Two weeks in one! Bread and other things.

Dear Parents,

I am very sorry for the lack of Hedgehog Blog last week. I had written it, but forgotten to press the all-important 'publish' button. 

With that in mind, here is a run down of the past two busy weeks. 

The children made bread!
Year 1 designed, made and evaluated bread as part of their Great Fire of London Mantle. The Reception children were, naturally, keen to join in so they later made their own bread. 

The children have written stories.
Over the past term we have been focussing a lot on traditional tales in our reading ad writing lessons. Last week and this week the children planned and wrote their own traditional tales. Year 1 went one step further and learnt how to smarten up their sentences: following a first draft of the story, they took each sentence at a time and improved it. There were some super stories by the end of this week!

The children have been learning about fractions.
We have looked at finding a half or a quarter of a shape. Year 1 also looked at finding a half or a quarter of an amount. We used the phrases:

    When the whole is shared into two equal parts, each part is called 
    a half. 
    When the whole is shared into four equal parts, each part is called
    a quarter. 

The children were set a scientific challenge.
Last Friday we were joined by Year 2. The children all took part in a nest-building challenge. They learnt the weight of different types of egg - including an ostrich egg, which can apparently weigh up to 2kg. The children handled the different weights to see how they felt. Then they were given the challenge to build a nest that could hold the different eggs - but they were only allowed to use natural materials, found outside. This challenge led to a lot of interesting discussion, experimentation and problem-solving, as well as some excellent team work. 

Each nest was tested at the end - of the  eight that were made, three could hold the weight of an ostrich egg!

We had a storytelling afternoon with Year 2.
One afternoon we were joined by Year 2. The children heard the story of Mouse Deer and Tiger.  They took a part in a range of related activities, such as map making of the forest, creating a clay snake complete with patterns and textures, sketching a tiger's face and telling stories themselves. It was lovely to spend more time with Year 2. 

The children have been spelling, a lot. 
The children have really taken on the challenge of the Great Whaddon Spelling Bee. For the past few weeks they have practised their spellings four mornings per week and have approached the challenge with great enthusiasm. Then, today... they all completed the Great Whaddon Spelling Bee! The teachers will be looking at the spelling bees soon and will be announcing the results next week. 

Forest School has been fantastic.
It is lovely at Forest School at the moment - everything is green and growing. The trees are particularly beautiful - having been planted back in 2014, they are beginning to take the shape of a small woodland. The chickens are happy, the wildflowers are growing, and all is well. The children have been enjoying making dens and spending time with the children from Thornborough. 

The children watched the KS2 production.
On Monday the children were able to watch the dress rehearsal of the KS2 production of Little Red Riding Hood. I was lucky enough to go to Wednesday's performance and I was blown away by the children's acting, singing and all around talent!

I think those are the main headlines. We really have been very busy!

Homework

A good thing to practice at home is fractions. 

YR should focus on sharing a shape/cake/sandwich into halves and quarters. You can do this using food or playdough or paper shapes. The language you use should include: half, whole, parts, equal parts.

Y1 should focus on finding half or a quarter of an amount. There are some word problems here. Always approach the word problems by using concrete objects first. If your child is confident, challenge them to solve one using pictures. 

I think that has caught you up!

Have a great weekend, 

From Mrs Simpson.

PS I'm afraid this week's photos are still on the iPad!