TERM 3 WEEK 2

Week 2 - how did we do?

Well there is an easy answer - we did great!

As mentioned last week, this term will have a real focus on writing. Every morning as we come into the classroom we have a mark making activity to start the day. We also continue with our Write Dance activities - taking the pen for a walk to music whilst following a narrative.

                         Write Dance - Circles and Eights

Then in Phonics we are using our knowledge of letter sounds and applying this to our writing. This is a really difficult skill to master at this age and therefore we do it little and often every day. Just take a look at how we have progressed from just last week - amazing!

So that the children are ready for all this writing, we pay particular attention to strengthening all the little muscles in their hands - we do this through activities that involve using small tool such as cutlery. On Wednesday, our classroom was filled with the wonderful aroma of toast and using the knife we had to learn to spread the butter right to the edge of the toast. Of course, the children just thought they were eating toast and having a jolly good time - they had no idea of the learning that was taking place. I could hear them talking about the shape of the toast using the mathematical language of rectangle and triangle and they were using the language of first and second piece, we even discussed whole and half! They were turn taking, they were chatting about other foods they like - it was just a lovely activity.

In our focussed Maths session, we continued thinking about long and short. This week the focus was on comparing objects. The words "longer" and "shorter" were introduced. The children had to find objects that were longer or shorter than their lollipop stick. They needed to make sure that when they were measuring, the end of the lollipop stick had to go at the end of the object that they were measuring. We even found something that was the same length. This was a building block. Please have a go at using the language "longer" and "shorter" at home.

In Expressive arts and design - the children explored the "texture of various materials and objects. They then created collages and described the different textures. There were some lovely words, including "poppy" to describe the bubble wrap, "fuzzy" to describe the pipe cleaners as well as words such as "rough" and "smooth".

Have a good weekend - keep up with the reading and see you all next week!

Quick reminder - Library books and PE kits in on a Monday (needed for Tuesdays)