Week Ending 30 June 2023
Our English unit based on the book BEEGU by Alexis Deacon, continued this week. As more of the story was revealed, we wondered how BEEGU’s parents might be feeling to have lost their child and how they might find Beegu. With that in mind we examined LOST posters. What looked at what information would be needed on these posters and made a list of what information Beegu’s parents would need to put on their poster to help them find BEEGU. The children designed and made their own posters to help find Beegu. Their posters were fantastic – including beautiful illustrations and joined handwriting!
In spelling this week we have been learning to read and spell some of the tricky ‘Red Words’. We have shown our understanding by putting these words in sentences and practiced writing them on whiteboards. It is wonderful to see how the children are transferring these spelling skills into their independent writing – well done Ferrari!
Maths this week has been a continuation of the Multiplication and Division unit for the Year 1 children. They have consolidated their knowledge of counting on in 2, 10 and 5’s and moved onto learning about equal groups and how to add equal groups. As the Year 2’s have competed their White Rose mathematics, they focused this week on reading scales on number lines and measurements of temperature, weight and volume. They had to solve a variety of problems and explain their reasoning. Well done Year 2!
In science we are studying the topic Materials, with this week focusing on waterproofing materials. We learnt about the story of Charles MacIntosh and how he invented waterproofing materials. The children were given a challenge to test a variety of materials and to see if they were waterproof. We discussed what a fair test is and how to conduct an experiment and interpret results. The children were given syringes, water and a variety of materials to test. They made predictions based on their prior knowledge before they conducted their experiments. The children had great fun using the syringes and enjoyed thinking and acting like scientists!
Did you know that Tim Peake was the first British astronaut to visit the ISS? The children learnt about Tim and how he became an astronaut. They watched a fascinating interview where Tim (whilst on the ISS) was interviewed by school children back on Earth. Frankie though that Tim Peake was now his favourite astronaut and most of the children in Ferrari agreed that they would love to journey into space one day!
Week Ending 23 June 2023
This week saw the start of a new English unit, based on a book by Alexis Deacon, ‘BEEGU’.
Beegu is an alien. She is from another world and somehow gets lost on Earth. Lonely and confused, she wanders off to a nearby city to find some friends. But the only friendly people she comes across are the children, while the big Earth creatures just don’t seem to understand.
The children started by making predictions about the text based on the front cover. Who and what was Beegu? Where had she come from and why? As the story was slowly revealed the children wrote a letter to Beegu, giving her advice as to how she could get home. They thought about the planet she had come from and drew a picture of what it could have been like. They then wrote a description of the planet focusing on adjectives and sequencing sentences.
In Maths this week, the Year 2 children completed their unit on Statistics. This involved creating and interpreting tables then using this information in block graphs. To consolidate their learning, they solved a variety of problems based on tables and block graphs, using specific technical vocabulary. This saw the completion of all the White Rose Maths units ahead of schedule! Congratulations to Year 2 for their fantastic maths skills! The Year 1 children started their unit on Multiplication and Division. The first steps were to count in 2’s, 10’s and 5’s. The Year 1 children were really proficient at this skill, having practiced this throughout the year as part of their Early Morning Arithmetic – well done Year 1’s!
As part of their enhanced provision, the children really enjoyed making space stations this week using a variety of materials. They designed their own spaced rockets and vehicles which transported the astronauts from station to station.
Week Ending 16 June 2023
It has been a pleasure to teach Ferrari this week.
In Maths, we have been looking at Position and Direction. We have talked about clockwise and anti-clockwise, left and right, above and below. We have directed each other round the classroom and moved people, animals and looked at places on map and described the position of items.
In English, this week we have finished ‘Zim, Zam, Zoom’ our poetry unit. We have performed different poems in different styles and changed our voices, pitch and tone. Linked to our Topic ‘Moon Zoom’ we wrote our own Kennings poem about space adventures. We have been working very hard on our handwriting looking at where to start and join letters.
In Science, we have started our new topic ‘Uses of Materials’ and talked about how materials look and are used. We have been looking in the classroom and around school at different types of materials and shared their properties. In Topic, we have talked about the first ‘Moon landing’ and designed and made our own moon buggies using a range or materials. All of the children have thought carefully about what to put in their design, and draw and label it very carefully. The fun part was making the buggies match the design even if we did have to make a few small changes.
Music
In Music we have started a new unit using the Djembe Drums. After warming up with call and response, we played some clapping games linked to 4-beat rhythms. After we were warmed up and we then started to copy the 4-beat rhythms copying Mrs Clark using ‘ant and spider’ rhythms. We all have a great time and are looking forward to playing them next week.
It has been lovely working with Ferrari this week.
Mrs Clark
Week Ending 09 June 2023
Ferrari Class returned to school this week bursting with news of their half term holidays, which seemed to involve quite a few trips to Puglia and lots of information about trulli houses. It was lovely to hear their news.
We are continuing the Moon Zoom topic and we have been finding out about the Space Shuttle. The children were fascinated to learn about the various components of the Shuttle, including the enormous fuel tank that burns up when it is discarded from the Shuttle, the two boosters which are discarded and then fall into the sea, and the names of the five orbiters that have been used over the years since the first launch in 1981. The children enjoyed a DT activity making Flying Saucers and had lots of ideas as to what UFOs might be.
We continued learning from our Zim Zam Zoom poetry in English, enjoying a Firework Poem and writing our own poems using lots of powerful adjectives to describe the sound, colours and motions of fireworks. We then concentrated on rhythm with the Lullaby for a Woolly Mammoth, and chose words of two syllables to write names and descriptions of different animals – this was lots of fun.
Maths has seen the Year 2s working with data, making tally charts and pictograms, while Year 1 have been consolidating their understanding of Place Value.
In RE the children were interested to learn about the work of the Victorian Dr Thomas Barnardo. They were surprised to hear of the conditions which many orphans suffered at that time and discussed how kind Dr Barnardo had been. We are adjusting to the new summer hours and enjoying going home for lunch! Well done Ferrari on another fabulous week.