Year 1 blog – Queen's Hill Primary School

Year 1 – Comparing Cold Climates

5th December 20255th December 2025

In year 1, children have been learning about cold climates. They have learned about Antarctica in the South Pole and how penguins have adapted to live in the Antarctic conditions. They then compared this to the Sahara desert and looked at how camels have adapted to live in the hot desert. By using venn diagrams, they were able to think about what was the same, and what was different between these cold and hot climates. Finally, they learned about how the Arctic is an ocean at the North Pole which freezes over. Alongside their learning of cold climates, they made moveable penguins in DT and painted digital penguins in IT.

Have you seen this penguin?

14th November 2025

On Tuesday, Year 1 had an intruder in their classrooms! We saw clues in the class such as ice, frozen fish and webbed foot prints. After checking the CCTV, it became clear that the culprit was a penguin.

Year 1 tried to find the penguin by making some wanted posters. They wrote some fantastic descriptions of the penguin.

Year 1 Toy Museum

7th November 2025

This week, Year 1 had fun visiting the toy museum! They got the coach to Strangers’ Hall and met the Toy Maker who showed them some amazing old toys. The children sorted, made and tested different toys. They given got a chance to explore the toy room and look at toys that were over 100 years old! What a fantastic trip.

Year 1 Autumn Walk

10th October 2025

Year 1 had fun on their autumn walk today. They explored the outdoor classroom and went on a hunt for signs of autumn. The children found different coloured leaves, acorns and even some mushrooms! We all had a photo by a tree with yellow leaves and we will check back later in the year to see if the leaves have changed.

The Gingerbread Man

3rd October 2025

This week, children in year 1 had a mystery to solve. After lunch, there was a mess in the classrooms. Children wondered what could have happened and wrote ideas on PostIt notes. At the end of the day, CCTV footage was discovered of the gingerbread man and friends in the classroom!! Children are now busy learning the story of the gingerbread man which they will be performing to their buddies in Year 4.

Imagination Not Included…

26th September 2025

This week, children have been learning the poem ‘Imagination Not Included’ by Mark Bird. They will be performing this to buddies in year 1 next week.

During Busy learning, children have been choosing to make their own version of our story map and they have been writing about their favourite toys.

They have also been using their imagination to transform cardboard boxes into rockets (complete with engine and rocket boosters), cars, desks, beds, costumes. They even made a cardboard box from playdough!

Great imagination Year 1!

A mystery box!

26th September 202518th September 2025

Year 1 had a mystery delivery last week! A strange box arrived in our classroom in the afternoon. The children guessed what might be inside the box and were showing great curiosity. We opened the box and found a book inside called ‘Not a Box’. We read it and found that it is about how a cardboard box can be anything you want it to be if you use your imagination!

Settling in to Year 1

4th September 2025

Year 1 have settled well into the new school year. We have spent some time getting back into school routines and the children have enjoyed exploring the resources in their new classrooms. They have been enjoying using marble run, playing in the small world area, creating their own spiral art and much more! We are so proud of how they have started the year.

Exploring watercolours

20th July 2025

Year 1 have enjoyed exploring watercolours. Artist Emma Burleigh explained how she uses watercolours in her art work. She lets a picture emerge from marks on the page, allowing the paint to ‘do its own thing’. She also explained different paint techniques including using only two or three colours, colour washing and ‘wet in wet’. Children enoyed exploring the way the paint flows on the page.

A Day of Welcome

20th June 2025

Last Friday, the whole school took part in the Schools of Sanctuary: Day of Welcome. During the day, they learnt about the lives of refugees and how we can make our community in Queen’s Hill welcoming. This years theme was ‘Community is our Superpower’.

Children in Year 1 learnt about different playground games that children play from around the world. They played ‘Chinlone’ and ‘Oon’ from Myanmar and ‘Cossak’ from Ukraine. They shared these games with their buddies in Year 4 too.

Children in Year 3 & 4 took part in a live lesson with schools across the country to hear stories from Dina Nayeri about her own personal experiences of being a refugee as a child and fleeing to the United States of America. As part of the lesson, children had the opportunity to try some Taekwondo moves, as taking up this sport was something that helped Dina feel part of her new community when she moved to America.

In Year 5, children designed and wrote postcards to refugee children, welcoming them to Queen’s Hill. They explained how they would be welcomed into the community. Collaboratively, Year 5, along with their buddies in Year 2, designed houses for Moomins after reading about the displacement of the Moomins in ‘The Moomins and the Great Flood’ by Tove Jansson.