Category: Pioneers Class

The Pioneers have been classifying living things and have been learning about fish. We got up close and looked at the fins and the scales and the teeth and the beard. The smell was not too bad as we got outside! We drew some great pictures recording features of each fish.

We also drew a Fish and Chip Shop food chain which was 

Thank you to our families for their rapid action in sourcing the fish for this fantastic learning.

We  have been following the life cycle of our caterpillars and this week they turned into butterflies so we knew that the release day was drawing near. We went to the forest and found a shady spot for the release. Our butterflies were happy to hang around so we could take a close look at their mouth parts and their bodies. Eventually they flew off into the trees.

Inspired by the artwork in Eric Carle’s books we found out what it would be like to be an artist when we grew up. We found out that Eric was inspired by nature and walks in the forest with his father. The Pioneers watched a video where Eric shared his techniques and thoughts about colour.

We got brushes and sponges. Some chose other items like blocks and fingers and we added paint to wet quality tissue paper. The process was fascinating. The classroom was a quiet buzz of chat about colour and pattern. We found places for it all to dry!

The next day we set about making our own collages. The originality was fabulous. The Pioneers selected colour and pattern to fit their own ideas and made flowers and butterflies and of course the Very Hungry Caterpillar made an appearance alongside a dinosaur.

Another wonderful week of learning.

The Pioneers have been very busy this week exploring calculations. We have returned to subtraction and the links with addition are becoming clearer. We have been working with teen numbers using a variety of manipulatives to support our work. The Pioneers moved form teacher to teacher trying out calculations with Numicon,Numberframes,Stickies,Moshimonsters and Tens and Ones. We wrote calculations and used Part/Whole Models to record our thinking. The quality of talk was high.Everyone was focussed and organised their resourses to get the right answers. Number formation is looking good and any reversed digits were quickly corrected.

Well done Pioneers.

The sun is shining and that makes everything feel wonderful.

We all did our writing outside and playtime was bursting with energy. Our sunflowers are stretching up tall and the snails have all disappeared into the shady spots.

We were inspired by Matisse to create some collage. The Pioneers added their own frames and really enjoyed “painting with scissors.”

We got out on the field to get to grips with the organisation required for Sports Day which is fast approaching. That field is mighty big when you are 4 or 5. We are learning not to cut the corners!

We have had another four day week but we have certainly done five days’ worth of work. The Pioneers have been on fire. We have been building up our knowledge of the creatures living on our school site and we focussed on snails. However,when we went on a snail hunt we only found one snail and a couple of rather large slugs. There were plenty of woodlice. Thankfully our wonderful families made up the shortfall and we imported a large number of snails all of which have found new homes outside…with a few inside too.

We have really enjoyed spotting pattern and shapes in shells and plants and recreating these using loose parts and pastels and pipecleaners.

The whole week has been just wonderful.

The Pioneers and their families had a wonderful afternoon celebrating the King’s Coronation. The classroom was packed and we made commemorative plates,King Charles spoons and crowns. On the floor, we built a huge structure inspired by Westminster Abbey. One high point was our rendition of God Save the King on Kazoo. This was unrehearsed!

Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun and helped with the tidy up too.

We had a wonderful morning with Mrs Robertson who brought in all her beekeeping kit. The Pioneers already had a lot of knowledge about bees and their body parts. This allowed them to ask very specific questions like,”Do bees have noses?” Mrs Robertson added to their existing knowledge giving us a glimpse into the life of a bee. Pollination was modelled with big paper flowers and a little bee. We all got up and did the wiggle dance that bees use to communicate with other bees. We got to handle parts of the hive and try on the suits used to stay safe.

So much learning and thank you to Mrs Robertson for sharing her knowledge and passion.

We went to the forest on Wednesday to photograph our writing so we can make people more aware of the need to look after the plants. The Pioneers visited different areas of our school site to consider if we could leave the grass a little longer to help the insects and the plants. They agreed that some areas would be better kept short. They like to play football and rugby so the grass on the pitches would be better if it were cut. The edges of the field and the forest could be longer. 

We also planted the sunflower seeds we harvested in the autumn from our sunflowers. We made labels and expect to see some growth after the weekend. After planting,we wrote instructions detailing the sequence of planting a seed.

The sun shone and everyone was delighted to be outside and enjoying the fresh air and the green all around. The focus of the day was to look at what was growing and establish a knowledge of roots going down into the ground and shoots coming up. We discussed how scientists look carefully and that botanists are interested in plants.We were also getting to grips with using a selection of tools for digging and dig we did!

Lots of soil was shifted and one voice was heard saying,”We are miners!”

We discovered that there were different types of roots. Some were thin and like hairs and others were much fatter. We also uncovered some lichen and some spawn. We found new grown and perfect acorn cups. Many returned to the classroom with pocket treasure.

A wellies remained in pairs and a good time was had by all.

The Pioneers have been doing a little bit of quiet painting this week and it was lovely to watch. The were very peaceful and undistracted when choosing colours and mixing and creating. They all take great care with the brushes and where they apply the colour and how they choose to do this. Every viewpoint was different. They passed the paintpots and shared the space so beautifully. 

A quiet moment in a busy room.