Pioneers Class

This week we have been making magnificent numberlines counting everything in the classroom. The Pioneers worked systematically to collect and set out their finds. They worked very well together and the results were lovely. We have been working on slowing our counting down,moving or touching the item as we say the number and checking by counting again.

Go Pioneers

We have a selection of new books to tie in with our interest in woodland animals and natural things, The illustrations are wonderful. Since our visit to the forest last week and finding the beautiful acorns we have been reading and responding to Chicken Licken. A story map will be coming home soon with some photographs to help you retell the story.

The sky is falling. The sky is falling.

It is a joy to see children selecting a book from the shelf and sitting down to read. A few are even reading to the whole class. This makes my heart swell.

Pop in and take a look at these beautiful new titile.

This week has been punctuated by acorns and conkers. We went to the forest on Wednesday and found the most beautiful Oak Tree covered in fabulous,silky smooth acorns wearing little hats. We filled our pockets with forest treasure and lay under the tree to see if the sky was falling. On return to the classroom we looked at the most beautiful book called Lost Words. The illustrations are exquisite.

Taking inspiration from our own green and pleasant land we drew pictures using pastels. Some drew acorns and some drew the owls we saw earlier in the week.

Beautiful learning.

It is so lovely to have a busy classroom after school when families can stay and play and chat. It is fantastic to see confident Pioneers show off their learning environment. Parents get to sit on the carpet and learn like a Pioneer. Siblings add to the buzz.

Happy Family Learning

Our collection of conkers has grown and grown thanks to helpful friends,parents and Mrs Weston our wonderful reading helper. We now have enough to bury lions and tiger,to fill a wheel barrow and to make musical instruments with. I think a baby was also burrowing down in them this week too. Pouring,filling,measuring,rolling and balancing have all been very popular. The wheelbarrow added an extra dimension and it took teamwork to move it around our small space. The pipes and tubes have been adjusted and tilted to fire conkers from tray to tray.

Lots of fun and lots of learning

Go Pioneers-finding new ways to get things done.

We have been asking the question,” Who lives in our forest? and today we met some possible residents. The Pioneers were absolutely delighted to meet a snake and find out that like the boa constrictor in our song, in squeezes its prey. Next we were introduced to the hedgehog,who seemed to hicccup when he was tickled. The owls were spectacular and the barn owl flapped his big wings.

The squeals of delight said it all.

Pop in to the classroom to see our story maps and some more pictures. We also have a wonderful snakeskin to looks at.

Pumpkins are things of beauty and beautiful to hold. The initial idea was to paint the pumpkins-stilllife style however the instruction can be interpreted in a different way. One of the Pioneers decided to paint the pumpkin so that set our exploration off in another direction. We painted on the pumpkin and tried rolling and pressing them on to paper to make imprints.

This was truly beautiful to watch and we will repeat this to enjoy further exploration.

The Pioneers love to tell stories and we have been using symbols on sticks to support this work. The little figures,jewels and small houses become charactars and  setting for fabulous fun. Keep an eye out for new stories in the Blue Files.

Lots of lovely mathematics has been going on in the classroom. Each day we get together and do a bit of clapping,jumping,drawing and counting. We move the beads on the bead string. We count numicon. We make patterns with bricks. We draw and we write. When appropriate we watch N-N-N-N-Numberblocks. The blue plates are great to write on and our cubes dont fall off.

Happy Maths

We had the great pleasure of welcoming the Leaders to read and sing with us. It was so lovely to see the care and consideration offered by all. The children are all familiar with each other after sharing lunchtimes,playtimes and Collective Worship. We began the session by singing our favourite,”Little Bunny Fou Fou” and then we quietened down to finish the day with a shared story. The older children wrote in the reading record of their younger friends,to note their visit and the book they shared.

Happy Sleights School Family