This term in science we have been learning about plants. For the past few weeks we have focused on trees and have been learning about the different parts of a tree. The children enjoyed hunting around the school grounds and finding the roots, trunk, branches, leaves and crown of different trees. The roots were especially difficult to find but the children noticed that they were sometimes visible above the soil if they hunted under the autumn leaves. We learnt that bark is the protective layer around a tree’s trunk and the children used wax crayons to complete bark rubbings. This showed us the texture of the bark which was bumpy and rough.

This week we have been learning about evergreen and deciduous trees. Because it is autumn, it was really easy to spot the difference as the evergreen trees were still bright green whereas the deciduous trees were losing their yellow and brown leaves. We walked around our school field and counted the number of each type of tree to complete a tally chart. At the end of our walk we had found that we had a lot more deciduous trees in our school grounds than evergreen trees. 

This week is maths week and in Denmark class today we have been investigating maths through art. The children were introduced to the work of Kandinsky who used geometric shapes in his artwork. The art is very abstract but the children had some wonderful interpretations of what they thought Kandinsky could be representing.

“Looks like a firework.” “It looks like half of a face.” “I see a rainbow.” “I see teeth.” “I can see a part of a pirate ship.”

We then focused in on the shapes Kandinsky had used and noticed squares, circles, rectangles, triangles and semi-circles. Finally, the children created their own Kandinsky inspired artwork by drawing different 2D shapes and painting them.

In RE we have been learning about Hinduism and how Hindus carry out Puja (worship). We linked this to the five senses and thought about how the senses of touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste were used during Puja. The children were really interested in the Hindu artifacts and had lots of comments and questions about what they were looking at. This learning tied in with the Hindu festival of Diwali and to celebrate this festival of light we made our own paper lanterns.

For our CUSP history unit, we have been learning about changes within living memory.  We have been investigating what our community is like and how we shop today.  We went on a walk into our local area to see what types of shops we may find on a high street, as well as talking about our knowledge of supermarket shopping.  We then looked back in time to the 1950s to work out how people shopped 70 years ago.  We discovered that shops were small, you were served my the shop keeper and used cash to pay for your items.  We discussed similarities and differences between the different time periods and talked about how food types and brands were similar, but the way they were packaged and the way people bought their food was very different.  We really enjoyed our visit to the local heritage museum, where we could see  models of shops from the mid 1900s.

How can we make a picture move?

We have begun our module on investigating different ways in which we can make a picture move.  We looked at various pop-up books and cards and discussed the different ways in which we can use paper and card to create a moving picture or character.  One child remembered ‘flick books’ and how they can show a moving picture! 

We decided that we are going to do a project around sliders and create a Christmas card with a moving slider.  Before we go ahead with this, we discussed the importance of practicing the skills that we would need before completing the final product. 

Take a look at us working hard with our scissor skills and our fine motor skills.

This week concludes our music unit ‘In the groove’. We have listened to a wide range of music styles, including Latin, baroque and funk music. The children showed some great listening and said “I can hear a keyboard.” “I hear a trumpet”. We learnt to sing the song ‘In the groove’ and played along with the chime bars. At the end of the unit we composed our own pieces of music and performed them to the class.

This week Denmark Class took part in a sponsored bike ride to raise money to buy a specialist trike for one of the children in school. The class really enjoyed themselves and it was great to join the rest of the school to help raise money for an important cause. 

This week in maths we are learning to compare numbers. We first looked at different representations of numbers and said when one was equal to another. For example, a number could be represented using numicon, dienes, bead strings or cubes. We then moved on to comparing which number was greater and which was less. The children turned over number cards, made their numbers practically and then compared them using the signs > (is greater than), < (is less than) or = (is equal to). 

This half term we have been learning about ‘Continents of our World’.  We discovered that Continents are large pieces of land around the globe and we found out there are 7 of them!  We learnt a song to help us name continents and studied world maps to find out their location.  We use the CUSP curriculum and have knowledge notes to look at to help us learn. 

We have had so much fun exploring our Forest School area this week.  We have been investigating what insects and bugs we could find, as well as what is growing in our natural environment around school.  We had opportunities to use the tools to create wonderful objects.  We ended the week with a Forest Schools Tea Party and we had the most amazing time!