Spring 2024
Spring 2…What a wonderful term we have had. We have continued to become curious learners with a thirst for knowledge. Problem solvers have evolved and critical thinkers whilst enjoying both our ‘Imagination Station’ and our outdoor provision. This is a joy to see. Take a scroll to see what we have been up to…
Language, Literacy and Communication - we have seen a huge development in language skills this half term - our learners are becoming multilingual with our English language, French and of course Welsh. Through role play our children have developed their imaginative skills and creativity - they have developed characters and they have LOVED playing teachers! During our practises for our assembly children grew in confidence in ready ness to present to an audience - managing anxiety and projecting their voices in a ‘loud and crisp manner’. Their writing has progressed and our cursive handwriting is ooo-aaa-spectacular! Take a look...
Maths & Numeracy - we foster a play based learning approach and through play our little ones develop essential mathematical skills such as problem solving, reasoning, spatial awareness and pattern recognition. The children loved using 3D blocks to make ‘Sleeping Beauty’s’ castle. They also made sure we were super healthy and made us our own outdoor obstacle course using a variety of curved sides and straight edged items! The children also develop co-operative skills and negotiate with their peers. Through various activities our learners have experienced rich and meaningful learning to enhance their engagement and love for all things maths. Take a look...
Science & Technology - promoting curiosity and enquiry is fundamental to stimulate our learners. Through encouragement and questioning our learners have developed a sense of wonder, curiosity and the beginnings of a foundation for lifelong learning and scientific enquiry. We LOVED British Science Week - we were able to make a water clock with the help from Miss Powell. We were able to interact with a ‘real life’ space expert to help us with our topic enquiries. We also learnt how to fly a mouse! Science is certainly FUN in Flamingo class and we encourage our children to explore and investigate. Take a peek...
Health and Well-Being. We continue to love our PE sessions which include our ‘gardens’. Each ‘Garden’ allows us to continue to develop fundamental skills and they get all learners move which ultimately promotes physical health, motor skill development and skill acquisition. The look on the faces each week is full of fun and enjoyment - hence fostering a love for physical activity for life! We also love being outside. This half term we have also focused on the importance of emotional understanding and have welcomed Fran to work with our learners to help understand the medley of emotions that they are facing. We really are providing our younger learners with lifelong skills. Have a look...
Expressive Arts - We continue to enjoy and thrive in our weekly sessions with Miss Atwell. We have developed our listening and can detect tone and identify different sounds. We have LOVED how Miss Atwell teaches us through story. We have been visually stimulated in art and have used Van Gough’s ‘Starry Night’ to detect the rich colours, swirling lines and experimented with expressive brushstrokes. We used the painting to develop our expressive communication skills and creative thinking. We were also able to understand that Van Gough influenced artists ‘in the olden days, in the past’. We used his painting to discuss the historical, cultural and connections in the world of art.
Humanities - We have taken time this half term to understand that the world is a big place and it is full of people with different beliefs and cultures. We looked at the importance of the moon and stars to the Islamic community and found connections with beliefs of being kind and caring. We also took time to look for new signs of life at Easter and understanding that new life is a way in which we can be thankful. We also used our expressive arts focus of Van Gough’s ‘Starry Night’ picture to understand the influence he had on artists in the past and how that formed art in the future and today. During our topic of ‘Splendid Skies’ the children wanted to learn about looking after our planet earth - we talked about the responsibility we all have and decided that we all need to recycle. I am beyond proud of the learning and understanding of our wider world and also how we can look after our own little piece of the planet. Have a look...
Special Days - we really have enjoyed a wealth of special days this half term - we have been submerged in the world of books for World Book Day and we all took part in a readathon to help raise funds for our class library. We also had a wonderful Welsh culture week and we all took part in a medley of activities to support our school house to perform in our school Eisteddfod. Such fun!
Croeso Spring 1…we started off our spring term with jumping into our new topic of ‘Splendid Skies’…you will never guess what happened?! There was a CRASH and we think Beegu our friendly space creature landed in our yard! We began our topic with dissecting the items left in the crash - THEN…baby Beegu’s appeared in our class for us to nurture and tend to.
Beegu’s Crash and our cherished Baby Beegu’s!
Language, Literacy and Communication
This half term we have fired our imagination through our text of ‘How the Stars came to Be’. We have been able to use imaginative play and repetition of the story to increase our vocabulary. We have learnt a medley of new words and looked into the etymology of words as well as the meaning. We have then spent time looking at our space themed books to begin learning some facts about the planets. We will be continuing this after half term in our instruction text. It really has been a wonderful literature block.
Dancing with sun and moon beams, fishing in the fishing ‘boat’, making our own star pictures and using our literature to drive our research project.
…we always have daily handwriting and phonics. We love to learn in an active way…take a look 👀
We are readers, writers and de coders!
Maths and Numeracy
This half term we have looked at capacity - and we LOVED cementing our knowledge by making playdoh and ensuring our bird feeders were ‘full to capacity!’ We have also looked at addition and subtraction and our number bonds. Throughout the half term we have made our own subitising cards and have worked hard on saying what we see to help us with our number fluency. We also work on our number formation in our provision and have enjoyed learning through a number of songs and stories.
Let’s count, subitise, add, subtract, fill and empty!...
Health and Well-Being
Our weekly PE sessions are LOVED by ALL of us! Including Mrs D and Miss Stevens! This half term we have worked on dance and developed a series of movements to music. We have also become reflective learners by watching our weekly videos and deciding what we can make even better next time and planning the following weeks ‘gardens’. We also love time in our woodland and downstairs woodland to help with our physical development. We never forget that we are also the best of friends to each other!
Science and Technology
We have enjoyed exploring the digital skills with learning all about an algorithm and giving Beebot simple instructions. We have had such fun with this. We have also investigated how our rocket could go further - we discovered that if we added more force through a firm breath or by standing in front of the fan then our rocket would launch further. We cemented our ‘forces’ learning whilst making our apple feeders for the birds - using correct tools we had to add more force to core the apple and ‘pull’ with all our might to take it out. Great hands on learning!
Expressive Arts
We have enjoyed linking our music to the weather this half term with Miss Atwell. We have listened intently to a story and played the correct sounds to imitate the weather - we have varied our tone, pitch and volume. Through our literacy we have experimented with collage and made collages to represent the sun and the moon. We also made our own role play area using junk modelling and paint. It has been a very hands on half term!
Humanities
This half term we have understood that people have different loves and beliefs. We looked at the religion of Islam and how Muslims hold the moon and star in high respect as they remind them of being kind, caring and helpful and that the moon and stars remind the people who follow Islam, Muslims ,that these symbols remind them of Mohammed’s teaching. We made our own moon and star to remind us to be kind, caring and helpful citizens of our world.
