Our Topic for this term has been ‘Stories People Tell: Myths, Legends and Fables’. We have been learning about myths, legends and fables. The Class has been exploring a range of different myths and legends. We have also taken a reading journey by reading stories told and celebrated in countries from around the world.
Literacy
This term we have explored different types of poetry. First we looked at several different model texts and discussed their differences and similarities.
Some children focused on developing their knowledge and understanding of sentence structure. Then closely looking at how they can be applied to our own writing.
We were set the challenge of writing our own poetry. Once they had written their own poems based on personal knowledge and understanding they began to learn all about the genres different features. Learning and using our knowledge of Haiku’s. The children were also able to write rhyming poetry as well as shape poetry.
The children selected and researched an animal to write a poem about, they focused on describing their animal’s movement, features and habitat.
The children continued to develop their writing skills through taking part in stimulus-driven writing tasks. They were set the challenge of creating a piece of writing based on the picture provided. The children were also given the freedom to write in any genre.
Mathematics
During this term, we have learnt to recall and use addition and subtraction facts. We used a variety of different models, images and equipment to build our number sense. We learnt different strategies to help us add and subtract numbers efficiently, explaining our methods with concrete resources. We found the difference between numbers
and reason about when it is quicker to find the difference or take away and built up our understanding of commutativity and inverse relationships.
We also started learning about money. Recognising the different coins and notes, counting and comparing money and finding the total, the difference and the correct change.
To deepen our learning, we have played some games in which we had to calculate the value of money.
Science
To support the children’s knowledge and understanding of ‘Light and Dark’ we made technical vocabulary mats.
We then explored the similarities and differences between a range of light sources.
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.
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.
French Intermediate Group with Christine
During this period, from November to December, the two main topics were farm animals and geometric shapes. We started speaking about food, namely fruits, which is a topic we will continue to work on after the holidays. This topic was introduced by the characters of our learning method ZigZag which children very much like. We listened to a little story through which we learned new vocabulary and got to improve our writing skills thanks to our ZigZag workbooks. Some complementary exercises were also given out in class or as homework.
We also learned three new songs (“Dans mon verger”/ “Am stram gram…”/ “1,2,3 dans sa hotte de bois”) and integrated the last song in our Christmas cards. We also used some games as the “hangman” or “Bingo” and our daily presentation of the calendar as learning material for children.
I wish you a Merry Christmas and nice holidays!
French 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 d’étudier 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 de lecture silencieuse
– connaître les sons et les consonnes (an, o/au/eau, s/ss, z, k/c/q, j) ainsi que le principe du code alphabétique
– lire des textes et des petits livres (collection Sami et Julie)
– aborder les premières notions de grammaire (pronoms personnels, genre des noms, le verbe dans la phrase) et de conjugaison (3temps, le verbe et son infinitif, le présent des verbes du 1er groupe)
– mémoriser une poésie “L’automne”
– chanter collectivement une chanson
Design Technology
Birch, Walnut , Oak , Elm and Cedar Classes creatively collaborated during our Christmas decorations and costume design project.
Art
Continuing with our Art theme from last term ‘Pop Art’ the children discussed the important things that make them an individual and special. From this they were given a canvas alone with an silhouette. Using this they filled in the silhouette with images of things that represent them as a person.
Christmas Art and Crafts
The children created stars and snowflakes using lolly 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.
IPC French 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 came together and shared their favourite games from home. This allowed them to share and discuss games with their friends.
Snow Day Fun!
We had great fun in the forest before returning to school to make cookies, cards and finish our Christmas decorations.
