A busy week in Year 1
Yesterday, our books went on stike! In English, we have been using persuasive writing, focusing on conjunctions and questions to persuade the books to let us read them again!
Luckily, we produced some lovely writing and were able to enjoy reading in our reading area again!
In Maths, we’ve been learning how to group by tens and then add on the extra ones.
In Topic, we’ve been planning and creating algorithms and working together to debug any that weren’t working properly.
Week 5 – The tiny seed
We have had a wonderful week this week learning more about growing and the changes that happen through the seasons. Our focus story ‘The tiny seed’ takes us on a journey through the seasons as a tiny seed. We have done some fantastic writing telling others about how to plant seeds and also how a seed changes through the seasons.
In our maths lessons this week we have been learning more about doubles. With the help of the number blocks we spotted patterns. Olly told us” I can see that 8 is double 4 because 4 plus 4 equals 8″. We used everyday objects to create our own doubles.
We have also created some new friends! We have made our own grass heads! We have discussed what the seeds will need and how we can be fantastic gardeners and help them to grow. Keep a look out for regular updates on our class page.
Our poem of the week is called ‘hungry birdies’ We have been working really hard on the actions so we can create birds using our hands. We hope you like it.
As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Mrs Payne
Maths: more money!
Wow – what progress we’ve been making in our maths learning all about money! Today, we thought about how we can make a pound (£1) using different combinations of pence coins. We know that £1 = 100p.
We used our knowledge of related maths facts to help us work out how many coins with the same value we’d need to make £1.
Then, we used coins with different values!
Working Scientifically
Asking questions is a very important part of thinking like a scientist and many scientific investigations begin with a question. As part of their ‘Nappy Challenge,’ the children have been exploring some scientific questions and how they could answer these.
- ‘Why… ?’
- ‘How… ?’
- ‘When… ?’
- ‘What….?’
- ‘Which….?’
- ‘Can you explain…?’
Wow, the liquid is soaking in!
I can’t believe how much liquid a nappy can absorb!
My prediction was quite accurate.
You can see the liquid being absorbed.
The more liquid we poured, the heavier the nappy became.
As we poured 600mls, we observed how the liquid was beginning to collect on the surface of the nappy. This would irritate a baby’s delicate skin.
Discuss this with your child. Can they explain the answer to the scientific question? What did they find out? Were they surprised by the result?
Writing: persuasion
This week, we’ve started to think about persuasion in our Writing lessons. To write persuasively means to encourage someone to change their thinking through writing a letter, email or even a speech.
We were really shocked when we came into school and couldn’t use our book corner!
Don’t throw us on the rug! STOP putting us away in the wrong place! Don’t rip the pages – it hurts!
Our challenge this week is to work together to write persuasively to encourage the books to let us read them again.
“If we don’t have books, how will we learn to love reading?
“Do you not enjoy being read by us?
“Reading is good for your mind because it takes you into new and imaginative worlds!”
We talked about how exclamatory (!) and question (?) sentence types can persuade someone to change their thinking. We also talked about the use of because and if to make the audience think.
Help at home by encouraging your child to think persuasively to help them with their writing. Perhaps they could persuade you to read an extra bedtime story or to go to the park!
Week 4 – Jack and the Beanstalk
This week we have been learning more about the fantastic story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. We found lots of repeating words in the story and enjoyed joining in.
In provision we created our own beanstalks, made castles and furniture fit for giants and measured different beanstalks using cubes.
We thought about what plants need to grow and decided to see if we could grow our own beanstalks. It was lots of fun getting everything ready and patting the bean into the soil. We learnt that the beans will need light, warmth and water to grow.
We are growing potatoes!
Over the past few weeks we have been reading some fantastic focus books.
‘A superhero like you’ by Dr Ranj and Liam Darcy
The children expressed what ‘real’ superhero they wanted to be when they are older. We transformed our provision into a world of occupations from a farmer to a dentist!
‘The girl is like Mummy’- Savannah
‘They don’t wear clothes like batman’-Deacon
‘I like building with my hammer’- George
‘Oliver’s Vegetables’ by Alison Bartlett and Vivian French
The children enjoyed learning about all the vegetables that grew in Oliver’s garden. We talked about what we have grown at home before and what we would like to grow in nursery. We all decided we wanted to grow some potatoes just like Oliver so we could make our own chips!
‘I grow peppers with my Grandad’ – Ella
‘I got carrots and potatoes’ – Frankie
‘I’ve not had beetroot before, it’s purple’- Austin
‘ Daisy eat your peas’ by Kes Gray and Nick Sharratt
Daisy does not like peas and there is nothing that her mum can do to get her to eat them! The children discussed their likes and dislikes around food. We then started to talk about which foods are healthy and which are not so healthy but in the end we all decided we love ice-cream!
‘Daisy didn’t want to eat her peas and then she tried to get mum to eat her brussel sprouts but she didn’t like them either’- Gracie
‘I don’t like sprouts, I like carrots’ – George
‘ I had sprouts at Christmas’- Austin
‘ I like Yorkshire pudding’- Ella
‘ I like to drink apple juice’- C
‘ Daisy is funny because she didn’t want to eat her peas’- Joshua
Notices
Thank you to those that have booked an appointment for parent consultations, I am excited to share with you your child/children’s progress this term. There are still some appointments left so the list will be displayed in the nursery window if you wish to attend.
Please keep sending in any photos you would like to share with nursery for the children to share in our circle times. The children really enjoy sharing what they have been getting up to at the weekend with their grown-ups!
Our email address is stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org
Have a lovely happy and healthy weekend!
Miss Ward
What Are Fractions?
Our brand new topic in Maths is all about fractions! We recapped what fractions are and we know they are part of the whole. So if there are 13 children in Year 3, one of them is one part of the whole.
We looked at how fractions are written and thought about what the numerator and the denominator could be. The children had a go at splitting a whole into equal parts using playdough and wrote out their fractions.
After, we started to compare unit fractions. We know that the numerator will always be 1. To help us compare unit fractions, we watched Miss Gledhill create a fractions wall for our classroom.
We looked at the size of each unit fraction. The children were able to recognise that the more equal parts the whole is split into, the smaller the part. Therefore, if someone loved chocolate they would certainly choose one quarter of a bar over one fifth!
Help at home by helping your child find equal parts. This could be of an object or a drawing. If they were to make a unit fraction, what would the numerator and denominator look like?
Maths: buy one get three free..!
In Year 4, time is dedicated to learning and quickly recalling the times table up to and including 12x.
Did you know that your child knows four facts just for knowing one times table fact. Confused? Take a look at this short video explaining what we’ve been working on…
Writing: spelling practice
Each week, time in class is spent practising spellings. Words are the building blocks to language and it’s important that words are spelled correctly.
Of course, like all things we practise little yet often, spelling practice can get a little dull..! Why not have a go at what we did in class! Spell the words, chop them up into a mini jigsaw then put them back together again!
