Our Fortnightly Learning Blogs
Weeks 7 and 8
I can hardly believe half term is upon us! When I reflect back to the beginning of the term it is wonderful to see how much progress Ferrari Class have made; not only academically but also in their learning behaviours, confidence and risk taking. Everyone has tried to be the best they can be – well done Ferrari! We are so proud of you!
Here are some highlights from the last two weeks.
The children have really enjoyed the One World Days where they celebrated and learnt about all the wonderful links that BFS has with the world. It was fantastic to see the children arriving on Monday in clothes that celebrated who they are. We had children wearing Beaver uniforms, national colours (French and English), Nepalese headwear, Italian football shirts, cowgirl/US, and sports outfits! Everyone shared why they wore these special clothes and we all talked about the communities we belonged to which made us so special. The children drew and wrote about their outfits as well as contributing to a whole school collage with four squares that depicted the colour of their skin, their hair, their eye and finally their favourite colour. On Tuesday the children were split into vertical groups meaning they worked with children from other classes. They all had a passport which took them to four countries which had links with our school. They visited Nepal, Poland, St Lucia and Australia where they learnt about the location, geography, language and culture of each country and took part in a traditional craft activity.
Ferrari are definitely turning into authors! All the children completed their stories based on the cumulative story ‘It’s my birthday’ by Helen Oxenburg. Each child completed a story map selecting their own characters for their story and then set about writing their own version. They were really great and everyone was so proud of their writing. This week our English has linked with our history topic on Childhood. We have learnt what an autobiography is and the children have planned and written their own basic biographies. We have enjoyed telling and listening to the stories from the biographies.
In art topic Mix it! we have been learning about the artist Wassily Kandinsky who was a prominent and influential artist in the late 19th and early 20th century. Born in Russia, but later moving to France, he taught at the Bauhaus and, through his use of colour mixing, is widely considered the pioneer of the abstract art movement. Kandinsky’s art is renowned all over the world, and his contributions to the abstract movement inspired many other famous artists. The children learnt about his painting ‘Squares with Concentric Circles’ and then painted their own version using colour mixing of the primary colours. They also looked at his painting, ’Blue, red and yellow’ and created a colour collage focusing on light and dark colours. We are so grateful to have our artist, Mrs Holgate joining us in our art sessions.
In our early morning maths we have used the White Rose One Minute Maths on the iPads to practice our number bonds to 10 (Year 1) and number bonds to 20 and 100 (Year 2). The children have really got into the swing of it and are battling for the honour of most correct in a minute! It is a fun way to learn our number bonds. Both Year 1 and 2 are still working on the White Rose Addition and Subtract units, with this week focusing more on subtraction. The Year 2 children have continued to use the Rekenreks, base 10 and ten frames to support their understanding as they are now calculating larger amounts.
Our topic this term is ‘Childhood’ which has a history focus. We have continued to think and act like historians by learning about family trees and time lines. The children listened to a story about a fictitious character William and from that story they pieced together the evidence to make his family tree. The children then had the opportunity to work with their grown-ups to create their family tree. They were fantastic! This week we posed the question, ‘How long ago was the 1950’s?’ The children learnt about decades and how to read dates and had the job of working in teams to create a timeline of events from the 1950’s to today. All teams successfully completed the challenge.
Linked to our topic, we have started to learn some popular dances from the 1950’s. We have commenced with the Hand Jive and have now started learning The Twist. Ferrari have got some real movers and shakers with plenty of rhythm!
Finally, I wanted to say a big thank you to Mrs Jones, Mrs Connell and to all the Ferrari Parents for their support in reading. After our half term assessment, all children have moved up a Read, Write Inc book level. Well done Ferrari Class and the adults that have supported them. Keep up the great reading!
Have a great half term everyone and a well-earned rest!
Weeks 5 and 6
Ferrari Class have really been focusing on our learning behaviours over the last two weeks. We have had so many motivated learners who have worked hard to complete a challenge or target. The children have also enjoyed looking for connections in their learning like the reflective squirrel and apply what they have learnt in one subject area to another. We are so proud of you Ferrari!
Here are some highlights of our last two weeks.
On Tuesday we had a special visitor in our class, Mariella’s grandma! She had come all the way from England to tell the children about what it was like in her childhood. We learnt that she was 5 years old in the 1960’s. She talked about lots of different aspects of her childhood such as her school days, what clothes she wore, her favourite toys and games and even her favourite food. She showed the children photographs and even brought in milk and special ‘cow biscuits’ which she used to have everyday at school. We all enjoyed the biscuits and milk – delicious! The next day we reflected on what we had learnt and the children made a chart showing what was the same and what was different for a child in the 1960’s and a child today. To conclude, I asked the children if they think they would prefer to be a child in the 1960’s or a child today. There was a unanimous preference for being a child today!!
As part our Childhood topic, the children made a presentation about a special time in their lives. They brought in photos and artefacts which they shared with the class and talked about why this was a special event and how long ago it was. They really did a fantastic job!
In Geography, ‘Our Wonderful World’ topic, we have looked at directional language including points of a compass. The children were given the task to direct their partner using the specific directional language. We had to think hard about which way was left and which way was right! We have also started to look at an atlas and globe and find the oceans and continents of the world.
On Wednesday we were delighted to have Mrs Holgate (artist) back in our class to teach the children about colour mixing as part of our ‘Mix it!’ topic. They learnt about the three primary colours in the colour wheel and how artists mix colours to make new colours. We learnt how to hold a paint brush and how to keep our brushes clean. The children chose two primary colours and slowly add one colour to the other creating different shades. Once this was completed the children ‘named’ three of their favourite colours. We had cactus green, sunset orange, midnight blue and dragon’s blood purple amongst many!
In maths we have all completed our place value units and have now progressed to addition and subtraction. We have focused on number bonds and writing number sentences neatly and accurately. Ferrari are doing really well at writing their numbers the right way around and they have all got strategies to support them to achieve this. The children have enjoyed using a variety of apparatus to help them solve mathematical problems including, base 10, Rekenreks, ten frames and part whole models. This week the children had a variety of challenges one of which was to make 10p using coins. ‘Where is the 9p coin Mrs Page?’ I was asked. We quickly discovered there were no such coin and we could only use, 1, 2, 5 and 10p coins to make 10p!
In English, the children have started on their shared writing based on the book, ‘It’s my Birthday’ by Helen Oxenbury. Our new story is ‘Its my party’ and we are going to make some brownies. The children have selected their own characters for the story and are using their own story map and writing frame to write a cumulative story. It is wonderful to see how the children are starting to think and act like authors – well done Ferrari!
Finally, in our PSHE lessons we have been thinking about our rights and responsibilities and what that means to us. The children have designed their own mini posters to show what the rights and responsibilities mean to them.
| We have the right to: | We have the responsibility to: |
| Learn to be respected and treated fairly Be heard Feel safe | Allow others to learn Respect others and treat them fairly Listen to others Keep others safe |
Well done Ferrari another great two weeks of learning!
Weeks 3 and 4
There is a real sense of purpose when you walk into Ferrari Class. All the children are settling to their new routine – it’s like they have been here forever! Mrs Connell and I are so proud of the way the children are working hard and being the best they can be. All the children have shown they are good listeners and have produced some great learning. Well done Ferrari Class.
Here are some highlights of our week.
In English we have completed our English unit ‘How do you feel?’ with the children learning to write questions using question marks, writing sentences about their feelings starting with capital letters and ending in full stops. We all learnt that when you write the pronoun ‘I’ it always needs to be a capital letter. We also looked at the illustrations from the book where the illustrator used silhouettes of children holding balloons to show the feeling. We had to think and act like an illustrator and create our own designs for our feelings. When we had mastered all these skills we made our own super books about feelings. It is wonderful being an author!
The children have shown they have a good understanding of number as we have worked through our unit on Place Value. All the children will confidently select the apparatus they need to be able to solve problems independently. I am very impressed with the way the children are taking part in our Friday challenge to write their numbers accurately to 50, 100 and for some 200! All the children have been learning about the mathematical symbols, greater than, less than and equal to and using them in number sentences. We all know the hungry crocodile eats the big number!!! The Year 2 children can successfully partition numbers and place numbers on a number line to 100. The Year 1 children have been introduced to number lines too having successfully used number tracks.
We have continued to think and act like geographers as part of our topic ‘Our Wonderful World’ We have found location on maps using compass directions and have made our own treasure maps using symbols. We have looked at a map of our classroom and added the missing parts.
In our topic ‘Childhood’, we have focused on the stages of life and chronology. We have ordered the stages of life and made our own timeline to show us as a baby, toddler and child. In our classroom we have a selection of toys from the past. The children have enjoyed looking and playing with these toys, the marbles and yo-yo being favourites. In our science topic ‘Materials’, we have discovered what a natural material is and compared them to human made materials. The children enjoyed a sorting activity where they worked with a partner to decide which materials we natural or human made!
Finally, you might want to learn that we have some super dancers in Ferrari. Everyday morning, we do a ‘Wake and Shake’ and the children do a wonderful job joining in with the dances!
Well done Ferrari!
Weeks 1 and 2
Welcome back! September 2023
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. We would like to say a big welcome to Alex and Scarlett who have joined us this year. 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 Connell and I are very proud of all the children in Ferrari.
Our topic this term is ‘Childhood’. This project is history based and teaches children about everyday life and families today, including comparisons with childhood in the 1950s, using artefacts and a range of different sources. Alongside this driver topic we have companion projects which are linked to the main project. They are Everyday Materials and Human Senses (Science), Mix it! and Funny Face (Art), Our Wonderful World (Geography) and Shade and Shelter (DT). To launch our topic, we looked at vocabulary words related to the passing of time. We challenged the children to talk with a partner to compose their own sentences using these words. They then shared and compared the sentences by saying them aloud. Following this activity, the children were asked to think and act like history detectives when a variety of old toys appeared in the classroom. They compared old and new toys – thinking about the materials the toys were made of, measuring the size of the toys using a ruler and what type of toy it was. The children enjoyed playing with the old toys with the marbles and yo – yo being real favourites!
In English, we have started exploring our new English text called ‘How do you feel? by Patrick George. This book is a colourful picture book to help children express their feelings. The 27 different emotions are illustrated showing children in silhouette with a balloon. On each spread the balloon takes centre-stage portraying the emotion through its colour, size or shape. The children have enjoyed discussing and writing sentences about their emotions and played Emotions Charades which was great fun! All children have started their RWI reading books and visited our class library to choose a book to take home for the week. Spelling, phonics and handwriting are now part of our daily routine.
We are number wizards! The children in Ferrari have made a great start with our new maths topic ‘Place Value’. The children in Year 1 are focusing on numbers within 10 but are proving to be able to go beyond that amount when completing the challenges. The Year 2 children have been focusing on tens and ones and partitioning numbers to 100. They have used a variety of maths apparatus to complete the challenges and have done a super job in answering the problem solving and reasoning questions.
Every Friday, Mrs Pollington teaches Ferrari and this term she will be focusing on music, computing and RE.
The children have enjoyed exploring our indoor and outdoor learning areas, where they work independently on creative, construction and role play activities. We have enjoyed seeing how the children have worked and played together, sharing the learning resources in a kind and respectful way.
What a wonderful start to the year. Well done Ferrari!