Living and learning : assessing risk
This week, we have been discussing risks in our living and learning lessons. We put different activities on a ‘risk ladder’, deciding whether it was high or low risk. We decided that it depends on other factors too – and what you do to minimise risk. For example, climbing the stairs would become higher risk if you ran or went up carrying lots of toys. Help at home : talk to your child about where they put the activities on the risk ladder.
Chinese New Year
It was been a wonderful week of fun and learning in reception.
We have explored celebrations from other cultures – Chinese New Year.
We started by reading The Magic Paintbrush.
Here are things we would like to draw if we had a magic paintbrush…
I would paint a cat for my mummy. Penny
A rainbow because they have all my favourite colours in. Poppy
A tiger. Clara
A puppy. Leo
I would paint loads of food to share with the people who can’t afford food. Norah
I want to paint lots of money so people can afford food. Stanley
Using our knowledge of the story, we were able to sort true or false statements and retell main events.
The children enjoyed creating their own Chinese lanterns. After following instructions, the children were then able to help and teach others.
Using tissue paper and paper chains, we created a class Chinese dragon.
In maths, we have continued to develop our number knowledge. We have explored the composition of numbers six and seven.
Take a look at our other learning around the classroom…
We also had a Superhero photoshoot.
Home Link
What celebrations/traditions do you celebrate?
You may choose to discuss
- the meaning of the celebration/tradition
- food
- decorations
- clothes
Happy New Year!
This week, we’ve enjoyed learning about the Chinese and Lunar New Year. We used non-fiction books to learn more about how some people like to celebrate across the world and we also watched these ‘Let’s celebrate‘ videos to find out about how some families in England prepare for the celebrations.
Children created their own ‘good luck’ banners by painting patterns on to red paper and during group time, we made paper lanterns. There was a lot of interest in our New Year topic table, with children enjoying looking at the paper dragons, fortune cookies and chop sticks. In the sensory area, we explored the texture of dry noodles and found out what happened when we added hot water. Our fingers also got a good work out as we tried to use the chopsticks to pick the noodles up.
We found out that some people like to give good luck cards and red envelopes containing money to their friends and family during the festival. In our maths area, we practised our subitising and counting skills as we counted out the correct number of coins to match the number/dots on each envelope. Some children really enjoyed this and went on to make their own coins and envelopes in the creative area.
One of the favourite activities from this week, had to be creating our own dragon dance. At the beginning of the week, we watched some dragon dancing and afterwards, children began to experiment using fabric and instruments to create their own interpretation of the dance. We practised walking together in a line and then introduced moving our bodies higher and lower in time to the music.
By the end of the week, we’d created our own dragon head and had perfected our dragon dance!
Finally, we also talked about the recent very windy weather. We listened to songs about the wind and waved ribbons using large arm movements to create shapes and watch the ribbons dancing in the wind.
Living and Learning Year 3,4
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been learning about our identity and celebrating the similarities and differences between us all.
We have discussed the meaning of the word community and have shared the communities that we are part of, including the school community. We have looked at the role of different members of the community from health care professionals to firefighters.
Year 5 maths
Year 5 have been learning about area and scale this week. They began the week by distinguishing the difference between area and perimeter and why knowing these would be useful in everyday life. The children are able to calculate the area of shapes by counting squares and recording this using centimetre squares. The children worked in pairs to draw shapes with different areas. Their partner had to guess which shape had the largest area and then calculate it to see if they were correct. Some children drew some really challenging shapes to try to confuse their partners!
Superhero Headquarters
Our construction area has been turned into Superhero Headquarters. It is complete with masks and capes to hide identities. The area has inspired different creations of vehicles, role play, phone conversations (because you should call for help) and of course writing. There has been such a buzz about this area that we are having to take turns to play there.
The week has been based on the popular book ‘Supertato.’
The children have been taking turns to build a hideout for Supertato and they have even been making their own Supertato too.
We have had other vegetables in the classroom to help us with our Maths. We used different coloured onions to explore which numbers 5 is ‘made of.’
We apologise for the lack of photos this week, there have been a few technical difficulties.
Multiple representations in maths
We use a variety of representations in maths : part whole models, bar models, pictures, number lines, counters and ten frames. They help us to understand the relationships between numbers and represent real life number stories.
Help at home by talking about number stories and how they translate into calculations.
Gymnastics in 5/6B
We were all very excited this week to get out the large apparatus in the hall. Parents, you might remember this as the best PE lesson when you were young! We had the climbing apparatus out, the ropes, the ladders and much more. The children had to practise their gymnastic skills such as balancing, jumping and landing safely. The children discovered different ways to move across the apparatus. Children took safe risks and climbed higher than they thought they would. There was a lot of peer encouragement and praise.
Visit to Leeds Art Gallery – 24 January 2022
Year 3/4C had a fantastic trip to Leeds Art gallery yesterday morning, and it was well worth the wait! The children enjoyed two workshops: 1) art detectives – looking at abstract art and asking questions; 2) sketching and drawing abstract art – looking at shapes and patterns in and around the art gallery and drawing them on paper.
So, what is abstract art?
Amanda Phillips the leader of the workshop, explained to us what abstract art is.
“Abstract art is inspired by something in the real world. ”
“Abstract art is shape, pattern, colour, texture and also the spaces in between.”
Rugby – taster session
Want to get involved in rugby? A local rugby team are recruiting girls and boys in Year 5. Go along to the taster session if you’re interested!
