This term our topic has been ‘Let’s celebrate!’ We have been very busy learning all about the different celebrations that take place all around the world. We learnt that people celebrate things that are important to them individually or to their cultures and traditions.
Happy Halloween
As a class we designed our own pumpkin faces and then chose the scariest one to carve onto our pumpkin. We started carving our pumpkin by spooning out the insides. As a class all taking turns to make sure that there were no seeds left inside. Then Mr H helped us to carefully cut out the face of our pumpkin.
Then we used our designs and created our own paper plate pumpkins that were used to decorate our classroom. Using special scissors the create the mouth, nose and eyes.
Halloween Fun
As a school, we dressed up and took part in a range of different activities throughout the afternoon. We were supported by the older children of the school they had created lots of fun and spooky tasks for us to complete. The afternoon was full of games, making masks, treasure hunts and trick or treating.
Vendee Globe
The class have been learning about Vendee Globe, a race that takes place on the ocean, we had a great opportunity to chat and ask questions to one of the skippers that are taking part in the race.
After speaking with Louis, the skipper taking part in Vendee Globe, we wanted to make our own boats. First, thought about the different materials that could be used to make a strong boat. Then we decided to make a small model to demonstrate what we had learnt.
We then took part in a paper workshop where we carefully cut and folded paper into the shape of boats. Once we had constructed our boats we then tested them on water.
We decided as a class that it is best to reuse and recycle the giant pumpkin that we had made for Halloween. The pumpkin would take on a new life and become the world.
Remembrance
We learnt about the importance of remembering people or things that are special to us. We explored the different ways that people celebrate, do or wear to remember those things. As a class, we read a number of different stories about how people remember and then discussed how this tradition is celebrated differently all around the world.
As part of our learning, we made poppies and spoke about why they are worn in November in different countries. We learnt that they are worn to remember people that we can not see any more.
The Festival of Light
We learnt about the ‘Festival of Light’ and why it is celebrated. The ‘Festival of Light’ is used as another name for Diwali which is a Hindu festival that is celebrated with bright and beautiful colours. We explored a range of pictures and stories that helped us to understand and learn about the festival.
First, we cut out pre-drawn lines very carefully. Then we folded and glued the paper into a lantern shape. Once we had done this we added a handle as well as took time to decorate it with bright stickers. The lanterns were then used to decorate our classroom.
We continued with the theme of the ‘Festival of Light’ and made tea – light holders out of clay. We carefully moulded the clay using our fingers and then left them to dry. Once they were dry we painted the folders in bright colours to stand out.
Christmas
We read Christmas stories and listened to Christmas music. As a class we took part in different workshops from making mini 3D Christmas trees to wreath making. We collected different natural materials to make our Christmas wreaths then we were supported by Marianne who showed us step by step how to make the wreaths.
We also made our own Christmas tree decorations out of clay, based on the 12 days of Christmas. We then decorated the Christmas tree with our decorations.
Playful Phonics
This term we have continued working on our development of phonics as well as building a bank of tricky words that we recognise by sight.
We took part in different craft activities to make picture representations of the letters we were learning to sound.
We developed our fine motor skills by cutting out templates as well as carefully sticking or placing objects to create a piece or an image. For example, a rain cloud.
We then printed letters that we had been working on over this term and the previous term. Creating a collage of different letters we have learnt.
We practiced writing letters with our fingers in sand. This allowed us to concentrate on the formation of letters and prepares us for writing letters onto paper.
We then used our letter formation skills to try and write the letters we had learnt.
We had great fun playing phonic games. We were set the challenge of sounding, segmenting and blending words. When we had successfully sounded out the words we had to try and cross the river that was guarded by a dragon.
Learning in Roleplay
This term we have read some amazing books in class. We have used the stories that we have read and turned them into roleplay. We recreated characters that we had read about and the took them on new amazing adventures.
Magical Mathematics
We continued our learning of number recognition and representation. We decided to take our learning outside and work with the natural materials that are all around us. First, we were given a number and were asked to represent that number using our fingers. Once we had practiced this a few times we were then set the challenge of collecting different materials that could be used to represent a number.
We sang songs and rhymes to support our counting of tricky numbers. We are beginning to count beyond ten.
In this task, we were set the challenge of counting the number of objects shown and then we had to place a peg on the correct number.
Then, we used that knowledge and applied it to something new. As a class we used Numicon, each number is represented by a different colour, using this resource we practised ordering and building numbers.
We then used what we had learnt about numbers of the term and applied it to making simple sums. First we used our bodies to make the sums then used Numicon and wrote the numbers on a whiteboard.
Forest Fun
We have done some amazing things in the forest this term; Fairy hunting, wreath making, searching for mushrooms, roleplay, shape and number hunting and much much more.
Fun with French
We have learnt so much this term in our French sessions with Christine.
IPC French
We have continued to learn about seasonal animals, numbers and simple phrases in IPC French. We have learnt all these amazing new things through songs and stories.
The Magical Christmas Jigsaw
We had an amazing time practicing and performing the Christmas show. We can not wait for you to see it! After the show we became celebrities and had a photo call.
