This half term our big question will be ......

Who is the best Traditional Tale character?

Week 1

On Monday Dragonfly Class came back from PE to find that there were some GIANT footprints in the classroom. We had absolutely no idea where they had come from.

The footprints had been walked from our Fairy Tale castle all the way through the classroom and back into our outside area. The children decided that the only person who could have made such big footprints must have been a GIANT!!!!!

After enjoying the story of Jack and the Beanstalk we all agreed that the footprints definitely belonged to the Giant. 

After talking about the giant and sharing the story of Jack and the Beanstalk the children enjoyed drawing their own giants and they came up with so many amazing words to describe the giant, what he looks like and his personality. Dragonfly Class are doing such an amazing job using their knowledge of phonics to write independently. 

Throughout the week Dragonfly Class have been amazing scientists. We have been investigating how we plant and grow beans. We have been thinking about whether beans need light, water and soil to grow. We had great fun planting our beans and we have also created a scientific experiment to help us answer our questions.

Do beans need light to grow? Dragonfly Class decided to place one bean in the light and a second bean in a dark cupboard.

Do beans need soil to grow? Dragonfly Class decided to place one bean in some soil and the second bean in some wet hand towels.

Do beans need water to grow? Dragonfly Class decided to water one bean and keep the second bean dry.

We are so excited to see which beans grow, we will post regular updates to show how our experiment is going.

On Friday Dragonfly Class carried out an experiment with some skittles. After placing them around the outside of a plate we poured water on the circle of skittles and sat back and watched something amazing happen right before our eyes. We observed the colour disappearing form the skittles while making a rainbow circle.

We decided to investigate what would happen with some magic beans if we placed them into water or a different type of liquid. After sorting our beans into colours we placed each group of magic beans into a different liquid. We wanted to find out what would happen to our beans if we placed them into

vinegar

salt water

warm water

fizzy sprite

blackcurrant

bubble bath

and even washing up liquid.

In maths this week we have been learning to combine two groups together and find out how many there are altogether. We have been adding 2 numbers together to find out a total using the language combine, add, plus, altogether, total and equals. We have even started to record our findings in a number sentence.

What a busy first week back! 

Week 2

This week in Dragonfly Class  we have been learning about height and length using the language taller, shorter and longer. We have been comparing height and length using the language taller than, shorter than and longer than. We have been comparing the height and length of each other while also comparing the towers which we build and different toys. While comparing height we have also been learning how to measure height using bricks. I wonder how many bricks it would take to measure your favourite toy? How many bricks would it take to measure the bath? How tall is your wardrobe? Maybe you could have a go at measuring things around your house. What is the tallest thing you can find? What is the longest thing you can find? We have had lots of fun this week measuring height and length.

Of course Dragonfly Class needed to celebrate Pancake Day by making some scrummy pancakes. After reading Mr Wolf's Pancakes Dragonfly Class wrote a list of ingredients which they would need to make their pancakes. The children wrote their list of ingredients and helped to make their pancakes before eating their pancakes with a squirt of lemon and a sprinkle of sugar. They were delicious!

World Book Day

This week Dragonfly Class have been celebrating World Book Day. We have been reading a variety of Traditional Tales including 'The Gingerbread Man', 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'Little Red Riding Hood'. As well as enjoying these traditional tales we have also been reading some alternative tales which have been set around the world. This week we have enjoyed 'Little Red and the very hungry Lion' written by Alex T Smith. Throughout the week we have been promoting a love of reading. Maybe you can enjoy some of your favourite stories at home. It was great to see the children dressed up as their favourite book characters. They looked amazing. 

Week 3

This week in Dragonfly Class we have been learning the story of 'The Three Little Pigs'. After reading our story we decided to think about which materials would be strong enough to make a house for the pigs which the wolf would not be able to blow down. The children explored a range of materials including plasticine, clay, building bricks, building blocks and junk modelling. All the children made their own house and created some fantastic designs. We all decided that the house made from plasticine and clay were very strong. Some of the building bricks also made strong houses as long as we built them carefully. 

Here are some of our designs.

Once we had built our house we asked a friend to take a photograph of it.

This week we have also been learning about shapes. We have been learning about 3D shapes, we have been learning their names and thinking about some of their properties. We have been exploring these shapes by building and by rolling them down drain pipes. I wonder which shapes rolled?

Also this week Dragonfly Class learnt all about how to follow a recipe. We learnt about what ingredients were and we used the recipe to make Gingerbread Men. We took them home to eat. We hope they were yummy!

Use the link below to listen to our Gingerbread Man story.

During the week Dragonfly Class looked at their Bean experiment. We checked all of our beans to see which ones were growing. We noticed that the beans which had water in were starting to grow. We have decided that beans probably do need water to make them grow. The Beans in the soil with water are growing really tall now! Soil is obviously helping them to grow. Our beans in the dark are growing but they don't look very green. We think they may grow but not very strong. Look out Giant, here we come!!!

Finally this week we have been learning how to write speech bubbles and we have been learning all about Pablo Picasso and his Cubism style of painting. We have all been painting some amazing faces. Pictures to follow......

Week 4

This week in Dragonfly Class we have been enjoying 'Science Week'. We have been learning about famous scientists including Marie Curie and David Attenborough and we have been carrying out some fun and exciting science experiments including sand volcanoes and travelling water experiments. We have all really enjoyed being scientists.

A special well done to Stanley who created some fantastic home learning about David Attenborough and Arja who completed her home learning about Charles Darwin.

On Wednesday Dragonfly Class had an amazing morning in their Fairy Tale workshop. All the children took part and they had such an fantastic time. They went into the magical forest, tricked the Evil Queen and pretended to be the Dwarfs! They even used magic fairy dust to make some spells!

In maths this week we have been learning about measuring time. We have been seeing how many claps or jumps we can do in 30 seconds and 1 minute. I wonder how many times you can run around the garden in 1 minute? How many star jumps can you do in 1 minute? What can you do in 2 minutes? or even 5 minutes?

This week we have also been counting out groups of 9 and 10. We have been using a 10 frame to help us identify sets of 9 and 10. This week we have also been learning to recognise numbers 1-10 and we have been learning to order numbers 1-10 on a number line.

I wonder if you can count out a set of 9 objects and a set of 10 objects? If you have a set of number cards are you able to order these numbers 1-10 or even 1-20?

During the week Dragonfly Class have been reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears as well as enjoying a Ghanaian Goldilocks story from Africa. We have enjoyed so many traditional tale stories, I wonder if any of Dragonfly Class are able to retell their favourite traditional tale? This week we have been innovating the story of The Gingerbread Man, we have been writing our own stories including The Pizza Man, The Ice Cream Man, The Doughnut Man and even a Jammie Dodger man!!! We have started with writing the beginning of our own stories, next week we will be writing the middle of our stories. I wonder what adventures our characters will have? 

Next week we will start learning about the Royal family and getting ready for our trip to Windsor Castle. 

Thank you very much to Stanley and his family for bringing in some Newts and Caddis Flies for us to see. We really enjoyed their visit.

George and Rainbow are off on their adventures with Baxter and Ava-Marie! They are going to be having so much fun! George and Rainbow were very excited.

Week 5

This week we have continued to innovate our story of 'The Gingerbread Man'. We have been writing the middle of our stories thinking careful about the characters and what they might be doing. While writing our stories we have continued to learn about how to write a full sentence. We have been learning about capital letters and how to use them correctly when writing. We have also been learning about full stops and how to use them at the end of our sentences.

During the week we started learning about the different Kings and Queens, we used the National Portrait Gallery to help us to learn about the Kings and Queens from the past. We talked about what they were wearing and compared them to Queen Elizabeth II. We also looked at how Queen Elizabeth has changed over the years. We placed the Kings and Queens on a timeline to show who was the oldest.

In maths we have been learning about the composition of 9 and 10. We have been exploring the different ways of making 9 and 10 and learning how to record them. We have also been learning to count back from 10, enjoying the rhyme 10 in the bed. Can you sing the rhyme at home? Can you count back from 10 to 0? Are you able to name the different ways of making 9 and 10? How many ways can you think of to make 9 or 10?

This week Dragonfly Class have also been enjoying learning in the glorious sunshine. 

Dragonfly Class had an amazing day at Windsor Castle. As usual the children behaved impeccably, they were a credit to the school. We were all so very proud of them.

Week 6

During the final week of the Spring Term Dragonfly Class were excited to have a visit from Tinkerbell! Tinkerbell arrived with an invitation inviting the children to a Royal Banquet and Ball. After receiving an invitation to a Royal Ball, Tinkerbell also delivered food for the Royal Banquet. Dragonfly Class were extremely excited to decorate their biscuits with icing before making themselves a sandwich to eat during the banquet. During the ball the children danced beautifully with their partners, they all enjoyed such an amazing day. It was a fabulous end to an amazing half term.

Click the link below to see the beautiful Ballroom dancing performed by Dragonfly Class.

On Thursday, Dragonfly Class were extremely lucky to receive a suitcase from Chertsey Museum containing Victorian toys. The children enjoyed looking at and handling the victorian toys. They compared the old toys with those which they enjoy today. They identified the materials which the old toys were made from and compared them to their own toys identifying how the old and new toys work. The children were very excited to think that they were playing with toys which once may have been played with by a princess or a prince.

On Friday Dragonfly Class joined the school in enjoying their Easter egg hunt! A huge thank you to the PTA for the easter bunnies which they purchased for the children at Beauclerc School. The children had an amazing time on their egg hunt and even better when they were able to exchange their golden egg for a real chocolate bunny!

A very Happy Easter to everyone from all the children and staff in Dragonfly Class.