I do like to be beside the seaside

This week we started a new topic; ‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside’ and we have been learning about the key parts of the seaside- the beach, the sea and the sand. We have been mixing different paint colours to create our own seaside; remembering to paint both the beach and the sea. Within the topic we have been focusing on the story of ‘The Rainbow Fish’ and we have used our cutting skills to create Rain Fish stick puppets. We have also used plasticine to create the Rainbow fish; sticking different coloured pieces of pipe cleaner to create the Rainbow Fish’s coloured scales. The children also enjoyed using different blue materials to create the sea and have been very imaginative when using the blocks to create a large cargo ship.

In phonics this week, Sergi, Kai, Marcel and Luke have been learning the ‘i’ sound. Within this sound we have been focusing on the theme of insects; colouring them in and discussing the number of legs which different insects have. Within this theme we have learnt the song ‘Incy Wincy spider’. The children loved this song and have become great at miming the actions to the song.  We have focused a lot this week on the formation of the letter ‘i’, cutting and sticking the letter ‘I’ and then recognising when the letter is not placed the correct way around.

Jordi has been learning lots of new sounds this week, using his new ‘Read, Write, Inc’ phonics book. He has been learning to recognise the letters by drawing pictures within the letters, which match to the shape and sound of the letter. It is really helping him to remember the way which the letters are written and some words which are associated which each sound. Jordi is learning new sounds every day and is enjoying creating his own pictures to display in the phonics area. 

In maths this week, the boys have been focusing on the concept of size. Using seaside themed pictures, the boys have coloured, cut out and ordered the different objects by size. We have been using the vocabulary of ‘smallest’ and ‘biggest’ and all of the boys are getting very confident to identify which object is the smallest and which is biggest. Jordi has also enjoyed the challenge of being introduced to the vocabulary of ‘shorter’, ‘longer’ and ‘taller’ but we need to keep practising these words when identifying the size order of different objects. The boys have also continued to practise counting when adding different amounts of legs to their insects in the phonics area.

In reading comprehension this week Sara has been focusing on fables as a style of writing. She has enjoyed reading the various and has become very confident to identify the similarities and differences between the three texts she has read. Sara has become very aware of the fact that within each fable there is a lesson to be learned and she is very good at identifying what that is. Sara has been answering questions on a range of levels, using different comprehension skills. She was particularly confident when checking specific details of the text and could explain her understanding of the selected section of the text well. Sara was also very good at linking the events of the story to her experiences and could explain how she would feel in the different situations.

This week, Judit has been focusing on play scripts. She has been learning about the different elements of text which are featured within a play script. She can now identify and explain how the different elements are used by the actors and why they are important to allow the play to flow. We have had lots of fun adopting different and reading out the different play scripts. Judit is becoming much better at responding to the stage directions and acting accordingly when reading out her characters’ part within the play. Judit has been exposed to a range of new language and has worked hard to understand the meanings of new words. However, she found it difficult to understand the language and vocabulary used within the extract of Shakespeare. We will focus more deeply on this when next working on play script texts.

In maths this week, Sara has continued to work on fractions. She has worked really hard on finding different fractions of amounts and now understands that she always needs to divide by the denominator and multiply by the numerator. Sara has had lots of practise, reading word problems and is getting much better at identifying the mathematical information she needs within the text and the way in which she needs to solve the problem. Sara has completed many exercises which have allowed her to practise the skill of multiplying a fraction and when completing her end of week mental arithmetic test, she confidently applied this skill to solve the fractions problems.

This week, Judit has continued to work on decimals. Judit has been extremely perseverant when working on place value within a decimal number. She now understands the importance of putting the decimal point in the correct place and the effect that this can have on the value of the number. Judit has also now mastered the skill of multiplying and dividing a decimal number by 10 and 100 and understands the direction she needs to jump with the decimal point, depending on whether she is multiplying or dividing the number. When completing her end of week mental arithmetic test, I was very impressed with the ability she has now developed to convert decimals, fractions and percentages and she was keen to explain to me the understanding that she has of the importance of 100 when converting the numbers.