The Tiny Seed
The Tiny Seed
This week, we’ve been reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.
Some of the children recognised the illustrations, knowing that the author also wrote The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The story follows the journey of a tiny seed, tracking its journey through the four seasons. It details the life cycle of a flowering plant. In our writing, we wrote what happened to the seed in each Season.
Our story linked to our discovery area and other non-fiction texts about planting and growing.
Miniscule is our ‘word of the week’. We’ve been learning that miniscule is even smaller than tiny!
Art; Printing
We’ve been using natural objects to print impressions into clay. Next week we’ll be using our clay stamps to print repeating patterns.
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been doubling! Ask your child explain how we find doubles.
When talking about doubles, we use the following sentence structure:
“4 is made of 2 and 2; Double 2 is 4”
***Home Challenge*** Ask your child to draw out and complete these doubling ladybirds. Can they use the above sentence structure to describe what they have shown?
Phonics
Spring 2 week 5 has been a review of phase 3 sounds. We’ve been reading longer words, words with s in the middle /z/ (like ‘visit’), words ending –s and words with –es at end /z/ (like ‘foxes’)
In the reading areas, we’ve challenged ourselves to be ‘tricky word detectives’ finding tricky words of the day in books and taking a photo of them on the iPad.
Challenge your child to be a tricky word detective at home too! How many different tricky words can they find in one book? Perhaps they could write them in a list.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Hungry Birdies.
We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm.
click here to watch us recite this week’s poem!
More pictures of our learning this week…
Class Assembly
Thank you to everyone who came to watch our Reception assembly. The children have been working hard to learn their lines, song and poem. It takes a lot of bravery to stand up in front of so many grown-ups and we are very proud of them all. We hope you enjoyed learning about our school day!
Reminders and Dates
Reception trip to The Railway Museum, York- 30.03.23 Please drop-off and collect your child at the usual times. You should now have replied to say whether your child needs a school packed lunch. Please remember that every child will need a suitable backpack that they are able to carry themselves throughout the day. Thank you.
Egg rolling competition- 31.03.23 We are going to do an egg rolling competition as part of our Easter celebrations next week. Please could your child bring a decorated, hard boiled egg on Friday 31st March. Thank you.
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow Class- 19 Apr, 3 May, 17 May
Sunshine Class- 26 Apr, 10 May, 24 May
We know that Rainbow class missed a swimming session in Spring 2 due to the pool closure. This should be made up in Summer 2, which is a 7 week term.
Oliver’s Milkshake
We enjoyed reading ‘Oliver’s Milkshake’ this week, which is part of the same series of books as ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’ written by Vivien French. We found out about where milk comes from and learnt that milk is good for our teeth and bones.
As we drank our milk at snack time, we continued to talk about how to keep our bodies healthy and how to look after our teeth. We used toothbrushes in the sensory area to clean the dirty teeth and we listened to some songs all about how to brush our teeth. This song was our favourite!
We loved making some ‘milkshakes’ in the water tray and whisking the water to make it frothy.
Help at home – Talk to your child about looking after their teeth and why it’s important to brush them at least twice a day.
In maths, we’re learning about the number four. We looked at four counters in a five frame and noticed that there’s one space left. Outside, we tried to get four bean bags into the buckets. We also tried to draw just four candles on a birthday cake. We counted carefully as we drew each candle and tried hard to remember to ‘STOP’ when we got to four.
Help at home – Look for groups of four things. There might be four apples in the bowl or four trains on the toy track. Look for the numeral four when you’re out and about. You might see one on a button in a lift or on a bus number. Can you jump/hop/clap four times? You could ask for help to set the table. Do you need four cups or plates?
Next week, we’ll learn all about Easter and have some Easter-themed fun!
Design and Technology
Over the last week in design and technology we have been developing our food preperation skills by making overnight oats.
We have followed hygiene instructions to make sure the children have tied their hair back and washed their hands.
The children followed the recepie ensuring they weighed out the correct amount of ingredients. They were able to cut the fruit using the bridge method they had been shown.
Everyone enjoyed having a taste of the oats!
Maths – shapes
Our focus in Y2 Maths this week has been shapes. We have been looking 2D and 3D shapes. We know the names of lots of 2D shapes, how to count sides and how to count the vertices. We have also explored 3D shapes, how to count edges, faces and vertices. We even came up with a method, so that we wouldn’t loose track of the faces we had already counted!
Today in 2C we looked at vertical symmetry and how to spot it in 2D shapes. We used paper shapes and folded them to see if they had vertical lines of symmetry. We also used mirrors to check the symmetry of shapes in our books and plastic 2D shapes.
Living and Learning – Mental wellbeing
The theme for Living and Learning in school this half-term has been mental wellbeing.
This week’s focus has been ‘feeling good and being me’ and in Year 3,4 we’ve thought about giving and receiving compliments. The children were quick to affirm each other with some lovely comments! We also talked about how we can give compliments to others beyond the classroom.
Help at home with this week’s focus by encouraging your child to list some positive attributes they see in themself.
Science
We are continuing to be chemists this half term and we have carried out some great experiments so far. This week, the children planned out an investigation into which ingredients make the best glue. They could choose between baking powder, flour, cornflour, sugar and salt. They could create any combination and mix it with 5ml of water. They mixed their glue and then stuck two pieces of paper together and hung them on a line to dry. When we were convinced they were dry, we had a competition to see which glue was the strongest. This involved a very tense period of time in which they pegged pegs onto the paper until it broke. I think we created a new world record as one group managed to peg on 86 pegs! Who knew that we were so good at making glue!?
Help at home: use the link to investigate the history of glue with your child. There is some gory stuff, so beware!
Topic – computing
Over this half term, KS1 have been learning to use the program Scratch Jr. We have been learning to create and debug algorithms, create sequences using commands and use this to put together a quiz.
We know how to choose Sprites (characters) and backgrounds.
We know how to get our Sprites to speak and how to change what they say.
We also know how to get our Sprites to move and how to sequence our commands correctly.
This week we finished our quizzes. Have have had so much fun using Scratch Jr and learning how it works!
Help at home by downloading Scratch Jr or another coding app or program – ScratchJr – Home
Living and Learning: strong emotions
In our Living and Learning sessions we have been talking about our feelings, and in particular, strong emotions. We all have felt angry, sad and happy at some point. We identified emotions on other people’s faces and talked about how emotions can feel overwhelming but will pass over time.
Help at home by identifying and discussing different emotions that you might be feeling.
Red Nose Day
A huge thank you to everyone that donated money last Friday for Comic Relief. The Junior Leadership Team stood at the gate and shook their buckets and collected any donations. You are such a generous bunch of people and we managed to raise £337.97. Thank you again for your support.
Romeo, Romeo!
3, 4 classes have had a busy week of rehearsals. You may have over heard your child singing a catchy tune or two. We teachers have certainly been singing around our homes and in school. Everything is exciting and a little nerve wracking as we work towards our production of ‘Shakespeare Rocks’. This week, your child should have brought home a request for their costume. We have thought carefully about the costume choices and are committed to a no fuss approach for parents/carers. If you are struggling for ideas or are a little unsure then please catch one of us at the beginning or end of the school day. Please also encourage your child to learn their lines by heart. We are really looking forward to you watching your child/ren shine!
Sssshhhhhhh it may be Mothers’ Day this Sunday and 3, 4 B adults may have a bespoke water colour surprise heading their way!
