Ready Steady Grow

As Spring enters full force the Chameleons have been looking at a all things that grow, from observing flowers, learning about a range of animals and even looking at ourselves.

Jack and the Beanstalk

We started the term looking at the traditional tale Jack and the Beanstalk, we learnt that traditional tales are stories that are passed down from a long time ago but sometimes they have slight differences in them. Over two weeks we read five different versions of the stories we spotted similarities and differences between each of the stories and then picked our favourite.

We also explored the story in different ways, we created our own actions to learn the story, the whole class would join in and perform. We were lucky enough to be visited by Jack, Jack's mum and the giant and the Chameleons asked them lots of questions while doing hot seating. Finally we created freeze frames for different parts of the story in the small groups, picking different characters we thought of a pose and some words that they would say in the moment.

Planting Beanstalks

To tie in with Jack and the Beanstalk we planted our own beanstalks and learnt about different plants and what they need to grow. First we learnt about the 4 main parts of a plant; the roots, the stem, the leaves and the flower. We learnt about the different purposes of the parts and where they are on the plant and we created an action for each one. 

Before we planted our beanstalks we tried regrowing celery, the whole class helped to look after the celery making sure that it had enough water and was in a good spot to get enough sunlight. We then planted our beanstalks, we made sure we had nutrients in the soil and water then we left them on the window sill for them to grow.

When the Bees Buzzed Off

To continue our topic of growing we looked at bees one of the most important aspects in the natural world for growing. In the story a team of insects are trying to find all the bees after they have gone missing. 

The Chameleons started the topic on bees by thinking of as many different questions as they could that they would like to learn about bees, throughout the topic we read different non fiction texts checking the contents page for anything about bees to answer those questions. We all became bees and buzzed around the playground using pipets as a bee's proboscis which they use as a straw to collect nectar.

As well as learning about bees we spent time talking about how we can save and protect them. The best way to encourage bees to come to your garden is by planting lots of plants and flowers. We supported the bees by making our wild flower seed bombs, first we mixed soil and flour together before mixing in a splash of water, when we had a ball rolled them in a mix of wild flower seeds. We left them to dry over the weekend before taking them up to forest school to distribute them.

DT- Beanstalk Challenge

To tie in our topic and first book we had the challenge to build a beanstalk in groups. First we discussed the differences between art and DT and we came up with this;

"Art is making something beautiful and DT is about making something that works."

We started by classifying different materials to sort them into strong or weak and straight or bendy. Passing round different materials we manipulated and tested them before voting on which of the categories it best fits into. 

The Chameleons were then split into groups and they started to make a plan for their own beanstalks. The groups had to discus their own ideas and make compromises between them to choose the different materials that they want to use. They drew their designs and wrote a list of the different materials that they would like to use when they make them.

Maths 

We started the Summer term by looking at the number 6. We found the different ways to make 6 and explored it by making patterns using counters. Afterwards we tried using 10 frames to explore making doubles by putting the same number of counters in the top half as the bottom half. 

The Giant left some foot prints in the classroom and we compared our footprints with the Giants using 'longer' and 'shorter' to compare them. We then looked at our friends shoe size and used our new vocabulary to compare our feet size. We wanted to know how big the giants feet were, using unifix cubes we measured the different footprints making sure that we always measure from the same start point.

We learnt about measuring the weight of different objects and using 'heavier' and 'lighter' to describe them. Using scales we put different objects inside and made predictions about how to scales would move. 

The final type of measurement we learnt about was capacity, we learnt descriptive words to describe how full a vessel is; full, nearly full, half full, nearly empty and empty. We also made predictions about which vessel would hold thee most water by adding one ladle at a time.

The Chameleons explored the composition of 5 and 10, first we sung '5 kittens bouncing on a bed' working out how many kittens have fallen off. Using double dice frames and 10 frames as well as the fingers on our hands, we came up with the different ways that we can compose 10.