Last week the whole school took part in International Dot Day – celebrating creativity, courage & collaboration!

Class One took the opportunity to explore lots of different materials and techniques, exploring lots of the ways we can express ourselves through different media.

We looked at the work of George Seurat and investigated the pointillism technique by using bingo dabbers and felt tip pens.

Big dots were made outside on our tarmac and with cutting and sticking on our art table.

We had a fantastic day and the children have enjoyed using these techniques in different ways since dot day.

 

On Wednesday afternoon Class one had a fantastic time trying out some of the new games our play leaders will be introducing at lunchtimes.

The play leaders did an excellent job of explaining their games to the children and encouraging them to join in.

The children worked together in teams at different activities which needed different skills. Some required accurate aiming, some speed, some team work and some excellent listening.

The play leaders were fair and supportive throughout.

I think you’ll have a lot of children joining in your lunchtime activities next week!

This week the weather has been really lovely for the first time in a very long while. We have celebrated by taking our learning outside. Recently our outdoor area has mostly been used for messy play and physical play, so it is nice to re-introduce the idea that writing and maths aren’t confined to the classroom.

Water play

 

 

What wonderful water play! There has been lots of experimenting with capacity, rate of pouring and different objects in the water tray.

How many cups will fill this bucket?

If I pour the water faster does the wheel spin faster? 

How do I make the different animals slide down the guttering?

How do I record that?

   

Creativity and art

Our pictures look fabulous!

This bit feels really nice – it’s not bumpy! 

What colours would make the best coral and seaweed pictures? Can you combine beads and paper in your sticking?

How many different ways can you use your sponge to create a sea picture? If you turn it, it makes a circle!

Maths

Along with all the talk about size and measuring we’ve also taken our Numicon investigation outside.

I wonder how many ways there are to make 10?

What goes with 3?

Will it be a bumpy odd piece or a straight even piece? 

Construction

These sandcastles were tricky to build! We had to experiment with different amounts of water and sand, different buckets and ways to tip them out. We also made a pirate ship for our small world play. It even had a diving board.

Social time

After a hard morning learning, we took a well deserved break in the sunshine. We drank lots of water to make sure we didn’t get dehydrated and wore our caps to keep the sun off our heads. Snack time lets us all chat to each other and relax after such a busy time!

This week the builders have been in creating our tyre park. Funded by FOMS, the whole school has been building up to this moment since Christmas with School Council meetings, designs being submitted and a vote to decide on the winning design.

Breaking Ground

Class One were able to watch the installation from their outside area and it sparked a lot of interest!

After watching the digger at work we decided to draw our own diggers, write about what we observed and create our own diggers from construction materials.

                

Here is part of the finished Tyre Park…

We’ve been developing our outside area by repurposing some of our older resources and adding in some lovely new bits for physical development. One of the favourites is the balancing track. We also have a lovely new wibbly number line and chalkboards mounted on the wall at children’s height. The children enjoy designing new games to play in the water or with our musical instruments.

Our topic this term has been all about bears. Last week we went on a bear hunt. The whole class (including Miss S!) got kitted out in coats and wellies preparing ourselves for the cold, wet grey day. We swished our way through swashy grass, squelched through the mud in our construction area, skipped through the splash splosh river of wet grass before creeping through our stumble trip forest. After whirling through an imagined snow storm we came to the narrow gloomy willow cave. What a surprise when we found a giant bear waiting for us there! We were so surprised we ran all the way back to class and promised never to go on a bear hunt again. Luckily the bear was Tiny – a friend of one of our children who had come to school to visit him. None of us were eaten and we all had a fabulous time!