The Year 1 children have been learning about place value in Maths this week. They have been looking at tens and ones within numbers and have really focused on the teen numbers 11-19. The children have found that the tens framed pictured made it is easy to identify how many tens were in a number. They have also practiced counting, writing the numbers and identifying different representation of numbers up to twenty. The children have also developed their problem solving and reasoning skills by answering questions which are slightly more challenging and require them to explain their answers in more detail.Â
Bitterns Archive
Bitterns Gymnastics
This half term the children will be learning gymnastics in PE with Mr Ward. They have already had two sessions and have really enjoyed learning the different types of rolls such as a sausage roll and a blunt pencil roll. When talking to the children it was lovely to hear them using a brilliant vocabulary to describe their learning.
‘A point is a small part of your body’- Freddy Yr1
‘A patch is easier to balance on because it is bigger than a point. A patch is a bigger part of your body like your tummy or back.’ -Jack Yr2
Bitterns Vikings Work
The Bitterns have been learning all about the Vikings ahead of their exciting Viking day next week. We first looked at where the Vikings sailed from and the boats they would have arrived in. We also discussed the differences between life now and when the Vikings landed in Britian over 1000 years ago. We learnt about the shields the Vikings carried and the materials they would have been made from. The children then used their design technology skills to create a plan for our own shields. We made our shield out of cardboard and other recycled materials and then used patterns and bold paint to make them eye-catching.
‘Me and Jess made our shield together we worked as a team.’ Jake Yr2
‘I’m going to use tape and the blue straws to make my handle. I’m going stick the blue straw onto the tape so I can put my hand through to hold it.’ Jacob Yr2
‘I learnt that Vikings didn’t have horns coming out of their helmets.’ Freddy Yr1
‘The shields would have been lots of different colours.’ Charlie Yr2
‘ I learnt that the Vikings lived here 1000 years ago.’ Jake yr2
‘The middle of the shield is called the boss.’ Harry Yr2
‘The boss makes it stronger.’ Ava Yr1
Diwali
In Religious Education, the Bitterns have been learning all about the Hindu festival of Diwali. They listened carefully to the story of Rama and Sita and learnt about how Diwali is celebrated within the Hindu faith. As a class we discussed the differences and similarities between the Hindu festival and the Christian festival of Christmas. Inspired by the beautiful Rangoli patterns they then created their own Rangoli art, carefully using coloured sand to produce colourful and vibrant artwork.
‘I learnt that they put a line of lights out to help Rama and Sita find their way home.’ (Year 2)
‘I like learning about the Diva lamps because we made some out of clay.’ (Year 1)
‘Rangoli are beautiful patterns made out of lots of coloured rice, sand or petals.’ (Year 2)
Bonfire Poetry
Last week we undertook some cross-curricular learning incorporating our history topic of the gunpowder plot into our literacy topic. On the Friday, we were lucky enough attend a forest school session where we had a bonfire, sang campfire songs and tried marshmallows. We then used our experiences of the bonfire to inspire our writing of poetry. We concentrated on our senses and considered the sights, smells, tastes, feels and sounds of the bonfire when writing our poems. The year 2 children tried their hands at acrostic poetry whist the Year 1 children wrote some wonderful descriptive poetry. The Year 2 children also produced some wonderful creative writing after looking at photos and videos of fireworks.
Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot
The Bitterns have been learning about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot in history. We started our learning by thinking about why we celebrate bonfire night on the 5th of November each year. The children listened very carefully as I told them about the gun powder plot and were able to discuss key events. Once they had heard the story they were able to recall events and facts about the plot. They were very interested in the two groups of Christians and why one group didn’t like King James. Once we had learnt about why the plot happened and why it failed, the children demonstrated their understanding by ordering the events of the story. They also produced some amazing writing about the plot, detailing all they had learnt.
‘ I learnt that Guy Fawkes and all his friends planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder.’Â (Year 1 child)Â
Diwali
After learning about the Hindu festival of Diwali the children were inspired by the bright and vibrant rangoli patterns. They used coloured sand and a template to carefully create their own rangoli patterns. Some children choose to mix the sand to create new colours whilst others preferred to use the primary colours. The children also created their own Diva lamps using clay. They carefully rolled out the clay and used their fingers to mold it into the shape of a small bowl. Many of the children then added patterns to their Diva lamp, using a variety of tools to create a design. Once the clay had dried out, they used paint to add colour to their lamps.
‘I liked using the clay because it was squishy. I made my diva lamp is round and colourful.’ (Year 1)
‘I wanted my lamp to be orange and bright. I wanted to make it this shape because I knew it would be a good shape for holding a candle.’ (Year 2).
Planting Mysterious Beans
Bitterns have started off their Science topic of plants by planting some mysterious beans that we received. Most of the children suspect the beans have been sent from Jack (Jack and the Beanstalk has been our Literacy topic). As a class we learnt about what a plant needs to grow and we used this understanding to help us to plant our magic beans. We will be observing and recording their growth over the coming weeks.Â
Science Day
This years science day focus was Animals. The Bitterns learnt about different groups of animals, habitats and what animals need to stay healthy. They started the day by looking at a range of animals and categorising them into groups. After this we learnt what a habitat is and explored some different types of habitats. We embarked on a minibeast hunt, exploring habitats within our school grounds. To finish the day we joined together with the KS2 children to undertake a fun science experiment.
