Key Dates for Term 3

Timetable Changes

PE- Tuesday

Forest School- Thursday

Book Change Day- Friday

Week 1

It was nice to see all the children back in school and excited to return to their learning.

This term we have started formal English lessons. We start each lesson with a rhyme or a poem and this week's was "This Little Piggy." This term we are focussing traditional tales so we read "The 3 Little Pigs. we focused on the vocabulary, bold, fine and fair. We then drew and labelled a story map and we also wrote sentences linked to the story.

In maths we continued practicing subitising, recognising amounts without counting, We also recreated the dot patterns using counters. We associated the dot patterns with those on a dice and then played a race across the track game.

In Phonics we have started to learn the set 2 sounds, ay and ee. We have also split into groups to continue our reading practice at the correct level.

We used sticks and tarps to make shelters during Forest School.

Week 2

This week's English text was "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" and we recited the rhyme "London Bridge is Falling Down." We focused on the vocabulary hollered, longing, deafening, pasture and meadow. Again we acted the story, drew and labelled a story map and wrote sentences linked to the story.

In Maths we looked at the relationship of 1 more and how this looks like a "set of steps" if we build and order the corresponding towers of blocks.

For Drawing Club this week used a clip of the cartoon Road Runner. We drew the Road Runner and the desert canyon he lives in. We designed a contraption to make us faster like the Coyote does.

In Jigsaw we discussed perseverance and resilience (like the Coyote).

In Forest School we used planks, tyre and logs to make bridges.

We also investigated how to build a bridge using lolly sticks and pegs, or just paper. The bridge needed to be strong and stable enough to hold a toy goat. We discovered that if you roll or fold the paper it becomes strong enough to hold the toy goat.

Week 3

This week we used the traditional tale "The Ugly Duckling" as the basis for our English lessons. We began our lessons with the rhyme "Two Little Dickie Birds". The vocabulary we focused on was duckling, hatch and reeds. We acted out the story, drew story maps and wrote sentences about the story. We also learnt how to use "colour semantics" to ensure we spoke and wrote in sentences.

In Maths we looked at the different ways we can make 5, eg 4 and 1 make 5 or 1 and 4 make 5. We arranged patterns of ducks or combinations of fingers up or down to help visualise this.

Also in Maths we went "bird watching" keeping a tally chart of the different pictures of birds hidden around the room and outdoor area. We then counted up our tally and wrote the corresponding numeral.

In Phonics we learnt the sounds oo (poo at the zoo) and oo (look at a book), and played detective as to which to use in the words food and book. for example.

For Drawing Club we used the book "Duck in the Truck. We drew the duck, the setting of the track by the water and designed ways we could help unstick people from the muck.

Week 4

This week we learnt about and celebrated the Lunar New Year. 

In English we read a a story about the race the animals had. We made a list of the animals and the wrote some sentences linked to the story. We also learnt a poem about snakes.

In PE we had a go at the Red Ribbon Dance.

In Forest school we created a dragon and performed a Dragon dance to bring us good luck for the New Year.

We also tasted noodles with either soy or sweet chilli sauce.

In Maths we looked at numbers beyond 5, and how to view them as "5 and a bit". For example 6 is made of 5 and 1. 

Week 5

This week we returned to our theme of traditional tales with Red Riding Hood as our text for English. We focused on the vocabulary, woodcutter, crept, swish and nightcap. We acted out he story to embed the sequence before drawing a story map and writing sentences about it. We also recited a poem about a wolf.

In Maths we revised more than and fewer than when comparing quantity and we then learnt about equal to and the fact we need to count, or pair the objects, to be sure. We also took a first look at time. We explored the face of an analogue clock, looking at how the hands are different lengths and therefore mean different things. We explored how to make O'clock.

Week 6

This week we used the traditional tale "The Little Red Hen" as our inspiration. We learnt the new red words we and me. We started each lesson with the rhyme "Higgledy Piggledy my Black Hen". We then read, acted and drew story maps of the story to embed the main events of the story. We focused on the vocabulary mill, ground and eager as we read the story.

On Thursday we received a letter from the Red Hen asking for help to make the bread so instead of heading to Forest School we made bread rolls. We weighed the flour and added the yeast and a pinch of salt along with some luke warm water. We then mixed and kneaded the dough before shaping into rolls. After leaving them to prove for a while they were baked.

We were challenged to write a letter to reply to the Red Hen saying that we could help her.

In Maths we began our journey to understanding addition. We played a game where we found how many objects there were altogether in two bags of toys by counting all the objects.