Week 1 - Plants in the local area

This week, the children have started learning a new Science topic, which is 'Plants'. We had a lot of discussion on the carpet about what they know already. Then, we went on a nature walk around the school to spot and name different types of plants. We had a great time!

We have also been learning the story of 'The Enormous Turnip', we read the story, acted it out and enjoyed re-telling the story in the provision. The children are even taking up the challenge of writing the story as they use their RWI knowledge to write words phonetically!

In Maths, we have been learning how to double numbers up to 10. The children chose which activity they would like to do each day in provision to practice their skills. Once they were confident at finding doubles to 10 some children took on the challenge to double numbers up to 20! After using concrete resources they are now really confident and are able to automatically recall doubles up to 10. 

Week 2 - Grouping and Sharing

After looking at doubling last week, we moved on to halving and sharing this week. We used objects to share between 2, 3 or 4 people. We realised that not all numbers could be shared equally so to make it fair we sometimes left one out. We also started thinking about which numbers might be odd or even depending on whether they can be halved. 

Growing and planting

We have been exploring where different fruits and vegetables come from. We found out that some fruits can only be grown abroad where there is a hotter climate. We also had a go at planting seeds to see whether we could grow our own herbs. To complete the week our parents came into school to learn with us. 

Week 3 - What does a plant need to grow?

This week in Science, we have been doing an experiment with cress. We discussed how a plant needs sun , water and soil to grow. Then, we put cress seeds either on the window sill or in a dark cupboard. The seeds are to be given either sun and water, sun and no water, water and no sun or no sun and no water. Finally, the children predicted what would happen to the seeds.

Fun in the sun

This week in our continuous provision we; looked at which objects would float or sink as we cooled ourselves down in the water, made kites to fly in the breeze, planted lots of herbs and then remembered to water them each day!

Week 4 - Distance

This week we have had the sock Olympics! We took part in a number of games involving throwing socks to see which pair would land the furthest away and which pair would land the closest. Then we looked started to look at measuring distance as we raced cars down a ramp. We found out that the car which was furthest away had the largest number on the measuring tape and the car which landed the closest had the smallest number. 

Eric Carle Art 

This week, we looked at the author and illustrator 'Eric Carle'. We had a go at using his painting technique to create a coloured, textured piece of paper. Once it was dry, we worked in groups to create an animal from one of the Eric Carle books. We each cut out different pieces of paper depending on the colour and shapes that were needed to collage the animal. 

Week 5 - Patterns

This week we have been exploring more complicated repeating patterns using body percussion, shapes and Numicon. Then we read the story 'The Hungry Caterpillar' and explored what a 'growing pattern' is. We found that the amount gets bigger in a growing pattern. However, some of the patterns grew by 1 more each time and some of them grew by 2. Afterwards, we had a go at making our own growing patterns using peg boards, shapes and unifix cubes. We particularly like the unifix cubes as they made a staircase as it grew by 1 each time. 

Week 6 - The Butterfly House

To finish off this year we went to 'The Tropical Butterfly House'. We learnt all about different minibeasts and even got to hold a stick insect and a huge caterpillar! We saw lots of amazing butterflies, a bat and many tropical birds in the tropical house. Then we had a workshop on feathers, fur and scales where we learnt about different types of animals including tortoises and guinea pigs.