Topic: Hot or Not?

We started this term talking about the different seasons. We thought about how trees change throughout the year and read the story 'The thing I love about trees'. We learnt about the different parts of a tree and made our own trees using different materials to create the roots, leaves, bark and the tree trunk. 

Writing

The children have loved making their own green word (Fred talk words) and red word (tricky words) cards. We have been focusing on the red words: I, the, to, my, into. When writing our diary entries the children were starting to recognise and use the words in a sentence too!

Maths

We are starting off the term re-capping subitising and making numbers to 5. The children are amazing at talking about how the group of objects are arranged in different ways. For example; 4 and 1 make 5, but also 3 and 2 make 5! We have had great fun playing track games using a dice. The children really concentrated on developing their skills of; counting on, subitising and taking turns. 

PE

We learnt how to use an underarm pass to our friends. We started by saying their name and making sure they were watching before we threw the bean bag to them. The children absolutely loved taking part and didn't want to stop practising. Some of the children found it tricky at first but they persevered and were so excited when their friend caught the bean bag! Next we practised throwing the bean bag into a hoop. The children got 1 or 2 points depending on how far away the hoop was. They had great fun counting up their scores each time and trying to beat their previous turn. 

Continuous Provision 

The children have enjoyed leading their own learning and learning through play during free flow time. Some of the children have been bird watching using the binoculars. They have also loved making food using natural resources as they set up a role play cafe!

Polar Regions and ice exploration

We have been exploring animals in the polar regions as we learn about how animals keep warm in cold climates. Then we thought about how we can keep warm in Winter. The weather co-operated and provided us with hours of fun, exploring the process of freezing water, ice and melting. 

The Chameleons also took part in a scientific experiment, predicting and testing which ice cube would melt the quickest - sand, ice, water, fridge or their hands. It was a chilly and interesting activity which the children continued in their play outside as they tried to melt the ice and free the polar animals!

Exploring mass in Forest School

The Chameleons had great fun in Forest School comparing mass using the vocabulary of heaviest and lightest. They collected natural materials and made their own weighing scales using buckets and elastic bands. All the children noticed that the heavier items pulled on the elastic band more. The children also had great imaginations as they created their seesaws, noticing that 2 children weighed more than one as they sunk into the mud!

Chinese New Year 

The children loved taking part in a Chinese New Year dance with our dance teacher Amy, using ribbons and fans. In RE, they have learnt about the story of Chinese New Year. Finally they have taken their learning into their play as they have written chinese menus in the home corner. 

Africa

After looking at the Polar Regions and Winter in the Sheffield. We read the story, 'Handa's Hen' which inspired us to learn about Africa. We looked at similarities and differences including; the different type of animals and weather conditions. We had a go at placing some of the animals on the World map and had great fun looking at the weather in Sheffield compared to Kenya. 

In Art, we have been learning about the artist, Edward Tinga Tinga, who painted African animals in a unique painting style. The children first explored painting dot patterns using cotton buds. Then we learnt how to draw some African animals before painting them in Tinga Tinga's style. We also read and watched the story of 'Tinga Tinga tales' which will definitely be a long-standing favourite!

Handa's Hen

After reading the story, the children had to go on a scavenger hunt outside to find all the missing chicks. Once they had found them they wrote about their finding places. They did really well using their phonic knowledge to write a sentence, including words with the Set 1 digraphs. 

Can't You Sleep Little Bear

This week, we have read the story and discussed different sources of light. We noticed that the bear cave didn't have any electricity as they used fire for warmth and light. We also talked about natural sources of light including the sun and the stars.  In the provision, the children enjoyed making lanterns and shadow puppets to create their own shadows in our dark den. 

Science Experiment all about how to keep warm

For our experiment, we joined in with five different activities for 1 minute each. Including, digging, sitting in the shed, huddling together, cycling and throwing and catching. We had to decide after each activity if we felt hot or cold during the activity. We put a number 1-5 in our chart to represent if we felt hot or cold, 1 being the coldest, 5 being the hottest. We found out during cycling and throwing we felt hot, and during digging and sitting we felt cold. When huddling we felt warm.