Week beginning 17th October
It is Harvest Week at BFS Naples. We have enjoyed our Harvest Assemblies, singing our Harvest Songs and creating our wonderful pumpkin art!
Here are some of our highlights this week.
It is true to say that Ferrari Class have an expert knowledge of the life of Amelia Earhart. We used that knowledge and understanding to write biographies of her lifetime. We focused on her childhood, how she learnt to fly and how she made history. We have made sure that our writing is in chronological order and we have written sentences that are sequenced and linked. We have enjoyed sharing our biographies with each other and have given each other some great feedback! The Year 2 children have used their editing skills to make improvement to their writing. It is wonderful to have such great authors in our class!
We are making good progress in our Addition and Subtraction units. This week we have been using the reckenrek apparatus to support the learning of number facts and writing number sentences. The children have enjoyed making challenging problems for each other to solve. This has helped reinforce their knowledge of number bonds. Year 2 children have been learning to add 3 one-digit numbers and adding and subtracting 10 from a given number. The Year 1 children have continued to learn their number bonds to 10 as well as using ten frames and part whole models to add numbers. They have also used number lines to add 1 digit to 2 digit numbers.
As our topic Movers and Shakers draws to a close we have been thinking about how these amazing people have been remember. I have been so impressed by the wonderful ideas the children have come up with to commemorate and celebrate their achievements.
In our final Mix it! art session with Mrs Sweeney, we looked at the life of a Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama Becoming an Artist: Yayoi Kusama I Tate Kids – YouTube . The children looked at examples of her art and used her style of using spots to print pictures of pumpkins, linking with our harvest theme. Mrs Sweeney set the children some art challenges based on what the children have learnt this term. The children couldn’t wait to start working in their sketch book. Ferrari love being artists!
In PE the children have enjoyed all their fitness challenges, learning and practicing their skills of catching, throwing, kicking and balancing. They have worked individually, in a pair and as part of a team and learnt rules of fair play and ‘sportsmanship’. One activity that has become a real Ferrari favourite is ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf!’
We have completed our Science unit on Habitats. As a challenge, the children had to choose an environment and create a creature that could live there. They had to think about the adaptations, the food and how the creature would move around its habitat. We had great fun sharing the creatures we made!
Well done Ferrari you have been fantastic learners!
Week beginning 10th October
It has been another fantastic week of learning and a whole lot of fun rolled in too!
Last Friday we celebrated our book Traction Man is here by having a Superhero Day. It was wonderful to see all the children dressed up in their costumes and entering into the spirit of the day. The children took part in lots of activities including making a top-secret superhero identity card then they worked collaboratively on superhero maths challenges based around solving problems. They learnt about heroes from the past, travelling back in time to France where they met Louis Braille. After hearing his story, they used braille to write their names. The children did an amazing job learning a superhero dance where they made superhero poses in a sequence linking them with movements. Our day ended with Maserati Class coming over to our classroom to read with us, we performed our dance to them – I think they were ‘super’ impressed!
In English we have continued with our English unit based on the book Amelia Earhart. The children selected a Mover and Shaker and wrote a short biography. Using the app chatterpics, Miss Coole taught the children how to animate their significant person and record information that they had learnt about this character. It was great fun watching the characters come to life!
In maths the Year 1 children have been focusing on the number bonds within ten and the Year 2 children have been adding and subtracting tens. I have been impressed with the way the children have been challenging themselves in opening ended activities and have shown their understanding through the problem solving and reasoning questions they have answered.
On Wednesday we were lucky enough to have three visitors to our classroom. Mrs Taylor came in and supported our phonics session at the start of the day. After break, we were delighted to welcome Mrs Wheeler who talked about one of her favourite Movers and Shakers – Mozart. She brought in her trumpet and talked about brass instruments, then thrilled the children by playing small pieces for them. The Star Wars and Harry Potter themes got the thumbs up! In the afternoon, Mrs Sweeney revised the skills we had learnt in previous weeks; primary and secondary colour mixing and how the inspirational artist, Kandinsky, used colour. We looked at another piece of his artwork and used a variety of techniques to recreate our own versions of the picture. The children were also set independent activities to work on a collage of ‘Kandinsky Squares’ as well as colour mixing of secondary colours to make tertiary colours!
Another fantastic week of learning Ferrari!
Week beginning 3rd October
Ferrari Class have had a wonderful week, displaying so many of our learning behaviours. There have been some collaborative dolphins, independent bears, motivated bees, and resilient turtles in our class. Well done everyone! It has also been a sad week for us too, saying goodbye to two of our classmates. We have celebrated the contributions they have made to our class and wish them well as they move to their new schools.
In English, we finished our story ‘Traction Man in the Jungle’. The children had Traction Man speeding to the jungle in his supersonic space cup and saucer. He was wearing his all in one knitted green romper suit and matching bonnet. In the jungle he encountered a tiger so the children did a fabulous job describing the tiger using adjectives, noun phrases and similes. So …. who did Traction Man save from the tiger? The children had to use their knowledge of the story structure to decide who or what Traction Man was going to save and how. Once this was done we had to decide on a fitting way to end the story. I am happy to report that Traction Man received medals and many certificates!
We have now moved onto Addition and Subtraction in maths. The Year 1 children have been focusing on number bonds to 10 and part whole models. The Year 2 children have been focusing on number bonds to 20 including their fact families. We have solved problems using money and enjoyed using dice to challenge our number recall.
Did you know that Wassily Kandinsky was an abstract painter who could hear colours? Mrs Sweeney worked with the children recreating the ‘Coloured squares and concentric circles’ painting. They applied their knowledge of colouring mixing to make the circles and their backgrounds. They made jigsaws of his artwork and mixed primary colours in bags. It was fantastic!
In our Movers and Shakers topic we have started to learn about the explorer Neil Armstrong. We learnt about the qualities you needed to be an astronaut. We all agreed you would have to be very brave and determined. As well as learning about Neil Armstrong, the children had to think and act like historians when they were presented with six black and white photographs. The children were told they were photographs of a ‘mystery’ Mover and Shaker’ and were in chronological order. The children had to work collaboratively to discover what the mystery person did in ‘her’ lifetime. There was some great discussions and links made in their learning. We discovered that the ‘Mover and Shaker’ was called Amelia Earhart and she was a famous pilot who flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean. The children are looking forward to hearing more of her story.
With the weather much improved this week, we got to go outside on a minibeast hunt as part of our science unit on Habitats. We have been looking at microhabitats and the animals and plants that are adapted to live in these places. We found worms, mushrooms, beetles, ladybirds, snails, geckos and LOTS of ants!
Well done Ferrari!
Welcome back! September 2022
We have had wonderful start to the school year in Ferrari Class. It has been lovely to see how quickly we are working together as a new class. The Year 2 children have set a wonderful example to the new Year 1 children, helping them to settle quickly by being kind, caring and helpful. Mrs Smith and I are very proud of all the children in Ferrari
Our topic this half of term is ‘Movers and Shaker’. This project teaches children about historically significant people who have had a major impact on the world. We started with a visit by Dr Jervis who is a very important person in our community. Dr Jervis told us about being a doctor at JFC and he showed us his special doctor’s bag which contained equipment such as a stethoscope and digital thermometer. The children really enjoyed using these instruments. I can report we are all well and have great reflexes! In Italian, Keila told the children about a significant doctor in the Naples community, Dr Giuseppe Moscati, who healed and supported the poor in Naples at the turn of the twentieth century. We have now started learning about the Dawson’s Model which is a set of five statements that help historians to decide if a person is historically significant. We have started researching into life of Florence Nightingale and learning why she is a significant person. We have looked at an image of the medal she was presented by Queen Victoria for her work in the Crimea War and designed our own medals to be awarded to other nurses who make an impact on other people’s lives. We have started to sequence significant information in chronological order by making timelines of our own lives. The children enjoyed sharing stories of when they were a baby!
In English we have been reading and learning about the story ‘Traction Man is here.’ by Mini Grey. The children have really enjoyed bringing in their own toys into class, writing descriptions of their toys and plotting simple adventures and role-playing games. We have made a story map of Traction Man’s adventures which feature the problems he encounters and how he saves the day. We have used our story maps to write about some of Traction Man’s adventures and are now writing our own adventure about Traction Man in the jungle.
Our first topic in maths was Place Value. Our Year 1 children have been looking at numbers to 20 and for many, extending to 50. Our Year 2 children have been looking at numbers to 100. We have been focusing on problem solving and reasoning with the children explaining how they have solved their problems using mathematical vocabulary. This is something we will continue with throughout the year. At the end of last week, we did an assessment where the children showed they had a very good understanding of the concepts and mathematical skills taught. So, we have now started our next unit on Addition and Multiplication. Well done Ferrari!
Did you know a polar bear can most likely smell a seal from more than 1 km (0.6 mi.) away and 1 m (3 ft.) under the snow? In science, our topic is Habitats. We learnt about what a habitat is and how plants and animals survive in different habitats all over the world. We have started by learning about Polar Habitats and the animals that can survive in these harsh conditions. We have learnt lots of fascinating facts like polar bears have black skin and their fur is hollow! We have now started to study microhabitats and looked under old logs to see what we could find. We found a millipede and a salamander!
On Wednesday afternoons we have PE outside. The children really enjoy this time and each session has been a great success. We have played a variety of games as a warm up which involved team work, following the rules, taking turns as well as running! We used a variety of different sized balls to build skills of dribbling, bouncing and catching. A great start.
Our companion topic for this term is called ‘Mix it!’ which is an art-based topic based on colour mixing skills. We have started by using colour to make patterns. In our outside area the children have had the opportunity to press objects into play dough to make textures, patterns and imprints. We welcomed back Mrs Sweeney for the first time this year. She talked to the children about primary and secondary colours and the children had the opportunity to make new colours by mixing the primary colours. We asked the children to name some of the new colours they made – we had some really exciting ideas like cactus green, ocean blue and dragon’s breath purple.
Every Thursday afternoon, Mrs Pollington teaches music and computing with the children. The children have started learning new songs that we sing in assembly. We have been learning ‘You can count on me’ by Bruno Mars. This has been a big hit with Ferrari!
We have started the year with some real motivated learners. Well done Ferrari Class!