w/e 20.01.23
In our SCARF learning we have been focusing on having a growth mind set by saying “I’ll try” and “I’m going to have a try,” when faced with things we find challenging.
This week in our maths learning we have been comparing mass and using the vocabulary heavy, heaviest, heavier than, light, lighter than and lightest to compare items of different weight. We discovered that bigger items are not always heavier than smaller items. We also compared capacity using the vocabulary full, empty, half full, nearly full and nearly empty. One of our favourite activities from the week was seeing how many items we could fit into a small box. We estimated first and then used 5 frames to count the items we found. One group of children managed to fit more than 20 items into their box.
In our phonics we have continued our learning reading and writing simple words containing the letters j, w and z and the high frequency word was. We talked about our own experiences of being in snow when we shared our snowy photographs. We started to make collages of a snowy environment by mixing pale colours and adding textures with fabrics foil and tissue paper. We put on our warm clothes and went for a Winter walk to observe the ice in the school outdoor environment. This prompted lots of discussion, excitement and descriptive language. When we found a frosty leaf one of the children described it as looking like a lizard “an icy lizard!” When we went into the Environmental Area we discovered that the water in the bird bath was thickly frozen and the pond was also frozen. We started to think of ways which we might help the birds in Winter. One of the children was inspired by looking at the icy leaves to paint some leaves when he got back to the classroom with pearlised paints. We had lots of fun learning the Have you ever had a Penguin come to Tea action rhyme. We identified the Polar regions on the globe and coloured our maps and labelled the Arctic and Antarctica. We enjoyed listening to the story The Polar Bear Paddle by David Bedford about a polar bear who has a can do attitude when faced with challenges. We also read an information book The Best Book of Whales and Dolphins by Christians Gunzi and this prompted a lot of discussion.
In PE we have been using the theme Under the Sea. We moved our bodies in different ways like creatures we find in the sea. We included penguins. We played a fun dancing game in the class where we copied different children’s dance movements and this increased our feelings of wellbeing greatly. At the end of the week we learned about how the Chinese celebrate the New Year.
