The Courier

Some of the things the children have been learning...
In Literacy we have used Goldilocks and the Three Bears as our focus text. We have joined in with repeated refrains and written personal responses to the story. We have explored the use of speech bubbles and considered what Goldilocks might say to apologise to the bears.

We have had fun exploring halves in Maths. We have looked at halves of numbers to 10 (linking to doubles) and halves of common shapes. We have introduced sharing and used key vocabulary such as amount, same, equal, half and fair.

In PSED we have talking about the qualities of a good friend and treating others as we would like to be treated.
 
Our learning in Understanding the World has been all about materials and their properties.

In IT, Mr Adkins has introduced Botley robots to learn about simple coding.

Some of the things the children will be learning in the weeks to come...
The next traditional tales we will be using are The Gingerbread Man and Jack and the Beanstalk. We will be exploring story settings and considering alternative characters and endings.

We will be revisiting time in Maths. We’ll be practising the months of the year and using clocks to read o’clock and half past times.

We will be moving on to capital letters in handwriting and exploring the importance of saying sorry in PSED.

In phonics we have been revising digraphs and trigraphs;

or as in corn      ur as in turn    ow as in how     oi as in boil     ear as in fear

air as in hair         ure as in pure          er as in fern


How to help your child at home...
Share different versions of traditional tales - ask the children to try and read a page or two and identify familiar words.

Encourage children to use expression when reading aloud.

Continue to practise writing using cursive letters - make the purpose of writing as much fun as possible (e.g. a message in a birthday card). Make connections between capital and lower case letters.

Practise simple addition and subtraction problems using real life scenarios.
Practise doubling and halving numbers.
Practically explore sharing with a teddy bears picnic.
Talk about the materials that are used in our homes and their properties - are they natural or human-made?

What’s going on in the coming weeks/ notices/ information...

Please make sure all items coming into school are clearly named including sunhats.
Please ensure the children have spare underwear and socks in their bags.
Remember to sign children’s reading records each evening.

In 1Q this week, we had lots of fun creating mnemonics for the words we each found the most tricky. We then applied these words in our writing piece on 'Our Favourite Toy'.

In Maths we have been looking at doubling and halving numbers as well as recapping money - adding and subtracting coins. 

Not only have we learned about adding the suffixes of -er and -est to make our descriptions more exciting, we have designed our own! The children planned their superhero descriptions and wrote a few sentences about them which are now displayed in our classroom. We also made superhero masks whilst shouting out the focus words of the week - they make a fine team of superheroes, don't they?!

Class 1S have been learning in Science with Mrs Emery about plants and their processes by planting sunflower seeds and they have been so excited in watching them grow! We used the idea of 'growing' in our PSHE lesson where we reflected and celebrated all the things we have learned to do since joining Year 1. From counting in 2s, 5s and 10s to reading longer books with chapters to even highlighting the fact they can now tell the time and even tidy up! 

In history we are continuing our learning about the Moon Landing. We have moved onto looking at Saturn V and have enjoyed a fun lesson where we drew the spacecraft and then carried out our own independent fact finding mission to discover spacecraft facts that were interesting to each of us. We were very excited to understand the meaning of ‘The Eagle has landed’. This open style of learning is a key skill for children to develop to build project research skills in preparation for upper school.

Children in 2W have been experimenting with weighing. They have developed their skills in reading scales on electronic equipment alongside counting plastic gram weights onto balance scales. All children have understood the need for accuracy.

I was very proud this week to welcome the newest members of staff to the Crescent computing team... the Botleys!

The Botleys have arrived!

Due to the fact that a number of our Beebots are reaching retirement age, the Botleys have arrived to help all the children in Pre-Prep with their coding and programming skills. These very clever little robots are fantastic at enabling pupils to practice their coding and programming skills, allowing them to create simple or complex algorithms to make the Botleys dance, or navigate their way through a maze. 

Class 2W had a wonderful time welcoming them to the school on Tuesday afternoon, building some incredible mazes and tracks for them to race around!

Year 2 have been learning the vocabulary for rooms in the house. This week they are practising their language skills with dolls house furniture. They are also discussing the physical differences between houses in the UK and in Spain.

Once again, there has been lots going on in Forest School. It was national hedgehog awareness week, dawn chorus day (Sunday 7 May) and national gardening week. We discussed the things we can do to help hedgehogs and lots of children wanted to make their own hedgehog out of clay. Some children continued to help build the fire circle, making sure there are enough seats (logs) for everyone and that these logs are a safe distance from our hearth. Some whittled more pegs to keep our hearth in place, having used loppers to chop up the hazel sticks. Others planted nasturtium seeds in the sensory garden and took some home to watch them grow.

The den building reached new levels with a two roomed construction, using knot skills and wands were out in force for Harry Potter and his friends. The children always find such imaginative ways to play and learn so new swings and see saws were constructed as well.

Another fabulous week.

Children in Music Fun Club have been learning dance moves to some of their favourite songs. Check out these pictures of them performing Waca Waca.