Shapes, Stories and Island History – Year 1 Shine This Term!

Miss Westmore • February 13, 2026

Shapes, Stories and Island History – Year 1 Shine This Term!

Miss Westmore • February 13, 2026

A creative and engaging term of history, science, maths and storytelling for our enthusiastic Year 1 class.

TL;DR:

Learned about the history of the Isle of Wight and changes over time.

Investigated materials and their properties through experiments.

Explored 2D and 3D shapes, patterns and tangrams.

Wrote creative stories and character descriptions.

Created outdoor Earth Art using natural materials.

This term, Year One have been incredibly busy and have shown such enthusiasm for their learning!


In History, we have been exploring the fascinating history of the Isle of Wight. The children have loved learning about how the island has changed over time. They asked thoughtful questions and enjoyed comparing the Isle of Wight in the past with how it looks today. It has been wonderful to see them developing their understanding of chronology and talking confidently about “then” and “now”.


In Science, we have been investigating everyday materials. The children have explored a variety of materials such as wood, plastic, metal, glass and fabric, learning to describe their properties using scientific vocabulary like “waterproof”, “transparent” and “flexible”. We carried out some exciting experiments, including testing which materials were best for keeping things dry and investigating which materials were strongest. There were lots of predictions, careful observations and big smiles as we discovered our results!


In Maths, we have been focusing on both 2D and 3D shapes. The children have been identifying, naming and describing shapes by their properties, including counting sides, faces and vertices. They have created repeating patterns, built 3D shapes and even explored tangrams to make pictures and solve shape puzzles.


Our English lessons have been full of creativity. The children have written fantastic character descriptions, thinking carefully about appearance and personality. Over the past couple of weeks, they have designed their own imaginative characters and written short stories about their character bravely defeating a monster! We have been so impressed with their exciting vocabulary and storytelling skills.


In Art, we embraced the outdoors with Earth Art. Using natural materials such as leaves, sticks, stones and petals, the children created beautiful sculptures and patterns. They worked collaboratively, showing great imagination and care in their designs.


What a brilliant term it has been – we are so proud of all their hard work and creativity!


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