Class 1 spring 2

How many bugs could we find in the Learning Garden and Forest School?

We shared the story of The Hungry Caterpillar and thought about all the things he ate. We learned that these are not normal foods for a caterpillar, who prefer nice juicy leaves and plants, but things that people like to eat instead .... but are they good for us too?

These are all fruit.&#160; They are very healthy.

I eat healthy stuff.&#160; I like broccoli

Can we sort foods into healthy, unhealthy or somewhere in between?

It was a special treat to meet with the author of The Naughty Bus - Jan Oke. We prepared some questions for her and she shared some interesting facts about her books and how she writes them.

The little boy in the story is my son Jack.

We went on the bus and told each other stories.

I did naughty things when I was a little girl, just like the bus.

We could also see the similarity between doubling and symmetry. By listening carefully to the instructions of our friends we tried to create a symmetrical butterfly, where the amount of gems used is doubled.

We found that doubling means 'twice as many' and that when we are doubling a number we are adding the same again. We practiced this by using counters. By making a bridge with our fingers we could see that we had the same amount on each hand.

Today we had a competition between the 3 Reception Classes. We had different races which used the key PE skills of speed, agility and throwing. It was very tiring but lots of fun.

Despite all our hard work Class 3 won.  Keep practicing.

I love Christmas.&#160; I get lots of presents.

I had a bouncy castle and cake for my birthday.

We thought about the different celebrations we enjoy throughout the year, and what makes them special. It looks like we are having lots of fun.

Today we learned all about symmetry. We saw that lots of things in nature, and especially butterflies are symmetrical, with their wings being identical on each side. We used paints to make our own symmetrical butterflies.

I called for help and my friends came. Tobi

Forest School doesn't just give us a chance to play outdoors and get dirty, but allows us to experience and use the important life skills of determination, resilience and team work.

We helped carry the water together.&#160; Thea

I put soil in the pot&#160; and added a seed.

We read the story 'Sunflowers' and saw the different steps for planting seeds. We wrote simple instructions and then, during Forest School, used them to help us have a go. Did we do it in the correct order?

In class we used some of the symbols of Easter to make bags and cards. 

Eggs are the same shape as the tomb. Caleb

After studying the illustrations of Eric Carle, we tried to copy the art technique he used. We painted tissue paper applying different layers of colour wash.

I got chocolate eggs.&#160; My Peter teddy is special to me.

It was Halloween and I made a mask that had sparkles on.

I had strawberries, cream and nutella on my pancakes.&#160; Yum!

As we continued to read our book we thought about the life cycle of a butterfly and all its' different stages. We loved watching the time lapse video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVm5k99nBk and practiced putting the stages in the correct order. We certainly had a big laugh when someone suggested that the eggs had been laid by a chicken!!

Following on from our work on healthy eating we decided to make a healthy sandwich. We thought about the ingredients we would like to include and how they might look and taste. We were very sensible when using the knives to spread, cut and slice.

We explored positional language, with Max finding himself in lots of unusual places within the classroom.  Can you guess what the instruction was?

For homework we made shakers. We found lots of different containers and added many different ingredients. We loved exploring the sounds they made. We then made some in class too. How could we join the pots together. We found masking tape worked best. We then had lots of fun adding colour and decoration.

We give money to help other people.&#160; People who don't have enough. Henry

Today was red nose day and the classroom was filled with red.  We thought about why we were wearing red and learnt all about the good work the charity does.  We completed lots of fun Red Nose activities in the classroom.

The knife was sharp and I could cut the cucumber up really small.

The knife was easy 'cos I could spread the butter along.

I did not like the cheese .. it was stringy.

Today, 21st March, was the first day of spring.  We went for a walk around the school grounds to look for signs of the changes that are happening.

Some trees are getting their leaves.. but not ours yet!!

Next, we used mirrors along the line of symmetry to complete the missing half of the pictures. What did we see?

... and hundreds of bright red ladybirds.

This half term we have been reading lots of different books about mini beasts.  Some told us a story whilst others contained facts and information.  We played a game to see if we could sort some of our class books into their different types.

It was too high for me, but I found a way to reach. Robyn

I couldn't do it at first but I didn't give up. Jaiden

Next we used some of our hand made shakers to follow the pulse (beat) in the song 'Sunflower Seeds'. We began to see that every time we moved, our shaker made a noise. We listened for the repeating pulse and joined in with the songs beat.

We started to read a new story called ' My Butterfly Bouquet'. This led us to think about the word bouquet and where dad was going to take her to find lots of colour.

As part of our learning this half term we are looking at mini beasts.  We found out that mini beasts are small creatures which do not have a backbone.  We began making lists of the mini beasts we knew.

worm butterfly spider bee fly earwig beetle ladybird ant snail slug

We put on our wellies and got busy digging and raking.  We wanted to grow a wildflower meadow to provide homes and food for the bugs and insects, especially the butterflies we hope to have watch hatch and develop next half term.  It would also add lots of colour to the school grounds.

Today we were helping our friend Yellow Dilemma drop who had a problem. Yellow had heard Red saying mean things to Green. Green was sad but she wouldn't go and tell the teacher. What should Yellow do? Here are some of our suggestions.

They should go and find another adult in school to help them.

Look at our amazing Easter Bonnets - well done everyone you have been very creative.

First we learned the call and repeat song ' I'm growing'. This taught us all about pitch, and how sounds can be high or low. We listened to different instruments and thought about their pitch. During the song we tried to change the pitch of our voices.

This half term we have been learning about jumping and travelling in gymnastics. We have been trying lots of different ways of jumping including; star, pencil, tuck, hop and 2 footed. We have found that by bending our knees and using our arms we can jump both higher and further.

We loved jumping over and off different types of apparatus - the higher the better!!

Miss Staunton demonstrated how Ellie could hide behind her because she is smaller.... but Miss Staunton couldn't because she is bigger.

We then used the Numberblocks to see which numbers could hide behind the other. We used the language such as '3 can hide behind 5 because 5 is more/ bigger'.

It was lovely to see everyone getting dressed up today, even the teachers. We had lots of fun with a parade and singing with our Reception and Nursery friends. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing our favourite books with our friends and listening to many different stories during the day.

We were amazed, excited and scared all at the same time, when we met and had the opportunity to touch several different mini beasts. We learnt lots of different facts from the 'Bug Lady' and now want to have pet spiders!!!

We added more detail with contrasting colours and by printing with vegetables. We then turned it into lovely Mother's Day cards.

Thank you Miss Oldham for arranging the Book Swap, we got lots of new books for our Class Library.

The glue is very sticky.&#160; My finger gets stuck.

We are getting very excited at the thought of the Easter bunny visiting and bringing us lots of eggs. We learned that Easter is a Christian Festival that celebrates the life of Jesus, and that there are many traditions surrounding the occasion, and the start of Spring, that people enjoy.

The donkey could walk on them and it was soft. Annabelle

You have to be careful or the rice spills and makes a mess.

Sukkot is a festival celebrated by Jews all around the World. It lasts for a week and gives thanks for a successful harvest. We shared the story of Sammy the Spider and learned about it from a new perspective.

We decided what objects we could add to our Celebration bag to help us remember the story. We came up with lots of great ideas. Can you ask our child about the story and why we chose them?

It is for harvest.&#160; Robyn

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