Our trip

We had a brilliant day visiting White Post Farm! We learnt about farm animals, animal needs, transport on the farm and farmyard jobs. We got to ride on a tractor, meet, stroke, hold and feed a variety of animals. It was so much fun.

Forest Friday -We're going on a colour hunt

We all had a colour wheel. We explored the outdoors to find any natural resources that matched the different colours on the wheel. When we had a match, we took a photograph of the colour wheel and the resource together. 

Collage animals 

We experimented with different materials and textures to create farm animals. 

Understanding the world

We were introduced to a range of baby farm animals. We matched the animal babies to their parents. We were also introduced to a range of animal homes on the farm.

Planting vegetables 

We are growing carrots from seeds. We filled our pot with soil. We used our finger to make planting holes. We put some seeds in each hole. We gave them a drink of water and placed them in a sunny spot outside. 

Look at our super writing!

When we arrive at school in the morning we independently write a word or sentence to match the picture on the Interactive whiteboard. 

Maths -spatial reasoning 

We had a square board and some numicon shapes. We had to work together to fill our numicon board with no gaps! We had to match, rotate and move our numicon pieces to make them fit. 

Turn taking  -Baa Baa

We gathered our flock of sheep in this fun colour matching game. We took turns to spin. If a colour matched a spot on our board, we took a sheep wearing that colour and placed it on the appropriate spot on our board.

On the farm role play

We've been having lots of fun on the farm. We've been feeding the animals, milking the cows, growing vegetables and driving the tractor. 

Look at our amazing tractor!

We used the wooden blocks to build a tractor to carry the farm animals.

On the farm 

We've been using the small world farm animals and puppets to create stories and sing songs such as 'Old Macdonald had a farm.' 

Painting farm animals 

We chose colours for a purpose and painted farm animals.

Summer 2 -On the farm

R.E. Our wonderful world 

Following on from our walk around school the children wanted to go on a litter pick and look after our environment. They were intrigued by the litter-pickers and looking at how they work by squeezing the handle to make the two claws at the end grab hold of the litter, which challenged their motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination. When we got back to the classroom we washed our hands, especially after handling dirty objects, so that we don’t get germs. 

Woodland trees

We choose colours for a purpose and painted woodland trees. 

What do plants need to grow?

We have been looking after our sunflowers as they grow. We know they need soil, sun and water to grow. We have been discussing the changes we can see. 

Look at our super writing!

We used shared writing to write a sentence. We memorized the sentence before writing by repeatedly saying it aloud. We counted the words in our sentence. Our teacher modelled writing the sentence using a capital letter, full stop, finger space and segmenting fingers. We all practised writing a sentence.

Numerical patterns

We have regular opportunities to count on and back beyond ten. We looked at representations and numerals to support us to count on and back and notice the repeating 1-9 patterns. We counted on or back from different starting points, saying what comes before or after a given number and we placed sequences of numbers in order.

Drawing with charcoal 

We used charcoal to draw pictures of the 'Gunny wolf' from our story. 

R.E. Our wonderful world

Today we went outside and enjoyed a lovely nature walk in the spring sunshine. We looked around at all the wonderful things we could see – flowers, birds, trees, insects, etc. We explored the things we saw using all our senses. We spoke about things that we could collect on our walk and how we must not take leaves off the trees or pick the flowers. We discussed what we liked the best on our walk and why. 

We also talked about if there was anything we saw that we didn’t like – anything that spoils our world? (– litter, graffiti etc.) When we got back to the classroom we looked all the photographs that we had taken on our walk. We spoke about how we need to look after our world and the things we can do to do this.

Nature patterns

We went on a walk around the woodland area and collected natural objects to create patterns such as long sticks, short sticks, dandelions, daisies, leaves, pebbles etc. We arranged our patterns in straight lines.

Minibeast hunt

We went on a minibeast hunt in our woodland area. Our teacher drew our attention to where to look to find some minibeasts. We used magnifying glasses, bug pots to look more closely at the minibeast we found. We used an iPad to take photographs of our findings. We discussed how worms like to live underground in damp soil.

Choosing colours for a purpose 

We choose colours for a purpose and painted the red flower and the wolf from our story. 

Sharing books

We enjoy sharing books and retelling familiar stories with our friends in the reading area. 

Potion making

We practised grinding and mixing different materials to create potions. Look at our wonderful concoctions! 

Painting to music

We used music as an art prompt. We listened closely, then created art in response to and while listening to the music. 

Growing and planting

We began by exploring the sensory aspects of planting, touching the seeds and soil. We then planted seeds in pots and will observe the stages of plant growth and talk about what we notice.

• What will the seed grow into?
• I wonder what colour the flower will be... 
• What does a plant need to grow?

Maths -Building numbers beyond 10 (part 2)

We’ve been building and identifying numbers to 20 using a range of resources (ten frames, number shapes, towers of cubes. We can see that larger numbers are composed of full 10s and part of the next 10. We had opportunities to recognise that the numbers 1-9 repeat after every full 10.

King Charles III coronation

Our learning has been themed around King Charles III coronation.

We learnt about where the King lives and looked at images on google earth of London, his palace and castle. We looked at different landmarks in London. We built the different landmarks with junk modelling and construction resources. We then went on a Red Bus tour of London and shared the story ‘Katie in London’.

We shared pictures of the King throughout his life. We spoke about how the King has changed in the different pictures. We ordered the pictures of the King to make a timeline of his life. We looked at the special clothes he will wear for his ceremony.

We learnt about the coronation and how people have big celebrations to celebrate this. There will be street parties, with food, drink and music. We spoke about how people and the King would feel during the celebrations, excited, happy etc. We planned our own street party. We made lists of food that we might have, we made bunting, flags, crowns, and cakes. On Friday we ended our Coronation week with our own Street Party. It was so much fun!

Our activities involved:

- Creating crowns, flags and bunting

- Creating castles using junk model materials 
- Writing invitations
- Designing menus for a coronation lunch and the food to be served
- Counting gems onto numbered crowns
- Exploring photographs of the king -then and now
- Drawing maps of London

- Create a portrait of King Charles in the style of the artist 'Green Man'
- Baking cupcakes

Maths -Building numbers beyond 10 (part 1)

We’ve been building and identifying numbers to 15 using a range of resources (ten frames, number shapes, towers of cubes. We can see that larger numbers are composed of full 10s and part of the next 10. We had opportunities to recognise that the numbers 1-9 repeat after every full 10.

Forest learning -Build a home for a woodland animal

We discussed what types of ‘homes’ different woodland animals live in and what materials they use to make these homes. We searched for some items that could be used to make a habitat for a woodland animal. We worked together to create a home for the animals in different locations for example for a bird in a tree or for a hedgehog on the ground.

Woodland role play 

We are enjoying using our imagination and becoming explorers in our woodland role play area. 

Number bonds to 10

We explored number bonds to 10 in different contexts. We partially filled a ten frame with objects and worked out how many more we needed to make a full ten. 

Forest learning -Scavenger hunt

We went on a scavenger hunt to find natural items from our story, such as ivy, feathers and twigs. We looked closely at each item. Our teacher encouraged us to explore the texture of bark, tree trunks and branches from the story.

Summer 1 - Woodland wonders