Blue Class 2021-2022

Pirates 

This half term we have been reading lots of different pirate stories. We have acted out stories, made pirate hats, telescopes and used new media to turn ourselves into pirates. We have also been completing different pirate activities on our wellie walks to help us achieve our very own pirate license!

Magic Beans 

The children had to investigate the objects in the tuff tray and decide if they were real beans or not. There were three different varieties of real beans and many different bean imposters such as glass beads, pom poms, buttons and tiny bells. The children were quick to discount the buttons and bells. It was tricky to put into words just why and how we knew the real beans were real. For now, we have decided that real beans are often brown in colour and are a kind of oval in shape. We also noticed a little spot where we think the bean may grow from. 

The children decided that we could find out if the objects we looked at in the tuff tray were real or fake beans by planting them to see if they will grow! We worked together to plant what we suspect are the real beans (which are actual seeds) and the objects we thought were fake beans (not seeds) a bell, button, Pom Pom and a glass bead. We popped them in the pot, covered them over and gave them a little water. Then we made predictions about what which would grow. Now we watch and wait... 🔎

The children then all planted their own beans. They put some soil into a pot, made a little hole and popped their bean in before covering it over and  giving it some water. The children have started a class bean diary to make keep a record of any developments.

The children enjoyed observing and drawing the bean we planted a few weeks ago. They were able to name the soil, the roots, the stem and the leaves. The children predicted that it will grow higher by next week. 

Art 

In Art, the children used a range of drawing pencils to draw a picture of their own giant. The children made sure they filled the page because they knew the giant is very big! They thought carefully about the features of the giant as they drew. The children then decorated their giants by ripping, scrunching, cutting and sticking different materials to collage their drawings. They all did a fantastic job!!

Wellie Walks

On our wellie walk we were looking for signs of spring. The children spotted the daffodils and crocuses growing on on school field and blossom near our wild area. The children also found flowers growing in Red and Yellow Class gardens.

We then revisited the flowers we saw last week. The children noticed they had grown a lot since last week and the flowers have come out more. The children all sat and drew a picture of a daffodil using the art pencils they explored in art last week. 

Spring 2 P.E. 

Week 1 

The children have had to walk forwards and backwards along a line without wobbling. It was very tricky, but the children tried really hard to move carefully and use their arms to help steady themselves.

Week 2 

Monday 

The children enjoyed being a train moving about the hall using our gross motor skills, moving our bodies.
We moved forwards, backwards, high and low, stopping and saying "choo choo"!

We are focusing on balancing while on the move. The children worked hard to move opposite arms and legs at the same time.  We progressed to moving like trains with one arm moving at the same time as the opposite leg. Very well done everyone!

Thursday

In our P.E. session today, we started our session by making large movements with our arms. We pretended we had pencils in our hands and we imagined taking our pencils for a walk up and down, round and round and in a zig zag. We then played a game of 'Mirror, Mirror.' The children worked in partners and they needed to mirror the movements their partner made. The children were very good at this and we had some great movements!
We then read a short story about a little girl whose parents walk a tightrope in a circus. The children used the lines on the hall floor and the yellow markers pretending they were on a tightrope. The had to try and balance with one foot in front of the other for 10 seconds. We then got out the benches and imagined we were walking along a tightrope. The children were very good at balancing and moving along the beams.

Week 3 

Monday 

Today in PE, we continued our learning on dynamic balance. We had to walk forward and backwards along a line, one foot in front of another. The aim was to do this fluidly and with minimal wobble. The children really concentrated. We then learnt a song called "5 little puffer trains". We made trains of 5 people and tired hard to move forward and backwards in lines at the same time. A tricky challenge and yet we achieved a level of success! 

Thursday 

In P.E. today, the children continued to imagine they were walking on a tightrope. They had to make sure they placed their foot carefully in front of each other as they walked along the lines on the hall floor. The children then placed a game of 'Follow the leader' using their skills they had learnt. The children all took it in turns to be the leader.

Week 4 

Monday

It was very exciting in PE today. We got the new wall bars out to explore them. The children demonstrated good climbing, travelling, jumping and listening skills. They looked out for each other, taking turns and being safe by following the rules.

Thursday

The children really enjoyed our P.E. session outside in the sunshine. The children explored balancing the quoits and beanbags on different parts of their bodies. Throwing, catching and bouncing the basket balls. Running carefully over the ladder making sure they didn't stand on the yellow bars. All children completed each activity and they all worked super hard. Well done Blue Class!

Week 5 

Monday

In P.E. we linked together all of our moments and skills that we have been learning over the past few weeks to create a sequence of movements in response to commands. The children worked in pairs, then in groups to copy and follow instructions. The worked at high and low levels and at fast and low speeds using various different body parts and different gestures.

Wednesday 

Today in P.E. we pretended to be seeds. We had to curl our bodies up as small as we could. We stretched out or hands and spread our fingers to represent the growing roots. Next we used our arms as growing shoots and gradually grew taller just like the stem and leaves of a new plant. Finally we created a bud and stretched up to open it out. We let ourselves move and blow around in the breeze. The children listened and responded beautifully to the music and showed growing awareness and control over what their bodies can do. Great job Blue Class 👍👍

Interfaith Week

Blue Class have been learning about Judaism this week as part of Interfaith Week.

We learned new vocabulary linked to the Jewish faith including learning about the Torah and Yad, Synagogue as a place of worship and the festival of Hannukah. 

The children had a look at artefacts on the curiosity table and they learned about the importance of the Menorah candle stick and the Star of David as a symbol.

Autumn 2 - Journeys

We started the week with a visit from Praizin' Hands Puppet Show, where the children learned about friendship and being kind. The children loved how interactive the show was and all enjoyed the characters and the singing and music.

They have also been planting bulbs and flowers to make our outdoor area look beautiful now and in Spring time when the daffodils start to appear. 

Blue Class started their new topic of Journeys by learning the story of The Gingerbread Man, they have had ginger scented playdough to explore, counting games and maths activities involving 2D shapes as well as taking part in a Science investigation.

We paused the Gingerbread Man story at the part where he reaches the river and the children each made a prediction of what would happen if he had to swim across and hadn't met the pesky fox! The children then tested their predictions by dunking gingerbread biscuits into water to see what happened...! This was lots of fun.

For Welly Walk Wednesday Blue Class had to collect natural resources to make their name or the first letter of their name on the school field...they tried really hard by using sticks, feathers, stones and pine cones. 

Well done Blue Class!

This week the children have been in school full time and we have been busy bees!

The children were amazing at learning the story of The Little Red Hen, they learnt the whole story with actions and we made a story map to help us.

Blue Class performed their story in our Harvest Festival collective worship on Tuesday...they were incredible!

On Wednesday we learned about how bread is made and the ingredients we would need to make it. The children then each made a small bread roll, kneading their dough and Vicky the cook baked it in her oven for us. The children were so excited to take their bread home to taste!

We're Going on a Leaf Hunt!

The children really enjoyed using their checklist on a clipbaord to go hunting for different leaves from different trees around the school grounds this week in Welly Walk Wednesday!

The worked in pairs to identify and collect leaves of different colours and shapes. They also looked for other signs of Autumn.

What a SUPER second week we have had...!!!

Blue Class have started phonics this week; playing some listening games and beginning to learn phase 2 sounds...starting with s, a , t and p.

The children thought of words that begin with these sounds...we had some great ideas that we shared on our phonics working wall. The children carried on thinking of words in their play and we added to them throughout each day.

We also went on our first Welly Walk! The children were fantastic at following instructions and a simple map to navigate around the school grounds. The children did some litter picking on the school field and bug hunting in the woodland area.

Welcome to Blue Class!

The children have had a wonderful week settling into Blue Class, they have been playing and learning beautifully with one another and getting to know new adults, children and routines.

We have been learning about the school rules and the children have been working hard to get on to the class Superstar!

The children have explored the classroom, outdoor area and the role play courtyard too. We started the week with a tour of the school grounds and had fun on the play trail.

The children have been taking turns, learning how to do 'super sitting' and listening to instructions.

Well Done Blue Class...what a fantastic first week!