Year 1 - Who lives in a house like this?

There has been a real buzz of excitement since the start of the Spring term in Year 1. First of all the bubbling anticipation of the ‘Big Reveal’ of the Take One Picture painting. The children found it hilarious that the teachers had to go back to school (in the National Art Gallery) to learn all about ‘Surprised’ by Henri Rousseau. The children listened to a soundscape for the painting first and had to close their eyes and use their listening skills and their imagination to build up an image in their minds as to what the painting might look like. They heard things like the pitter-patter of raindrops, the rumbling of thunder and the loud growl of a large animal which really took them by surprise! When the painting was finally revealed the discussions with partners just flowed and they had so many ‘I wonder’ thoughts. We wrote these down and this has given us a fabulous starting point for the child initiated learning which will take place just before half term. On top of all of this excitement came our Topic lessons. This half term we are focusing on houses and what a better way to start than by looking closely at the one in which they live. Each child brought in a photo of their house and we loved asking the ‘through the keyhole’ question “Who lives in a house like this?” We were fascinated to see such an enormous variety of different styles of house. We looked at the materials used to build different houses and also the shapes and height of each building. This encouraged good observational skills for everyone because they then had to make their own house out of cardboard boxes and add the detail to make it look as much like their own house as possible. The final models were truly amazing and Year 1 decided to put all of the houses together at the end to make their very own ‘Gateway City’ in ‘Toppingville’! It was so lovely to see the children who finished their own models, then offer their help and creative skills to help their friends complete their project. We really hope you enjoy looking through the photos of our creations.