Spring 2- Week 1

WC 20.2.23

Welcome back! I hope you all had a lovely half term. 

Our new big question for this half term is, 'Who are the real life superheroes?'

We discussed the difference between comic book super heroes and people who help us in our everyday lives. The children wrote about a real life situation they have had when a real life super hero has helped them. They used the small world and dressing up to role play different emergency situations. They were all very keen to discuss their experiences, you can talk about this at home; have you been to the doctor? How did the dentist help you? Have you ever seen the police or firefighters in their vehicles? They were challenged to make an emergency vehicle using modelling resources or to draw them using various media.

On Tuesday, it was pancake day. We read the story of the runaway pancake and learnt about why and how shrove Tuesday is celebrated around the UK. The children wrote a list of what is needed to make pancakes and then set about mixing the batter! With some support they used the electric whisk to observe the mixture changing. They used lots of descriptive words when they saw the changes occurring. Once the pancakes were cooked they enjoyed eating them and used the spare ones to have a pancake flipping contest! Their batter must have been very robust as those pancakes were dropped on the floor and hit the ceiling many times without breaking!

In maths we have been working on the composition of 6,7 and 8. The challenges were to make a 7 coloured rainbow and to make a spider with 8 legs. We have been using the 5 and 10 frames to to help us visualise what the amounts look like and the patterns we can make to help us to subitise each number.

Lots of constructing and experimenting has been happening in the outdoor area. We have had a dam, a house and a few castles. Some of the children have also been including water resources into their constructions.

Please take a look through the photos, the children enjoy taking images of each other as well as the adults capturing special moments of learning. Discuss the photos with your child, let them explain what is happening and what they have been doing. When they come home and say they can't remember what they have done, you have a great way to jog their memories.    

Spring 2 Week 2

WC 28.2.23

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. Freya won the book for the most imaginative costume. In the afternoon all teachers swapped classes to read their favourite books. Miss Wade came to read to Reception. We ended the day with the masked reader, a masked face appeared on our screen and read us Room on the Broom! The children had to guess who read our story, ask them who it was!

To finish the wonderful week we had movie night! 

Our chance to choose the movie will be for the week of the 17th of March. Please start asking your child to think about which movie they would like to watch and we can do a vote in school.

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

Spring 2- week 3

WC 6.3.23

FIRE! FIRE!

This week we learnt about the fire brigade and all the emergencies they help us with in everyday life. The children were fascinated watching videos of real life fires and how the fire fighters fought them. We read the story of Charlie the firefighter and learnt how she saved people and animals lives. We saw how quickly fire fighters have to be ready to jump onto their engines to go to an emergency, how do they remember all their equipment? The children used their skills for list writing and wrote a list for the firefighters so they wouldn't forget anything.

Outside they took on the role of a fire fighter and used the hose to put out many fires! They also used the syringes to douse numbered flames. 

We were all very interested in learning about the history of fire fighters, did you know there were no firefighters before the great fire of London! We learnt how the uniforms and equipment changed over the years, right up to the present.

The children had a go at designing their own fire engines, ensuring they had everything needed for all emergencies. We spoke about what to do if there was a fire in your house and fire safety, the children learnt to shout for an adult and to get out as quickly as they can and then phone 999. 

We have continued to consolidate the composition of numbers up to 8 and the concept of pairs. They went around the room finding pairs of objects, we discovered our bodies have lots of pairs too! We looked at the pattern of 2's and how that looked on a tens frame. This concept was then extended to having 3, 5, 7 or 9 objects, did these all fit nicely into the pattern of 2s? The children discovered the concept of odd numbers, with the left over object being the odd one out. We had great fun rolling the dice to get a pair, it was very addictive! 

The children have also taken photos of their learning to share with you at home.

Spring 2- week 4

WC 13.3.23

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 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 connections. In Reception we planned to do a signs of spring walk and look at the connection of the seasons. However, after lunch on Tuesday someone asked for a paper aeroplane, an adult made them one and then a few of them wanted one, by the time I came back from lunch they were busy flying them around the classroom, they were so excited to talk about their planes and how they made them fly. We decided this would be an excellent opportunity for a child initiated scientific investigation. The children decided they wanted to see how they could make their plane go higher, further and faster. We discussed the connection between the movement of their bodies and the affect that could have on their planes. They chose to test what would happen if they pulled their arms back, run and threw and stood up on something to make them higher. Once outside they had a great time flying their planes, investigating and discussing their findings. They added different variables such as riding a bike or bouncing on a space hopper. They also realised the wind played an important role in how their planes flew. They worked out if the wind blew on the side their planes flew to the side and if it was behind them their planes flew better. We all came together to discuss our findings.

They did still go on their signs of spring walk, they found flowers, buds, blossom and heard birds. They discussed how birds migrate in the winter to places like South Africa and then fly back when the weather gets warmer in Spring. On Friday they presented their scientific investigations to the whole school. Take a look at the photos and videos, ask your child to explain what they did.

Spring 2-Week 5

WC 20.3.23

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 measure. We explored height and length using non-standard units of measurements. The children used the vocabulary tall, taller, tallest and short, shorter, shortest to compare different heights. When measuring and comparing length they used long, longer and longest.  

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 mud 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

WC 27.3.23

This week we completed our topic of who are the real life super heroes? We went on a walk to Chennestone to meet firefighter Ricky. He explained to the children that he couldn't wear his uniform as he was fighting a real fire the night before so all his kit was wet and dirty. The children were not phased by this and thoroughly enjoyed listening to all Ricky's stories about his rescues, especially when he had to rescue a burglar trapped in a window! He demonstrated how firefighters come down the pole and how they find their way when it is too smoky to see where you are going. He taught the children how to crawl under the smoke and feel using their feet.

In the afternoon, we had a visit from Micheala the nurse, she explained what she does to help look after children who are unwell and answered lots of questions. Micheala demonstrated how a stethoscope works and showed the children the equipment she has to have in her pockets.

The children were all extremely well behaved and a credit to our school.

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 attended an Easter assembly with Father Andrew and Father Simon. The children listened to the story of Palm Sunday and received a palm cross. They sung the songs they had been learning in singing assembly.

The week ended with a special assembly where Mrs Mulhall presented her headteacher awards and 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.