Willow Class (Reception & Year 1)
Welcome to Willow Class 2025/26
Welcome to the Willow class page! We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead with lots of learning and fun!
Teacher:
Miss Wilkinson
Teaching Partner:
Mrs Smith
Spring Term
Spring 2:
This term in DT, we have been having lots of fun exploring fruits and vegetables and learning how to identify the differences between them. We discussed where they grow and even visited an allotment to see this firsthand, which helped bring our learning to life. The children were excited to see a variety of fruits and vegetables growing and to talk about how they are cared for.
Back in the classroom, we continued our learning by choosing our own ingredients to make smoothies. We practised important cutting and food preparation skills, learning how to use tools safely and carefully. The children showed great enthusiasm and creativity when designing their smoothies, thinking about different flavours and combinations. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they prepared and tasted their creations, and everyone enjoyed sharing their ideas and experiences with each other.
Spring 1:
It’s been a term full of curiosity, laughter and brilliant scientific thinking!
We became body experts, learning to identify and name different body parts and discovering how they help us move, explore and experience the world around us. Our classroom transformed into a hub of investigation as we carried out hands-on activities all about our five senses.
We put our sense of sight to the test by carefully navigating around obstacles and thinking about how our eyes help to keep us safe. One of the biggest highlights was our mystery scent challenge — the children loved using their noses to sniff, guess and describe a variety of surprising smells!
We also became sound detectives, listening carefully to different noises and exploring how sound changes. We discovered that when we move further away from a sound, it becomes quieter, and we had lots of fun testing this out ourselves.
Autumn Term
Autumn 2:
This term we focused on recipes and enjoyed reading the story The Gruffalo Crumble. The children planned a party for Gruffalo and his friends, which involved writing a list of items needed for the party and creating their own recipe for a mud pie.
At the end of the unit, we created our own party. The children made their own Terrible Tusks and Fox’s Sandwiches, following recipes from the book. This was a fun and practical way for them to apply what they had learnt.
Autumn 1:
This term in art, the children have been busy exploring and creating! We started by looking at the artist Bridget Riley and had lots of fun experimenting with different types of lines, using light, heavy, wiggly and straight marks to see what we could create.
Next, we spent time spotting simple shapes in objects and pictures, helping the children see how shapes can be used to build drawings. They then used this idea to make their very own portraits inspired by Paul Klee’s Senecio.
The children’s portraits were wonderful to see and showed just how much effort, understanding and creativity went into their work.
