Autumn 2
More fabulous learning in the sensory creative zone.
Christmas lunch!
In this lesson, the children explored how to use digital devices to take and edit photographs. They discussed which devices can be used to take photos, comparing a camera with an iPad, and talked about how to take a good photograph. The children practised thinking carefully about what was in the frame by first making a frame with their hands, considering what could be seen and what was in the background. The children then accessed the camera roll on the iPad to locate their chosen photo and were shown how to edit images in different ways. They planned how they wanted to change their photographs, edited them independently, and shared their finished work, explaining the changes they had made.
In this ball skills lesson, the children were exploring catching with two hands. They were learning to keep their eyes on the ball, use the ready position with knees bent, feet shoulder width apart and use wide fingers.
In History, the children were using drama to show the stages of the plot to assassinate King James I. They acted out Robert Catesby starting the plot, digging the tunnel, putting gunpowder in the cellar of the Houses of Parliament, Lord Monteagle receiving the letter warning him of the plot, Guy Fawkes being caught in the cellar and the search and capture of the other plotters.
In today’s ball skills lesson, the children were exploring throwing with accuracy towards a target. They learned to face their bodies and target arm towards the target, release the ball when their fingertips were pointing at their target and stand with their legs split (one in front of the other).
In today's fitness lesson, the children were learning how exercise affects the brain. They were performing physical activities whilst counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.
In history this term, we are learning about Guy Fawkes and the plot to assassinate King James I. In this lesson, the children learned that the leader of the plot was Robert Catesby, not Guy Fawkes. In these pictures the children were acting as the conspirators trying to figure out what to do about the anonymous letter warning one of the MPs to not go to parlament on November 5th.
In RE today we used a Children’s Bible to tell the Christmas story. Afterwards, the children were shown a bag of gifts, including a range of gifts you may give a baby as well as those in the original story. The children were able to match the gifts to the characters in the story. We discussed the symbolism of the gifts to Christians and how these were these meaningful gifts for baby Jesus. The Posties found out that gold is a gift fit for a king and it recognized that Jesus was a great king, the king of the world. The Frankincense is a special kind of fragrance that was used by a priest and Myrrh was a sweet-smelling liquid that was rubbed gently into the skin of someone who had died. It indicated that Jesus’ death would be important. The children then re-told the Christmas story by making cone people.
In Maths today, the children started to sort 2-D shapes. Most children may have naturally started to sort 2-D shapes already, however, in this step they sorted and grouped 2-D shapes more formally according to simple properties, including type, size and colour. As well as sorting shapes into groups themselves, the children were able to identify how given groups of shapes have been sorted. We encouraged the Posties to explain in detail what they noticed about groups of shapes and to consider whether they could have been sorted another way. We talked about what is the same and what is different about shapes, while also recognising that the orientation of a shape does not affect its properties.
This week, our PE ‘Ball skills’ learning objective was to explore accuracy when rolling a ball. The children needed to keep their eyes on the target, release the ball when their fingertips were pointing at the target and use wide fingers to control the ball. We also encouraged the children to support each other and show honesty in the games we were playing.
In English this term, we have been reading the text ‘Pattan’s Pumpkin’ by Chitra Sounder. We have been performing a variety of drama and reading-focussed activities to explore the book, including looking at new vocabulary and inferring character’s feelings. The children wrote a speech bubble saying what Pattan would’ve said when he encountered the giant pumpkin.
In fitness, we have been developing our understanding of how exercise relates to breathing. We played games which demonstrated what happens to the air and the lungs when we breathe. The children were also breathing in and out slowly, feeling their lungs and discussing what was happening to their bodies. They could see with our activity that our lungs get bigger as we breathe air in and smaller as we push the air out.
Jolly Posties Children in Need 2025 Hula hoop challenge!
This term in Design and Technology we are going to make 3D free standing animals. After researching what makes toys stable, the children used various construction materials to check stabilitty, practise cutting and joining.
In Fitness this week, we were learning to develop an understanding of how exercise can make you strong and healthy. During the lesson the children kept checking their heartbeats and noticing how their heart beat changed during exercise.
The weather has been getting worse day by day, so we decided to use our imaginations and make pretend campfires and leaf kebabs to warm ourselves up.
What a busy week!. We have had a visit from ‘M and M theatrical productions’ who put on a pantomime of the classic story 'Beauty and the Beast'. It was fantastic and all of the children loved it! It was a very interactive show and my favourite moment was when Mr Murphy and Miss Robinson were pulled on stage for a dance off!
Our next soggy day in Forest school was all about Geography. The children were given little aliens to look after and they had to choose a type of climate/habitat to build the alien house. We had children creating beach habitats with yellow leaves or creating mountain environments for their new friends.
This week is looking a little rainy and cold, but we're still going to try and make it to forest school. Today we had a dry morning and went to forest school for our maths lesson, Their task was to create a Sudoku grid using 4 sticks. The challenge is for every row and column to add up to 10. Unfortunately the sheer amount of leaves on the ground meant it was a major task to clear a space to begin working. The end result was hard to judge but there was a lot of learning involved with the attempt.
Our second PE unit this term is Ball skills. In this unit, the children will explore and develop their fundamental ball skills such as throwing and catching, rolling and dribbling with both hands and feet. Today, the children were practising dribbling using their hands.
Last year, during World book day we had a reading buddies afternoon across the school. It was so successful that we now have a session every other week. This week, the Charlies in year 4 came down to the Jolly Posties and buddied up with them. First the Posties read their RWI books to the year 4s. Then the year 4s read a favourite book to their year 1 buddy. It was lovely! The year 4s were nurturing, kind and patient. It was a wonderful lesson. We are now really looking forward to our next one in week 3.
Our first PE unit this term is fitness. In this unit, the children will develop their understanding of the benefits of exercise and a healthy lifestyle on their physical body, their mood and their overall health.
The children who access the sensory room are settling beautifully. They are beginning to play alongside each other and watch each other's activities with interest.
History in year 1 begins with children needing to develop an awareness of the past and begin to understand where people and events fit into a timeline. Today's lesson was about understanding what the past is and how we find out about it. The children were amazed that many things we have now didn’t exist years ago. They managed to sort pictures between past and present.
In computing last term, the children were learning how to communicate text and images using the school iPads. They spent the term getting familiar with the tablet, learning how to unlock it, select specific apps and adjusting the volume. Next, they became familiar with the painting app ‘Charcoal’. This entailed learning how to create a picture by changing colours, pen sizes and using undo. Next, they needed to plan their picture by drawing an animal. On the final week they attempted to recreate their hand drawn picture on the Charcoal app. As you can see, they were great at it!
