Week Ending 16 December 2022
Well Alfa Romeo what a wonderful half term it has been and I think we are all ready for a well-deserved rest.
I have to thank all the children for working so hard on the Nativity and the performance – I have to say they all looked wonderful and have been working very hard on the songs.
Have a wonderful Christmas and we would like to wish you a Happy New Year and we will see you in 2023.
Mrs Clark and Mrs Bloomfield
Week Ending 09 December 2022
Another good week in Alfa Romeo this week. Everyone has been practicing their acting skills and we have done plenty of singing with the Nativity.
We have continued with our Topic ‘Marvellous Machines’ and been looking at machines from then and now. We have read ‘Rosie Revere Engineer’ and stated to think about being engineers. Can we design and make our own machines? Watch this space for our own ‘Marvellous Machines’. We have used different manipulatives to create robots of different sizes big and small.
In Maths we have started out new topic ‘Light and Dark’. We have continued with number looking at 4 and 5 and how we can make them in different ways and finished the week counting one more and one less of numbers using lots of pictorial representations. One more is easier than one less but we have made a great start looking at this!
We have continued with our book ‘I am Henry Finch’ which is about a flock of finches. We have started to think about Henry’s thoughts and this about our own thoughts and feelings. Plenty of talking about times of day – morning, afternoon, evening, and night. We have refreshed our phonemes and looked at our blending and even made up real and odd words which is great fun! Our final piece of writing is recalling some of Henry’s thought and making links with how we think. Mrs Clark has seen how much we have progressed with using capital letter, finger spaces and full stop.
On Wednesday morning, we had a visitor in school with a machine invention. Mrs Johnston came into school with her bread machine. We all sat round and helped to measure out the ingredients using scales and placed them in order in the machine pan. When we plugged it in all the lights flashed and we set the program for our loaf… it took until after lunch to cook. The following morning, we had extra snack … and tasted the bread it was ‘yummy’.
We have been lucky with the weather and had lots of time outside rolling and throwing balls into hoops in different parts of the outside space. We have used magnets to make robots and joined them with different links, build large Lego robots and made magnetic robots.
A wonderful end to the week wearing out Christmas Jumpers with a visit from Father Christmas and a wonderful buffet Christmas lunch.
Week Ending 02 December 2022
Another busy week in Alfa Romeo and just like that we are into December- where has the time gone!
This week we have continued with our Topic ‘Marvellous Machines’ and been looking at machines from then and now. We have found out things looked very different in history – kettles, washing machines, hoovers and even the TV all looked strange in our eyes! We have noticed how it may change in the future. Technology has moved on and we have started to think about machines and how robots help build and make electronics and other tiny machines. We have learnt how to draw robots and even read a very funny book ‘No-Bot the robot with no bottom.’ We have tried to make robots in the outdoor area using cubes, Duplo and stickle bricks.
On Monday, we joined Ferrari class and were able to see a Fire Engine from the NATO Base. We heard the siren and were able to look around the engine. There is a hose on the roof and it can put out really tall fires like the roof of a building. All the children had a go at using the fire hose.
On Tuesday, we had a STEM workshop. It was wonderful we watched a video clip which explained the instructions of how to make a helicopter. We had to be resilient and carefully cut along the lines of a rectangle, we then followed the letters to make folds to make a T shape. After that we had to decide how many paper clips to add to our helicopter. We used our science knowledge to test our models. We had some wonderful ideas about how quick they would fall to the ground.
In Maths we have looked at Spatial Awareness and where things are placed. We have used lots of items to talk about- where they are? and what they are next to? We have learnt some new words and phrases- above, below, in front of and behind, on and under and next too. Some impressive work FS2. I have even observed this in your play outside saying where items are. You have shown some wonderful maths skills in your assessment 1,2 ,3.
This week we stated out new book ‘I am Henry Finch’ which is about a flock of finches. We have created our own Alfa Romeo finch family and learnt Henry the main character day is the me every day, until he is eaten by a monster. He starts to listen to his thoughts and his imagination helps him to escape the nasty beast. It has been a challenge to try to be someone else and think like them! There has been plenty of festive singing and sharing stories, lots of building models big and small, moving and creating our own designs. We have painted pictures and coloured, practiced our fine motor skill and all worked hard with our letter formation and handwriting. We really enjoyed making cakes.
Week Ending 25 November 2022
This week we have been continuing with our ‘Marvellous Machines’ and have been looking at types of transport and naming vehicles. We have talked about what kind of machine they are and how they are made. We have looked at modes of transport and matched vehicles to the titles land, water or air. We have cut out pictures and matched them carefully and talked about which ones we have travelled in. We have gone back through history and looked at old and new machines and tried to understand how they worked in the olden days.
In Maths, we have been looking at 2D shapes ‘Circles and Triangles’. We have sorted shapes, talked about their properties, and printed and drawn round the shapes to create Kandinsky patterns.
In English, we have finished our book ‘Look up!’ and used our phonic knowledge to sound out and write our own sentences for our story and drawn and coloured pictures. We picked a character and wrote sequencing sentences about shooting stars, space stations or star gazing. The children used a word bank to help them with tricky words.
Outside this week we have been exploring with the sand building castles of different shapes and sizes, used big machines to move sand and create tracks, practiced our number and sounds in the sand area. In the water tray we have had different containers to pour liquids, used the boats to make them float and sink and used the counting shells to count one more and less. Plenty of Duplo models creating our own machines and some children even combined two different machines to make new inventions.
Another wonderful week Alfa Romeo!
Week Ending 18 November 2022
A wonderful start to the week with our joint school trip to the Transport Museum in Naples. After a wet start to the day me all jumped on the bus and headed into Naples. All of the children were very excited to be travelling on a bus with their friends. After a short walk when we arrived, we crossed under the railway line and up some stairs and waited to get inside the museum. It was all very exciting as we stepped into the grounds of the museum. Our tour guide took us into the museum where we went back through history to see the first steam engines. Lights were projected onto the engine and lit up the room, whistles blew and we all thought we were on an engine. We saw lots of different steam engine, Royal carriages, twin engines, long and short carriages and went inside some very old and new. It was a great way to look at Marvellous Machines.
In class we have continued with our topic work looking at different types of vehicles. Our book of the week is ‘Car, Car, Truck, Jeep’. We have looked at all different types of transport, some with wheels and others which travel in the air or on water. The children had opportunities to use various diggers in the sand, build train tracks and add different coloured carriages, land aeroplanes on the helipad and colour and paint different machines. Mrs Pollington re-read ‘Mrs Armitage …..’ which was really funny.
We have had our daily Phonics and our focus this week has been on spelling words using the sounds we know. In English, we have used our phonics to sound out words linked to Space and travel, created our own flyer advertising a shooting stars, floating satellite or star gazing and we have started to plan our own story.
In Maths, we have continued looking at 1, 2 and 3 and have been working at using a number and finding one more and one less than that number. It has been tricky, however we are making steady progress. We have used number lines, counting logs, unifix cubes, lego bricks, pinecones, stones to name a few resources to help have a better understanding. We have done our daily counting, read fairy tales with ‘3’ and sang songs all linked to numbers.
Some of us have cooked up soups and pasta dishes, made a selection of breads and cakes and I even had to taste a fruit and vegetable stew in the biggest pot in the mud kitchen. We have jumped and skipped, practised our throwing skills, been controlled by a remote. The water tunnels and wheels have been used and the children have collected water in different types of containers and jugs. We have done plenty of painting and art as well this week.
We finished the week wearing our own clothes and donated our loose change to ‘Children in Need’. A very busy week – have a wonderful weekend Alfa Romeo.
Week Ending 11 November 2022
Alfa Romeo have had a brilliant week and have all been collaborative dolphins and worked carefully together. The children have embraced their learning inside and outside the classroom and rolled with all the changes which have been made to enhance their learning.
On Wednesday we were so luck to have a visitor come in and talk about being and archaeologist. We sat and listened carefully to a talk, asked lots of interesting questions and then explored layers of sand to find interesting artefacts – gems, coins, pottery, jewellery and bones. All of the children had a wonderful experience and worked in pairs to unearth the items using small tools, spoons and brushes to dust off the sand and sort into groups on the sorting trays. Maybe we have an archaeologist in the making.
In Topic, this week we have learnt more about Marvellous Machines. We have spoken about machines in the home and shared our knowledge and understanding of how different machines work. We have looked around the classroom and seen that the machines are plugged in and use electricity. We have shared plenty of books about machines with wheels and went out and rode different bikes and trikes on the playground trying to work out how they moved. We created some primary-coloured pictures with squirty bottles and made prints.
In maths, we are looking at numbers 1, 2 and 3 and have been looking at one more and one less. Some of us have been very resilient and using number lines to help us count forwards or backwards. We have played lots of different games to help us recognise numbers and used concrete materials to help solve questions. We have sung a range of songs and read books with three animals in.
In English, we have continued reading ‘Look Up!’ and worked hard with labelling items we would take to watch the meteor shower, use word banks, write sentences to share characters feelings and sequence key events.
Alfa Romeo has set up their own café, added labels and wrote menus to share with the children and adults. In the outdoor kitchen we have made imaginary cakes, soups and pasta dishes to share with each other in the café. Making sure there was a place for the items and tidying it away carefully. There has been plenty of music and dancing, climbing on the frame, building with the giant Lego bricks making towers and rockets, counting transport vehicles and setting up airports, train stations and tracks. Everyone has enjoyed playing with water wheel, filling up jugs and cylinders trying to make the wheel spin.
What a full week!
Week Ending 4 November 2022
Welcome to the second part of the Autumn Term and we have started off the half term displaying many of our learning behaviours. There have been some motivated bees, independent bears, resilient turtles and the collaborative dolphins. We have had another new joiner in Alfa Romeo which has been wonderful. There are now four FS1 and nine FS2 children in the class.
We have started out new topic this week ‘Marvellous Machines’ and learnt what a machine is and talked about different machines used in our home and at school. we went for a walk and kept our eyes open to look out for machines. We even thought about what like might be like if we did not have machines- this was quite tricky! We have shared lots of stories and looked at online safety by reading ‘Chicken Clicking’ and share how and when we use technology at home. Peppa Pig’s Family Computer and Winnie’s New Computer have helped think about computers and tablets. We have learnt how to take photo’s of each other using the I pad’s, looked at features of tablets, been on a letter hunt with eh keyboard and recognised and named 2D shapes.
FS2 have started their new unit of learning on the numbers It’s me 1, 2 and 3. The have written numbers, counted collections of numbers, matched quantities and numerals. Earlier today, the children created their own collections of 1,2 and 3 to make a class display. What a love range of items have been collected and displayed in the classroom using a range of maths and other learning equipment. We have learn two new songs ‘Five green and speckled frogs’ and ‘Hickory Dickory Dock’ which have helped using to count.
In English FS2 have came into the lesson finding a telescope and a globe. After these have been talked about and explored many links to space were made. The next day, a new book arrived and in the outside area a space landing with planets and aliens. We then share our new book ‘Look up!’ and found out the little girls in the story was named ‘Rocket’ as she was born on the same day a Space shuttle was sent into space. We finished the week by creating our own flyers advertising their own meteor shower with some beautiful letter formation and pictures.
We have talked about rules and how important it is to follow them and how to share and be kind with our friends. Have PE and Music with Mrs Pollington and explored the new outdoor area filled with lots of different toys. A great start to this half term.
Well done Alfa Romeo!