The Gates Primary SchoolYear 1- Puffins: Blog items
Puffins - Home and School Morning Learning - 1-5 February
Date: 6th Feb 2021 @ 9:26pm
The Puffins class children have learned four new sounds and had fun doing a playground or house search for tricky words. In Maths, they extended their knowledge of number by counting to 50. They can count in 10s to 50 and in 1s to 50. Puffins children's next challenge is to find one more or one less than a number. Our new story was from the picture book, Once Upon A Time. This is a funny story where a boy complains that nothing happens whilst, around him, fairy tale stories and nursery rhyme characters can be seen in their storylines.
We have also spent a lot of time working on our EdShed activites as they help us to make our learning 'sticky learning' - this means that we will remember our previously learned work. Mrs Richmond is delighted that more than half of the class have high Maths scores and one third have high Spelling scores.
Date: 5th Feb 2021 @ 10:18pm
I can't quite believe it's already week 5! We are really missing all our Puffins at home but we are so proud of how amazing you are all being! This week we have been learning about Victorian houses, investigating the suitability of different materials, how and why Jewish people celebrate Shabbat, about pitch in music and continuing our learning about algorithms in Computing. In PSHCE, we read a story called 'And Tango makes Three'. It was all about a baby penguin with two daddies so we all drew our families to celebrate each one being special and unique.
Date: 1st Feb 2021 @ 3:16am
Another week filled with lots of fantastic learning! Take a look at some of the things our home and school learners have been up to in Puffins this week. In Science we carried out an investigation into the suitability of materials, trying to find a good material to repair an umbrella with. In History we learnt about what a Victorian school was like, it's safe to say our children love school even more after Madam Southern's visit! In Music we learnt about pitch and played the Do-Re-Me game. We enjoyed putting together gymnastics moves to create a sequence in PE. We have also enjoyed our Gates Games challenge this week. I know some of the children at home really enjoyed the toilet roll challenge, some played it for a long time afterwards too! Our school Puffins also liked using the Beebots in computing. We had our live PSHE lesson on Friday too. We read the Messy Magpie and found things we could recycle in our homes. In RE, we learnt about the Jewish creation story.
Puffins - Home and School Morning Learning - 25-29 January
Date: 29th Jan 2021 @ 6:26pm
The children in Puffins class continued to use the story 'Farmer Duck' as inspitation for writing activities. They have learned about the days of the week; the prefix 'un'; prepositions and have worked hard on their letter formation for l, i and t. On Monday we had our first of four live Phonics lessons and it was great for the children to be able to learn alongside their friends. In Maths, the children continued to practisetheir addition and subtraction within 20. We also practised counting 1to 20 and the harder counting pattern of 20 to 1.
Congratulations to our Star Of The Week, Dylan, and our Golden Book nominee, Wyatt!
Puffins - Home and School Learning 18 -22 January
Date: 23rd Jan 2021 @ 8:45pm
The children in Puffins class have a new story called Farmer Duck which they listened to, joined in with and watched on video. They have discussed the characters, sequenced the story and used adjectives to describe the characters. Puffins class has also developed their understanding of addition within 20 and worked on the new topic of subtraction within 20. In Phonics, the sounds ch, sh, th, and ng were learned in Phase 3, whilst in Phase 4, the children continue to learn more 'sneaky' sounds.
Date: 22nd Jan 2021 @ 10:18pm
We have had another lovely week in our Puffin class. This week we have been learning about the lives of Victorian children and discussed whether it was right for children to be sent to work as part of our SMSC question. We went on a material hunt in Science, finding things made out of the same material. Continuing our RE topic, we learnt about the importance of a Mezuzah and the Shema. We then created our own scrolls. In PSHE we focussed on caring for others and learnt about needs and wants. In Art, we looked at applying our lines and shapes from the previous week, to drawing a flower. In PE we practised our gymnastics actions and our throwing skills. We also held our very first live lesson! We practised muting and unmuting and read a wonderful story all about a little girl during lockdown. We then created some rainbows of our own. Take a look at some of our work from our class Puffins and home Puffins.
Puffins: Home and School Learning
Date: 15th Jan 2021 @ 2:47pm
The children in Puffins class have had a busy time both at school and at home. They watched the short animation 'The Catch' and used it as a stimulus to to help them to order a story; use ly words (adverbs) and develop their writing of extended sentences. Puffins class has also completed work on addition within 20 and learned the new phonics sounds 'ear' and 'air'. They were also introduced to some 'sneaky' sounds in Phase 4.
Mrs Richmond and Miss Southern are delighted with the effort we have seen from everyone in the class. Every child at home has worked just as hard as the children in school. Thank you very much to all of you!
Date: 15th Jan 2021 @ 12:30am
What a different yet wonderful week for all children in Puffins! Those of us who are in school are really missing all of our Puffins at home but it has been wonderful seeing all the work you have been doing at home! It has been a week of firsts and starting our brand new topics! This week we began our History topic, The Victorians, and focussed on the life of Queen Victoria. We also began our RE topic 'Who is Jewish and how do they live?'. This week we learnt about what is precious to Jewish people. Our Science topic for this half term is 'Materials', we began this by describing, comparing and grouping materials by their properties. In PSHE this week we thought about the importance of rules; our home Puffins created rules for their homes and our class Puffins created rules for school. Our class Puffins have also been learning about what an algorithm is and enjoyed making jam sandwiches as part of our new Computing topic! We had a wonderful art lesson, exploring different media and experimenting with lines and shapes and we enjoyed playing the 1234 pulse game in Music. Take a look at some of the fantastic thing we have been up to!
Date: 12th Dec 2020 @ 1:18am
We had the best time today taking part in the National Santa Dash! The children wore festive headgear and ran around our running track as many times as they could in 15minutes. They achieved an amazing 285 laps! They demonstrated great enthusiasm and resilience. I am a very proud teacher!
Date: 9th Dec 2020 @ 12:25am
Puffins absolutely loved their surprise today! We were lucky enough to have a real firefighter come into school! He was able to demonstrate how the fire spread so quickly in 1666 because of the materials they used to build the houses and the way they were built so closely. We had wooden/straw houses, just like they used in 1666. The children couldn’t believe how quickly it caught fire! Luckily, it was a windy day so we were also able to see really clearly how when the wind changed direction, the fire did too. We linked this to when the wind changed and it avoided Samuel Pepys’ house. We have been learning about keeping ourselves safe in PSHE too so we discussed what we needed to do/did to keep ourselves safe. We then went back inside to look at the PowerPoint our fireman sent us and learned lots of things about the firefighting equipment and the damage fires can cause. We looked at some photos taken of real local fires, including the fires on Rivington. One of our Puffins said we had all become eye-witnesses, great historical vocabulary! What an unforgettable lesson!
Puffins - Certificates and Key Learning
Date: 5th Dec 2020 @ 12:44am
This is a double blog this week! Our star of the week was this amazing little girl! She blew me away with her expression and acting ability in our Reverse Advent video. Not only that, she blows us all away with everything she does! She is a great listener, learner and friend and an absolute pleasure to teach! This little star also happened to be our house point winner this week too!
At The Gates, one of the highest accolades you can receive is the Always Child... and we now have one in Puffins! This little girl is ALWAYS doing the right thing, in the right place, at the right time. She is an excellent role model to others and we are so lucky to have her in Puffins. She also happened to be our Reading Challenge Winner last week too! ⭐️
Our Reading Challenge winner this week has read 5 times every week and uploaded his diary to Seesaw. Well done Mr!
Our Physical Activity winners are Lucy, John, Beatryx and Nathaniel! This was awarded for Daily Mile and Speed Bounce.
What a week! We have started practising our Christmas Play this week, thank you to all of those who have been learning their lines at home, please keep practising! We have been learning the Christmas Play songs too, we can't wait for you to listen! In History we became architects and redesigned the houses/streets of London to make them safer than those burned down in 1666. In Computing we learnt how to save our work in a folder and find it again to upload somewhere else. In PE we practised our throwing and catching skills and also learnt how to do a forward roll, be sure to take a look at the videos on Seesaw. In PSHE we have been learning all about crossing the road safely, we became 'Super Kittens' and re-enacted crossing the road safely in our outdoor area. In RE we looked at different types of Christian prayer and used our parable, the Lost Son, to identify moment he may have chosen to pray. Finally, in DT we used our design brief to design the houses that we will be making before half term. We also made Christmas decorations for our class tree and a cheeky elf appeared, then to top it all off, we it began to snow! Can't wait to see what next week brings!
Happy Weekend!
Happy Weekend!
Date: 1st Dec 2020 @ 10:14pm
Today marked the start of our Gates Reverse Advent and our Puffin class started off our collection. We are so thankful for all the generous donations from our Puffin families, we thank you very much. The children were so proud that they were helping those in need.
Date: 27th Nov 2020 @ 10:55pm
We continued with our Animal Survival and Growth topic this week. We read the story 'The Emperor's Egg' about how Emperor penguins live and raise their young in Antarctica. We then looked at how and why certain animals live in certain habitats and how they have adapted to live in these environments. As a class, we also researched the polar bear and camel. We decided to link our Computing lesson to our science work. So whilst learning the skill of using the mouse to locate and edit text we wrote about some animal adaptations. Super Science (and computing)!
Puffins - Certificates and Key Learning
Date: 19th Nov 2020 @ 10:45pm
Here he is, our star of the week! This little star NEVER stops learning! He always tries hard with his learning but he works just as hard at home. We are very proud of you! Keep up the good work superstar!
Next we have our House Point Winner of the week! A fantastic role model for others!
Then we have our Physical Activity Challenge Winners. We were practising our passing skills, passing a ball around the circle as fast as we could. Well done boys!
And finally we have our Reading Challenge Winner! This superstar has read 5 times and uploaded their diary to Seesaw. Well done!
We've had another brilliant week in Puffins! In History we learnt about how and why the Great Fire spread so quickly. In Music we learnt about Kodaly Rhythms, we wrote some rhythms on our table and perfomed them. In PSHE we learnt how to keep safe around electrical equipment, learning how to make toast safely. In RE, we looked at the importance of forgiveness and identified ways we and our grown ups show love. In PE we learnt some more new gymnastics moves and started learning our dance for our KS1 Dance Competition. In Science we built shelters outside for our 'animals', identifying what they needed for survival. Check out our new school fleeces that arrived this week too! In this manic week we also managed to squeeze in recording a mini assembly for an upcoming school event! Video to follow...
Happy Weekend!
Date: 16th Nov 2020 @ 10:16pm
In History this afternoon we looked at why the Great Fire spread so quickly. We looked at some paintings and watched a video someone created to make imagining the streets of 1666 more real. Then some of us had the opportunity to play in our role play area, complete an activity on the iPads and take part in our outdoor learning task. We acted out the Great Fire of London. One team were the fire and spread the 'fire' and the other team were the people putting out the fire using 'leather buckets' all the way from the 'River Thames'. Some really fantastic work!
Puffins - Certificates & Key Learning
Date: 13th Nov 2020 @ 8:13pm
Here is last week's star of the week. This little girl always has the most beautiful manners, a fantastic attitude towards her learning and she is an absolute pleasure to teach! ⭐️
Then we have this week's star! I would describe this little star as a walking WAGOLL (What a good one looks like). She is always doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right place. She always gives all her work 100% effort and always listens to instructions. Well done! ⭐️
We also have our House Point Winner this week. This little girl got double the house points of the next highest person. She is always a star but she has been phenomenal this week! Well done little miss!
Finally we have our last winner of the week, our Reading Challenge Winner! This little girl has read 5 times and uploaded her diary to seesaw, well done!
What a busy week! We had great fun in history playing in our bakery role play area and enjoying some outdoor learning, acting out the Great Fire using real water and chalk to represent the fire. In Computing we created images of what houses looked like in 1666 and used our typing skills to add a sentence with finger spaces and capital letters using the new keys we learnt about. In Music we created a rainstorm using our bodies as an instrument. In DT we explored different joining methods to join 2 pieces of paper together. In RE we created hidden meaning boxes about the Parable of the Lost Son. We also enjoyed practising our underarm technique and learnt 3 new gymnastics actions in PE. In PSHE we created our own Sun Safety adverts and in Science we looked at the life cycles of humans and butterflies. A busy week as you can see!
Have a lovely weekend!
Date: 11th Nov 2020 @ 8:37pm
This week in Puffins we have been learning about Remembrance Day. We watched a short animation and saw a glimpse of war from the perspective of a little rabbit. We painted a poppy and then laid them outside in our school garden. We were also lucky enough to watch Starlings Remembrance Assembly and watch Mrs Richmond play the Last Post. At 11o'clock we took part in a minutes silence. So many children took part in our whole school Poppy competition too. Take a look at some of the amazing entries! I know the judge had a VERY difficult decision to make!
Puffins - Certificates and Key Learning
Date: 7th Nov 2020 @ 12:45am
Here is our very proud Reading Challenge Winner this week.This little star has been on green every week, reading 5 times at home and uploading it to Seesaw. She has such a positive attitude towards everything she does. As you can see, she was really proud of herself! Good girl!
Our House Point Winner this week is this superstar! He is a fantastic role model to all of those around him and has impeccable manners. Well deserved, good boy!
It has been a wonderful week in Puffins. We have started our brand new Great Fire of London topic which the children (and teachers) are really enjoying. We have been sequencing events of the Great Fire on a timeline, learning about the parable of The Lost Son, learning how to use the keyboards on the computers to type effectively, taken part in our first gymnastics lesson and evaluated pop up books and scenes as part of our DT lessons.
Enjoy your weekend Pufflings!
Puffins - PSHE: Well-Being Lesson
Date: 5th Nov 2020 @ 8:20pm
We enjoyed our well being lesson in PSHE today. We watched some clips from the Disney film 'Inside Out'. We discussed how Riley was feeling and identified what happened that caused her to feel that way. We then looked at how we are able to feel more than one emotion at a time and used this in our activity. We read some scenarios and decided what emotions we would feel and how much of those emotions. We used the colours of the characters to correspond with their emotions and coloured in the person. Puffins decided they would feel sad because they never won, they would feel mad because they didn't win and they would feel happy because their friend was the winner and because they tried their best. ⭐️
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 10:46pm
What a great start to the new term we have had today. We started our new history topic, the Great Fire of London. Together we created a timeline on our working wall, sequencing the events of the fire and learning some new vocabulary along the way. We also looked at an image of the Great Fire of London and made observations and asked questions about it. Fantastic start to our new topic Puffins, well done!
Puffins - Computing - Digital Citizenship
Date: 24th Oct 2020 @ 9:34pm
We have really enjoyed our first Computing topic this half term; Digital Citizenship.This unit was all about how to keep ourselves safe online. We learnt how using an avatar is much safer than using a photo and created our own avatars. We read the story Chicken Clicking and looked at her online profile, identifying all the things she did that put her in danger and looking at whether the information she shared on her profile was safe or not. We then created our own 'safe' profiles. The last thing we created were online safety posters to show all our previous learning. Super work from Puffins!
Date: 23rd Oct 2020 @ 9:26pm
Here is this week's Reading Challenge Winner! This little star has read 5 times every week and uploaded his diary to Seesaw. He has even been reading a bit of Roald Dahl! Keep it up Mr!
Here is this week's House Point Winner! This little star has collected the most house points in Puffins class this week! There were a couple of children who did come close but she worked hard to keep her lead! What a great role model! I can't wait to see who our next winner is!
I can't quite believe we've come to the end of our first half term! I feel really proud when I think back to some of our first lessons together and how far you have come since then. We really have learnt so much!! I have put a couple of pictures of our working walls on so you can see some of the work we have been doing this half term. This week we created some fantastic team collages, made online safety posters on Purple Mash, practised our dodging skills in PE and learned about how to keep ourselves safe around medicines.
Hope you have a lovely half term! Stay Safe! :)
Date: 21st Oct 2020 @ 9:03pm
This week we have been working on our final pieces of art work for the term. We used the skills we have learnt during the topic to work as a team to create a large scale collage of an animal in its habitat. It was a bit tricky working as a team at first, especially having to agree on which animal and habitat, but we all managed to resolve our problems independently and the outcomes were amazing! Super proud! ⭐️
Puffins - Outdoor Learning, Science and PE
Date: 16th Oct 2020 @ 10:29pm
Today we were reconsolidating our Science and PE work by playing a game of ‘Carnivores’. Some children were chosen to be our carnivores, we talked about what carnivores are and identified some carnivorous animals. We had a lion, a frog, a tiger and a T-Rex! The rest of the children were herbivores and had to try and escape the carnivores. We thought about what animals the herbivores might be. We had rhinos, giraffes, horses and cows but to name a few. After the activity we discussed what role an omnivore could have in the game. The children suggested that they could help the carnivores eat the herbivores or they could eat the carnivores up instead! The children loved this game so we are going to try add an omnivore in our next lesson. Super Science and PE Puffins! ⭐️
Puffins - Reading Challenge Winner & Key Questions
Date: 16th Oct 2020 @ 10:23pm
Well done to John, our Reading Challenge Winner this week! John has read 5 times not only this week but every week so far! Keep it up superstar! ⭐️
We have had a crazy busy week in Puffins! This week we have been learning about food chains, creating and performing our own verses for a song, learning about the capital cities in the UK and some of the landmarks in them, creating large scale collages in teams, ways to look after our mental health... We even held our own Puffin Wedding! Here are some key questions to ask your child to help consolidate our learning...
- What is the capital of England?
- Can you think of a landmark in Edinburgh, Scotland?
- Can you think of one thing you can do to look after your mental health?
- Is a bear a carnivore, omnivore or herbivore?
- What do the bride and groom at a Christian wedding to show they love and belong to each other?
- Can you think of 3 pieces of information we should never share online?
- Why is it important to ask for help when you have a 'big feeling'? Who can help you to feel happy/calm again?
Happy Weekend My Little Pufflings! :)