What a busy first week back! Reception children have been super excited to start their new topic-‘Animal Kingdom’ and there has been some great discussions about why some animals make great pets and others don’t. Children enjoyed the focus story ‘You can’t take an elephant on a bus’ so much that many decided to become authors and write their own versions; we had some fantastic ideas why you do not want to have an elephant, giraffe, crocodile or lion in different rooms within the house. For example. “you should not have a lion in the bedroom because it will eat you” and “you do not want a crocodile in the bathroom because it will snap your bottom when you are on the toilet”.
We have also been exploring our new role play areas: Pumpkins have emerged themselves into becoming animal shelter workers and finding suitable new parents for all the animals. In Sunflowers and Acorns we have used our super imagination skills and acted out the daily role of vets and caring for different pets.
In phonics, we have been learning the digraphs: ‘ee’ and ‘ai’. We are super impressed that children are already spotting these in their reading books and applying them to their writing. Well done all for being courageous in your learning!
In maths, we have been exploring the concept of measurement using non-standard units – introducing the language relating to height and length.
Our rainbow challenges have allowed us to:
- Paint one good pet and one bad pet.
- Sort animals into our own categories and write a label for each
- To locate and write as many tricky words in our reading book.
- Explore different musical instruments and sounds on the iPad.
- Get creative outside with chalks and draw animals on the ground.
Next Week
The focus will be on extending our vocabulary about Safari animals whilst looking closely at patterns and weight.
Focus Book: Spots or Stripes? By Vasanti Unka
Phonics Focus: igh – (night) and oa – (coat)
Rainbow Challenges Next Week:
Yellow: To write noun phrases to describe the animals from the scene. An example of a noun phrase is: A spotty leopard.
Red: To use mixed media to create animal patterns
Blue: To select a picture of an animal then choose different objects to measure and record on a chart.
Green: To create a stage outside and use musical instruments to put on a performance.
Purple: To listen to the music and move like different animals.
Exciting News!!!!
In the forthcoming weeks we are planning for a special canine visitor to attend school as part of our Animal Kingdom Topic. Please inform your class teacher if there are any allergies or concerns. Thank you very much.
Dates for diary:
Thursday 5th March is World Book Day. We are not inviting children to dress up for this day as we want the focus to be on the pleasure of reading. We ask for all children to bring in their favourite book from home – please make sure this is labelled clearly with their name. We will be sharing these on the day.
Friday 6th March: Reports to parents
Wednesday 11th March: Learning conversations – please remember to book a slot on WisePay.
Thursday 19th March: School trip to Shepreth – WisePay should be used for both permission and contribution to the trip.
Thank you for all the parent volunteers who have volunteered so far. Sunflowers and Acorn Class now have their full quota of parents. However, Pumpkin Class still require support.
Well done Sunflowers, Acorns and Pumpkins for a super start to your new topic.
Have a restful weekend.