Summer 1-How does your garden grow?
Summer 1 Week 1
Welcome to the last term of the year! New half term means new big question. For the next 6 weeks we will be asking 'How does your garden grow?'
To start it all off, this week we have read the story of Jasper's Beanstalk' The children focused on what a seed actually needs in order to grow, they all decided mowing it would not help and that Jasper needed to be more patient. They used their phonic knowledge to write captions about different pictures from the story. They sequenced the story using pictures, made Jasper books and used their creative skills to make beanstalk pictures by drawing and collaging natural materials.
On the tuff tray the challenge was to find the worms hiding in the soil, they could use the tens frames to help them see how many they could find (they quickly worked out it was just cooked spaghetti) Their fine motor skills were put to the test as they were also challenged to use tweezers to catch the worms.
We went on a leaf and twig hunt to collect items for our beanstalk collage. The children enjoyed exploring the forest area and discovering the wild flowers growing there.
In maths we are looking at numbers beyond 10, we focussed on 11,12 and 13. The children learnt that with the teen numbers we have 1 full ten frame and then 1,2 or 3 more on the next tens frame. We have enjoyed watching Number blocks 11,12 and 13.
On Thursday we had a special visit of 2 ducks on our field! They waddled around for a while before they flew back to the river. The children enjoyed watching them and listening to them quacking.
Everyone designed and made their own musical instrument on Friday. They used them to make music together! It sounded wonderful.
The children learnt about St George and made flags ready to celebrate St Georges day. They enjoyed the story of George defeating the dragon!
Summer 1 Week 2
So much has happened this week!
Our big question continued with the week focusing on the story of 'Jack and the beanstalk', we read a couple of versions of the traditional tale and also really enjoyed the story of 'Jack and the incredibly mean stalk'.
We spoke about looking at the story from a different point of view and pointed out that the giant was happy living up in his castle and then Jack turned up, stole his things and ran away with them down the beanstalk. The children all wrote a letter to Jack in role as the giant, they asked him to bring his belongings back and told Jack how they felt. The children practised their cutting skills by cutting spirals which were then stapled together to create a beanstalk that goes from floor to ceiling! They also had great fun retelling the story using the castle and props.
We have continued looking at the teen numbers by learning about 14,15,16 and up to 20. The children are getting good at recognising the full 10 frame and then how many more are on the next.
We finally took part in the Earthsong workshop. The children loved every minute and had a wonderful time playing the drums and learning about different instruments!
The final event of the week was the Wild Mile Marathon, we had so much fun running around the course, there were bubble machines, high five stations and loud music to keep them all going. Their costumes looked great and a fantastic time was had by all. The PTA ensured that every child received a medal and certificate. We are so grateful for all the hard work the PTA put in to make sure this event was fun and went smoothly for the children.
Summer 1 Week 3
This week we have been investigating sunflowers! We read the story of 'The Tiny Seed' by Eric Carle. The children learnt about the journey the little seed went on before it settled, germinated and grew into the tallest sunflower ever! They observed and investigated sunflowers, they were able to identify the different parts of the flowers. We looked at the life cycle of a sunflower, the children wrote captions and drew pictures to show their understanding of the life cycle.
Outside the children were challenged to create an observational picture of a sunflower, they listened to the story 'Camille and the sunflowers' and explored the painting of sunflowers by Van Gogh for inspiration, their paintings and drawings were stunning!
We also looked at the different parts of a flower and their functions. The children independently labelled the parts of a flower.
All of the children planted a sunflower seed and predicted how tall their seed would grow.
In maths we have been looking at adding using rhymes, tens frames and activities to work out how many we have and how many more when we added more.
The children have been keeping a close eye on the beans they put into the bags last week, they have been filling in their bean diaries to keep a record of how their bean is changing and growing. They have also planted beans into pots and used bamboo sticks to create a structure for the beans to grow up, if all goes to plan it will create a leafy tent for the children to sit inside!