Week Ending 10 February 2023
Assessment Week is upon us once again. It has been particularly busy for our Year 2 children who have been taking past SAT’s papers. I have been so proud of the way they have worked hard, tried their best at all times and been resilient, even when they have been faced with some tricky questions! Well done to all the children in Ferrari!
Here are some other highlights of the week.
This week the Year 1 children have been focusing on writing sentences independently; remembering the correct punctuation, using finger spaces in between their words as well as adding adjectives to improve their descriptions. All the children have been using their writing skills to write information about some of our Royal Residences. They have written some fantastic facts about Osborne House on the Isle of Weight and the Tower of London.
In topic, the children have been introduced to our ‘Six significant sovereigns’ – Queen Victoria, Elizabeth 1, Henry VIII, Elizabeth II, William the Conqueror and Alfred the Great. We discussed what we know about these magnificent monarchs and placed them in chronological order using the dates of their reign.
In PE we completed our unit on gymnastics. The children were able to showcase their skills in our last session, using balance, jumping, mounts and dismounts, rolls and twists in a sequence using a bench. We love being gymnasts!
This week we were delighted to have Mrs Holgate join us for our art lesson. The children know lots of information about royal portraits and are now going to make one of themselves! We started by thinking about our skin tone and listened to a story by Karen Katz called, ‘The colour of us’. In the story the children describe their skin colour – so we did this too! Mrs Holgate worked with the children, mixing colours to match their own skin colour for their royal portrait.
In maths, the Year 1 children have been practicing their subtraction skills using number lines and knowledge of their number bonds. They have solved problems, played maths games and now understand the value of 0. The Year 2 children have continued with learning about multiplication and have now been introduced to division through equal groupings. Some of the children have started the BFS multiplication and division challenge. This week we have three children who have achieved their blue level, knowing their 2, 5- and 10-times tables. Many congratulations!
Once a week we have golden time where the children can choose their activities. The children enjoy exploring the apparatus and activities we have set up in the classroom!
The children have studied knight’s shields. They were given the challenge to design a diagonal pattern for their own shield. Wow! They have made some fantastic designs!
Another super week!
Week Ending 3 February 2023
It has been another busy and exciting week of learning for Ferrari Class. Here are some of our highlights!
We are wonderful writers! This week we completed our non-fiction writing unit on Knights. The children wrote about ‘Tournaments’ for a book about Knights. They had to include a title, a topic sentence explaining what a tournament was and some interesting information. I was so impressed with the way children added extended noun phrases to their writing and some children chose to added ‘Did you know?’ facts and even a glossary! Did you know we are starting to join our writing in Ferrari Class? The children have been learning how to join in our daily handwriting sessions and are doing a wonderful job!
We have been learning about Royal Residences in our topic ‘Magnificent Monarch’. We have located these magnificent residences on maps of the United Kingdom and have been learning about their history. The children have designed a residence for King Charles III (for when he visits Lago Patria.!) They have made their palaces or castles out of Lego, drawn diagrams and written fabulous descriptions of these royal homes.
Did you know some words sound the same but can be spelt differently and have different meanings? These words are called homophones. Last week the children were introduced to the term and this week have enjoyed making ‘fortune tellers’ to practice and play games to consolidate their learning. We have also learnt about the suffixes -ful and -ness so when they are added to nouns and verbs they become adjectives!
In arithmetic, the Year 2 children have been focusing on the 2 times table and the Year 1 children on their number bonds to 10. In our maths lessons the Year 2 children have been focusing on multiplication, specifically arrays. The Year 1 children have been learning about doubles and near doubles. I have been impressed with the way that the children independently select their equipment to support their learning and how they are starting to use mathematical vocabulary to explain their understanding. We have had a lot of resilient turtles who have not given up even if they find the learning challenging!
In computing with Mrs Pollington, the children have been using the GarageBand app to create music with a repeating beat! We have some budding musicians and DJ’s in our midst! In RE we have been learning about a Jewish sacred place. The children found information about a synagogue then designed and made a stained-glass window using the Star of David.
In our PE lesson this week we explored the terms: statue, travel, mount and dismount. The children started by creating three statues based on monarchs. They then linked these statues using movements. We then used the mats and benches focusing on mount and dismounts. It is wonderful to see their confidence and ability to explore different movements growing in all the children!
The children have quickly settled into their new learning environment. I am so very proud of the way they have adapted to this new location and continued to focus on their learning.
Week Ending 27 January 2023
The cold, wet weather has not deterred our endeavours to be great learners in Ferrari! Here are some of this week’s highlights.
In Italian, the children have been learning about Italian Carnevale with Keila. It is a time when people dress up in fancy costumes and there are street parades and parties. Tutti si divertono! Il Carnevale is the period just before Lent with the final day being Shrove Tuesday. The children have had great fun designing and making their own Carnevale masks, colouring them brightly and decorating them with sequins, ribbons, feathers and glitter (of course!)
In English, we have revisited our non-fiction book ‘Knights’ and looked at the layout and structure of the text. The children then wrote a paragraph about a modern-day knight, following Mr Dodd’s visit. The next day the children wrote a paragraph about a Medieval knight, noting the similarities and difference. We all agreed we have expert knowledge! With that in mind, the children received a message stating that a local lord needed knights to defend his castle. The children wrote to the lord telling him why they would make a good knight! Their writing was so good and they knew so much about the role of the knight they were awarded the job! Well done knights!
This week in maths we have started our new topics. The Year 1 children have started their unit on addition and subtraction to 20. They have been focusing on their number bonds to 10 and have started practicing their number bonds to 20. The Year 2 children have started their unit on multiplication and division. They have started by looking at equal groups and have been introduced to the multiplication sign (x).
We have been very luck to have Mrs Holgate to join us for our art this week. We have been studying the Coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth 1. Our lesson started with the children experimenting with different techniques in shading with pencils. They were given a copy of the portrait with half the picture missing. Using their observational skills and shading techniques, the children were challenged to draw the missing half. This wasn’t easy and we had to show resilience to complete the picture. We had a gallery to share our drawings. We are learning to be artists!
This has been a particularly exciting week with our move to Villa V on Friday. The children were so excited to be in such a big classroom! The morning was spent learning about the power of the monarchy and looking at royal residences as part of our Magnificent Monarchs topic. The children enjoyed making royal collages of the Union Jack.
Well done Ferrari – you have had another fantastic week!
Week ending 20 January 2023
It has been another busy week in Ferrari Class packed full of learning!
On Friday afternoon we had a visit from a modern-day knight! We have been learning about Medieval knights, how they would train, what they would wear and how they would fight in battle.
Mr Dodd is a soldier in the British army (REME). He brought in his equipment and uniform, explaining how and why it was used in a battle situation. The children were fascinated with all that he taught them and were able to make connections in their learning; finding similarities and differences in soldiers past and present. They had great fun trying on the uniform and using some of the equipment. We would like to say a big thank you to Mr and Mrs Dodd for providing this wonderful learning experience.
We have started our art topic, ‘Portraits and poses’. The children have examined a series of portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, learning the importance of symbolism. As part of their homework, the children have been challenged to be history detectives and to see what they can learn about the portrait of her coronation.
In science we have been learning about Changing Materials. We started by learning about rubber. We watched a video about a rubber tree plantation on an island off the coast of Thailand. We learnt about how latex was harvested from the trees and collected before it was turned into rubber. Then the children were set two challenges using play dough. Firstly, they had to make their playdough as long as they could in 10 minutes without breaking it. After 10 minutes they measured their playdough and recorded their results on a chart. Their second challenge was to use the same piece of playdough but make it as high as they could in 10 minutes, measure and record the results. We discussed the techniques we used to complete this challenge using technical vocabulary.
Did you know that some words sound the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings? These words are called homophones. This week we have been learning about homophones. We have played matching pair games and completed word searches to support our learning. We have been learning about command sentences and question sentences. We have imagined we are monarchs like King Arthur and have commanded our subjects to do our bidding! We have thought of some fabulous questions we would like to ask a knight or soldier. We know how important it is to use the correct punctuation!
In our early morning arithmetic, we have been using the White Rose One Minute Maths app to practice our number bonds. Year 1’s have been practicing number bonds to 10 and Year 2’s, number bonds to 20. We have completed our White Rose maths units this week! Year 1’s have been learning about Place Value to 20 and Year 2’s about British Money. I am so proud of how well all the children did in their assessments, showing a good understanding of these mathematical topics.
We all enjoyed our PE lesson on Tuesday! We are thinking and acting like gymnasts and have focused this week on travelling on and dismounting from the benches onto mats. The children had to investigate different ways to travel from one end of the bench to the other keeping their bodies as low as possible but not touching the floor.
In Italian the children have been learning the names of different items of clothing in Italian. They really enjoyed playing bingo to consolidate their vocabulary. In RE we have been learning about Sacred Places. The children have been thinking about places where they feel safe and what makes a person feel safe. We have pondered, why are places of worship sacred or holy for believers?
Another great week of learning Ferrari!
Week ending 13th January 2023
I have been so impressed with the way Ferrari Class have worked so hard this week and focused on the targets I have set them. Very well done!
This week the focus of our topic, Magnificent Monarchs, has been chronology. The children learnt that a timeline is a display of events, people or objects in chronological order and can show different periods of time, from a few years to millions of years. We looked at our classroom display of monarchs and discussed what we already knew about these kings and queens. We noted that they were placed in time order. The children made a timeline which was colour codes showing the British Royal households. The children had picture cards with British monarchs and had to place them in a chronological on their timeline. There was lots of discussion and intriguing questions about our monarchy. We are already thinking like historians!
In our English lessons this week, we have been learning about information texts. We have been using the book ‘Knights’ as our model. We have learnt about what a knight is and what a knight wears in battle. We have learnt about the layout of the text and the type of language that is used. The children have written some super information and have started to use expanded noun phrases successfully. In guided reading the Year 2 children have been focusing on fluency. I have been so impressed with the way they have used expression in their voices and taken note of the punctuation in the text when reading aloud.
In our early morning arithmetic, the Year 1 children have focused on one more and one less and the Year 2 children have been partitioning numbers into hundreds, tens and ones. In our maths lessons, the Year 1 children have been consolidating their place value skills with numbers to 20. They have used Rekenreks and base ten equipment to solve problems. The Year 2 children have continued with their money topic, choosing notes and coins to make given amounts. I have been so impressed with the resilience of the Year 2 children as British money is particularly tricky when we use Euros here in Italy!
We had our first PE lesson of the term and the children really enjoyed the gymnastics session. For some, this was the first time they had ever done gymnastics! We used balance and teamwork skills in our warm up then we travelled across benches in a variety of way but were not allowed to touch the floor. We have looked at how to dismount the bench to end our sequence.
Our science topic this term is based on changing shapes of materials. We started by thinking about the different ways we could change the shape of something. The children were given a generous lump of modelling dough and then time to explore the material before moulding the dough into a shape of their choice. They then recorded the shape on a chart and using key vocabulary, described how the dough was moulded and changed.
What a fabulous week of learning!
Week Ending 6th January 2023
It has been wonderful to welcome the children back into class this week. I have heard all about the lovely presents they have received from Father Christmas and their New Year celebrations!
We have a new topic for this term, ‘Magnificent Monarchs’. This project teaches the children about the English and British monarchy from AD 871 to the present day. Using timelines, information about royal palaces, portraits and other historical sources, the children will build up an understanding of the monarchs and then research six of the most significant sovereigns. We started this week by recapping information we had learnt about monarchs in our previous topic. We started by focusing on the vocabulary associated with this topic, building on previous knowledge and learning new terms.
In English, we are learning about information texts, focusing on a non-fiction book ‘Knights’. The children had to predict what information they would find in this book, leading to a big discussion on the role of a knight. As part of their elicitation task, the children had to think of a job that people do today and write information about that role. The children did an excellent job writing about soldiers, teachers and doctors!
We learnt about a knight’s armour and coat of arms. The children had great fun designing their own ‘coats of arms’ based on their personalities and interests.
In arithmetic we have been revising greater than, less than and equals to symbols. I was delighted that by Friday everyone had it cracked! We remembered the hungry crocodile always ate the big number! In maths we have focused on Money. We all looked at the value of British coins and took part in a variety of investigations and problem-solving activities.
To launch our new PSHE topic ‘Dreams and Goals’ we have talked about our New Year’s Resolutions and discussed the learning behaviour ‘Resilience’ with the help of our Resilient Turtle.
I am so proud of how the children have been so positive about their learning and happy to be back in school. Well done Fantastic Ferrari!