Bubble Week Day 4

Today we looked at speech bubbles in books such as 'Funnybones' and 'The Toys Party'. The children thought about all the different things that they had learnt about this week and wrote about their favourite in their speech bubble. Reception drew their favourite thing that they did this week in a thought bubble.

We went to the Scout Hall today for assembly to see how much space we have for our summer production. The children also had playtime on the field which was lovely in the sunny weather! No grazed knees or arms on grass!

We made giant bubbles today that the children could stand inside. We managed to get 5 small reception children in one bubble!

This afternoon we prepared for our assembly that we are doing to the rest of the school tomorrow to tell them what we have done during bubble week.

Bubble Week Day 3

We made sculptures of people using bubble wrap.

Many of the children chose to work together so they could help each other with the holding and sticking down.

In maths today we looked at 2D and 3D shapes. We thought about the question 'Is the bubble a sphere because we used a circle shaped wand? Can we make different shaped bubbles? The children used pipe cleaners to create different 2D and 3D shaped wands. We discovered that the bubble will always be a sphere and it did not make any difference as to what shape wand we used. We found out that a cuboid is the best shape to blow lots of little bubbles because it has more faces for the mixture to stick to.

This morning we continued with our under the sea dance. We had a go at putting together a piece about sharks and listened to some music suitable for anemones.

Bubble Week Day 2

The bubble competition!

We continued with our bubble themed week. Today the year 1 children wrote about a place that they might find themselves in if the magical bubble took them somewhere. Some of the children have brought copies of this work home to show you. The children were asked to really concentrate on their handwriting and think about their literacy target as they did this piece of work. Has your child told you their target? Reception were thinking of words to describe bubbles. They practised sounding out these words and later this week will make a bubble picture to put their word on.

After break time we had a bubble blowing competition. The focus was upon maths skills during this competition so the children had to count their bubbles after each blow, record the number as a tally and then count up the total. Winners of the competition will be announced tomorrow.

This afternoon we continued practising our songs for 'Wind in the Willows'. Reception then had outside learning time with Mrs Shiner. They spent most of the afternoon building a den! The year 1 children continued with their powerpoint presentations which are looking very professional. They are getting very confident using the software.

Hot Weather

The summer now seems to be upon us (or has now been and gone!!). Please make sure that your children have suncream and sun hats, especially reception children as they spend a lot of time outside during outside learning. Please show the children how to rub in their own suncream.

This week is 'Bubble Week' where all our learning will be based upon the topic. This is a whole school topic for the duration of the week. Today we began our topic by imagining that we were in a magical bubble taking us on an adventure. Where would we go and what would happen? We will then write our adventure stories tomorrow.

In Maths reception have been looking at length and comparing each other. Year one have been looking at finding the difference between two numbers and how to work out the missing number e.g. 5 + = 8.

A absolutely fantastic website that Mrs Gandy recommended for the children. Some lovely educational games especially for the reception children in the class, but I'm sure the year 1 children would love to play on them as well. There is a super under the sea selection of games if you find the submarine on the top shelf of the home page.
www.poissonrouge.com/poissonrouge.php

CAN YOU HELP?

Crispin our class bear is in real need of a new wardrobe of clothes. Are you good at sewing, knitting or making? Do you have any old clothes that you could cut up and make 'Crispin sized' clothing? We really need parents to help make clothing including jumpers, t-shirts, shorts, trousers, coats, a pj set, and dressing gown. Anything really! We are also looking for accessories including towel, sun hat, slippers, shoes, glasses or anything else you can think of! Click on the drawing above for Crispins measurments or do come and measure him up in the classroom.

Friday 21st May

Today Mrs Southall taught the children. See above for pictures of models that the children made.

We had target practise this morning where the children practised what they need to do to achieve their targets. We are in the process of creating 'I can' books for the children to store all their previously learnt targets.

There was no 'Golden Time' this afternoon, we have carried it over to Monday due to the Year 6 games this afternoon.

Well done to all the children who tried so hard this week to walk to school everyday or at least a little further than usual. Some children also decided to scooter or ride their bike.

Thursday 20th May

A leaflet made yesterday to get people to come aboard the Titanic.

This morning Mrs Shiner and myself went to visit the new September starters at their current nursery settings.

We continued our topic this afternoon and explored the different menus that were offered to the different classes on board the titanic. The year 1 children imagined that they were the chefs on board and planned a menu suitable for second class people if the Titanic were to sail tomorrow. We had lots of fantastic ideas including honey on toast for breakfast, ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, fish and chips for dinner with apple crumble for dessert. Supper would consist of hot milk and biscuits!

Letters regarding costumes for 'Wind in the Willows' were sent out today so please check your child's book bag.

Reminder: Reception and Year 1 homework due in tomorrow please.

Wednesday 19th May

We have been busy today, we did PE this morning. The children enjoyed a tag rugby game that we called 'Sharks and Fish'. The children who were sharks had great fun chasing the fish and taking their tails!

This week the reception children have been looking at menus as a text example. They have been writing their own menu's for the Titanic in literacy. In maths they have been working with money and making number sentences in Mrs Shiner's Cafe. The children have been choosing things to order from the menu and adding up how much is will cost.

The children have continued to look at 'The Titanic'. We learnt about the inside of the ship today and the differences between first, second and third class. The year ones then made information leaflets to encourage rich people to holiday on the Titanic. The children have been absolutely fascinated with this topic in History and cannot wait to find out about the night the ship hit the iceberg. Joshua R has made a beautiful model of the Titanic at home and Thomas has a wonderful pop-up book which he has been sharing with the class.

Tuesday 18th May

Today Katelyn came to spend the morning with us again. She enjoyed her first visit so much and is missing her friends in Australia, that she asked if she could come back for another morning. Katelyn enjoyed making friends with Class 1. The children should feel very proud of themselves because they made her feel so welcome and were very friendly towards her.

We completed our writing journeys this morning. It was great to see how the children have progressed in their writing since the beginning of the year and even tracking back to the beginning of Reception. We will have the writing journeys out on Friday morning for your child to show you.

The children have been set a challenge today. They are making sure that their numbers are the correct way round, especially the year 1's who are reversing a lot. They have been told that in year 2 numbers should be written correctly. Please reinforce this at home!

We continued practising for our summer production. Children will be notified of their part very very soon. They are desperate to find out, things are just being finalised!

The Titanic and Writing Journey's

Thomas' sketch of the Titanic and interesting fact.

Over the next two weeks our focus is upon history and we will be looking at the Titanic. Today the children talked about what they already knew and learnt some interesting facts about the Titanic and its voyage.

Alec's sketch of the Titanic and a fascinating fact he learnt.

Joshua's story plan ready for writing his story in his 'Writing Journey' tomorrow.

This morning we began planning our are stories to go in our 'Writing Journey's'. Twice a year the children write a piece in their journey and we do this throughout the school. The journey's then go with the children as they move up the school. The children really enjoy looking back at their writing and drawing and how they have improved over time.

Year 1 have asked me to put this link up as some of them are desparate to use it at home as well as at school to create animations:

www.snapfiles.com/get/stickfigure.html

Friday 14th May

Seahorses at Bristol Aquarium have given birth! www.bluereefaquarium.co.uk/news-from-bristol/aquarium-celebrates-rare-seahorse-births.htm

Your junk is being put to good use! Elyse and Iona's model, a pen holder!

Mrs Southall taught the children this morning as usual. We have been preparing a special display to go up in the classroom and today we all created something for it. Mrs Southall has also been teaching us some new songs based upon 'The Sea'. Here is one that we have enjoyed:

Waves in the Sea (Tune: 'Wheels on the bus')

The waves on the sea go up and down,
Up and down, up and down,
The waves on the sea go up and down,
All day long.

Additional verses:

The shark in the sea goes snap, snap, snap...

The fish in the sea go swish, swish, swish...

The boats in the sea go toot, toot, toot...

(the children have also learnt actions to go with each verse)

Reception have been learning about questions and answering some based upon 'The Smiley Shark'.

The children have all been working hard on their homework, well done!

Using our Voices

Performance of 'The 3 Billy Goats Gruff'.'

Performance of 'Jack and the Beanstalk'

Planning their voice sounds that they were going to use for 'Jack and the Beanstalk'

This morning Mrs Southall taught in Class 1. The children have enjoyed lots of 'Shark' based activities today.

Reception worked with Mrs Shiner answering questions about a story called 'Smiley Shark'.

We are looking at 'Sound and Hearing' this term. Today the year 1's practised using their voices. We talked about where our voices come from and explored the different sounds that we can create using our voices along with our tongues and lips. Above you will see some of the children planning and performing their simple stories. They were asked to incorporate voice sound effects to into the story. Josh and Thomas made a fantastic growing beanstalk sound for 'Jack and the Beanstalk'!

Tomorrow Mrs Southall will be in Class 1 again in the morning.

REMINDER: Reception homework (spellings and sounds) due in tomorrow.

PLEA: Please keep sending in that junk, we get through an awful lot!!

PE and Moving Pictures

Harry's picture has very colourful rainbow fish and a diver exploring them.

Tadhg's picture has a moving shipwreck sinking to the bottom of the sea.

Alec's moving picture, complete with under the sea diver.

Molly's picture with sinking ship, diver and a giant octopus.


Oliver's picture where the boat sinks down to the sea bed amongst the seaweed.

We have nearly finished our moving pictures which has been our Design and Technology topic over the last 2 weeks. The pictures are based upon underwater scenes and have moving parts. You can see the finished ones above.

This morning we braved the cold weather and did PE outside. We practised our ball skills, including rolling and chasing our ball, rolling it to each other. We then moved onto throwing and catching. We did, however, decide to call it a day when it starting hailing!

Tuesday 11th May

The children continued to look at information books today and had a go at writing their own glossary. They enjoyed finding out what some words meant in terms of under the sea creatures.

This week, year 1 are looking at different ways of making amounts from 5 to 10. They have been camel sellers, deciding how many camels they want to keep/sell. This is a hard concept for children. Using real situations has helped the children with their understanding.

Practise for 'The Wind in the Willows' is in full swing. Keep a look out for a costume letter coming home with your child, hopefully, by the end of the week.

Thank you to the parents who have been working with the children in the mornings with their reading. The children really enjoy having parents in to class and the parents have enjoyed being part of school life.

Reminder: Reception don't forget your homework is due in on Friday for marking.

HELP US: A plea from Mrs Shiner and I, can you please ensure that your child's clothes are named. We are having great trouble matching clothes with their owners!!! All 20 jumpers etc look exactly the same. If they are not named we are going to begin writing children's names inside their clothes. Please help and do this for us!

Monday 10th May

Today Reception made playdough with Mrs Wallace in preparation for making different length snakes and measuring them later this week. Here is the playdough recipe if you want to make some at home:

1 cup of plain flour

1 cup of water

1/2 cup of salt

2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

1 tablespoon of vegetable cooking oil

Food colouring and/or glitter

Mix it all up in a bowl then heat on oven or microwave (low heat) until it becomes a dough. Remember to stir regularly.

Year 1 had a go at writing contents pages for information books. They also began making their final moving pictures. We began by doing a paint wash over the card to create the sea and have drawn our backgrounds so far. We will next add the moving parts using levers and wheels.

Tomorrow Mrs Southall we be teaching in Class 1 from 11:30 and she will be doing maths and music with the children.

Friday 7th May

Class 1 had yet another visitor in today. This morning during Mrs Southall's lesson a vicar came to talk to the children about her special place. They then went to the village green to spend some time in a special place for the whole class. The children had their snack and enjoyed this very beautiful and special place.

Today we had 'Target Practise' time, and will regularly do this on a Friday. We haven't done this before, but the children really enjoyed it. Each child in the class has or will have two targets. One for maths and one for literacy. Target practise is to give the children the opportunity to rehearse and practise their targets, before being expected to use it in their work across the curriculum. Each child has to demonstrate they can do their target 4 times before they can say they have achieved it and have another one. Ask your child their target that they are working on, they should be able to tell you!

A few weeks ago the children were introduced to 'Pivot Stick Animator'. A free download program online. The Year 1 children have been using this during their golden time and have produced some very good animations completely independently. If your child has made one they would love to show you after school.

REMINDER: Reception children now have homework. This will be given on a Friday and collected in for marking the following Friday. Most of the children have both a word book and a sound book.

Class 1 Prime Ministers

Today we learnt about the Prime Minister, his job, where he works and what happens during a General Election. Some of the children were very knowledgable about the different party members and their job role. We then began thinking about if we were Prime Ministers, what would we introduce or change about our country. Here are some of our manifestos.

If I was Prime Minister I would:

Josh - "Have more children in school to make more friends."
Tadhg - "Stop the oil leak in the sea."
Joshua R - "Have less cars on the road and more buses."
Harry - "Have more hospitals."
Alec - "Put children in charge."
Molly - "Help people who need help."
Thomas - "Have lots of different churches."
Ollie - "Have more firemen."
Kim - "Make classes smaller."

This morning we had a special visiter called Katelyn. She was 6 years old and lives in Austraila. Katelyn is currently on holiday in England with her parents and wanted to gain experience of a English school. She stayed with us until breaktime and made lots of new friends. Katelyn shared photographs that she had brought with her from Australia and talked to us all about Australian life. The children found out all about Katelyn's school, home and what it is like where she lives. The children enjoyed hearing Katelyn's mums story about being stung by a jellyfish on the beach. It was a lovely experience for the children.

Wednesday 5th May

We continued our 'Under the Sea' dance in PE today. The children thought of fish and sea weed movements and then created ship wrecks by making interesting body shapes. The children are looking forward to creating shark movements next week.

We have been working on some really tricky maths today about place value and how different numbers are made up e.g. 25 = 20 + 5. We have been practising using 10p and 1p coins. Reception have been practising writing number sentences by adding together octopus and starfish legs such as 5 + 5 = 10. They have also been taking care with writing their numbers.

Year 1 continued with their 'Moving Pictures' DT topic today. We looked at wheel mechanisms and had a go at making our own. This is Molly R's at the top of the post. The year 1's are now ready to make their final designs which we will be planning, hopefully, on Friday and making on Monday.

Quote of the day: "I have been to visit Sparkly castle!" (meaning Berkeley castle!)

Tuesday 4th May

We had a very busy day today in Class 1. Over the next 3 weeks the year 1 children will be looking at information books about 'The Sea' and at the end of the unit will be making a class book. We will keep you posted about the book and how we are getting on. Today we began by thinking of questions about sea creatures that we might want to find out the answers to later this week.

Reception are also looking at information books and making their own. If the children have any information books about under the sea they are more than welcome to bring them in to share.

This afternoon, we started to learn the songs for our school summer production 'Wind in the Willows'.

Year 1 have begun practising using 'powerpoint' to create presentations about sea creatures and will continue this throughout the topic.