This week have started our whole school book focus around ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker. The magical thing about this book is that it is wordless, so we can make up our own story using the pictures.

In the story, the girl has a red pencil and uses it to draw different shapes. These shapes then come to life, for example a circle becoming a hot air balloon.

We were amazed to find that a magic carpet had landed in our foyer, similar to the magic carpet in the story! We talked about what we would draw if we had a magic red pen and where the magic carpet might take us on a journey.

        

Next week we will be making up our own magical journey stories.

Phonics

This week we have been learning about the alphabet and discovered that there are 26 letters, but a lot more sounds! We have been practising letter names, as well as the sound they make. Some of our alphabet got very muddled and letters went missing, so it was our job to put them back in the correct places.

 

Maths 

This week we have been exploring different ways to make 6,7 and 8 using counters on ladybirds and dominoes. We have also looked at a tens frame and started to show different amounts using this.

Here is example. “We can see that there are 6 counters because there are 5 on the top row and one more. We know that one more than 5 is 6.”

Learning through play

During our self – initiated learning time, we have continued to build houses for the three little pigs. We have also been dressing up a tooth fairies and wrapping presents for our friends.

 

On Monday we are going on our trip to the Weald and Downland Living Museum. Please make sure your child wears sensible shoes, as well as bringing a coat, gloves, hat etc. They will need a packed lunch if you indicated this on the form, and all children will need to bring a drink and small backpack to carry their lunch in.

Have a great weekend 🙂

 

This week we have started our next traditional tale, The Three Little Pigs. We listened to the story and then put actions to the story in order to remember it.

Maths

We have been continuing to learn about weight this week. We looked at scales that we would use in the kitchen and used them to make cheese scones. We practised rubbing in the butter and flour using our fingertips rather than our whole hand. We talked about safety in the kitchen and then enjoyed eating our scones for snack.

Phonics

This week we have learnt 4 digraphs. Digraphs are 2 letters that when put together, make 1 sound.

Muffin the puffin makes the sound ‘ff’.

Billy the bull makes the sound ‘ll’.

Jess the grasshopper makes the sound ‘ss’.

Fizz the buzzard makes the sound ‘zz’.

These sounds don’t have actions as we already know the action for the single sound. We learnt that these digraphs are usually, but not always, found at the end of words.

We have been trying really hard to read and write 2 and 3 word phrases using the sounds that we know. We have been looking for finger spaces in between words and trying to use these in our writing.

Learning through play

This week we have been making dens using our black trays and material, pretending they belong to the 3 little pigs. We then dressed up as the big bad wolf and practised the repeated phrases in the story, for example “Little pig, little pig, let me come in.”

We have been rolling large dice and playing Numicon bingo, as well as making obstacle courses with the tyres and planks.

Ideas for home 

http://topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/ladybird-spots Practise ordering the spots on the ladybird from the smallest to largest amount. Try to recognise the amount of spots without counting them.

Act out the story of the 3 little pigs with adults or siblings at home. You could make your own house using a chair and a sheet.

Try baking at home with an adult. What ingredients do you need? Can you help to measure the amounts using scales?

Have a great weekend 🙂