dimarts, 20 de juny del 2017

Chickens and Chicks

The EYFS children (Sergi, Ona, Luke, Kai, Nico, Katie, Cloe, Ivet, Carla and Julien) have also been working really hard to prepare for the presentation. As part of their performance practise, the children consolidated their understanding of the different things which plants need to grow. Nico had a fantastic knowledge of what a plant needs to grow as he confidently selected the correct pictures and explained each of the things a plant needs, during our presentation practise.
In maths, the children have been focusing on the concept of doubles, using their fingers to show they understand the concept. Gabrielle was really happy with how well Kai participated in the maths activities. Although he initially found the concept of doubles difficult, he was keen to count up and show the correct number with his fingers. When given a number from 0-5, Kai was able to hold up the correct number of fingers, by counting up on his fingers, one by one.
As part of our plant topic, the children have been learning about the importance of air for plants. They have been creating different things, which help them to understand the power of air and more specifically wind. Julien responded really well to creating his blowing machine. He loves learning through practical methods and it was great to see how motivated he was when experimenting with wind power. He loved watching as the wind blew the tissue paper on the little machine he had made. Within the topic, the children have also made little bees, out of egg cartons. They have been learning about the important job of the bee, in pollinating flowers. When buzzing their little bees around the farm, Sergi was able to very confidently identify the different flowers in the farm. He was independently buzzing his bee over to the flowers and then landing on the flower, as he pretended to pollinate the plant. As this is the final week of our plant topic, the children have been doing lots of work on consolidating the vocabulary they have learnt. Gabrielle has been really impressed with how well Ona is able to speak in English, using the vocabulary she has learnt. She is now using fully and correctly structured sentences when explaining her ideas and opinions. Well done Ona, keep it up!
When practising our summer holiday song, I was really proud of how well Ivet and Cloe were able to move to the song. It was great to see how happy and smiley they were. They clearly know this song well now and love to dance along. They have both also worked really hard to sing along to the words and when singing it without the music, both of the girls are able to contribute to singing the song.
Unfortunately, Katie and Carla have not been well this week so they haven’t been able to join us in the class. We hope they feel better and are well enough to join us next week. Luke has still yet to return to the class, as he is still visiting his family in Lithuania. It looks like he is having a lovely time with his family.
The KS1 children (Marcel, Joana, Thais, Jordi, Arlet, Carla and Noa) have been working on doubles in maths. They started the week by doubling to 5, using their fingers so that they were able to grasp the concept of doubles. All of the children were able to show the doubles to 5 with ease, using this method. The children then moved on to doubles, up to 10, using ladybird spots. The children quickly understood that they need to count the ladybird’s spots to work out the double of each number and they were all able to quickly find the ‘doubles’ answers. The children then had the challenge of writing their own doubles’ sums, by matching the ladybird spots and then thinking about which double they had created, e.g. double 3=6. Arlet understood this concept well and was able to independently write the doubles’ sums. Marcel, Jordi, Thais and Noa needed a little bit more help, but after Jo had explained the concept, they began to recognise the pattern of doubles and were also able to then write the doubles’ sums independently. They worked really hard and were very perseverant to understand this concept. Carla and Joana were able to quickly understand the concept of doubles, but they found it difficult to correctly identify the number they needed for their answer. However, with the help of a number line, they were able to count along and correctly identify the number they needed and write their doubles’ sums.
The children have also been preparing for our end of year plant presentation. They have all worked extremely hard to learn their lines and it has given them the opportunity to consolidate their understanding of what plants need to grow, the parts of the plant and the jobs each part of the plant has. They all did a fantastic job of remembering what they needed to say! They spoke really confidently and were able to correctly use the relevant plant vocabulary. They were all very excited to show their parents everything they have learnt about plants!
The KS2 children (Judit, Blanca, Sara. B, Sofia, Arnau, Tatiana, Nil, Pau and Sara) have been working on column addition in maths this week. Sara B has really impressed me with how confidently she was able to add three digits, four digits and decimal numbers, using the column addition method. She fully understood how to use this method and was able to carry numbers across the thousand, hundred, tens and units’ columns with ease. Sofia has also really impressed me this week as she has been very focused and determined to get on to her maths challenge tasks each day. She didn’t initially find column addition very easy but after an initial explanation she was keen to work independently. She was able to confidently add two and three digit numbers, using the column method, but she found addition of decimal points more difficult. I was really proud of how perseverant she was to complete her work and how carefully she listened to my advice, when making her corrections. Nil also did a fantastic job of adding, using the column method. He worked extremely independently and with great determination. I am so impressed with how focused Nil was when completing his work and how determined he was to also complete his challenge jobs. He did an excellent job: working very independently and with real accuracy. Sara was also super determined when completing her addition sums, using the column method. The previous week, she realised that she understood the method and it was wonderful to see her feeling so confident to approach the questions this week. She worked with such determination and didn’t give up until she’d finished every question. I am really proud of you, Sara. What a fantastic attitude!
When practising for the presentation, I was really proud of how hard Arnau worked to practise reading his information about the daffodil. We practised reading the information out in front of the camera to help with his confidence, when speaking in front of other people. I think it really helped him as he was reading the information out much more confidently during our practises. I am really proud of how mature he has become during our presentations. He did a fantastic job of researching, writing down and then reading out his information! I am also very proud of how much confidence Pau has gained when reading aloud, during our presentation practises. He is reading with more fluency and confidence and it’s is great to see how involved he now is when preparing the presentations. Tatiana, as always, was very motivated by our presentation. She was super keen to prepare the prizes for the question section and it was great to see how confidently she was able to identify our focus plants, when searching both inside and outside of the school, looking for the plants so that we could create the prizes. Well done Tatiana, you have been very engaged and learnt a lot in this presentation project.
Judit and Blanca have spent the week working extremely hard to complete the last of their SAT’s exams. They have both approached the tests with real maturity and have been really determined to do well. Although they were both nervous, they did their best and I am really proud of them both!
On the final Friday of the school year, the children presented the final, end of year, presentation to the parents. The children worked extremely hard on the presentation and we did lots of class practises so that the children felt confident and proud of what they presented to their families. I hope everyone enjoyed it and could see just how much the children have learnt within our topic, in music, French and Catalan lessons this term.

Thank you all for coming to watch our presentation. I look forward to seeing everyone for our last three days next week.