**Our January 2025 Ofsted Report is now live. Harting is good in all areas with elements of exemplary and outstanding practice**
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Willow (Year 1)

Welcome to   Willow Class                   
 
We are a friendly class of children in Year 1 who are taught by two experienced teachers: Ms Perry and Mrs Forward(Monday) and our creative teaching assistant, Miss Sherwood, who supports our learning throughout the week.
 
On Wednesdays, we also have Mrs Fourie teaching us Science and the talented Mr Gardner from Aspire, teaching us PE and sportsmanship skills.
 
Please have a look through our ‘Meet the Teacher’ file, half termly curriculum overviews and knowledge organisers to explore more about our exciting year ahead and to support many areas of the curriculum.  Please share these with your children and use them as reference throughout the year.
 
We are delighted that you are visiting the Willow Class page today and hope that you will come into school soon to see our wonderful and aspirational work in action.
Weekly Updates
Spring 2
Week 6
 
We had a very exciting week to round off another busy half term! We had a visit from Libby and local lamb, Spot. The children learned all about Spot's life on the farm, his diet and how he is looked after. The children all got the opportunity to stroke him and even feed him if they wished to!
Ms Perry took full advantage of April Fool's Day this week to test Willow Class' knowledge at the end of our Food and Farming topic. We watched a video about a particularly bountiful spaghetti harvest in an orchard in Switzerland. The children were all very excited to weed our flowerbeds and then plant our very own spaghetti seeds!
However, after all the excitement, children began to realise this activity didn't quite tally up with what we'd learnt about where pasta, or indeed wheat, comes from - Thankfully the children saw the funny side! 
Week 5
 
This week, to continue with our planning for our DT, we tasted various fruits. We talked about what it means when a fruit is in or out of season and we had great fun tasting the ones on offer, ranking them from least (lemon)to most favourite (dragon fruit and lychee juice). Once again, the facial expressions did not disappoint!
This week we have exploring ways of measuring length and height. We started off using non-standard units of measurement and quickly agreed that it could get very confusing if everyone in the world measured in cubes, shoes, paperclips or compare bears! We realised that it makes far more sense to choose one unit of measurement to make it easier to understand and to compare. We then moved on to using a ruler in order to measure in centimeters.
 
Week 4
 
This week in Maths we have been partitioning numbers into tens and ones. We have been doing so in a very interactive and hands on way to help us fully understand the make up and place value of numbers up to 50.
 
In English, we have been planning and writing our stories inspired by Where the Wild Things Are. We cannot wait for you to read our finished work - watch this space!
 
On Friday, as well as wearing red for Red Nose Day, we explored our taste buds during our Design Technology unit on Food and Nutrition with a selection of salads. We tasted each of these and evaluated them - which did we like/ dislike and why? What words could we use to describe these? Can we identify any of the ingredients? The facial expressions produced during the tasting (particularly of the pickled pink coleslaw) were amazing!
Week 2
 
This week we all dressed up as book characters to celebrate World Book Day! There was such an array of costumes - both of fictional characters and real life people. They looked truly amazing and we all enjoyed creating riddles about our chosen books to share with each other and with Chestnut Class. 
We have been especially excited about the arrival of our new wendy house in our outside area. The children were all very curious to see it being put up in its stages and watched Mr Baker eagerly through the windows! It was no surprise then that as soon as they have been able to play in and around it, the children have been 'building' and 'fixing' our new structure. 
Week 1
 
What an enthusiastic start to this half term - we all had so much energy this week! In Maths, we have been looking at the concept of doubling. We took our energy out into the school grounds to hunt for Numicon pieces and their doubles. We have also been making our very own Doubling Machines - a number of Lego bricks go in, the machine works its magic and then double the bricks come out!
This half term we will be delving into Food and Farming in Geography. This week we have explored the three main types of farming - Arable, Livestock and Mixed and had great fun in our new role play area, Willow's Farm Shop and Cafe.
 
In English, we have started our new text, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. We have explored how the main character, Max, felt during various stages of the book through roleplay - when he realised his room was turning into a forest, when he tamed The Wild Things and ordered them to "Be still!" and when they all enjoyed their wild rumpus!
Spring 1
Week 6
 
We have been wrapping up our History topic on Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole this week. We learned that Mary Seacole created her own medicines using herbs and spices. We looked at healing and health properties of some common herbs and then had a go at making our own using a pestle and mortar.
 
We also discovered that Florence Nightingale believed having a pet in the hospital would help the soldiers recover more successfully and so she brought in her pet tortoise, Jimmy. We made and named our own pet tortoises to use in our own hospital roleplay area.
 
 
Week 5
 
This week we had some very cute but spiky visitors! Henry and Harry were very patient with us as we learnt about their eating and sleeping habits and lots of facts about their very interesting bodies! This visit really inspired the children to get writing and inform others about what we had discovered.
Today in Art we had a critique session. We looked at examples of famous artist's work and explored questions about whether we liked the pieces or not and why, what techniques and materials the artist has used, the colours used and why. We also discussed the composition of the artwork and whether the pieces may have had another meaning behind them.
 
We then set out our sculptures from the last couple of weeks and wandered around them as if at an art gallery, while asking similar questions about each other's work and also our own. The children were very sensible and asked some very insightful and thoughtful questions!
Week 3
 
This week in English we have been looking at the structure of a letter and have started to plan our own to one of the characters. We have been taking on the role of Hermelin, the detective mouse, to inform the characters that we have found their missing items. The children have been thinking hard about using adjectives to describe the objects, as well as learning imperative verbs in order to reunite the character with their missing property.
 
In RE we have been learning about the Jewish practice of Tzedaka, giving to those in need. We thought about those less fortunate than ourselves and have been making special Tzedaka boxes to put small treats and notes inside to give away.
We have had a real arty week this week! The children were given prompt cards to help focus on exploring various materials and create a sculpture without ‘knowing’ what the end result will be. We tried bending, twisting, folding, cutting and fastening different materials to create without designing first. We also made Creativity Medals using the same skills.
Some of us joined forces with Chestnut class this week to extend our learning on shape and pattern. We created symmetrical and repeating patterns using beads and had an hilarious time creating 3D shapes with straws and playdough to explore edges and vertices of various shapes
Weeks 1 & 2
 
 
These last two weeks have seen Willow Class starting a new History topic on Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole. We were all very surprised to learn that before Florence Nightingale, most people never washed their hands, even when looking after ill people! 
 
In English, we have been focusing on our new class text, Hermelin the Detective Mouse by Mini Grey. We have been exploring adjectives to describe missing objects and giving directions in order to find them.
 
In Maths, we have been looking at creating patterns using 2D and 3d shapes. We have had fun making repeating patterns as well as symmetrical patterns.
We loved sharing all our hard work in Design Technology with friends and family at our school exhibition. We had fun creating our peg cars in our unit on mechanisms. We used so many different skills such as designing, labelling, decorating, threading and how to evaluate our designs effectively.
During our weekly visit to the library, we searched for books to help us with our new History topic, as well as finding some good stories to share with the class or to borrow for home.
Autumn 2
Week 7
 
Our last week before the Christmas holidays begin! We had a fabulous trip to see Hey Christmas Tree at Chichester Festival Theatre. We all had an amazing time and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I loved watching the children's reactions and the sheer joy on their faces as Father Christmas took to the stage! We also wrote and then delivered letters for the Big Man himself. 
 
Thursday saw us heading to the church for our Christingle service. We each made Christingles for the occasion, learning about the significance behind each aspect (and resisting the urge to eat our sweets!).
 
In Design Technology, we made and tested our Peg Cars. There were lots of skills demonstrated such as threading the wire (sandwich bag tie) through the straws and buttons holes to create the wheels and axles of our cars. 
Week 6
 
This week saw the conclusion of our topic on Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. We have learnt an extremely catchy song about it which some of the children decided to make up a dance to!  
We have fully dived into exploring 3D shapes in Maths this week. We have identified and labelled shapes, spoke about their properties (sides, faces, pointy corners) made them from playdough and tested out which ones made the best towers and in which order!
In Design Technology we have designed, decorated and assembled our peg cars. We had to thread a sandwich tie throw a straw and add on buttons either end to create our axles and wheels. The we attached these to our decorated pegs to create our peg cars. We've had great fun testing them out!
Week 5
 
Christmas has officially entered Willow Class this week! We have started our class book advent calendar, unwrapping a Christmassy themed book each day in the lead up to Christmas. We also got our class decorations down and decorated the classroom, adding to the tree. Have a look at our creative use of Lego to make hanging candy cane decorations!
We have started a new unit of shapes in Maths this week. We listed all the shapes we knew (and learnt a few more!)before setting off on a shape hunt around the school. It was surprising just how many shapes we could find all around us! We then used our knew shape knowledge to help us build Christmas characters. 
Week 2
 
This week we have been learning more about the Gunpowder Plot, specifically the plotters and the problems they faced. We learnt about Guy Fawkes' life and timeline and re-enacted the plotters' journey through the cellars under the Houses of Parliament to plant the gunpowder barrels.
In Maths we have been focusing on First, Then and Now stories to help us with addition problems. We have been reading, interpreting and creating our own - for instance: First there were 5 birds sitting in the tree. Then 4 more flew to join them. Now there are 9 birds in the tree.  
During our English lessons we have been identifying adjectives, nouns and verbs in our class text, Rapunzel, which helped us create our own poems. We also learnt what a paragraph is!
 
On Friday, we supported Children in Need by wearing our home clothes for a mufti day! 
Week 1
 
We started our new half term off with a bang this week with the introduction of our new topic, The Gunpowder Plot! We discussed how Bonfire Night is remembered every 5th November because of Guy Fawkes' acts of treason against the then king, King James I. We learnt how Guy Fawkes and the other plotters very secretly planted gunpowder barrels in the Houses of Parliament. We did our very best to be secretive and tiptoed around the school with our own lanterns (just like Guy Fawkes had) to collect our barrels of 'gunpowder' to take them out onto the playground for our very own firework display of biodegradable confetti!
The children have had great fun exploring our new role play area, The Plotter's Den and have been creating secret plans and maps on scrolls of aged paper.
 
We had a very exciting end to the week with some sparkler fun! We enjoyed making shapes and writing our names in the air. We also earned our school house teams extra points as Mr Tidey was so impressed with how sensible and safety conscious we all were!
We have begun reading a new book for our English sessions this half term - Rapunzel by Beth Woollvin. The children delighted in the illustrations and twisted version of the fairytale. We had enormous fun stepping into the roles of the main characters and practicing facial expressions for each!
Autumn 1
Week 7
 
This week we have been focusing on art through dance. We were inspired by Luis Casanova Sorolla, a movement artist. We watched how he created works of art by dipping ballerina's shoes in paint and we discussed how the artworks differed depending on the type of music they danced to. We had a go at exploring this technique, dancing to music from The Nutcracker, and had tremendous fun tip toeing, balancing, spinning, stomping and changing tempo. 
Over the course of Black History Month, we have been learning about the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr. We have talked about how people of different skin colours have not always been treated fairly. We used an egg demonstration to discuss how we may look different on the outside, like our brown and pale eggs, but that they looked the same on the inside.
 
The children have been really taken with Martin Luther King and came up with a range of words to describe him: heroic, brave, took risks, kind, helpful, sharing, smart, clever, not violent.
We have been learning about creatures that hibernate during the winter in Science this week and then created our very own hedgehogs out of clay, complete with quills and googly eyes!
Week 6 
 
In Geography this week we discussed the reason why we have seasons and have explored how, because the Earth is tilted, we have different types of weather during different stages of our orbit around the sun.
 
This week in Maths we have been looking at different ways to make and represent numbers. This is helping us solve our addition number sentences by giving us lots of number knowledge to refer to.
We joined forces with Chestnut Class for our wax resist Art session this week. We collected autumnal leaves which we then drew in crayon. Then we thought carefully about which colour inks we'd need to apply and explored which order would produce the best results. The children created stunning wax resist leaf paintings - Definitely worth a visit to see this in our Art Exhibition on Thursday 24th October!
Week 5
 
We've had an especially creative week this week! We made our own snowflakes from sparkly pipe cleaners and added crystals to make each one unique - just like real snowflakes.
 
We also explored the work of nature artist Andy Goldsworthy and tried to recreate similar patterns from natural objects we collected for ourselves.
 
In English, we have been putting our creativity to use in our storytelling. We have been using adjectives and the conjunction 'and' to join sentences and ideas within our versions of 'Finding Fred Bear', a class story we are writing. Watch this space!
Week 4
 
This week saw the arrival of our much anticipated Weather Station! The children have been watching weather reports in readiness and had such fun creating their own using the new vocabulary we have learned - see if they can tell you what a Meteorologist is! 
In Maths this week we have been using the + and = symbols to write and represent addition number sentences. We have been adding all sorts of objects - train carriages, bricks, counters and children!
In Computing, we have been exploring mark making in Paint. We used various tools to create our digital art work and then printed it out.
In Art this week we had a go at creating continuous line observational drawings of shells, crystals and stones. The children found it so funny and unnatural not to lift their pens off of the paper and to connect parts of their sketches they wouldn't normally do so! We all persevered, however, and the children loved it and didn't want to stop! 
Week 3
 
This week the children were extremely excited to use our handmade brushes inspired by artist Laura Crane. We took them outside to test out using only black paint as we wanted to focus on exploring line and the different types of marks we could achieve with them. The children absolutely loved this and were keen to test out each other's brushes to compare results. 
 
In English we became Attic Explorers. The children enjoyed sifting through various items to look for Old Bear. We compiled lots of adjectives to use in our list poems whilst searching under, behind, inside and in front of weird and wonderful treasures.
 
We learnt how to use part whole models in Maths this week. We used our number bonds knowledge to help us split the number 10 into two parts.
This week we have continued with our topic on Weather and Seasons. Whilst listening to Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons', we felt inspired to explore colour and line to express how each section of the music made us feel. The children were extremely engaged and created some beautiful pieces - feel free to pop in to have a look!
 
We continued this further into our PE session and explored different movements as if we were autumn leaves falling from the trees.
 
We had a visit from a local Jay this week, fondly nicknamed Jayson! He was extremely friendly and the children loved seeing him. 
Week 2
 
We've had a fabulous first full week in year 1, exploring our new classroom! 
 
We also met our new Science teacher, Mrs Fourie for a very exciting first Science lesson on Seasons and Weather. We had interesting discussions about what we observed in different areas in our school grounds through magnifying glasses.
In Maths this week we have been focusing on subitising - being able to visually see a number of objects instantly without needing to count them out one at a time. We have used this to help us recognise that the numbers 6,7,8 and 9 are '5 and a bit'. We have also been comparing groups of objects up to 20 to decide which has 'more' and which has 'less'. 
In our first Art session we looked at how some artists explore the world around them to help them find inspiration. The children were particularly taken with artist Laura Crane, The Brush Maker, and so we took to the school field and craft cupboard to collect various items in order to create our own paint brushes - We are extremely eager to paint with these next week!
Learning Conversations
Your Child's Learning
 
Please find below half termly curriculum overviews and subject knowledge organisers linked to your child's learning this year. These documents provide details of the key knowledge the children are expected to learn across the sequence of learning. We would encourage parents and carers to look at these with their children and regularly spend time discussing the facts on the sheets.