10.3.23
What a cold and chilly week it has been in Plum Class! We have had lots of fun in the snow and as usual we have been very busy in the classroom!
In our maths learning at the beginning of the week we have learning about pairs of numbers and how some number have an 'odd' amount with one left over. We all started with a toy and had to find our matching pair. There are 25 children in Plum Class so we realised that 25 is an odd amount. We looked carefully at the shapes of numicon and we could see a clear pattern. The odd number numicon ; 1,3,5 ,7 and 9 all had an extra one on top all by itself without a buddy - we have decided that we will try to remember the odd numbered numicon as being the shapes that look like somebody is sitting on a toilet as this makes us all chuckle!
Our maths towards the end of the week focussed on us combining two groups to work out how many all together. We had a go at choosing some under the sea creatures to inspire our own number stories. For example, 2 star fish add 3 seahorses equals 5 all together. For those that were able, we had a go at recording these number stories on whiteboards and part whole models. We need a bit more practise at saying our number stories aloud! For extra practise, why not create your own number stories at home? For example, 2 plates and 1 bowl equals 3 altogether. Or, 4 socks and 4 shoes equals 8 altogether. I would love to see you getting creative and making your own number stories at home!
When out for a walk at the weekend why not play a game with your child where you take turns to point to people's doors as you pass, asking is that an odd or even number? You could also ask your child to collect a selection of toys - if there is enough to share equally between the two of you they have an even amount but if there is 1 left over there is an odd amount - we would love to see some of this consolidation of the concept at home on the learning journals!
In our topic learning this week we continued our learning about the story Mama Panya's Pancakes. We focused on the characters, setting and the story language. We spent time creating large scale story maps to retell the story with our friends. Many of us were really great at storytelling focusing on using first, then, next etc and discussing the different settings within the plot.
We then moved on to reading Handa's Surprise another story exploring African culture, this time with the focus on the different colourful fruits! We enjoyed exploring some of these fruits for ourselves, learning some names we did not already know. We felt the different fruits and enjoyed guessing what we thought they might be as well as practising some wonderful adjectives to describe what we could see, feel and smell. After this we then had a tasting session. Many of us had not tried an avocado before or a papaya and there were some mixed reactions to the different textures! We were also surprised at how different the fruits looked on the inside - avocado was bright green like 'witches slime' and papaya looked like 'frogspawn' according to some of our children!
We all had a go at being talented tool users and with some support we practised holding a knife correctly to help chop up the remainder of the fruits to blend into a yummy smoothie. Our pencil grip came in really handy here as we had to hold the knife in a similar tripod grasp. The smoothie was delicious and it went down a storm!
Writing has taken off this week in Plum class and we have enjoyed creating our own books inspired by the stories we have read this week, the Winter weather and our many interests. As we read books and create them, I am continuing to encourage the children to think about who the characters are and what the setting is. This is something plum class find a bit confusing.
In our Jigsaw session this week we have been continuing to think about being our best healthy selves! We took part in ‘We like to move it, move it!’ with lots of exercise to become super duper fit! We really enjoyed the bean game! We had a think back to last week and remembered some of the sports and exercises we thought of and had a go at acting them out ourselves! We were brilliant at showing these to our friends who had to try to guess which sport it was.
As our RE sessions this half term are focussed on ‘Easter’, we listened very carefully to the story of Palm Sunday. We had another look at the palm cross and we compared it to a palm leaf. We thought about how the leaf had changed shape and we found out that the palm cross reminds Christians that, although the crowds welcomed Jesus, some people were jealous of him. Tessa our RE doll helped us with our learning again this week.
Have a lovely and restful weekend and I shall see you all on Monday!
Miss F