Doubling!

We have been learning how to work out doubles with our doubling song. When the music starts we jump up to our feet and do some "cool" dancing to the music. Why not have a listen and a dance along at home. 

We use this song to help the children understand the term doubling-it means adding the same number to the same number. It is important to do lots of practical doubling to ensure children understand the concept.

BEWARE: Parents this song gets stuck in you head very easily!

Have fun Doubling!

We're going on a bear hunt!

After a nice rest over the bank holiday, we came back to school nice and refreshed and lucky for us the sun was shining! We decided it was the perfect day for a bear hunt!
First we read the story, taking note of all the describing words. Then we got ourselves ready and armed with sunhats and invisible binoculars we set off on our way.

We recited the story as we went. First we came to the long, wavy grass. Next was the deep, cold river we had to lift up our trousers to make sure they didn't get wet!

We squelched through the mud stumbled through the forest...

We spun through the swirling, whirling snowstorm untill at last we saw a cave! We tiptoed up to it, crept inside and inside there was a BEAR!!!

We were terrified. We ran back through the snowstorm, mud, forest, river and grass straight back into class and hid! We have decided we're not going on a bear hunt again!!

Once we had recovered from the excitement we discussed how the bear would feel to have lots of children walk into his home and then run away screaming! The children used great describing words such as "miserable," "furious," and "down in the dumps." 

I then asked them the children to finish the book by telling us, what the bear did next. This provoked a creative and thoughtful discussion. The children put their great ideas on paper, producing some brilliant work. 
Here are a few examples;

 Jack, "He played on the xbox."

 Grace B, "The bear went to get fish and chips."

Alyssa, "The bear went to find some friends."


What a busy day!

The Great Outdoors

Today we went on a trip to the Longshawe Estate. 
First, we went on a "Gruffalo Walk" through the woods. We talked about the different animals in the story and discussed how they survived in the wild.

We explored our senses while playing a variety of games. To start with we had to use our "looking" sense, just like the Gruffalo. Jenny had hidden some wriggly worms (wool) in part of the wood. In teams we worked together to see who could find the most worms, it was really tricky, we had to look really carefully. We couldn't find any of the brown or green worms as they were camouflaged!

Next, we used our hearing sense like the owl. We went on an owl walk around the woods. We had to be silent (a tricky task) and see what we could hear.

Then we used our "touching" sense. We took it in turns to put on a blind fold and feel different parts of the woodland area.

Our final job of the morning was to make a smelly potion. We filled up pots with as many things as we could find, the smellier the better! Then we added water and mixed it together. 

"It smells like rotten eggs," said Gabi. "It's like smelly rubbish," said Alyssa. "Mine smells like old, stinky socks," said Alex. We left them outside in case the Gruffalo wanted to eat them!

In the afternoon we learned about what animals need to survive. We took some woodland animals (furry toys) for a walk in Longshawe estate. Our task was to make our animals a shelter. We had to work as a team, to build a den with the natural materials in the forest.

Have a look at the finished products! Can you spot the animals in their den?

 


We had a busy day and we were all very tired by the time the coach came! Thanks to Jenny and the Moorland team for a brilliant day!

Everybody Writes!

On Friday we had an "Everybody Writes" launch at school. The usual morning routine was discarded and the whole school was filled with activities to inspire writing. All of the children throughout the school were able to explore the school and participate in a variety of activities. Here are some pictures of what we got up to.

 

 

Improving their fine motor skills by practising cutting.

 Making secret messages with candles, then painting over them to reveal all.

 Cutting letters out of newspapers to create words.

 Making words by printing with potatoes.

 Making charcoal and using it to write messages.

 

 Using construction to write our names.

 There were also stations for creating paper aeroplane messages, making pop up books, making stories on the computer, play dough words, writing their greatest wishes and there was a nonsense gallery too.

 As you can see it was a very enjoyable day and as well as improving the children's writing skills, it developed their social skills; the children experienced new environments, worked with new adults and alongside unfamiliar, older children. In addition, it gave the children a taste of independence the children were able to choose any activity they liked and stay there for an unlimited period. 

 From now on, the children will not have Read Write Inc on Monday morning. Instead they will stay in the foundation unit and have an "Everybody Writes" hour in which they will participate in fun activities that will promote and extend the children's writing ability.

 

PE

Just a quick post to show you some of the great work we do in PE. In today's lesson we were focusing on travelling over and under different apparatus.

 When walking along the beam we had to concentrate and look straight ahead to make sure we didn't fall off.

 We had to be really careful when climbing down the apparatus.

Some of us can squeeze into really small spaces, as you can see from their faces the children were very impressed!

 When jumping off the apparatus we had to make sure we landed safely.

 We travelled along the bar in lots of different ways.

The children were also responsible for getting the equipment out and putting it away safely. Well done Clown fish, I look forward to doing it again next week!

 

 

Cannon Hall Farm

Today we have been on a class trip to Cannon Hall farm.

First, we fed the cows they were very greedy.

Next, we rode on a tractor around the new part of the farm.

Afterwards we went to see the baby piglets. Some were only 5 days old!

We went to see the lambs, one had been born five minutes before we went in!

We went to see the guinea pigs and rabbits. We were allowed to stroke them.

We also saw some Shetland ponies, donkeys, llamas, goats, chickens and Tom the turkey! It was such a busy day but we still found time to play in the adventure playground and the tunnel maze.

We had so much fun but on the coach journey home we were all exhausted. What a busy day!

Quick Quiz
1. What is a female pig called?
2. What is the name of a baby rabbit?
3. What is the name of a male sheep?
4. Why do some sheep have red dots on their back? 
 
 

 
 

Pancake Day

Today we were really lucky the "Friends of Lound Infant School" brought in some pancakes to celebrate Pancake day. We had lots of toppings to choose from. Some of the children enjoyed them so much they ate every last crumb!

Here are some pictures of us tucking in to them.

Dougie Dog's big day

This term our RE topic has been weddings and what a coincidence Dougie Dog and Rainbow fish had decided to get married!

As I’m sure you know the Clown fish think very highly of Dougie dog so we decided we would throw him the “best wedding ever.”

We started off the week looking at photographs of weddings of people we know. We discussed the common features of a Christian wedding, eg. white dresses, flowers, rings and cake. Mrs Hoey brought in her wedding dress for us to look at.Christian said, "It looks so soft, I want to sleep in it."

Throughout the week we made invitations to the weddings, congratulation cards, outfits, rings and lots of flowers.

When it came to the big day we made sure we looked smart then went into the Rainbow fish classroom to take our place on the groom’s side of the aisle.

The Bride and groom picked their best men and bridesmaids, Miss Spacey took her place as the Vicar, then the ceremony began.

After the ceremony the bride threw the bouquet (Great catch Amelia!) then it was time for the reception where we danced the afternoon away!

Afterwards we looked at a video of a Hindu wedding. We had a look at traditional Hindu wedding clothes and tried them on.

We thought very carefully about the similarities and differences between Christian weddings and Hindu weddings. Here are some of our ideas.

Similarities

"They both had dresses."Gabi

"They had flowers." Jack

Differences

"The Bride was carried in a basket." Hayden  

"She had gold and purple on her dress, not a white one." Kayleigh

It has been a very busy week but we have had lots of fun! Congratulations Dougie and Rainbow fish!

Handwriting

It is important that children form letters correctly from an early age. The more the children form letters incorrectly the more the brain gets programmed to always form the letter shapes this way.

Here is a list of the letter sounds and the rhymes we use at school to help the children when writing letters.

a Round the apple down the leaf (apple)
b Down the laces to the heel, round the toe (Boot)
c Curl around the caterpillar (caterpillar)
d Round his bottom up his tall neck and down to his feet (dinosaur)
e Lift off the top and scoop out the egg (egg)
f Down the stem, and draw the leaves (flower)
g Round her face down her hair and give her a curl (girl)
h Down the head to the hooves and over his back (horse)
i Down his body, and dot for his head (insect)
j Down his body curl and dot (jack-in-the box)
k Down the kangaroo’s body, tail and leg (kangaroo)
l Down the long leg (leg)
m Down Maisie, over the mountain over the mountain (Maisie and
mountains)
n Down Nobby, over his net (football net)
o All around the orange (orange)
p Down his plait and around his head (pirate)
q Round her head, up past her earrings and down her hair (queen)
r Down his back, then curl over his arm (robot)
s Slither down the snake (snake)
t Down the tower across the tower (castle tower)
u Down and under, up to the top and draw the puddle (umbrella)
v Down a wing, up a wing (vulture)
w Down up down up (worm)
x Down the arm and leg and repeat the other side (Exercise)
y Down a horn up a horn and under his head (yak)
z Zig-zag-zig (zip)

Fun in the Snow!

The snow is finally here, so today we put on our wellies, wrapped up warm and went out to explore!
Here are some photos of us in action!

Miniature snowman

Giant snowball

Snowball fight

It's our job to look after the guinea pigs this week. We talked about what it would be like to live outside like them. We thought it would be freezing and that would make us miserable. To cheer up the guinea pigs we decided to fill up their "bedroom" in their hutch with lots of hay and give them lots of food to eat.

Thank you fish for being thoughtful and looking after our pets.

Fingers crossed the snow lasts a bit longer! If it does please make sure the fish have suitable clothing and footwear to go outside.