Please click on the button below to see the full term topic “Sunshine and Sunflowers” exploring the exciting world we live in and how to care for plants in our environments.
Week 5 and 6
For the last 2 weeks we have been looking at all things minibeasts. We have read poems, listened to stories, watched videos and found facts in non-fiction books. We have enjoyed playing with some minibeasts from the story shelf and going on our own real minibeast hunt around the school.
Later, we learnt about life cycles and how some minibeasts and animals like frogs go through metamorphosis and change as they grow. FS2 made some great life cycles about and we all enjoyed watching some time lapse videos to see how different minibeasts grow and change. FS1 also enjoyed scribble club, where we took our crayons on the journey of a butterfly. We drew tiny round eggs, then some small wiggly lines for the caterpillars, then some spinning chrysalis before showing how the butterfly then flew around the sky.
We have also enjoyed our group times where we learnt how to use a needle to spin a chrysalis for the caterpillars. We also explored straws, spoons and pipettes as a way of making some beautiful patterns on some butterflies.
FS2 have also been building on their shape knowledge and thinking about how to move and rotate shapes to create new shapes or pictures.
In our own learning times we have enjoyed playing with the water, the sports equipment, some giant boxes and listening to stories on our new CD player.
Week 3 and 4
This week we have been looking at the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. In group time FS1 built up their finger strength by scrunching up tissue paper to create a really tall beanstalk and FS2 developed their team work and resilience to create a tall beanstalk.
We have also been listening to the story, retelling the story and acting it out on our own special stage. FS2 even drew their own story map to show what happened in the story and ordered some of the sentence from the story. They also told some adding stories thinking about different amounts of treasure that could be found.
We have also enjoyed checking in on our seed experiment, each morning we are excited to see what has happened and if the roots, stem and leaves have grown. Some of us also decided to explore some different fruits and vegetables to see if they had seeds in them and if they all looked the same. FS2 then learnt about the life cycle of a bean and how the bean grows and changes.
Later Miss Howard decided to then become an expert on sunny days but she got a bit confused about which hats were suitable for a sunny day. So we put on our expert glasses and helped her to spot the best hats for keeping safe in the sun. We also talked about what we like to do on a sunny day.
Later in the week we had a class trip to the park, unfortunately it wasn’t very sunny but we still had fun. We talked about how to be safe and we all followed the rules to have a good time with our friends.
In our own learning times we have enjoyed playing with the Lego, exploring bubbles, role playing in the ‘farm shop’ and playing football matches.
Week 1 and 2
It’s the start of the summer term and we have started our new learning journey “Sunshine and Sunflowers”. We have been on flower hunts and planted some seeds in our outdoor learning area.
Miss Howard got a bit confused about how to grow a seed and what flowers looked like, so we put on our expert glasses and helped her out. We explained that flowers have petals, and stems and leaves and not legs or tails. Next, we talked about seeds needing water, sun and soil and not socks, pens or fizzy drinks. Miss Howard decided to try anyway and we are checking each day to see if the seeds grow.
We also talked about scarecrows and how they are used to stop the birds eating the seeds. We all worked a team to make a big scarecrow for our garden. We had to decide what to use, how it would fit together, help stuff the clothes and draw on the face. FS2 then learnt how to use the saw and cut some twigs to be the scarecrow’s hands.
Miss Howard then found some wood and we had a go at making some mini scarecrows. We learnt how to use the saw, hammer and screwdriver. We needed lots of hand strength to use the tools and we had to be very careful with the tools and use them safely.
FS2 have also been learning about the ‘tricky teens’ in their carpet times. We have looked and recited the counted pattern and looked at how the numbers tell us there is 1 ten and 4 more that’s fourteen. We have practised matching, counting, ordering and recognising our teen numbers.
In our own learning times we have enjoyed playing the water, making huge houses and farms and being creative with loose parts and play dough.