3rd September

We had a nice few days getting to know our new classroom and new adults. We talked about how to be a kind friend, sang alphabet songs, danced to number songs and even started to talk about Autumn. 

8th September

This week, we read a book called 'Frederick' by Leo Lionni. We explored how we could use actions and story maps to help us remember the stories. In maths, we worked on our counting to 10 skills. We also explored subitising to 3. In phonics, we started to learn the letters s, a, t and p. We explored how to write them correctly and how to build words with them. In the afternoons, we started to learn all about autumn. We made some autumn collages and also painted buttercup pictures to decorate our new classroom.

15th September

In literacy, we focused on a book called 'The squirrels who squabbled' by Rachel Bright. We explored how we could change small details to make new stories. For example, it could be the cats who squabbled or the dogs that dug. In maths, we learned all about matching and sorting. We explored using numicon, counters and even a pumpkin! In the afternoons, we did some observational sketches of squirrels, learned how to take photos on an ipad, went on a tour of the school and explored mashing and chopping food.

Friday 19th - Art competition opportunity

23^rd September

In literacy, we read a book called ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ by Michael Rosen. We plotted the story onto a story map to help us to retell the story. In handwriting and phonics, we learned all about i, d, n and m. In maths, we learned all about sorting and grouping. For example, we grouped ourselves into jumpers and no jumpers, 4 year olds and 5 year olds etc. In the afternoons, we learned all about maps. We explored what they were for and how to use them. We had a go at drawing our own bear hunt map. We also explored mark making on large paper and making transient art with carrots.

28th September

In literacy, we thought about our book from last week called ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ by Michael Rosen. We had a go at innovating the story to make a new one. We tried out different versions as a class such as a lion hunt, a sweet hunt, a rabbit hunt. In maths, we ordered Numicon pieces from 1-10 and wrote numbers to match. We then started to learn about measurement and looked at how to compare size, mass and capacity. In phonics, we had a special focus on the sounds g, o, c, k and on phase 2 tricky words - I, is, the, no, go, to. In the afternoons, we explored leaves, made leaf people, went on a leaf collecting walk around our school playground, explored cutting and threading with leaves and also naming and describing leaves. We spoke about where different animals might live and then we spoke about where we all live. We had a go at making houses out of card. 

6th October

In literacy, we read a book called 'The Enormous Turnip.' We had fun acting out the story and joining in with the repetitive words. We then compared it to a book called 'The gigantic turnip' to see what was the same and what was different. In maths, we learned all about repeating patterns. We had a go at copying patterns, continuing patterns and even making up our own patterns. In the afternoons, we leaned more about autumn. We went on an autumn walk around our school grounds, sorted pictures into seasons, listened to a piece of music called Autumn by Vivaldi, explored rolling conkers in paint and also stretched elastic bands over pine cones. On the 10th, we leaned all about world mental health day. 

Topmarks maths - Repeating pattern shape train game

13th October

In literacy, we carried on our work on 'The Enormous Turnip.' We explored ordering the story and then changing details to create a new story. In maths, we focused on 1, 2 and 3. We worked on subitising, numeral recognition, matching values and representing quantities using different methods including fingers, number lines, tens frames, bead strings, claps, jumps etc. In phonics, we focused on h, b, f and l. We had a go at word building and CVC word reading. We also looked at phase 3 keywords he, she, we, me, be. In the afternoons, we worked on our cutting skills and made autumn wreaths, completed observational sketches of hedgehogs, pumpkins and leaves, explored conker rolling outside using guttering pipes and also thought about our own personal history and looked back at everything we had covered so far this year.