week 6- 11.2.22
This week in plum class we have been really busy in all areas of learning. We are really pleased with how hard everyone is working, well done everyone.
Last week Reception looked closely at the birds, penguins and there habitat (Antarctica). This week we have been learning about the Winter weather in the Arctic and have enjoyed using the story "The Magic Sky" as a stimulus for our learning. We loved learning about the "magic sky" (aka the Northern Lights) this week and the children found the colourful lights amazing!! We learnt that another name for the Northern lights is the Aurora lights. We enjoyed using a paint programme on the IPADs to create our own Northern lights masterpieces.
Later in the week reception enjoyed taking part in an ice experiment. We wanted to find out what makes ice melt and what makes ice melt the quickest. The children made their own predictions and at first they thought that something hot would make the ice melt. After looking at a variety of options they decided that leaving the ice out of the freezer, it would make it melt quickest. We left some ice out to melt, melted some with salt, some with sugar and put some in a warm place. What do you think happened? Can you remember?
Year one continued their geographical learning this week with focus on the UK. We looked closely at a map of the UK with focus on its four countries (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) and surrounding seas (North Sea, Irish sea and English Channel). The children had fun cutting and sticking flags to label the countries within the UK and had a go at labelling the seas. As the week progressed, we had fun using Google earth to look around the UK and then landmarks in England. Some children recognised the angel of the North and the Houses of parliament/big ben.
On Wednesday, we began talking about the Jewish celebration, passover. Watch this video with your child at home to recap the meaning of passover. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zmq6sbk
Did you know passover marks the time that evil passed over the Jews and they were kept safe from God? To celebrate, Jewish people have a big feast called the Seder meal. As part of our learning, we had a go at writing instructions to make our own bread. Can you remember what bread represents? Next week we will use our instructions to make our own bread.
This week we have also been discussing how to keep safe on the internet/whilst using online games. We spent lots of time talking about what the internet is for, what games children like to play and how to keep safe. The children understood that they should always show their family what they are doing on their computers, tablets, phones etc and if they see something strange they should go and speak to a grown up. Please continue to reiterate this message at home and monitor closely what your child is accessing on devices. Please remember to think about the age appropriateness of some apps.
As always we spend time developing our handwriting on Friday afternoons. Please keep focusing on letter formation and correct tripod pencil grip when your child is writing at home.
In music we continue to have fun listening to rock songs. We listen and appraise first and think about what we like, dislike and which instruments we can hear. Then we have a go at following the beat/rhythm and pulse of the song. After all of this, we continue to learn another part of our rock song "I wanna play in a band". Can your child sing some of the words for you at home?
As well as all of our topic learning, we continue to develop important mathematical skills. Reception have focused on the numbers 6,7,8 and 9 together. We enjoyed developing our quick subitizing skills and played a game of 6,7,8,9 bingo and had fun making our own bingo cards.
We also spent some time working out one more/one less than numbers within 10. Lots of us understood one more than but needed reminders to count backwards for one less. Keeo working on this at home.
Year one have continued to develop their understanding of numbers within 20. We have been busy completing number lines and comparing numbers and amounts using the signs <,> and =. This has tied in nicely to continue developing our understanding of one more/one less within 20. Lots of us are still getting mixed up with one less than. We will keep working on this.
Later in the week year one had fun developing their understanding/ vocabulary surrounding capacity. We had fun filling containers to match the correct vocabulary- empty, nearly empty, half full nearly full and full. It was a wet but fun job! Most of us used the vocab correctly. Could you fill containers at home to match these words?
Another busy week with some lovely sunny (but chilly) weather! Fingers crossed for sunnier, Spring weather next week.
Take care, Miss F