This week marked an exciting beginning to our new Year 1 topic, Houses and Homes. The children have thrown themselves into the learning with enthusiasm, curiosity, and plenty of creative ideas. From exploring stories to investigating the past, it has been a week full of rich discussion and hands‑on experiences.

One of the highlights of the week was our class story “ That Pecky Rat”, a character who lives in a truly dreadful rubbish bin instead of a warm, welcoming home. The tale sparked lively conversations about settings, feelings, and how our surroundings can affect us. The children thought carefully about Pecky Rat’s emotions and then used vivid vocabulary to describe his revolting bin. They produced some wonderfully expressive adjectives and similes, including phrases such as “green bin juices” and “the bin is as slimy as a snail.” Their descriptive writing showed real imagination and just the right amount of squeamish delight!

Building on the story, the children practised using adjectives and similes to enhance their own sentences. They worked on describing settings in detail and choosing words that help a reader picture a scene clearly. This early focus on rich vocabulary is helping to strengthen their confidence as writers.

We were also delighted to welcome Mr Stok, brought in amazing artifacts to tell us all about houses and homes in the past. The children learned how homes have changed over time, discovering differences in the belongings people had, the ways people cooked, washed and kept warm. His visit helped the children make meaningful links between past and present, and they asked excellent questions throughout.

In maths, Year 1 has continued to develop their understanding of subtraction. This week’s focus was on finding the difference, using a range of practical methods such as number lines, counting back, and using objects or drawings. The children worked confidently and are beginning to explain their thinking using mathematical language.