Please click on the button below to see the full term topic and documents about Pirates. Shiver me timbers!
Week 1 and 2
After a two week break, it has been wonderful to welcome the children back and hear about their holidays. On Monday afternoons from 14:20 – 14:35 Ferrari have ‘show and tell’ but this week the children had so much to share it took us a whole week to share all the news! Mrs Connell and I have been so impressed with the way that the children have returned; happy and ready to learn. We introduced the children to our new learning behaviour for this half of term, The Reflective Squirrel. As the children have been set new individual learning targets, it is great to see how they have been working hard to achieve these goals.
Here are some of our highlights.
In English we have started a new learning text, ‘WANTED: The Perfect Pet’ by Fiona Roberton.
Henry wants a dog more than anything in the world. More than a cowboy costume, even more than an all-expenses-paid trip to the moon. So, he puts an ad in the newspaper to find the perfect pet. Far away, a lonely duck who desperately wants a friend reads the ad. He has the clever idea to disguise himself as a dog and apply for the job of Henry’s best friend. But his cover is quickly blown when he isn’t very good at catching balls and his floppy ears and tail fall off. Henry is disappointed for a moment, until he thinks of all the amazing things this duck CAN do, and realizes he’s found the perfect pet after all.
The children have really enjoyed the text as it linked with our science topic last term on animals and pets. The story is full of humour and great illustrations which have really appealed to everyone! In the first week we listened and learnt about the text, including the vocabulary, story structure and layout. The children practiced writing descriptions of characters and settings as well as learning how to use commas in lists for the Year 2 children. The children also learnt how to create a story map of this story. Week 2 has been focusing on the task of writing their own version of the story. This book is written in chapters so we have been thinking and learning how to be authors and writing chapters too!
We have launched our new topic for this half of term ‘Land Ahoy’
Yo ho, yo ho, it’s a sailor’s life for me. Get your sea legs on, it’s time to sail the salty seas. Navigate, investigate and explore the world, just like Captain Cook. Make a boat, sink a ship, fly a pirate flag. Speak like a pirate, write like a poet, then weigh and measure a pirate’s booty. How do rescues happen at sea? Find out about brave volunteers and young Miss Darling, rowing her boat across stormy seas. Sing a sea shanty whilst cleaning the poop deck, then search the school grounds for Captain Longbeard’s hidden treasure. There’s land ahead. Let’s get this ship to port!
The children started by thinking and acting like geographers and looked at the seas and oceans of the world and around the UK. They have created their own Treasure Island maps with X marks the spot! They have used symbols and created a key for their maps. We have started to learn about Captain Cook and why he was a significant person in our history. The children had to think and act like historians when they were given two portraits of Captain Cook and make observations about what they could see in the paintings and what this told us about why he was significant. We are finding out information about his early life in the UK and plotting this on a map. Did you know he came from Yorkshire and as a young man, learnt to sail coal ships from Whitby to London? We are now listening and learning about how this famous Royal Navy Captain discovered Australia.
The children in Ferrari are very creative and as part of the launch activities, made their own ‘Ship in the bottle’ collage. The collages were fantastic and all the children enjoyed sharing their artwork in our celebration assembly.
In our outside area the children have enjoyed role playing pirates! They have made ship cabins and sailed the oceans!
Finally, in maths the children have continued to rise to the early morning maths challenges with everyone learning the days of the weeks, Year 1’s have been practicing their number bonds to 10 and the Year 2’s, fractions of amounts including problem solving. In our White Rose Maths sessions, Year 1 children have successfully completed the Mass and Capacity unit and really enjoyed the practical elements of this topic. The Year 2 children have started their Fractions unit, where they have focused on a half, quarter, third and a whole. They have used their problem-solving skills to work out problems connected to this area of maths.
It has been a great start to the term. Well done Ferrari!