Class News

Living and learning : First aid (calling the emergency services)

We have been learning about the emergency services in our Living and Learning lessons. We talked about how to call 999 in an emergency.

Help at home by making sure your child knows their address.

Red Nose Day fun!

We had a break from ‘beans’ on Friday and joined in some Red Nose Day themed fun.  In the creative area, we printed on red noses and made our own – it was quite tricky to get them to stay on! We also enjoyed chopping up and investigating what was inside some ‘red noses’ (tomatoes!) in the sensory area.  Thank you for joining in with our fundraising and your kind donations.

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Jack and the Beanstalk

We’ve loved reading the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and children have been using the story props in our small world area to re-tell the story. Fee Fi Fo Fum!

We also used a non-fiction text to learn about the life cycle of a bean. You might have spotted the bean seeds that we’ve been planting through the waving window in the Rainbow room. Some of them have started to germinate already; children spotted cracks in their seeds and tiny roots beginning to emerge.

In maths we’ve been sorting and counting seeds. We looked at the numerals on the pots and counted out the correct number of seeds to match. We tried to make sure that we remembered to STOP when we got to that number.  Afterwards, we checked that we had got the correct number by lining up the seeds and counting them, touching just one seed at a time.

We’ve explored the texture and smell of different types of beans in the sensory area, including baked beans, kidney beans and butter beans. The baked beans were very smelly!

Other activities this week included painting beanstalks using rollers and leaf stamps, threading beads onto straws in our fine motor area and planting seeds in our gardening area outside.

Some children also enjoyed learning about bees using some non-fiction books because they found a very large, dead bumble bee outside and were fascinated by it. Could it sting us? How many legs did it have? They enjoyed being able to look at it closely and see the tiny hairs and patterns on its wings.

Thank you to everyone who was able to send in a baby and toddler photograph. Children loved looking at these and talking about how they have changed. If you haven’t sent them yet and would like to, please email us and we’ll add them to our ‘growing up’ display.  We’ll continue to learn about ‘growing’ next week and will discuss things that we do to help us to grow and be happy and healthy.

Reminders

• Please look out for an email with the Zoom details for our Parent Teacher Consultations next week.  We will send them in the morning on the day of your appointment. Please get in touch if you do not receive one by lunch time.
• Lots of children’s names have come off their water bottles. Please could you make sure your child’s is clearly visible. Thank you

Bubble and Bear Hunts!

Our brilliant ‘bubble’…

This week has been a little bit different for our children. A few members of our usual teaching team have been absent and we’ve stayed within our Early Years bubble. Here at Scholes, we pride ourselves on being a Happy and healthy place to learn. This week was another example of how resilient and happy our children really are. They have been FAN-TAS-TIC! Here are some ways we’ve been Happy and Healthy this week:

• Happy to meet some new adults, who have taken great care of us alongside our teachers. We love sharing our learning with visitors and showing them what we can do!
• Healthy continued discussions around handwashing, hygiene routines and taking extra care.
• Happy classroom lunchtimes with carpet picnics, music and stories.
• Healthy continued time spent outside, in our shared garden area and during playtimes.

Learning this week…

This week we’ve been Going on a Bear Hunt! We’ve had a great time re-telling this week’s very popular story.

The glorious sunshine has been very welcome. We’ve been potting and planting in addition to our usual outdoor explorations.

In art, we’ve been creating observational paintings of flowers. We were inspired by the artist Pandora Sellars.

In Maths, we’ve been learning about doubles!

Ask your child what we need to do, to double a number!

Here are some more photos of learning this week.

We’ve also been busy organising and recording a very special class assembly, that you’ll be able to watch next week. We’re keeping some of our learning as a special surprise!

Comic Relief…

Thank you to everyone who joined in with our Comic Relief, Non-Uniform Day today and for your donations to this very important cause.

Reading at home…

You will have received a new reading record today, with a letter about reading at home. If you would like to watch the short video we have made, talking through some of the eBook features and how we use the reading practise books in class, you can scan the QR code on the letter or click here.

Home-link challenge…

We’ve been working hard on our handwriting. This week we’d like you to focus on handwriting with your child at home. Please continue to use the Little Wandle formation sheets/ phrases.

Computing topic

We have been busy enjoying our computing topic so far this term. The children are currently working hard to create their own chat bot game. This is a game in which players can answer questions and score points. The children have recalled their knowledge of Scratch really well and remembered how to select a sprite (a character) and a background – some could remember how to build some algorithms. They began by creating an algorithm that allowed them to input a question and someone to input an answer. They used selection to choose the best algorithm. Some managed to add multiple questions, a score and sounds to their game. Ask your child how their game is going

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We’re growing … mould!

Growing mould on bread

We’re learning all about micro-organisms (tiny living things).

We know three: bacteria, fungi and virus.

Our learning today was about setting up a fair test to grow mould on bread.

The green stuff on your slice of bread (sometimes) is called mould. Mould is a microscopic, living organism in the Fungi kingdom, related to yeast and mushrooms.

We decided to set up three conditions:

1. wet and dark
2. sunny and dry
3. refrigerator

We out three pieces of bread- all exaclt ythe same – and placed the in three different conditions. ALl we need to do now is wait a week to see if any mould grows. If it does, which condition do you think will grow the most mould?

Science – microbes and amazement!

We have been working scientifically in science this half term and also learning about microbes, linked to preventing illness and cleanliness.

We used pepper in a test today to represent microbes.

We filled a dish with water. We put a stick in the water. It got wet!

We then added pepper to the water and dipped the stick in. The pepper stuck (like microbes do to our hands when we touch anything).

We  finally rubbed washing up liquid on the stick. When we dipped it in the water again, the pepper moved away like magic! There was a gasp from everyone! This shows us that microbes (that sometimes make us ill) do not like soap and that is why we use it to wash our hands.

Why not give it a try at home?

Reading with prosody

We have started talking about prosody in our reading practice sessions.

Prosody is the rhythmic and intonational aspect of speech that manifests as expressive reading. It comprises timing, phrasing and intonation, and helps to convey meaning and add ‘life’ to reading.

It is basically reading with expression.

We have been reading and talking about Owl Babies and trying to add prosody when reading certain sections. Ask your child to read this page with prosody.

Nursery open – Monday 14 March

Nursery will be open at 9am on Monday 14 March. We will continue to use the main Nursery entrance for all children. Thank you for your patience as we register everyone.

One Hundred Decker Rocket

This week, we have read a story based on a space adventure and some messy aliens.

Before reading we made some predictions.

They going to space. Jacob

I think they will fly to space to see if there are aliens. Penny

A rocket with one hundred floors. Stanley

Rocket going up. Prisha

After reading, we designed and made our own deck to make a reception 45 decker rocket.

There were some wonderful ideas such as swimming pools, jacuzzies, reading dens, party rooms and gardens.

The children also enjoyed writing about the story or what they could see in the images from the book.

In maths, we have composed seven. We used lots of different resources such as Numicon, multilink and pegs to show our parts.

In the areas this week, we have explored space as well as seeds and growing plants.

Notices

We will be sending home new reading records next week which should be sent into school on a Friday in your child’s bookbag.

This is the place where you will be able to check what book your child has read in school and will be on their e-library.

After you have read with your child at home, you can add comments to share with your child’s class teacher.