Hello!

This week has been Science week. The children have enjoyed a range of activities and visitors throughout the week. On Monday we learnt about dissolving using a sugar and water experiment and a very colourful Skittles experiment. The children were great at discussing their predictions and ideas about what they could observe. On Tuesday we had a drama session with Paul from Leeds Playhouse where the children came up with lots of imaginative ideas about an animal park, talking about and acting out different animals and scenarios at the park. On Wednesday, we had a fantastic session with Steve from Yorkshire Owl Experience where the children met lots of owls and found out about their habitat and diet. They were able to stroke the owls and even hold one of them! The children had a wonderful time. The children also learnt about how to keep our teeth healthy and have enjoyed books and activities about this in provision throughout the week. On Thursday the children learnt about magnets and how they have a north and a south pole. They learnt how like poles repel and unlike poles attract and they have explored this idea through trying out a range of magnets. On Friday the children made predictions about floating and sinking and experimented with different objects, finding that floating and sinking isn’t about the weight or size of an object, but about its density and whether it has air pockets in it to help keep it afloat. The children have really enjoyed exploring lots of different ideas this week and have really impressed us with their observational skills and the way they have explained their thinking.

In maths we have been learning about 3D shapes. We have been using the language faces, edges, vertices, curved and flat. The children have learnt about a cone, a cylinder, a sphere, a cube and a cuboid. They have grouped objects by looking at the properties of the shape, they have been hunting for objects which match the shapes and we have been discussing the shape of the faces. Can you find any 3D shapes at home? How can you tell it’s a cube? (square faces) or a cylinder? (circular faces at each end) or a sphere (no vertices) Can your child use the mathematical language? We have also been recapping pattern, making different patterns with words and movements. We have looked specifically at AB, AAB and ABB patterns. AB (stomp, clap, stomp, clap…), AAB (red, red, yellow, red, red, yellow), ABB (jump, clap, clap, jump, clap, clap). Can you make some patterns at home? You could use objects, pens or pencils to draw a pattern or make a movement pattern. We’d love to see your ideas on Tapestry. Here is a great book about pattern to share at home. Pattern Fish by Trudy Harris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_mqVCewsYA

Next week we will be learning about growing up through the story ‘Once There Were Giants’ by Martin Waddell. We will be exploring all the new things we can do as we grow up and will learn about time order (chronology). The children will be using words associated with chronology such as the present, the past, the future, long ago, new/recent, lifetime. We have sent a separate app message and one on Tapestry about sending baby photos for our history topic. Thank you in advance for helping us with this. We will be using these pictures to compare ourselves to how we were as babies and talk about the changes we have gone through in the last few years.

At home, you might like to dig out some of your family photos to show your child the changes you have gone through from babyhood to adulthood. If you have a selection of around five, can your child put them into the correct order? We will be looking at the stages: baby, toddler, child, teenager, adult.

In maths next week we will be looking at the number 10 and ways to make 10. We will be learning our number bonds to 10 in lots of different ways.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!