Pioneers children are Reception and Year 1, aged four to six years old. Children enjoy a range of creative and engaging play based activities, as well as formal inputs, to support their development and growth. Children in Pioneers are taught by Mrs Hann, Mrs Gurney, Mrs McGill and Miss Greaves.
Learning begins the minute they walk through the door. The classroom is a carefully curated collection of wonderful things to allow the children to flourish. The classroom is theirs and everything in it is there for a purpose. What they chose to do may be completely different for each individual. This is when the learning happens. The resources are ready to use and accessible and the team work together to create, to communicate, to count and to grow
Each day starts with exploration of the resources and suggestions for learning set out around the room. The Pioneers will come together for teaching. This will happen in small groups, as a whole class and often one to one. Across the day we will gather for mathematics, reading, writing and phonics sessions, to share stories and to learn about the world.
PE kits are in school all week to allow us to do PE at any time. This term, the Pioneers have dance on a Tuesday afternoon.
Mrs Gurney teaches computing on a Thursday morning.
We are rolling with phonics and children will bring a book and their reading record home each day. Please read little and often and write a message in the reading record. All reading is good reading. This is such an exciting time.
Please look out for a text message to let you know when we will go to the forest. We will use our wonderful outdoor space as much as we can and this will not always be on the same day each week.
Children’s progress and activities are recorded in their own Learning Journeys. These act as a summary of the journey children embark upon during their time in Reception and Year 1 and demonstrate the progress and success that has been achieved, as well as the next steps that may need to be taken.
Kebabs and Mucky Pumpkins
We had been using the chimebars in the classroom to experiment with rhythm. The beaters were repurposed and appeared in the Little Red Hen’s Kitchen in the form of Kebabs. This was a great new use for the sticks. The Pioneers were all interested in making kebabs and discussed that some may be having these at home in the holidays with marshmallow and chocolate.
We took the idea one step further and made some leaf kebabs in the forest. These allowed us to collect and compare leaves at various spots in the forest.The Pioneers spotted the difference in the shapes and the talked about the seeds that we found too.
When we brought the pumpkin in,it was clear that it needed a wash,so we washed it and scrubbed it and massaged it with bubbles and green froth.
So good.
Where Did the Wind Blow Our Leafmen?
A visit to the forest was required to locate our missing Leafpeople. Many were close to the edge of the forest. Some were stuck in bushes and trees. Poor Mrs McGill had great difficulty in finding her one and needed help. The Pioneers were very quick to offer kindness and support and after a long hard search the lost leafman was located.
A Leafman Only Goes Where the Wind Blows
We collected and pressed our autumnal treasures. When they were ready we were able to take inspiration from our beautiful Leafman book and make our own.We all experimented and everyone had their own individual style and composition. We discovered and disussed a new word for everyone “orchard”
Just beautiful
Compare,Order,Measure,Enjoy!
The Pioneers have enjoyed lots of opportunities to measure. They took great care pouring and filling. They have estimated quantities when making bread. They took the scales to the forest to compare their forest finds. They are constantly building,inside and out,horizontally and vertically.
Lots of chat and working together and full focus and concentration.
Such Happy Learning.
Counting Everything
Our world is full of things to count,inside and out. Pioneers love to tip things out and count and order and compare. We have made numberlines on the carpet and in the forest. We have started drawing and counting and using numberframes,on the table and on the whiteboard. We are starting to use = and + and write number sentences.
That’s Maths Magic!
Dough…So Good
Dough is always a favourite in the Pioneer Class. After reading the Little Red Hen, the children made their own dough. Each child had their own portion.There is so much learning to be done,making comparisons and considering ingredients.It takes a lot of communication and understanding to work alongside others and share the space and to clean up afterwards.
Go Pioneers
Thursday the 16th of July 2020-Good Morning to you All-Learning Suggestions for the Pioneers
We have made it through to the holidays. No more sleeps…
It’s Teddy Bears Picnic Day and I hope that you will join me in this wherever you are.
Here are your suggestions for today:
It is Picnic Day and toys enjoy real food and pretend food.
If you mix together 1 cup of flour with 2 cups of mud/compost and add water to make a dough,the resulting material is a fantastic mix to make and build with.
If you then add some cardboard and some leaves you have all you need to make tasty teddy treats.
Otherwise you could make some real sandwiches in the kitchen for you all to enjoy.
Get online and check the weather forecast before you set your rug out. You may have to set it out on the kitchen floor.
Happy Picnic All
Our Maths this week has been about big numbers. They all use zero.
Here is a story about Zero.Pop over to Tapestry to watch the video.
Once you have read the story,take a look at the book pages and try writing 100,1000,10,000,100,000,1,000,000.
You can also make the numbers on this week’s app:
https://apps.mathlearningcenter.org/number-pieces/
Here is the link to a big numbers episode of Numberblocks.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0007ln6/numberblocks-series-4-one-thousand-and-one
Enjoy
That’s Maths Magic