Moon buggies

On Friday the children made their moon buggies. They used a saw to make the axle the correct length and a hand drill to make the wheels have a big enough hole to attach them. They added string so they could pull them across the ground. Well done Orange Class, they looked fab and just like your designs!

Missing box questions

This week we have been exploring missing box questions in our maths lessons. At the moment, we are just looking at ones involving addition and have seen how sometimes the the = sign moves in a number sentence.
(e.g 3+6=9   and 9=3+6). We thought about the = being the middle of a see-saw, and how so long as both sides have the same amount in total it will be a correct number sentence.

With this in mind, we began thinking about how to find a missing number in a question like this...

As you can see, we have been using Numicon shapes to help us with this in class.
We asked "how many more would you need on this side (4+?) to make it the same as this side (7)?"
In this case, the children could visualise that you would need another 3 with the existing 4 to make it up to 7 and could check by adding the Numicon piece they thought it was to 4 and seeing if it made the right shape.


If you wanted to try these at home, you could just as easily use cubes, dried pasta shells or anything you have in the house. For example...

(It was fun hiding the answer under the cup so the children could check!)

I would ask that if you choose do these at home you try to use objects of some kind alongside the number sentence to start with (as in the pictures) and that you show the = sign in different positions, not always 'before the answer.' Also, please keep totals within 20 for now.

If you do any at home, please do comment - or better yet, bring in a photo!

Have a lovely weekend :)

A busy week!

A very busy week for Orange Class this week. See our video from sharing assembly to get a flavour of what we've been up to. Thank you to all who came along today to assembly, the children do love to share their work with you!

Have a wonderful weekend and I do hope everyone stays well with these horrid bugs that are about!

Mysterious object...

This week, there was a mysterious object on the field! As the children arrived, something was on fire on the field and it seemed as though it had fallen from the sky as the ground was damaged. The children decided to investigate and took their clipboards outside to see what informtion they could gather about the strange object.

As well as gathering facts about what they could see, hear, smell and feel, the children also interviewed each other and their Year Two friends and recorded lots of different opinions. Some of us thought it was an alien crash landing, some of us thought it might be rubbish from the sky. A few of us thought Mr Jones (our caretaker) had pranked us in the night. Who knows?!  One thing is for sure...the children are very excited to have been reporters and will be having a go at making their very own newspapers soon. Watch this space! 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Outdoor Classroom day (1st November 2018)

This Thursday was outdoor classroom day and all of Key Stage 1 spent the morning learning in our Forest School area.

The first part of the morning saw the children problem solving as it was raining and the children wanted to build themselves shelters. the materials were available to the children, but it was up to them to design and create their own shelters using their knowledge of shape and space.

At snack time, the children had apples picked from our own apple trees on the field! The children heard a story about nature and enjoyed listening and joining in with the actions, rather than having the story read from a book. The children were then challenged to retell the story in their own ways.

It was wonderful to see so many ideas! Some used natural items to create picture or puppets, some acted out the story in small groups, some had narrators telling the story, whilst their groups told the story altogether in a 'talk for writing' style.

Some children even had Forest School in the afternoon too and spent all day outside! What a wonderful day and the children had a fantastic attitude - even in the rain! Have a wonderful weekend!

Outdoor learning

Firstly, thank you all for your continued support at home. It was lovely to see so many of you at parents' evening and to hear all about the wonderful things you've been up to. It really does help build your child's confidence and we appreciate your time spent hearing your child read, working with numbers and sounds etc.

This week, we have started our focus on outdoor learning. The children thrive in the outdoors and the freedom to move in a natural environment really does help them with their concentration and enjoyment of our lessons. Our aim is for the children to see the outdoors as part of the classroom. This week, we have had a maths lesson outside, learning all about subtraction. They used leaves to demonstrate and explain the concepts to each other.

The children have worked especially hard in their maths lessons this week and are really getting to grips with the concept behind adding and subtracting and are beginning to record number sentences correctly with less support.

We have also worked outside in our art lessons this week. The children have continued to expand their knowledge of colour and their painting skills. We have moved on from learning about primary and secondary colours and this week the children were challenged to change the shade of their mixed colours. The children found as many different shades of green as they could in nature before using yellow, blue, black and white and their knowledge of colour mixing to try to recreate them. I think they did a pretty good job! Their work is in their topic books should you wish to come and see it.

As well as this, we have had some phonics sessons outside. Outdoor chalk is great fun, as is water on a paintbrush. Also, who knew leaves could double up as 'sound buttons?' Perhaps your child to show you with the word   w i ng

(This is helpful if you've not heard of 'sound buttons' before!)

Have a wonderful weekend!