Easter Bonnet Parade

The children have all had a go at making an Easter bonnet with their parents or adults. The children were very proud of their creations. We paraded around the classroom for our judges to choose winners.  

Easter Story

Trying Hot Cross Buns

Today as part of our round up of the story of Easter, we recapped on what we had learnt throughout the term. We learnt about the meaning of the eggs at Easter and explored how the cross on the hot cross buns represented Jesus on the cross. We then tried some hot cross buns, yum!

Dragon Eggs

As part of our key literacy text focus this week, we were very pleased that Flynn the Great Explorer managed to find a dragon's egg and send it with the dragon to our class for us to look at. We had a think about what may hatch from the egg and all drew a picture of what we thought was inside. 

Flynn then sent us another letter to say that dragon's eggs only hatch if they are placed in water. We put it in our bowl and filled it with water then put it back with the dragon mum to keep an eye on it. 

On Wednesday, 2 days later, we noticed it had started to hatch! 

RE - The Easter Story

Understanding the Significance of the Cross

The children today learnt all about the significance of the cross in the Easter story and how this is so important to the Christian faith. We learnt how Jesus died on the cross but very happily came back to life on Easter Sunday. The children explored the shape of a cross and thought about where they had seen this in school or the local community. The children recalled seeing the cross outside the school, at the church, in the classroom and on the window on their way up to the hall. We talked about where else it was in school and the children considered how they would look for this next time we walk up through school. 

The children went on to use finger paints to decorate a cross, feeling the shape of the special symbol. Some children worked with Mrs Walsh to make a cross with flowers on to symbolise the happy part of the Easter story when Jesus came back to life. 

PE - Dance

We continued our dance unit this week and as this was the final session this half-term, we performed the dance our groups had made up. The moves included some of the moves we had learnt in class and also some that the children had made up themselves. 

The children then expressed which parts of each other's dances they liked the best. Here are the videos. 

Key Literacy Text

The Knight Who Wouldn't Fight

by Helen Docherty 

The text for this week is all about a Knight who preferred to read books to characters he met on his travels rather than fight them. It shows the power of stories. 

The children thought about which books they would take on their adventure if they were the knight in the story. We collected some of their answers here. It was very good to see that a lot of the key literacy texts we have covered this year were on the list as the children's favourite books. 

Easter Egg Hunt

The children all thoroughly enjoyed looking for the clues for the Easter Egg hunt set up by Year 6. Here are some of the photos from the afternoon

PSED - Healthy Bodies

As part of our learning for PSED we have been exploring how to keep ourselves healthy. This week was looked at how washing hands is important and we conducted an experiment. 

We put a lot of mud on our hands and then we wiped them all over a piece of bread and some fruit. We have left the bread to see what happens to the pieces we wiped our dirty hands on, but we all agreed we wouldn't like to eat food with dirt on and why it was so important to wash our hands before we ate and after we used the toilet. 

RE - The Story of Easter 

Today we looked at the next stage of the Easter Story and how Jesus went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. We spoke about how gardens can be peaceful places and this is perfect for speaking to God. We thought about the times we talk to God, when we pray before lunch and at the end of the day, and how it is important to do this in a quiet place so we can think about what we are saying. 

The children looked at some examples of Easter Gardens and then they went with Miss Thomas to make a large Easter Garden outside where we can use our small world characters to re-enact the story ourselves. Our garden includes the crosses, the tomb and some spring flowers to represent the hope of Easter. 

RE - The Story of Easter 

The next part of the Easter story was to learn all about The Last Supper. The children learnt how Jesus spent his last meal with his twelve disciples and they broke bread and drank red wine together. The children listened to the story of how Jesus washed his disciples feet after they ate. 

We talked about who they would invite to their last supper and what they would like to eat for this special meal. The children talked through their options, ranging from chicken nuggets to kebabs and roast dinners. The children thought about who they would like their, including their family and friends and those they cherished. 

Here are some of the pictures the children drew showing their last supper. 

Our Bean Growing Progress

The children have been growing their beans at home and nurturing them to help them to thrive. These are some of the pictures we have had so far! 

PE - Dance

As part of our PE curriculum we have been learning how different moves can be put together into a sequence to make a dance routine. The children have been learning a set routine, step by step, and now they have been trying their own moves and adding them together to make a routine for their group. The children perform this for their friends and their friends feed back on what they liked about it and where they could improve it further. 

RE - The story of Easter

As part of our RE learning we have been exploring the Easter story and how Jesus traveled into town on Palm Sunday on a lowly donkey and how everyone celebrated his arrival. 

The children acted out the story and placed their jackets down on the ground for the donkey to walk on 

Key Literacy Text

The Castle the King Built

This story tells the story of a castle and all the people who live there, It talks all about the different jobs each person has and what this entails. It shows how people lived a long time ago!

We looked at some of the different jobs the people had in the castle a long time ago. We talked about how important each job was and which one we would prefer to do. 

We considered the pictures in the book and looked at the differences in the way in which the people lived then, and how we live now. We then made a table to show the differences. 

After this we thought about whether we would prefer to live now, or back in the past in a castle, and why. 

British Science Week

A Spring Walk

As part of our Science Week we went on a walk around the garden to look for signs of Spring. We looked at buds on the trees, blossom and catkins, daffodils, daisies and also nests in the trees. The children were able to see that Spring was the next season and how nature is changing as the seasons change. 

British Science Week 

Planting Vegetable Seeds

As part of our learning this week we have been exploring how plants grow, what they need to thrive and how we can grow our own vegetables from some seeds. The children filled the different plant pots with some compost, made a small hole for some of the seeds, placed the seeds in carefully, covered them over, watered them and then placed a label in so we can identify them as they grow. 

British Science Week 

Magnetism

We have been investigating magnets and whether we could predict whether an item was attracted to a magnet or not. We looked at the type of material it was made of, talked to our friends then we tested out our theories. 

We made a list of those that were magnetic and those items that were not magnetic. 

British Science Week 

Diving into bottles

Some of the children made a fun diving toy today using three paperclips, a straw and a plastic bottle filled with water. The children threaded the straw onto the paperclip, added a couple more on the bottom, placed it into the bottle of water and tightened the lid. When you squeeze the water, the pressure in the bottle increases and it forces the diver down to the bottom of the water, when you release it, the pressure returns to the previous level and the diver returns to the top. 

Design and Technology

As part of this half-term's DT, we have been exploring fruit and have made our own fruit salad. You can see pictures on our DT page 

British Science Week 

Looking at Our Bodies 

As part of our learning in British Science Week, we have looked at what is inside our body. We used the cut outs of the organs and bones and asked the children what they thought they were and where on the body they are positioned. 

We talked about how the bones protect the organs from damage and we had a feel on our bodies to see if we could work out where our bones were. 

Here is our body double showing where all the body parts are.

Next we looked at our five senses, explored what they were and then tried to use just one sense at a time to identify items. 

First, we used our noses. We smelled our scent bags to see what we thought they were, our noses worked hard and we guessed a few of them correctly. We said it was very hard to work it out when we couldn't see it, touch it or taste it!

Then, we used out hands to feel items in a box, where we couldn't see them. We used resources from around the room and most children were able to work out one of the items. 

British Science Week 

Making boats 

As part of our learning in British Science Week, we have been thinking about floating and sinking and the properties that make a boat float and keep the contents dry. 

We looked at a book with different boats in, then we used different materials to make and test out our boats. We added a sail to help it to move, then we had a race to see who could get the boat to the end first. We even used our mini-mes as passengers! 

Snow Day

Homework set for Snow Day was to build either a very big snowman or a unique snowman and decorate it. The children and their families worked hard and here are the results.....

Bird Feeders

As part of our learning on spring, and the change in weather, we talked to the children about the birds and how in the cold weather over the next week they would need some food as the berries are all starting to vanish and the ground is very hard. We introduced apple bird feeders and talked about sunflower seeds and how the birds liked them. 

The children placed the sunflowers into the apples using their fine motor skills, ensuring they were far enough into the apple to stay there, but not too far in that the bird wouldn't be able to eat it. 

We then hung the apples, using sticks and string, on the trees in our garden. 

Hindu Festival of Holi

Holi is a Hindu festival that celebrates spring, love, and new life. On the first night of Holi, people light bonfires and throw roasting grains, popcorn, coconut and chickpeas onto them.

The next day, people of all ages go into the streets for fun and paint-throwing. Everyone gets involved! Hindus have fun by smearing each other with paint and throwing coloured water.

Today we learnt all about Holi and the evil king, Hiranyakashipu. We learnt that Hindus celebrate good winning over evil at the start of spring. We wanted to take part in the festival of colours, so we used some special Holi powder paint, which we threw on the ground in the playground and watched the patterns it made. We then used water and paint brushes to mix it and make pictures with it. 

Learning about plants

Planting beans

As part of our learning on plants and how they grow, we have been exploring the life cycle of a bean. This feeds into our key literacy text; Jack and the Beanstalk. 

The children watched a time-lapse video of a bean growing into a beanstalk and then we planted our own beans. We explored what a plant needs to be able to grow and where it gains its food and water from. 

The children have all taken their beans home to try and grow them.

World Book Day 

2nd March 2023

The children all loved coming dressed as their favourite book characters and parents stayed to read books with their children completing a "book scavenger hunt" with them. 

Continuous Provision:

Making the most of the castle

We have been learning new vocabulary, including the parts of a castle, which we are now using in our play. 

The children have also been exploring the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and looking at the golden harp, golden eggs and magic goose in the curiousity cube. 

Maths: Exploring the numbers 9 and 10. 

We have been continuing our maths mastery journey by exploring the composition of 9 and 10. Today we used our 10 frames to explore how 9 and 10 look and how many spaces left on the frame when we place the counters. We explored how 9 and 10 look on our fingers and how the numerals 9 and 10 look. 

We started to look at number tracks and investigated how we can use these to complete addition problems. 

Key Literacy Text

Jack and the Beanstalk 

In our first key text of this half-term, we will be looking at the traditional tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. We will be considering different endings to the story as well as exploring if we think Jack was a hero or a villain. We will also look at the different versions of the book, some of which have a goose, some a hen.