Term 3

Topic:

This term, English Lions have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the past as part of their topic, ‘Long Ago’.  We have had great fun recalling how we have changed since being a baby and even played a game to see whether we could recognise members of the class from their baby photographs.  We have learned nursery rhymes and made lists of items that babies need.

We have learned to use language about the passing of time such as ‘yesterday’, ‘past’, ‘before’, ‘last week’.  We have also worked very hard to learn the days of the week and the months of the year as well as learning about what happens in each season.  

We also celebrated the diversity of our class, and how every family is different, discussing where members of the class have originated from and looking up countries on a world map.  We discussed our heritage and looked at a family tree.

English:

We have linked our English to our topic this term by selecting books that teach us something about the past, these include, ‘Rosie’s Hat’ by Julia Donaldson and ‘Coming to England’ by Floella Benjamin.  We have also had a visit from a storyteller who told us an old tale from South America called,’Gluscabi and the Wind Eagle’.

Maths:

This term, we have learned the composition of numbers 0-10.  We have practised how to calculate, ‘one more than’, and, ‘one less than’.   We have recalled our counting with stickers, by counting farm animals and feeding penguins fish!

Term 2

English:

During our ‘Marvellous Machines’ topic we have read many books such as, ‘Nobot the Robot with no Bottom’, ‘ Miss Armitage, Queen of the Road’ and ‘Rosie Revere, Engineer’.  It has been amazing to see many of the children start to recognise sounds that they hear in words and start to incorporate these into their writing.  ‘Rosie Revere, Engineer’ also inspired class discussions about activities and skills that the children are proud of and the importance of not giving up.  We have also written a class song about machines, where we considered the noises that machines make. 

Maths:

During Term 2, we have learned about the representation and composition of numbers 1-5.  We have also learned about the properties of 2d and 3d shapes.  We have used 2d shapes to make pictures and experimented with 3d shapes to see which ones will roll and which ones will stack.  We had fun using 3d shapes for printing, predicting what 2d shapes they will produce when used for paint prints.

Topic:

We have enjoyed learning about different types of machines and how they operate.  We have sketched and labelled machines from the past and compared them to current machines. The highlight of the term was the children’s ‘Invention Convention’ where our adults were invited to assist the children to design and create their own invention.  English Lions had some brilliant ideas and it was lovely to see the children collaborate with their adults.  

Term 1

English

English Lions have had a fantastic first term. They have started learning new sounds in their phonics lessons and have been practising how to write letters using lead-ins that start on the line.  

The children have been learning how to write their names. They have used lots of different resources and enjoyed matching letters.

We are very proud of English Lions for how well they listen and join in during phonics. It has been very exciting to see the children starting to write letters independently.

We have explored several books including ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’, ‘In Every House in Every Street’ and ‘Mr Gumpy’s Outing’.  The children have discussed the stories, predicted what will happen next and started to use letters and sounds to write key words from the texts.

Maths

We have enjoyed exploring lots of autumnal objects. The children have been sorting the objects in different ways, thinking about colour, shape and size. English Lions have also been using natural resources to make their own patterns.

We have also been learning lots of number songs to help us with our counting. English Lions enjoy singing so this is a great way to practise.

Topic

Our topic ‘Let’s Explore’ has enabled us to discuss the environment that we share with others including our homes, school and places in the local community. We have created maps of familiar routes and created pictures of our travels. We built emergency vehicles with Lego and junk modelling. We explored occupations and people who help us when children came to school dressed as what they would like to be when they grow up.