Jack and the Beanstalk

This week we have continued the topic of ‘plants and vegetables’ and we have been focused on the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. We have made beanstalks using plasticine, bottles with crepe paper and green cups. We have also practised the skill of twisting, when wrapping pipe cleaners around sticks to create the leaves of the beanstalk. We have had fun using the blocks to create the Giants’ castle and have enjoyed using paint to create Jack’s golden eggs.

In phonics this week, Sergi, Kai, Marcel and Luke have been learning the ‘a’ sound. They have done apple printing, created their own ambulance, coloured and cut out ants and used whiteboard pens to practise the formation of the letter. We have also linked the sound with our topic; learning about fruits and vegetables which begin with the ‘a’ sound- apple, avocado and asparagus.

Jordi has been learning the ‘th’ sound and has been practising sticking out his tongue to make this sound. He knows the two letters which make up the ‘th’ sound and has had lots of practise writing these two letters. Jordi is beginning to tell me the different words which contain the ‘th’ sound and has had fun painting a ‘thumb’ and moulding a ‘thin’ and ‘thick’ person from plasticine.

In maths this week, Sergi, Kai and Luke have continued to learn about the numbers 1-10. Using our topic focus of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ the boys have ordered magic bean numbers, counted different amounts of beans into cups and played ‘match the bean to the number’. They have also had lots of practise forming the numbers 1-10, using the whiteboard and writing over the numbered dots which I provide. This week we also took our maths lessons out into the farm and collected lots of natural objects. We focused on the song of ‘ten little speckled frogs’ and used the tape to stick the correct number of objects on to each frog picture; making sure that we counted the frogs carefully and stuck one item for every frog on the paper.

Marcel and Jordi have been working on the numbers 0-20 and have created a fantastic chart for our display. The boys worked together to write the numbers 0-20 and then counted out and stuck on the correct number of stickers to show the quantity of each number. They have also had lots of opportunities to practise forming the numbers to 20, using felt tips, pencils and the whiteboard. They were very motivated to try and write all of the numbers and their number formation is really improving.

In reading comprehension this week Judit and Sara have been focusing more intently on poetry as a style of writing. Judit has been learning about the different types of rhyme apparent within the poems, both at the end of the line and internally within sentences. Sara has been learning about alliteration and similes and has had to find examples of these within the poems she has read. The girls have had to think carefully about the hidden meanings of words and phrases within the poems to allow them to correctly answer the comprehension questions given for each of the poems they have read. The girls are making very good progress within their understanding of the content and layout of different poems.

In maths this week Sara has been focusing on numbers. She has worked hard to understand the concept of rounding numbers up and down to the nearest hundred. She has also begun to use VENN and Carroll diagrams as a way to help her organise and classify odd and even numbers. When organising the numbers Sara has revised her times tables and is becoming more confident to trust her answers when writing down the different multiplications. Finally, Sara has been learning about symmetry. She has learnt that for a line to be symmetrical, the image needs to be the same on both sides. She has consolidated and practised this skill further by playing a symmetry game on the computer and as a result of answering all the questions correctly she was able to create a symmetrical robot.

Judit has continued to focus on her mental arithmetic and is practising many mathematical skills in preparation for her SAT’s test. She has been solving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division questions within the concept of money, time, mass and weight. She is now learning the importance of showing her ‘working out’ in her notebook. Judit has been working particularly hard on finding and using fractions and this is a concept which she is keen to continue developing next week.