Maple Class - Term 3, week 1
Date: 10th Jan 2025 @ 8:36pm
It was lovely to welcome all the children back into Maple this week. Our key question this term is ‘I wonder where we live?’ and this week our focus has been winter and the book we have looked at was Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. We read the story and thought about what we wear in winter (very appropriate with the very cold temperatures this week!) We also talked about what it like in Antarctica and why don’t people live there. There was so much ice around outside this week so we looked at that and estimated how long it would take to melt and discussed how we could melt it.
This week we have started to learn our Level 3 phonics sounds starting with j, v, w and x. Alongside this we have been assessing children on their Level 2 phonics knowledge. They have all shown so much progression in their confidence at knowing their level 2 sounds and then applying this in their reading of words.
In maths we have been partitioning 2, 3 and 4 as well as combining groups to make 2, 3 & 4. We have also been looking at patterns in our environments and also creating our own.
We wrapped up warm for Forest School this week and spent Thursday afternoon noticing how the forest school area has changed since we were last in there before Christmas. Children noticed the leaves had gone from the trees as well as the apples from the apple tree. The noticed the frost on the ground and how the ground was frozen and therefore there was a lot less mud to get on our wellies. The noticed lots of water had turned to ice and also the layer of ice on the pond. Children were challenged to find things within the forest area to make a repeating pattern with – fabulous patterns were made using bark, stones, sticks, leaves, grass and even some daisy’s. We finished off by returning to the classroom to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate.
In art this week we have taken part in a whole school art day looking at the painting A Shipwreck in Stormy Seas 1773 by Claude-Joseph Vernet We created wave paintings looking at how to make different shades of blue. We also created a story scene using the small world toys in the tuff tray.
In PE we have started gymnastics and yoga as well as taking part in an extra cricket session on Wednesday afternoon.
In RE we started looking at the things that are special to us and why we value these things. We then drew pictures of places which are special to us.
Our composer for the month of January is Ludwig van Beethoven, the German composer and pianist. We have enjoyed listening to his music during Explore and Learn time.
Things children have said they have enjoyed this week:
Leone – I liked doing sports club
Ralph – I like snack time
Octaviah – I liked learning about patterns and creating patterns and looking at the colours
Woody – Leone and I liked making bats out of mobilo
Sophie – I liked singing worship because we sang Let It Go and I love Frozen
Frankie – I like painting the waves
Alfie – I enjoyed exploring the small world after looking at The Shipwreck in Stormy Seas painting
Daisy-Mai – I enjoyed playing with the duplo and made a really long truck
Bunny – I enjoyed playing with Octaviah and playing schools
Loris – I enjoyed playing in the home corner with Della
Have a lovely weekend and do keep nice and warm.
