Happy New Year

It was lovely having everyone back for the first three days and we hope that you all had a lovely Christmas break. Although it was a shorter week, we managed to fit a lot in to it!!!

English - The true story of the 3 Little Pigs

When we arrived in Seahorse Class we found out that our back door had been taped off by the police as there was a crime scene outside. Upon further investigation we found evidence of straw, sticks and bricks which led us to think about the story of the 3 little pigs. We all created story maps of the traditional tale but then discovered a book titled "The true story of the 3 little pigs" told by the wolf. Will we believe his story or is he always going to be the "Big Bad Wolf?"

Maths - Addition

This week we recapped and reviewed our mathematical knowledge of addition by: adding a single digit to a 2 digit number, using number bond facts to solve similar addition sums, and using our number bond knowledge to help us bridge to ten and then add on the remainder when addition problems crossed tens. We used a variety of tools and methods to help us, such as: using dienes, bar models, whole - part models, and numberlines.

Science - Life and habitats in our field

As part of our longtitudinal study we are exploring how living things survive in our field by observing and recording habitats, food, and different signs of life throughout the year.

This week, in the middle of winter we found a lot of mini beasts out and about under leaf piles, rocks, and wood which we expected to find. However, what suprised us was the early signs of new life beginning to show through new shoots and even eggs!!

Week 2

English - points of view

This week we have been looking at how characters can be seen from different points of view and how the use of language can change the readers opinion. Most of the class feel sorry for the wolf after hearing "his side of the story" and so have practised writing about his good qualities and choosing good sentence openers to explain why they believe he is actually a good wolf. This then lead on to us looking at persuasion and persuasive writing. Initially the children were not sure what this was but then showed how good they were at it when they needed to persuade their teachers why playtime and lunchtime should not be scrapped! The children then looked at examples of persuasive writing and identified the persuasive features.

Maths - Subtraction

This week in maths we have reinforced and developed our number and place value knowledge by focussing on subtraction. The children showed good mental maths skills and were able to use appropriate methods to work out how to subtract a single digit from a 2 digit number, take away groups of 10, use their number bond knowledge to take away, and bridge to the nearest 10 to solve subtraction problems that crossed through 10. The children were able to show that they could apply what they had been practising over the last 2 weeks to complete the Friday challenge where we looked at some addition and subtraction problems laid out differently. 

Music - tempo, pitch and timbre

This week we focussed on timbre. Using the chant we learnt from last week we explored the different timbres that can be created using percussion and seeded instruments. We then developed our understanding of tempo and pitch by changing these to perform different versions of our chant using the different instruments.

Computing - Feeling of sound

This week we explored how music can be put together and composed to create different feelings and emotions. We listened to Mars and Venus by Gustav Holts and recorded how it made us feel and how it changed throughout the piece. 

DT - Healthy eating

This term for DT we are  focussing on cooking leading up to us preparing some party food to celebrate healthy eating week later on in the term. We started this week by discussing what we like to eat as a snack and then developed our thinking by focussing on "what makes a healthy snack." The children worked together and organise snack ideas discussing why particular food was healthy or was not healthy.

PE - Pilates and stages of growing up

This week we used different pilate position and moves to strengthen and develop our core strength. As we are learning about animal and human life cycles in science this term our theme this term is focussing on the different stages of human growth from baby - pensioner. The children copied a routine to learn the different positions and moves and then had the chance to create their own movements.

Week 3

Maths - Time

This week the children have been focussing on time in maths. We refreshed our memory of O'clock and half past the hour before moving on and focussing on quarter past and quarter to the hour. The children were able to tell, show, draw, and write given times before tackling word problems and having a go at working out times before and after a given time.

English - Contractions and persuasive letters

This week we looked at how an apostrophe is used to create contractions when letters are omitted. The children were able to identify contracted and non contracted forms of words and use these when they planned their persuasive letter to Mr Alexander T Wolf. The children have made up their own minds whether or not they believe the wolf's explanation of what happened in his version of the story and have used their knowledge of what we have learnt on this learning journey to help them create their own letters to Mr Alexander T. Wolf to try and persuade the guards to either let him go free or to keep him in jail. 

DT - Cooking - food processing

In preparation of making their own healthy salads, the children looked at the different tools and techniques used to prepare and process food. We discussed the importance of hygiene and different ways we can keep ourselves and others safe. The children used oranges and carrots to practice: cutting, grating, peeling and squeezing.

Music - Alien chant compositions

This week the children had the opportunity to explore composing their own music pieces using different instruments and experimenting with tempo and timbre. The children used a 4 beat bar to plan their compositions.

Computing - Creating music

Following the music theme, in computing we looked at how a computer program - "chrome music lab" can use shapes and patterns to represent different instruments and sounds. The children used Ipads to experiment drawing different shapes and marks to discover the different effects and to compose their own pieces.

Film Night

Everyone enjoyed watching Encanto for our Film night especially singing along to "we don't talk about Bruno"! 

Week 4

Maths - mass

This week in maths we have been exploring and developing our knowledge of mass. At the the beginning of the week the children recapped what they already knew about weight and the vocabulary used for comparing items. We then moved on to explore the metric units of grams and kilograms by estimating and weighing different objects before moving on to reading the weight of different objects when reading different scales.

English - Power of persuasion

This week the children wrote and performed their letters of persuasion to Mr Alexander T. Wolf. The children did an amazing job of not only using powerful language but also came up with some really good persuasive arguments for either keeping the wolf in jail or setting him free. Below are a few examples of our work.

DT - Healthy recipes

In preparation of use celebrating healthy eating week, the children looked at different healthy snack recipes and discussed what they liked and healthy alternatives they would use to create their own healthy snacks which they would like to eat.

Week 5 - National Storytelling Week

English - Traditional tales

To celebrate national story telling week the children have been listening to famous people sharing their favourite stories, listening to traditional tales from around the world and have been working on creating their own traditional tales based on the inverted tale of The 3 little wolves and the big bad pig. Watch this space for some great stories. 

Maths - Shapes

This week the children have recalled what they could remember about properties of 2D and 3D shapes before moving on and focussing on the key vocabulary used to identifying shapes and their specific properties. The children quizzed each other by describing a shape by only its properties and the others had to draw and guess the correct shape. We then compared shapes and came up with our own sorting categories to see how the same shape could be put in different categories depending on the property the children chose. 

Science - When I grow up

This week in science we have looked at how big animals can grow in relation to their lifespan and how are they are when they are fully grown. For example a pet mouse is fully grown in 3-6 months of it being born and can live around 2 years. We then looked at ourselves and used our mathematical measuring skills to work out how tall we are now and comparing ourselves to Mr Dickenson, estimated how old we may be when we are fully grown. We also found out that the girls on average are taller than the boys at the age of 6-7. Will this change?

Music - man on the moon

This term we have been focussing on timbre and texture. The children have learnt the song "We're on our way to the moon." about the Apollo 11 astronauts landing on the moon. The children used their knowledge of the different types of instruments to complete the challenge of creating a soundscape to match the different stages of the Apollo 11 mission to the tempo of the original song.

Computing - Composing music for a purpose

This week the children used the computer program - "Chrome music lab music maker" to experiment creating musical effects that match the movements of different animals. The children explored changing the instruments, pitch, and tempo.

Week 6

Maths - Multiplication and Division - Arrays around us

This week in maths we have been developing our understanding of multiplication and division by looking at how different items can be grouped and shared equally. It is easy to see items in their groups when they are set up as arrays - using equal rows and columns. Arrays are used a lot in the everyday especially in architecture and so the children went out to find all of the different arrays around the school and write the multiplication / division sentence to show the array.

DT - Healthy eating picnic

Throughout this term the children have explored; what makes a "healthy snack",  their favourite fruit and vegetable snacks, been inspired by recipes, and then created their own health snack recipes. This week got the opportunity to use their own recipes to create their own healthy snacks - not just for themselves, but for the whole school. The children used their knowledge of food hygiene and the different techniques we had looked at to safely prepare their snacks and smoothies. We were very lucky that on the day it was dry and sunny and so we invited the rest of the school to join us and all of the Seahorse class served their snacks and smoothies before enjoying the "fruits of their labour" themselves.