Spring 2 Week 1

Welcome to our new half term and our new big question, ‘Who are the real life super heroes?’

We have spoken about the difference of a comic book or film super hero and a real life super hero that we see in our everyday lives. We read the book ‘Real Superheroes’ and discussed all the people who have helped us like doctors, nurses, firefighters, police, dentists, teachers, postal workers, bus drivers…the list goes on! The children reflected on their own experiences and wrote about a time they recalled when they were helped.

We also looked at all the vehicles the real life super heroes drive, the children drew, painted or collaged a vehicle of their choice. We sorted out the dressing up and the children have been enjoying taking on the role of various real life super heroes. We also set up our new vets’ role play area when the children have been taking care of a variety of sick and injured animals.

At the beginning of the week we learnt about Lent and the reason why we celebrate Pancake Day each year on Shrove Tuesday. The children enjoyed making and tasting the pancakes, they even had a go at tossing them (the playdough versions!)

In maths, we have been looking at numbers 9 and 10. There have been many songs, rhymes and activities throughout the week to help the understanding of the composition of numbers to 10.

You can share the stories and songs at home.

Spring 2 Week 2

This week we focused on the role of a firefighter as part of our big question, ‘Who are the real life super heroes?’ We read the story of Charlie the firefighter and watched videos of real life fire fighter training and tackling real fires. We learnt all the other things that firefighters do to help and rescue people like when people or animals get stuck in places, helping people who have a car crash and we shared our own stories of when we had met firefighters. We looked at the fire engines and all the equipment a fire fighter needs, the children wrote a list of what they would need if they were a fire fighter. We also looked at the history of the London Fire Brigade and compared the equipment we use now to what was used in the past. The children were surprised to hear a huge part of London was burnt away in the great fire of London!

The children used various art techniques to represent fire such as blow painting and tissue tearing, painting and drawing. They used the squirter bottles to put out the ‘flames’ and dressed up as fire fighters and used the hose!

In maths we continued to work with numbers to 10, we used the tens frames to show the number bonds to 10.

Spring 2 Week 3

We came off our normal timetable this week to celebrate world book day and our love of reading stories. Each day we read and focused on a traditional tale, discussing the features and what makes it a traditional tale. 

Firstly, we emerged ourselves in the story of the 3 little pigs. We retold the story using props and small world resources, we made stick puppets to create a puppet show and used the resources outside to build houses for the pigs to live in, even the big bad wolf got a new home!

Our next story was Goldilocks and the 3 bears. We used big, medium and small resources to feed the bears their porridge, we wrote in speech bubbles what we thought the characters would say, retold the story using props and read stories to the 3 bears.

Our last focused story was The Elves and the Shoemaker, we designed our own shoes, practised our threading skills and made muddy footprints using our wellies, action figures and dinosaurs.

World book day was amazing, everyone dressed up so well and couldn't wait to discuss the character they were. We went straight into assembly to take part in the catwalk, it was great fun! Throughout the day we listened to all the stories linked to the characters either from books or videos. We visited our newly revamped library, the children all chose a book and spent some time reading and sharing with the adults and their friends

Thank you for all your effort with the costumes and instilling the love of reading in your children.

Spring 2 Week 4

This week started with the receiving of a letter from the police!

Mollie Maths, our maths puppet has gone missing! The police have asked everyone in Dragonfly class to become police officers, start an investigation, write missing posters and look for clues. Everyone took this very seriously. We set up a temporary police station in class and started looking for clues.

The children filled in missing posters, they used a photograph to help them describe Mollie's features and clothing as well as how she might be feeling. They came up with descriptive words such as 'sad', 'worried', 'scared', 'anxious' and 'frightened'. They have put the posters up around the school. In their role as police officers, the children walked around the whole school indoors and out searching for any clue they could find. Some found evidence of footprints in the mud and on the wooden bench, some found a pair of doll trousers, they used Mollie's photograph to rule them out as they were the wrong colour, they took photos of all the evidence. Some children took on the role of police dogs, they crawled around sniffing for Mollie's scent.

We read the story ‘Officer George’ and learnt about our finger prints and that no one has the same fingerprints, the children enjoyed taking their own fingerprints and looking closely at the patterns. 

We will keep in contact with the police for updates, we hope she comes home soon!

It was also British Science Week, the theme this year is time. In Reception we planned to do a signs of spring walk and investigate time linked to the seasons. On their signs of spring walk, they found flowers, buds, blossom and heard birds. Take a look at the photos and ask your child to explain what they did.

The children also learnt about Alexander Fleming and how he discovered penicillin. The children took part in an experiment by cutting a lemon in half and putting it in a dark cupboard to see how the mould formed.

We were also very lucky as on Friday we had a visit from a firefighter and a paramedic! (Also know as Darcy’s dad and Bonnie’s mum) Butterfly class came over to join in the fun as we listened to all the information about firefighters and paramedics. The children asked questions and got to examine the uniforms and equipment. It was a great afternoon and we were so grateful to the lovely parents who gave up their own time to be with our children.

Spring 2 Week 5

Dragonfly class all became vets this week. We read the story of the zoo vet and spoke about how vets look after wild animals as well as our pets. We then re-visited the differences between fiction and non-fiction books. We looked for the features of a non-fiction text such as titles, contents page, photos, pictures and facts which are true. The children then chose their favourite animal and created a non-fiction fact sheet about them. These we have collated and made a Dragonfly non-fiction book about animals.

Maths was all about 3 dimensional shapes. The children explored the features and learnt the vocabulary to be able to describe and name the shapes. We went on a shape walk to find 3d shapes in our environment.  

They all had a go at some observational art, using water colours they closely observed the colours and shapes of their favourite animal, they then painted these, they look amazing! The children's fine art skills are developing so well.

Another challenge this week was a design and technology project. The children had a design brief to make a toy animal for someone. They started with a cardboard tube and had to decided what they would use and how they would join it to the tube. Once they had decided on their design they went ahead and made it. Again, their skills of joining, cutting and problem solving were amazing. We have displayed all their brilliant work in the classroom to share with everyone.

As well as all this there were lots of independent challenges going on inside and out, the outdoor kitchen was busy and a whole world was created in the outdoor reading area. Take a look at the photos the children have taken to share with you to show you their learning.

Spring 2 Week 6

This week we completed our topic of who are the real life super heroes?

The children were invited to dress up as a real life super hero, so much effort was put into the costumes and the children all had a fabulous day in character as their chosen real life super hero.

The week was also filled with lots of Easter activities. We learnt about the story of Jesus and Easter

The week ended with an Easter egg hunt with chocolate bunnies provided by the PTA. Everyone had great fun finding the correct colour cardboard egg which were left out on the carpet for the Easter bunny. After lunch the children were surprised to see the Easter bunny had visited and swapped the eggs for real chocolate bunnies!

We hope you all have a wonderful break from school and enjoy some lovely family time together over the Easter weekend.