Autumn 2 Week 2: a pond of amphibians, a new chart and Remembrance Day.

 Hello Hedgehog Parents,

The week:

We began with another problem for Percy's Park Keepers. They went to check on the park pond... and found it full of mud, sticks and leaves! The Park Keepers were confused. Luckily they noticed a toad in the middle of the pond. When they talked to the toad, it told them that the pond was another victim of the storm - it had been filled in and as a result all of his friends had scuttled away!

Naturally the children offered to help, so they cleared the pond with a lot of team work, some spades, buckets and tough gloves. Gradually, beneath the mess, they began to see water. The toad returned, as did his friends, one by one. This led to some learning about amphibians and naming some; toads, newts, frogs and axlotls. The children each added an amphibian of their choice to a picture of the pond on the classroom wall.

On Wednesday the children learnt about Remembrance Day and made some poppy wreathes which we took to the church on Thursday, where we observed a minute's silence. The children were very quiet and thoughtful during the silence. 

At Forest School on Thursday the children were incredibly busy and creative with their learning. Painting poppies onto wood, experimenting with see-saws, searching for minibeasts, digging for treasure and telling stories around the storytelling chair were just a few of the activities going on. 

Learning behaviours:
We have set up a wall chart in Hedgehog Class. The children have been learning about how to be super learners (the 'Characteristics of Effective Learning' in child speak). During their independent learning, we are going to be encouraging and supporting children to develop these characteristics and will be moving their 'Mr Man' or 'Little Miss' character up onto the chart when they do so, as recognition of their good learning. For the next couple of weeks we are focussing on 'Mr Happy' (feeling proud of our work) and 'Mr Brave' (having a go at new things). You can see the learning behaviours here. We will be focussing on two learning behaviours for a one or two weeks at a time. 

Maths:

Reception have been subitising (recognising a quantity without counting -we call it using our magic eyes) to 2 and 3 and recognising patterns. They enjoyed playing pairs this week - picking out two cards and if they have the same quantity on, getting to keep them. The challenge here is not to count the numbers, but just to recognise them. 

You can play subitising pairs using these number cards. Turn the cards face down. Take it in turns to turn over two cards. If they represent the same number, you can keep them (it does not matter if the pattern is different, as long as the number matches). Focus on 1,2 and 3. If your child is confident, add in the 4 cards too (or a version of them if you don't have a printer).

Year One have been continuing their work on subtraction and writing subtraction number sentences. They've learnt two rules:

When you subtract, the number gets smaller
When you subtract, you start with the whole

The skills learnt this week have been:

1) subtracting by counting back

2) telling subtraction stories using a pictorial representation

You can practice this by telling number stories at home and writing subtraction sentences to match. For example, you could use soft toys and tell a story such as 'There were 5 teddies on the bed. 2 fell off. There were 3 left on the bed' and writing 5 - 2 = 3

Phonics:

Reception have added k e u and r to their sounds this week. The 'pure sound' rule is particularly important with 'r'. It's tempting to say 'ruh' but it is rrrrrrrr (the children have learnt that it is like a dog shaking a toy in its mouth and saying 'rrrrrrr').

This week, please practice some letter formation! We have been focussing on the curly caterpillar family. You can either form the letters free hand, or you can use these sheets. 

 The Year 1 spelling challenge will return next Friday! This week the focus is on 'oi' (in the middle of words) and 'oy' (at the end of words). You can find the spelling lists here. As usual, please try hard to learn the green words and then learn any others you want to!

Thank you all! Have a good weekend,

From Mrs Simpson.

A few photos from this week: