A balancing act. This week in maths we have been deepening our understanding of mass. We weighed different objects in the class after listening to a story. The class were really engaged and had a great understanding of heavy light and balanced. When we used the numicon pieces we worked out that the same number made the scales balance. We also developed our understanding of the alphabet and our writing skills.
It is great to see lots of independent learning this week. The junk modelling area has been extremely popular. It is a great way to develop our fine motor skills and problem solve. We have also encouraged the class to discuss the shapes that they are using as they design and build. Lots of partner reading, using the dice to make doubles maths stories.
A wet and cold forest school at Gibside today, but it didn’t stop us! We went for a long walk, past the abandoned orangery, through the woods and back into the Chapel. This week we took the time to look for signs of Spring. We were surprised at how many new flowers and bulbs had grown since the previous week. Snowdrops, Irises and Winter Roses were clearly visible. We also looked at the forest from a different angle by lying down, it was surprising how tall the trees were when we were on the ground. Oliver also built a camp fire, he asked his friends for help, which they gladly did. Working collaboratively is a great way to learn from one another and support each other.
The Gingerbread Man returned, he was so sad he was missing pieces and he didn’t know how many he had left to find. We worked in small teams to count how many we already had, then we had to work out how many more we needed to find the whole Gingerbread Man. We remembered the word ‘disintegrate’ we wondered if that was also a problem! We had to solve the number problems in order to complete the Gingerbread Man - we used our bonds to 5 and 10. We also developed our understanding of doubles, the doubles which used odd and even numbers, we had to work out the double of the. Icon amount. The witch was also sad, she had lost her doubling bear so we made her a new one, ensuring that each side was the same, like a double.
Ora y activities this week. We took turns, listened to our friends. We also used the sentences stem ‘ I would choose’ ….. The children had to make their own ideas and choices and explain their reasoning and vote accordingly.
Hooks into Books - wow see! It was wonderful to see so many parents and careers this week. We read ‘ Mr Wolf’s Pancakes’ it is so funny! In Reception class we enjoyed sharing it and identifying all the characters from other traditional tales and nursery rhymes . The ending is hilarious - but we won’t spoil it for you. We also made our own funny face pancakes, developing our scissor skills, made healthy pancakes and counted out pancakes, reinforcing our 1:1 correspondence. We read more stories throughout the day and shared new books and read by torchlight. Well done and thank you.
We also were a little bit worried that Cinderella and the Prince had no clothes to wear for the ball. We watched a video about making printed materials. We use Lego pieces and stickle bricks to create a huge piece of material that looks brilliant. Working collaboratively is a great idea. Thank you for your continued support.