Willow

Welcome to Willow Class

Year 1 and Year 2

Summer Term 2021

FASTER, HIGHER, STRONGER!

This term, our key concepts are

'traditions', 'passion' and 'adversity'.

As we look forward to the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer, we are using this as the inspiration for our term's project. Over the term, we shall be learning about the history and traditions of the Olympic Games. We shall also find out about some famous Olympians and Paralympians and consider what drives them to succeed and how they overcome adversity.

We shall also dive into Japanese culture and heritage as we look at the beautiful cherry blossoms, the wonderful manga and kawaii art work, zen gardens, Japanese music and fan-dancing. What a busy term!

History - Olympic Traditions

The Olympic Flame

We learnt about how the Olympic Games originated in Ancient Greece. We compared the modern Olympic Games with the Ancient Olympics and discovered some interesting similarities and differences. After that, we learnt about the tradition of the Olympic flame.

English - Traditional Tales

In English lessons, we have been thoroughly enjoying learning about traditional tales. We spotted some common themes within famous traditional tales and compared a traditional version of Jack and the Beanstalk with a modern version - Jack and the Baked Beanstalk! We are writing our own versions of this traditional tale now.

Art - Japanese influenced art

Japanese cherry blossom festivals are traditional festivals in Japan and are held in the spring. We made our own cherry blossom paintings after experimenting with colour mixing and painting techniques. Can you spot all the different pinks we made by mixing pink, purple, white and red?

Science - plants

In science lessons, we have been learning about the structure of plants and what they need to stay healthy. We have been on a local nature walk to identify native wildflowers and have compared blossoms from the UK to Japan. Can you name any native wildflowers?

Spring term 2021

Our topic this term is a Geography based one

Under the Sea

We will be exploring the oceans that can be found in our planet, the amazing animals that live there and the very important and topical theme of Plastic Pollution.

Our key concepts are:

change, morality and stewardship

English

Look at our fantastic non-chronological reports of sea animals.

We have written persuasive leaflets about the problems of plastic pollution and suggested choices we can make to help solve the problem.

Science

Children have conducted an experiment to find out if plastic is biodegradable. What do you think the answer will be?

We have taken part in litter surveys to assess the impact of plastic pollution in our own area. Super maths work to demonstrate the problem. More importantly, some children were outraged by what they saw and took it upon themselves to collect the rubbish. Great stewardship!

Art and Design and Technology

We have created our own dioramas to show the habitats of animals living in the oceans. We thought about how we could make different textures, hang and move animals and also how we could attach the animals and plants.

We have also created our own sculptures to represent the problem of plastic pollution and its effects on the sea animals. We have written our own pledges about how we can personally have an impact on this problem.

Eco week

We have recycled old milk cartons to make planters as well as having a go at making our own beeswax wraps as an alternative to plastic wrapping for food.

Remember, Remember...

During autumn term our project in Willow Class is 'Remember, Remember...' In our project lessons, we are going to be finding out about people who made a difference to the world through their choices. As we learn, we shall be thinking about our key concepts of rights, democracy and sacrifice.

Malala's Magic Pencil

In our English lessons, we read 'Malala's Magic Pencil'. We learnt about the life of Malala Yousafzai and discovered what power there is in a pencil when you are brave and you want to see a change for better in the world. Malala really wanted to make sure that girls had the same right to go to school as boys. We wrote a short information text about Malala.

Pakistani Jingle Trucks

One thing we learnt about Malala was that she was born and grew up in Pakistan. We located Pakistan on a map. We then discovered that in Pakistan, trucks are famously decorated with bright and colourful patterns and pictures. We made our own jingle truck to brighten up our classroom.

Rosa Parks

We learnt about the time when an ordinary lady called Rosa Parks stood up for the rights of black people in America. She refused to give up her seat for a white person even though, at that time, it was the law. We learnt that Rosa Parks was an activist and her choice led to a peaceful boycott of buses by the black people in her community. It eventually led to a changes in the law to give equal rights to everyone.

Creation Week

On the week beginning 19th October 2020, the whole of Holy Trinity Primary School spent time looking at the story of creation as told in Genesis.

In Willow Class, we went on a nature walk and looked for some of the wonderful parts of creation in our immediate surroundings.

We acted out the story of creation and then wrote about it in our books.

'On the seventh day, God rested.'

We finished off RE Creation week by looking at 'On the seventh day, God rested.' We spent a few minutes listening to some 'busy' music (Flight of the Bumblebee). We were really busy moving on our spot without stopping and covering as much of a piece of paper as we could with colouring pencils without stopping until the music stopped. We then took an important rest!

After taking some time to think about why God rested on the seventh day, we decided that resting was very important. We thought about the ways in which we like to have a rest.

Coming soon....

After half term, we are going to be learning about the events of the gunpowder plot. We shall find out why this event is marked each year on 5th November.