Summer 2

Week 1

This week we started our new topic 'The Seaside'.

Unfortunately the weather didn't get the message and we spent our hook day playing seaside games in the rain!

We practiced throwing and bouncing beach balls in a circle. We played find the numbers on the sea shells and took part in challenges when we found them such as waking like a crab or jumping like a dolphin.

In maths we started using rekenreks to help us count. We also practised subitising numbers represented by finger patterns and die frames. This was later applied to rekenreks and really exploring "how we know". The children were able to make some clear explanations such as " I know because 5 and 1 is 6".

We have been taking part in some whole class writing on the tables to help prepare us for some of the activities we might do in Year 1. This week we wrote about our beach day on Monday. The children worked hard to remember capital letters, full stops and finger spaces.

In phonics we have been working on recognising all the graphemes we have learnt so far and use these more independently in our writing. The rest of this term we will be consolidating any phonemes we are still struggling with, particularly digraphs (2 letters that make 1 sound) and trigraphs (3 letters that make 1 sound).

We have enjoyed sharing what we know about the seaside and learning some of the key vocabulary such as pier, deckchair and parasol. Of course, our favourite discussion was about the best flavour ice cream!

In Discovery Time we have been making sandcastles, finding number pebbles in the sand making large boats using the wooden blocks and painting shells. We also took part in some sand painting after visiting Hensting class to see their artwork using sand.

Week 1 Dinosaurs

Our children are so enthusiastic about learning and they were keen to know more about dinosaurs so this week has been lead by their interests. We have learned about the different carnivores and herbivores in the dinosaur world.
We used watercolour paints to paint them and sorted them by size and features.
We rescued the dinosaurs who were tied up in elastic bands and made 2D shape dinosaurs.
We planted strawberry plants in our raised beds and made dinosaur footprints in the paint comparing their size and shape.

In maths, we made 2d shape pictures as well as sorting numbers in a number lines using the words 'before' and 'after' to explain where a number would go on the numberline.

This week we shared the story The Food We Eat on Bug Club and spoke about which vitamins different foods give us. We chatted about the healthy food we like and dislike and spoke about how different food makes our bodies feel.

On Tuesday we went on a class trip to Waitrose in Chandler's Ford travelling in a minibus!

We decided which items we wanted to buy, scanned them and then enjoyed a snack in the cafe afterwards as shopping is hard work!

Back at school we made Easter nests and fruit kebabs. We were very impressed that many of the children were brave enough to try some new fruits they had not tried before. We ate mango, pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, banana, pear, satsumas and watermelon.

We then wrote thank you letters to Marianne who met us and works at Waitrose.

In Discovery time we wrote shopping lists for a healthy food shop, using paint rollers and water to develop our arm and shoulder strength outside.
We used paper and glue to create our own fruit kebabs with paper talking about the different fruits and we printed using fruit, vegetables and paint.

We also changed the pond water in our tadpole tank and spoke about any changes we had noticed, (mostly just getting larger, no legs yet!)

Our week started with a trip on an aeroplane to France!
We packed our bags, collected our boarding passes and got comfy in our seats. We enjoyed a drink on the plane and watched a film before landing.

Some of the children were able to talk about their personal experiences and others had great ideas about what we should pack for our trip.

In Discovery Time the children made a brilliant aeroplane working together using the wooden blocks. Some children following instructions for how to make a paper aeroplane and measured how far they travelled. Some of us went on holiday to the mud kitchen and cooked up some delicious meals.

In maths we have been using positional language to describe where things are such as under, next to or behind. We have also been talking about properties of 3D shapes and whether they can roll or stack.

On Thursday, we loved learning about VE day and linked it to our learning about flight- you should ask us what we know about spitfires! We built our own out of Lego and sticklebricks as well as make a huge one in the outdoor area to fly in. We sang our new songs beautifully alongside Mr RV playing the piano and ended our afternoon street party with a yummy cream tea.

On Friday we learned about the airport- we enjoyed doing role play through passport control and baggage reclaim. Some of us were great at checking everyone's boarding passes and making sure the plane was safe to fly. We even looked at the flight safety cards in our seats.