Exploring Sherwood Forest in Year One

This week, Year One have been immersing themselves in the sights, sounds, and smells of Sherwood Forest as part of their descriptive writing. To spark their imaginations, the children listened to the sounds of bows and arrows, horses galloping, and rivers flowing. They also explored images of the forest, observing the towering trees and leafy pathways. To engage their sense of smell, they experienced the scents of damp grass, soggy mud, and sweet lavender.

Using these sensory experiences, the children crafted their own setting descriptions, incorporating a wide range of adjectives to bring Sherwood Forest to life in their writing.

Here are some examples of what the children have written so far: 

Deep in Sherwood Forest I can see rainbow roses and beautiful leaves shining brightly on the trees. I can hear birds chirping loudly and horses galloping. I can smell muddy moss and the sweet scent of daises. - Luna

Deep in lovely, bright Sherwood Forest I can see Robin Hood lurking with his merry men. I can hear the music of birds. I can smell the fire because they need to keep warm. - Isaac

Deep inside stinky Sherwood Forest I can see giant trees towering over me. I can hear the clip clopping hooves of horses coming my way. I can smell soggy squelchy mud. Help! - Carter

The children had a lovely time going on a senses walk.  They smelt the flowers, wet grass and damp mud.  They felt the smooth conkers, rough bark and hard rocks. They also heard the birds singing, people stomping on the logs, cars driving past and the wind blowing through the trees. They could see the bright colours of spring and collected examples of the colours found using a colour chart.

What amazing fun we had learning about our senses!

We had a fantastic time during World Book Day! We loved coming to school in our Pyjamas too!  All the staff shared their favourite books with us and we did lots of fun activities like: creating a Top Trumps Card for our favourite character; making funny bookmarks and writing book reviews.  We also visited our school library and listened to stories while eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate.  It was bliss! 

In Science, we have been learning all about the parts of our bodies.  We have named some of the internal and external parts of our bodies and explained what  they help us to do.

The Year 1 children have been comparing and ordering length and height. We practised measuring using non-standard units, including cubes and finger spaces. Then, we had a fun, active maths lesson where we compared our heights with our friends. The biggest challenge was ordering the whole of Year 1 by height – here’s the result!

In Year One this term, our topic is 'Myths and Legends'. Today, we received a letter from the Sheriff of Nottingham asking for our help in finding a man named Robin Hood. The children came up with questions about who he might be, who his Merry Men were, and how long ago he lived. This sparked a lively debate about whether Robin Hood was good or bad. After much discussion, we took a vote—22 children believed he was good, while 18 thought he was bad. It will be interesting to see if their opinions change as we continue to learn more!

Badger Class had a fantastic first day back at school after the half-term break! In the afternoon, we made the most of the sunshine with our Tree Huggers session. The children had a great time building bug hotels, digging, and sketching.

We were excited to see flowers beginning to bloom in our flower bed, and some children even dug up potatoes! They suggested that Miss Osborne take them home to make chips for her dinner—what a delicious idea!

It was a wonderful afternoon full of outdoor learning and fun!