Year 1 - Tomlinson Class

Welcome to the Tomlinson Class Page.

Our Class Teacher is Miss Athow.

Did you know we are called Tomlinson Class after the author Jill Tomlinson? Jill Tomlinson has written  lots of books including 'The Owl who was Afraid of the dark' and 'The Cat that wanted to go home'.

Our First Term in Tomlinson Class

We have really enjoyed our first term together in Tomlinson class and have had lots of fun and learnt many new things along the way. Here are what the children have said that they have loved most so far in Year One:

We have loved using the Mighty Writer to help us to retell the story of Little Red Riding Hood and also The Three Little Pigs. The children love coming up with actions for the story and then having a go at writing it, using the Mighty Writer resource to support them.

We were very lucky as we got to walk to the cinema to watch Peter Rabbit. We had lots of fun and very much enjoyed watching the film.

Recently we have been in full swing for Christmas. Tomlinson Class loved performing the Christmas Assembly to all of the grownups. We still have ‘I wish it could be Christmas everyday’ stuck in our heads!

The children were very lucky to receive a visit from Santa in our last week leading up to the Christmas holidays. Santa brought every child a present and we got to have a class party. We ate lots of yummy food, danced, played musical statues and even got to wear our Christmas hats!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Forest School Fortnight,

The last two weeks we have loved participating in Forest School Fortnight in Tomlinson Class. The children have been really engaged with all of the activities and learning that we have completed, even when we had to go outside in the rain!

We have completed many different activities that have linked well to our Superhero Topic that we have this term.

We began the week with a Scavenger hunt. At the start of the day we looked at the different vocabulary that was in the scavenger hunt and discussed the meaning of the words. We had to follow the instructions and look for a variety of different things, such as: something feathery, something curved, and something that makes a noise. At the end of our scavenger hunt we found a treasure chest and in the treasure chest were wooden disks for us to decorate.

We were also very lucky to have a visit from Tony the Park keeper. He spoke to us about different birds, what they look like and also the sounds that they make. Tony then showed us a real bird’s nest that he had found at the common. We all got the chance to work with a partner to build a bird’s nest using the resources that Tony brought with him. We had lots of fun and we then got to place our birds’ nests in the hedgerow

We spent time outside making Superhero Lairs under the tree canopy. We worked in groups to design a lair for a superhero, using all of the natural resources that we could find outside. We had to use our discussion skills to explain the different parts of our lair and why we had added those parts in.

Later on in the week we completed a camouflage activity. We went into the Wildlife area and had to look out for and collect different coloured worms (string). We then discussed which ones were easy to see and which ones were harder to find. We talked about what camouflage is, how it works and why we struggled to spot the green and brown worms. The children then got to make a camouflage mask using the different natural resources in the Wildlife area.

We have really enjoyed Forest School so far and we are excited to see what next week brings!

Science Week

In Tomlinson Class the children love to be Scientists. At the beginning of the term we had Science Week and we got to take part in lots of exciting investigations and a Science workshop with a nutty professor! The children also loved presenting their class assembly all about Science.

During Science week we carried out a variety of different Scientific Investigations where the children practised and demonstrated many different Scientific Enquiry skills. We carried out an investigation on ‘whether the size of a paper ball effected how far it could be flicked.’ The children loved using their maths skills of measuring to see how far the different sized paper balls travelled. We presented Newspaper reports as a creative way of sharing what we learnt when investigating a substance called Oobleck. The children worked in groups to share their findings and loved using drama as a way of communicating what they learnt through a recent investigation. The Investigation was all about whether you could walk on Oobleck or not. We also took part in the Brilliant Birds Stem challenge which is all about engineering. The children were given the task of creating a bird from the past, present or future but they could only use three pieces of card, glue and scissors. It was lovely to see how creative the children were with this activity and it was great to see that all of the birds looked completely different!

The Scientist who ran our workshop covered many different topics all to do with Science. The children really loved that the adults had to get involved and do funny things! The Scientist briefly discussed and demonstrated what particles are like in solids, liquids and gases and she used children to help her to demonstrate this. The children loved the different chemical reactions that we saw! We observed a chemical reaction in a can and also a reaction in a coke bottle, which exploded outside. The Scientist told us the different elements that we need to create fire and she set fire to a piece of cotton wool. Lastly we looked at what lift is. Lift is what keeps an aeroplane in the air. Mrs Maple and Miss Athow had to hold a roll of toilet paper whilst the scientist used a leaf blower to show us how lift works! Mr Jacob also had to help by holding a huge inflatable ball. The Scientist used the leaf blower again to keep the ball in the air without anyone touching it!

We have really enjoyed our Science work and also being Scientists this term in Tomlinson Class. We are excited to see what Science we are going to do next term.

Summer Term

Tomlinson class have really enjoyed our ‘funtrition’ sessions this half term. The sessions were run by Premiere Sport and the children learnt all about healthy and unhealthy foods, the quantity of food that we should consume and also how to eat a balanced diet. The children got to try a variety of different foods including, cereals, breads and dairy foods. They also enjoyed creating a healthy eating plate where they learnt all about the different food groups. The children looked at what food comes under each food group and the average quantity that they should be consuming. In our final session the children got to work in groups to make rocky road. They loved doing this and enjoyed getting messing and stuck in! As an end of term treat, the children then got to eat the rocky road during the afternoon!

Before we broke up for the May half term, I asked the children what their favourite part of the term had been. The majority verdict was our school trip to Woburn Safari Park. It was a lovely day and the children all had a lot of fun. We arrived and completed the road safari where we saw lots of animals. The children enjoyed driving through the monkey enclosure and liked watching them climb over the cars! We then went to the meerkat enclosure where we had a talk and learnt lots of exciting facts about meerkats. Finally we got to eat our lunch (the children wanted to do this at 10am!!) and we split off into our groups to explore the foot safari. We all had a great day and it was lovely to see the children with beaming smiles, all day! 

This half term in Tomlinson Class we started our weekly Forest school lessons. The children have had lots of fun so far and have enjoyed learning the different routines and expectations of Forest School. During our first session we looked at boundaries and potential hazards. We have to put out blue flags each week to show where the boundaries are for our sessions. We also have to put out red flags next to any potential hazards and the children take ownership of identifying these.

During our second week we had lots of fun learning how to use peelers. We got to work in small groups to have a go at peeling a carrot. When the children were not peeling the carrots they would be completing some science work. During Science we have been looking at common garden and wild plants. The children really enjoyed going on plant hunts around our school area to see if they could identify any of these plants.

Finally, this week we had a go at peeling Elder wood. We used the technique of peeling that we learnt last week when we were peeling the carrots. The children found peeling the Elder wood harder but they showed really good perseverance and by the end of the session were able to peel most of the Elder wood that they had. This week, when the children weren’t completing the peeling activity, the children had a go at using natural resources to make a skeleton. The children then had to use their story telling skills and come up with a story all about how and why the skeleton could have ended up in our school. The children loved this activity and were very creative.