Pioneers Class

This week has been all about Trolls,bridges and goats,making plans and writing labels. It has been a wonderful week of learning together and our classroom in ablaze with writing and photographs and paintings. The floor is a bit wet too as we had to try out some Goat Boats to allow the goats another way across the water to the lush,green grass.

We discovered that like us,all trolls are different and all trolls are beautiful so we have started work on some troll description.

Our Christian Value is Justice and we spent a while talking about the story of the Hare and the Tortoise. Great chat.

Very Happy Learning

World Book Day was wonderful and the maths that went along with it was wonderful too.

Everyone enjoyed a selection of maths books and we began w The Door Bell Rang by Pat Hutchins. Then we took a look at The Button Box and arranged and sorted,poured and filled.

We looked at Zero and One and painted numbers to use to build our fairy story based number book.

We finished the day with a look at How Many Legs. 

So much maths and so much fun.

Happy Learning.

It has been a busy week in Pioneers. Our rocket is now in good working order and we have written instructions to ensure everything is in place for future flights. The Pioneers took their instructions outside and followed them from getting the rocket out of the box to the 7,6,5,4,3,2,1…Blast Off. Later in the week we all got to fly Zach’s rocket too.We had to wait for the best weather conditions and the result was good.

We have talked a lot about light,our mirror ball and the lens blocks. This week we talked about rainbows and their colour sequence. The Pioneers painted on a variety of surfaces and we read the Bible story of Noah and his Ark. Next week we will story map and have a go at building an ark for 8 animals.

The floor has been pretty wet this week but the exploration has been fun. The Pioneers have been finding out about capacity by pouring and filling and emptying.

So much learning.

Our Christian Value is Perseverance and we have had to persevere this week. We have experienced a number of setbacks with our rocket-a leaky pump, a tricky connection and then it shot over into a neighbouring garden. A mission was launched to recover our rocket lost in the wilderness.

The day after the rocket went missing another Elf letter arrived asking for help. One of our elf friends had gone to get the rocket and was stuck in a tree. Luckily the Pioneers were on hand to rescue him. We were most grateful to our helpful neighbours for their support in this matter.

Meanwhile, back in the classroom we build our own junk models. These began as rockets but have now turned into complex robots. Through this work we have found out about joining techniques and the need to wait for glue to dry. The Re-Bot and his friend the U-Bot (re-Use-Bot) are incredible and on display in our classroom.

In maths we have been comparing using a balance scale and this has got us thinking and talking and estimating. It’s tricky stuff.

And the Beebots have featured too and they have some beautiful new mats to roam on. The Pioneers have been giving them complex sets of instructions to make their way across.

A lovely week of happy learning.

The elves sent a letter to the Pioneers to ask for a rocket to zoom to the moon. The Pioneers took time to construct their own rockets using parts of Beebots,computers and telephones. They then drew and annotated some plans to support their work. We took a look at a Space Book to get some ideas and got to work.

When we visited the library there happened to be a rather nifty rocket and pump waiting to be investigated. A number of issues were identified and the elves suggested that Mrs Hann should really buy a new rocket. An elf was actually spotted dancing around before leaving another letter and spreading our work all over the floor.

We discovered that it is not a good idea to stand behind a water  powered rocket.Some of us got a little bit wet!

The writing that followed was quite spectacular.

We hope for a successful launch next week. As one Pioneer said,”We are perseverancing!”

The Pioneers were fascinated by the Beebots and some of the other gadgets we have in the classroom so we decided to take a look inside to see what makes them work. We got to grips with using a screwdriver and pulled apart some telephones,some beebots,a laptop or two and a printer. The room was silent as they got the plastic casing off and discovered the “cities” inside.

They are now going to put the contents together to create something new and exciting. Plans have been drawn up.

They also looked really closely at the Beebots and the controls and read and wrote sentences. The writing is fabulous.

This week has been wonderful.  Everywhere is a buzz of reading,writing,thinking and doing. The elves have asked for buns and these have been made. Bob the Elf has his own swimming bag,towel and shorts. The Beebots arrived and were quickly put to good use pulling and pushing the sleigh full of elves.So much excitement was visible here and great discussion on how to combine the power of push and pull.

Our Christian Value is Perseverance and this was certainly present. The Pioneers worked as a team to attach, program and press “Go!” on the Beebots. They have all been looking closely at the gadgets and equipment we have in the classroom and they are interested to find out how things work.

One Pioneer suggested that the elves need a necklace and there was silence while they sat and threaded. This showed real perseverance. They helped each other with the knots. A lovely Pioneer made necklaces for their friends too. This shows real kindness and consideration.

Mr and Mrs Cobbler delivered a selection of clothing and the materials to make suitcases. The Pioneers worked together to dress their elves and attach handles to their cases. This was tricky and fiddly but they did not give up.

Another wonderful week of happy learning.

The Pioneers have been visited by the elves who have come to help in the Shoemaker and his wife in their shop. They are intrigued by the sewing machine and all of the tools and leather that a cobber may need.

The elves have come with letters to introduce themselves and over the next week we will ensure that their needs are met.

We are becoming familiar with the story and are using a story map for retelling.

It is great to be back.

The week began with discussions about Advent and Hannukah and lighting a candle in the darkness.

The Pioneers made wreaths together and talked about any risks involved-sharp points on the holly and cocktail sticks to hold the candles and the risk from fire. They all knew what may cause harm and worked carefully together. The odd bug escaping from the greenery caused a bit of a distraction!

We watched the wonderful ballet,The Nutcracker and talked about the dancing and the music and how this linked with the story. We then composed some sentences together to describe the beautiful Nutcracker and the Sugar Plum Fairy. We painted taking great care and paying attention to detail. They added extra once the paint was dry. The results are splendid.

The Pioneers then composed and wrote their own descriptive sentences. Every day we are reading and writing more.

We have had another wonderful week of learning in Pioneers,full of elephant poo and phonics and the number 6. All of which caused great excitement.

We have been finding out what animals need to survive and the Pioneers were all very clued up on this.Impressive.

We had watched the video of all the animals on our playground so popped outside to see if they had left any other clues. Again,the Pioneers knew what they were looking for-fur,footprints and poo.

We were astonished to find a pile of elephant poo on the cement. We needed a dustpan and brush to bring it inside but not until it had been measured and checked against Plop Trumps.

We moved on to animals closer to home and did a bit of sorting. We discussed nocturnal and diurnal and predator and prey and food chains. The Pioneers love a bit of cardboard and tape and they all made animal homes and experimented with some ambitious writing. Again,impressive stuff.We enjoyed a book called 1 Fox and the children produced some wonderful numberline story maps.

We use anything and everything to get to grips with counting. This week everything has been adding up to 6 and the Numicon Towers were great. Lots of learning took place when selecting the pieces to put on top. Was it one more or one less? What can you see?

So much wonderful Maths Chat.

Happy Learning