel.

Year 1 had a fun half term learning about different trees. They drew their own sketches of trees and labelled the parts, including roots, trunks, branches and leaves, before ‘adopting’ a tree in the outside area. 

In the second half of the Spring term, to start the topic ‘A Day in the Life’, the children were given new names and jobs and were asked to create any equipment they might need in their new role.

The children enjoyed using magnifying classes to investigate the materials around the classroom.

In Science the children matched the animals with their young and started to learn their names!

In Spring 1 our IPC topic was 'Live Let Live' and the children were very excited about our visitors.

In Autumn 2, the class were able to use cubes to measure different items around the classroom. They discussed and compared their height of various items before moving on to using rulers to measure height and length.

On No Pens Day, the children collected natural materials and used these to make calculation sentences.

During another fun Science lesson, the class built their own boats and put them in a tub of water to investigate floating and sinking.

On Succot, the class were excited to be able to shake the lulav and Etrog in our school Succah.

 

They learnt a lot of information in Maths this term, including how to multiply and divide. The children found the method that helped them the most and solved lots of word problems involving grouping and sharing.

Our highlight of the term was definitely our trip to Belmont Farm. 

They investigated their adopted trees, drawing an observational sketch of their tree and looking around the environment for any creatures using the tree as a home.

There was a doctor with a stethoscope, a dentist with a dental mirror and a footballer with the goals.

As part of Continuous Provision, the children had the opportunity to look at various shapes and sort them into two categories – split in half and not. Some children even added more of their own.

For Tu Bishevat the children were very busy learning the life cycle of a plant.  They enjoyed planting their own seeds and watching them grow!

In the lead up to Chanukah, the children enjoyed playing dreidel in small groups, using counters instead of chocolate coins.

Year 1 thought of adjectives and properties of different materials, including this wooden lollipop stick. Each child used post-it notes to add their descriptions to each object.

PE has been extra fun this term as we got the opportunity to use the balance bikes - a new resource available to us. The children learnt the different ways to move with the bike, allowing them to balance carefully while riding along.

The children had a fantastic time filling in the activity booklet, as well as having time to pet the smaller animals and feed the bigger ones.

The children learnt the difference between Physical and Human Geography – understanding that human geography are places in our environment made by humans (schools, cities, towns, etc.) and that physical geography is anything made my Hashem (oceans, meadows, hills, etc.).

After reading the information book ’10 things I can do to help to my world’ by Melanie Walsh, the children designed their own environmental posters and displayed them around the school to encourage more children to look after the world we live in.

In the lead up to Pesach, the children had a taste of Matzah! 

The children liked feeding the chicks and giving them the chance to play in a bigger space.  They observed the noises and moves they made!

 

The children enjoyed watching the life cycle of the chicks and observed each stage!

The children have enjoyed reading Traction Man by Mini Grey this half term to link in with our topic on Toys. They know the story so well and have been able to create freeze-frames of different scenes from the story for the others to guess.

For Black History Month, the class learnt about Rosa Parks. They imagined they were on a bus and discussed whether they should give up their seat for someone or not.

In Science, the children made their own paper planes in order to explore the different forces that would help their plane to fly higher and further.