This term our topic has been “A day in a life”. We learnt about the people who help us in the community. This term was full of exciting artwork and role play. Children were very excited about getting into character and imagining what they want to be when they grow up!
The children got to practice taking on a role of being classroom helpers themselves. The helpers role has been to set a good example to others on how to follow classroom rules, tidy up after working and to be helpful with friends and teachers. Children got to earn rewards (animal pictures) for good tidying, listening and table manners this term.
Role play and artwork
We have lots of future doctors, nurses, ambulance workers and firemen in this class! Children were playing doctors, nurses and patients and they made doctor packs. They sang the song “Ms. Polly had a dolly” and they learnt about what doctors do and where to call if there were to be an emergency. They also enjoyed reading the book “Zog and the flying doctors” by Julia Donaldson.
Children practiced being firefighters having to fight fire and saving animals from a burning house that we painted together. Fire hoses were made and fire was put out immediately! We read books related to firefighters and had discussions about basic fire safety.
The children learnt about buildings and services in the local areas and how to get there. Children participated in making a recycle city by painting buildings, roads and vehicles in the city. They also began learning about orientation. They would direct each other to get from a to b in recycle city: “Go straight, turn right, turn left to get to….the post office/hospital/school”. They also drew their own road maps! Children were beginning to practice knowing their home addresses and the city or village where they live in. They got to send a letter to a friend through the secret mail man service to tell them what they want to be when they grow up!
Children were practicing to understand and explain what their parents are doing each day. “My mother/father is a….” Some children made their mothers/fathers face in felt.
Children made pizzas to be sold at the restaurant where they would practice taking turns on the roles of being waiters and customers.
Mathematics
This term in mathematics the children were exploring the concept quantity by both adding and taking away. The children began their exploration by putting objects on a scale: adding and taking away in order to see the shift in quantity but also weight.
Phonics fun
This term the children have continued with their phonic learning and have begun to apply these skills to early reading. As part of our learning we have been taking picture books home and created a story around them.
As part of our learning have took part in craft activities and workshops. The children used a range of materials and resources to create models or representations of the letters we had been learning.
The children have also continued to develop their fine motor skills and practiced sitting at the table and holding a pen. The children have worked on extending the their vocabulary by writing as well as segmenting and blending longer words.
Literacy and story time
This term we read books relating to a range of different jobs. We read the captivating story of “The smartest giant in town”. The children had some puppet play and an activity related to the story. The range of books related to firemen or teachers, eg.”Don´t eat the teacher!” and “When I grow up”. We also began practicing making our own story using picture prompt of different nouns, adjectives and verbs using story dice! The kids made up quite funny stories!
Forest and Winter fun
This winter we got real snow! Since then we have been discussing seasons and weather. This gave us a great opportunity to discuss the weather change. The children were excited to learn about how and why ice forms and melts. We then started collecting pieces of ice and watched them melt as they were taken inside! When there was lots of snow in the forest we painted in the snow together with Chestnuts class. Below there are also pictures of us doing parachute activities in the forest.
Understanding the world
We learnt about four seasons and observed the weather changes while exploring outside: water forming into ice and leaves falling on the ground. In class we sang songs about four seasons, and will keep working on our classroom seasons tree throughout the year as the seasons change.
The children enjoyed playing a weather card game in which they would also practice their math skills (take away X, how many cards do you have left?) We kept practicing to understand the concept of time by discussing the change from day to night, today, yesterday and tomorrow and discussed the days of the week. As the children took turns being the teacher helper each day of the week, it also helped them to understand the concept of yesterday, today and tomorrow. The children would keep track of who and how many helpers there have been during the week and how many helpers there were to come.
These little scientists began to mix primary colours while painting this term. They learnt that orange and yellow becomes orange and the mix of all of these makes a fierce fire! Blue and yellow becomes green: Children painting the grass or the earth for our miniature recycle city.
Making playdough
This term we made our own playdough! Due to current regulations the children got to participate in the making of it and were given their own individual bags to be kept in individual trays. Children loved to make animals and shapes and to form letter and numbers with it!
Music and movement
What animal are you? Children loved dancing with Laura on Wednesday mornings! In class we began exploring the concept of loud and quiet as well as indoor and outdoor voice. We sang songs related to the monthly topic and understanding the world but also mathematics: Hello- song, Put on your shoes, Ants go marching, Firefighter song, Ms Polly had a dolly, Twinkle twinkle traffic light, I am a pizza, How´s the weather and What´s your favourite season. Children enjoyed dancing and doing actions while singing.
French
Happy holidays everyone and see you term 4!