English

We had an absolutely amazing World Book Day yesterday! Thank you so much for all of your commitment and support in creating costumes and sending in beautiful books for our whole school book swap. The children completed fantastic pieces of writing based on the story The Black Book of Colours which is designed to encourage the reader to explore their favourite colours through all of the senses other than sight. 

We also read a second story written by Tom Percival; Ravi's Roar. We explored all of the different emotions Ravi experienced throughout the story, starting with happiness but developing into fury and later, disappointment and sadness. We ended our learning by planning our upcoming big write! The children had to think of a time where they either had a worry or a roar. What happened? How did you feel when it was happening? What did you have to do in order to make your worry or roar go away and make you feel better? We discussed how when we plan a piece of writing, we don't have to write in full sentences as this is what we will be building up to in the coming lessons! 

Maths

In Maths, we have focused on subtracting numbers up to 20. We thought carefully about what the word 'difference' means when comparing two numbers. Using cubes, the children had to pick a number and build a tower of that many. They then had to place their tower next to that of their partners and work together to count back from the tallest tower to the smallest. How many jumps back did you have to go from the biggest number to the smallest? 

We also revisited the concept of Related Facts, where we created Fact Families! Each set of three numbers required two addition number sentences and two subtraction in order for the children to really recognise how addition and subtraction can work so closely together.

Phonics

This week we have been revisiting sounds that were taught in Spring One but identified as areas we found a little bit trickier when completing our most recent Phonics challenges. These were: 

  • ea (head, bread, spread)
  • ph (phone, photo, alphabet) 
  • ou (boulder, shoulder) 

Tricky words: once, laugh, because, eye.

We would be very grateful for your support in practising these at home and reading regularly with your child to help build fluency.

Topic Learning

RE

We have completed our learning about Why is my family and home important to me? by creating a class quilt! The children were provided with plain pieces of paper and drew and/or wrote about what makes their families special and how they make them feel. 

Next week we will be beginning our new topic of 'How can I care for the world around me?' 

Computing 

In Computing this term, we are going to be learning all about how to control a robot! We thought carefully about the terms input and output and how they can relate to a machine. When we input information into a machine, we are providing it with the instructions it requires to work! The output is what happens when the machine follows the instructions and completes an action or a movement. The children absolutely loved being introduced to Sphero Indi; hopefully they can explain to you about who he is!