We started the week off with a great visit to Plessey Woods. The children loved exploring and finding all the hidden artworks (and some not so hidden!). They’ve also learned about Stollen, a traditional fruit bread eaten in Germany around Christmas time and had a go at making their own. The children enjoyed their Christmas dinner on Thursday and have practiced their computing with the Spheros and the Kubo coding robots. Finishing off the story of Hansel and Gretel, the children have also done some writing to create fantastic ‘wanted’ posters about the witch from the story.
This week the children in 6B have been reading the story of Hansel and Gretel. They have used the zones of regulation language to talk about how the characters in the story feel and practiced their sentence writing to describe this. The children have followed instructions with lots of baking as well as their measuring skills. Thinking about the story, they have baked bread and gingerbread biscuits. They’ve been out in the garden, exploring the Christmas wonderland that staff have set up and have started to do lots of Christmas art, as well as think and talk about their own Christmas traditions.
This week the children in 6B have been reading the story Pattan’s Pumpkin. They have learned a little bit about some of the areas in the book, which is set in India, and have compared pictures of the landscape there with the landscape of Northumberland. The children have written postcards to Pattan, telling him why they think he should visit Northumberland. In maths the children have been talking about times: o’clock and half past, and thinking about when they do things during the day like have breakfast, brush their teeth and go to bed, as well as some more practice recording times, using the stopwatches to record how long it takes for their friend to build a small Lego model.
The children have sculpted and painted their own version of the setting for Pattan’s Pumpkin in art and have used this to retell a scene from the story. They used the ipads with their setting to make a stop-motion video of the scene when Pattan brings the pumpkin home and it grows enormous! In science they have planted their own seeds in readiness for planting out their own vegetable garden in spring time. We have talked about individual responsibility and the children have been given their own jobs to be responsible for around the classroom.
This week class 6B have been finding out all about the Hindu celebration of Diwali which took place last weekend. The children have learned about the story behind it all – the story of Rama and Sita, and created their own pop-up story scenes showing the moment the demon king kidnaps princess Sita! They have found out about Diva lamps, and how it is a symbol during the festival, of light triumphing over darkness, and printed their own Rangoli patterns from recycled materials, learning how they are thought to bring luck during Diwali.
The children have also tried some traditional foods that are often eaten at Diwali, cooking their own vegetable curry and making their own coconut-square sweets. In outdoor learning the children have made their own pens and inks from natural material, and have used Google maps to find out where India is in the world and locate some famous landmarks of the country such as the Taj Mahal.
This week 6B have been doing lots of interesting things. They have continued to learn about instructions, writing their own set for making pancakes before having a go at making a delicious pancake for themselves! They have read the story of the Giant Jam sandwich, creating storyboards and then rewriting the story in their own words. In maths, the children have continued their work about money, making shopping lists and working out the money needed to buy the items from our roleplay supermarket and in science they have made themselves a balanced, healthy snack.
As well as this, the children have learned a little about what soldiers’ lives were like in World War 1 to mark Remembrance Day, printed poppy pictures using apples and red paint, and have mixed their own saltdough to sculpt their own poppy. As well as this we have welcomed a new boy into the class and played a few getting-to-know-you games!
This week the children in 6B have started looking at the story ‘The Giant Jam Sandwich’. They have followed instructions to make their own jam sandwich, and then created instruction booklets to help someone else make one as well. They have been finding out about money and adding up coins in our toy shop roleplay in maths, as well as finding different ways to make the same amounts with coins. In geography this week the children have been finding out about the changing weather of Autumn, creating their own weather reports and delivering them to the rest of the class. They’ve also been out in the garden practicing how to build campfires and make bonfire night treats, as well as printmaking in art to create fantastic firework pictures.
