Primary 1 pupils have been busy bees throughout February and March, engaging in a wide range of activities that support learning across all areas of the Northern Ireland Foundation Stage Curriculum. Through a balance of structured learning and play-based experiences, the children continue to develop their skills, confidence and curiosity about the world around them.
Learning through play remains a key part of life in Primary 1, both indoors and outdoors as the weather begins to improve. The children particularly enjoy exploring the sand house, construction areas, and the art and writing stations set up inside and outside the classroom. Our outdoor role-play shed has recently been transformed into a shop/cafe, complete with a till and a market stall selling fresh fruit, vegetables and farm produce. Through this imaginative play, children develop important language and communication skills, practise early numeracy concepts such as counting and exchanging money, and learn to cooperate and take turns with their peers. Outdoor physical play on the bikes and wiggle cars also continues to be a firm favourite, helping to develop coordination, balance and overall physical development.
Creative and mathematical thinking is encouraged through a variety of hands-on activities. The children love making pictures and patterns using Shape Pattern Blocks, which helps them recognise shapes, create repeating patterns and develop spatial awareness. They have also been using Geo Boards to stretch elastics and create different number shapes and designs, supporting early mathematical understanding while strengthening fine motor skills.
In our more structured literacy sessions, the children have been consolidating their knowledge of initial sounds and practising how to read and build simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words. Before moving on to written worksheets, pupils use a variety of practical and engaging materials to form and build words, allowing them to explore sounds in a fun and meaningful way. These activities support the development of early reading and writing skills while building confidence in recognising and using letter sounds.
We also had great fun celebrating World Book Day. The children visited the school book fair and enjoyed choosing and exploring new books. Many pupils came to school dressed as their favourite story characters, creating lots of excitement throughout the day. Mrs McKee took photographs of everyone in their costumes, and after break the children wrote simple sentences to accompany their pictures, describing who they had dressed up as. This activity helped to promote a love of reading while also supporting early sentence writing.
Music lessons have recently begun with Mrs Hendron, and the children have been thoroughly enjoying this new experience. They particularly love taking part in body percussion activities and using a range of percussion instruments to accompany their lively Spring music pieces. These sessions help children develop rhythm, listening skills and confidence in expressing themselves through music.
Our current topic in World Around Us is Spring on the Farm. As part of this topic, each child created their own farm animal using a paper plate as the base. They used a variety of materials including paint, collage pieces and wool to bring their animals to life. The finished creations now form a colourful and imaginative class display that the children are very proud of. This topic allows pupils to explore seasonal change, farm life and animals while developing their creativity and fine motor skills.
In Numeracy, the children have begun exploring early addition. Using practical materials such as counters and objects, they are learning that when two numbers or sets are added together, the total becomes a larger number. Pupils enjoy recording their answers on whiteboards before progressing to written work in their addition books. Interactive addition games on the classroom whiteboard and computers also provide opportunities for the children to practise their new skills in a fun and engaging way.
This is just a small snapshot of the many activities and learning experiences taking place in Primary 1 during February and March. Every day brings new opportunities for the children to explore, discover and develop their skills, and we look forward to sharing more of their learning and achievements in the months ahead.
