by Year One teacher on March 8, 2010
What a beautiful, bright and sunny day to visit Henley and walk by the river. Thank you to all the parents who ferried the children back and forth to the museum and a special thank you to those parents who stayed to help- as always we couldn’t do trips out without you.
We had an action-packed but very educational day; all the children were able to look at and draw Victorian artefacts, compare maps and a census of Henley today and in Victorian times, and also look at photos of Victorian Henley and the same streets today. We followed a town trail led by the museum staff and looked at different examples of Victorian houses and architecture in the Town. The children were able to look around the museum galleries and spot Victorian boats, look at pictures of the Regatta in Victorian times and find the biggest trout ever caught in the Thames! We hope the children will be able to tell you about some of the things they saw and learnt- it was an interesting and informative day.
by Year One teacher on March 8, 2010
We have had our first crop of the year- with some rather strange -shaped carrots!
With the first signs of Spring in the air, we are looking for some willing volunteers to come and dig over the veggie patch. We will also need some adult help to start our Spring planting.
Any green-fingered enthusiasts out there?
by Year One teacher on March 7, 2010
Well done Year One! These houses are amazing.
by Year One teacher on March 7, 2010
We are looking forward to our visit to the River and Rowing Museum on Monday. Thank you for arranging transport for your children and for the offers of help.
We have enough drivers now for those children whose parents were finding it difficult to make arrangements.
The remainder of the week will be spent doing follow up tasks from our visit, including writing a recount of the day and making an information leaflet.
The maths focus for the week is time and measurement. We will be practising telling the time at the hour and half hour and weighing, measuring length and capacity using standard units.
Most of our art activities will be related to the museum visit. In P.E. we will be learning some country dances and improving our ball skills – throwing, catching and aiming.
by Year One teacher on February 28, 2010
First of all thank you so much for all of the wonderful model houses which arrived in school last week. They were so creative and all very different. The children were really proud of them and it gave them so much to talk about.
We will be taking some photographs to go on the website during the coming week.
This term we continue with the theme of My home – my family. We will spend this week investigating materials which are used to build houses and why specific materials are used for certain parts of a building. On Wednesday morning we are going to have a look at the houses in Lea Road and Grove Road and would welcome any adults who would like to join us.
The children will be drawing their own homes and labelling the parts of their houses and the materials used. We will carry out a science investigation into which materials are best for making a roof.
Maths involves collecting data about the type of houses the children live in and finding ways to display that information.
On March 8th we will be visiting the River and Rowing Museum for the workshop about Victorian Henley and you have already received the letter about this. Thank you for the offers of help which we gratefully accept. The rest of that week will be spent on follow up activities from our visit.
In the week beginning March 15th we will be thinking about our families and faith communities, beginning with a visit to Christ the King church to find out about a Christian wedding. We will also be learning about Jewish and Muslim wedding ceremonies. Photos, artefacts and adults who are happy to recount their own experiences to groups of children will be very much appreciated.
During the week beginning March 22nd our thoughts will be turning to Spring (better weather hopefully!) New Life and Easter.We will reflect on the Jewish festival of Passover and find out about the ways in which new babies are welcomed into families and faith groups, beginning with Judaism and Islam and continuing in the last week of term with a Christian baptism ceremony.
by Year One teacher on February 10, 2010
by Year One teacher on January 24, 2010
It was lovely to see that so many children continued with their learning in spite of the fact that they were not in school.
Here are some examples of what they did – lots of creative tens and units work and plenty of writing.
I hope you enjoy Isaac’s true story about his gerbils as much as we did.
by School staff on January 13, 2010
Isabelle C has been hard at work writing her own Sonning Common version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Click here to read it.
Great work Isabelle!
by Year One teacher on November 29, 2009
We have had an exciting couple of weeks finding out about Christmas in Victorian times. So many of today’s features were introduced then – Christmas trees, Christmas cards, crackers and pantomime – to name but a few.
The children have been really interested in researching this for themselves and wrote their own questions to take to Reading Museum last Wednesday.
The day began with a ride on the Vitality 2 bus into Reading, much to the surprise of local passengers who really seemed to enjoy chatting to the children about their plans for the day.
At the museum we were greeted by Sally, dressed in Victorian costume and settled in for a workshop session about Christmas in Victorian times. The children sang, stirred the Christmas pudding, made Christmas cards, played with Victorian toys and even performed a pantomime.
After lunch we were able to explore the museum and then we returned to school on the bus.
The children were extremely well behaved and we were very proud of them. A big thank you to the adults who volunteered to accompany us – we hope you enjoyed your day too.
Can anyone spot the identity of our secret Widow Twanky?
by Year One teacher on November 11, 2009
We had such a wonderful time in Year One last week doing all the things children (and teachers) like doing best:
- Kicking through piles of leaves
- Collecting conkers and seeds
- Admiring fungi hiding on rotting wood and under leaves
- Picking up sticks and sploshing through puddles
- And finally, learning how to light a sparkler safely and then enjoying making patterns and writing our names in the sky. As one teacher said, “Only at Sonning Common Primary would you find children being allowed to light sparklers, especially Year One”! We can safely say that your children should all know how to be safe when handling a sparkler and that they know how to write instructions to light one safely.
Above are some pictures of the walk and the ‘Andy Goldsworthy’ pictures the children made with their collected Autumn goodies.
