During this term we continued to make amazing progress. We have played, explored, learned, sang, danced and made Christmas crafts. We all worked as a team to create the magic that was our Christmas show “Christmas stories around the world”.
Maths
This term we carried on with gaining confidence in counting, reading and writing numbers. Our goal was to develop fluency in identifying and representing numbers in different representations and in applying these skills in different contexts
We particularly enjoyed playing “Hit the button”(https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button) at the beginning of the lesson to practice addition and subtraction and beat our record score.
We have also learnt to recognise and name common 2D and 3D shapes including: rectangles, squares, circles, triangles, cuboids, cubes, pyramids, cylinders and spheres. We handled these shapes and spotted them in different orientations and sizes and learnt that they are not always similar to each other. In addition we learnt to name everyday objects that are representations of 2D and 3D shapes.
Furthermore, Birch learnt to sequence events in chronological order, use language related to dates and began to tell the time on an analogue clock.
Literacy
This term Birch class have continued to work on developing their Literacy skills. They have enjoyed taking part in many different activities that support their phonic, reading and writing development.
We have been recapping and building upon our phonic knowledge and understanding and applying this to our letter formation and simple sentence writing.
Science
In Science, we learnt all about the seasonal changes, the differences between day and night. Birch learnt what the word weather means and found out how different types of weather can be measured. We also observed changes across the seasons by exploring the signs of autumn and winter through nature and wildlife. We used a range of learning activities including observation, discussion and learning outside.
Design and Technology
Birch, Walnut , Oak , Elm and Cedar Classes creatively collaborated during our Christmas decorations and costume design project.
Physical Education
In Physical Education/Sports we have been developing new physical skills through activities and games which are motivating, help the children to grow their self-esteem and promote health and physical fitness. We learnt how to move to become more physically competent and how moving can also help them to learn new skills and understanding that go beyond physical activity, such as team work.
Forest Exploration
Forest exploration is a huge part of Forest International School.
It is particularly rewarding for the children to enjoy free play in the forest. We choose a variety of play types – social games, pretend games, climbing and simply exploring.
We shared some time in the forest with other classrooms so we could play, sing, dance and even, play with the snow!
History and Geography
The children have been learning about the different Greek Gods and Goddesses. We researched and discussed why there were so many and what they all represented. Working in pairs the children quizzed each other on their knowledge and understanding of a chosen God or Goddess.
Art and Crafts
The children created stars and snowflakes using loll sticks. From this the children practiced and developed their fine motor skills by creating felt tree decorations. They achieved this through sewing pieces of felt together.
French
Beginner Group with Joanna
Our second term has flown by very quickly! The theme we chose to study was ‘Les Emotions’. The students have learned lots of new vocabulary linked to this theme for example: ‘la joie’ (happiness), la tristesse (sadness), la peur (fear), excité (excited), la colère (anger), bouder (sulking). We have read books along this theme and we have done some breathing exercises to learn how to control our emotions. To help the students remember the vocabulary in French we did lots of reading comprehension activities and the students made their own posters. The last week we focused on Christmas themes and more new vocabulary was introduced like Noël, sapin (Christmas tree), lutins (elves), cadeaux (presents), la neige (snow), bonhomme de neige (snowman) and many more new words.
Advanced group with Marie
Cette deuxième période est passée très vite et a été riche en activités et apprentissages. En effet, nous avons principalement lu 5 albums de jeunesse ( la saison de l’automne, Saint Nicolas, la fête de Noël…) :
De ces ouvrages, ont découlé différentes activités qui ont permis l’exploitation de ces histoires. Nous avons donné du sens à l’apprentissage des voyelles et des consonnes. Une façon plus ludique et une approche plus concrète de renforcer la langue française.
A chaque début de semaine, vos enfants ont appris et chanté une nouvelle chanson incluant aussi celles du spectacle de Noël :
La pluie qui mouille, Mon beau sapin, Noël de l’Est, Douce nuit, Dans son manteau rouge et blanc.
Les objectifs de cette période ont été de :
– renforcer la langue française
– construire des phrases plus complexes mais correctes
– s’exprimer en groupe
– compréhension d’histoires lues
– connaître les consonnes (v, j, z, l, m, r) ainsi que le principe du code alphabétique
– associer le nom de la consonne et connaître le son qu’elle produit.
– lecture de petits textes et des livres (collection Sami et Julie)
– dictée de syllabes, de mots à syllabes simples et des mots outils.
– réciter une poésie “L’Automne”
– chanter collectivement une chanson
French IPC with Joanna and Marie
The IPC topic Stories People Tell has also been studied in French IPC. Le Livre de la Jungle is a book that we chose to read with the students. We learned about the animals that can be found in the jungle including the incredible lives of the largest land mammals: the elephant. We also read different versions of the fairytale Le Petit Chaperon Rouge where the students decided which versions they appreciated the most and we finished the term reading beautiful French books with Christmas as their theme. Throughout the term we learned songs in French for the Christmas show and the students sang them all beautifully on the 10th of December at the Théâtre de Bailly.
Games Day
The children of Birch and Walnut, shared games from home with their friends