In class 8 we have been learning about the story “ The Day the Crayons Quit.”  This story is about what pictures different coloured crayons  traditionally draw. For example the red crayon draws santa, apples and love hearts.

In Communication, Language and  Literacy, we have been choosing and exploring objects linked to the story, representing them in picture form and putting labels on our work. We have been identifying our own letters like the little boy from the story by looking at the initial letter of our names. We had fun opening our letter and seeing what was inside. The key key words linked to the story; Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, Pink, Purple.

In Mathematics we have been joining in with songs and actions linked to circles. We used the I pads to take photographs of circles in our class room and also around school. We then made them into a book which we have used on our circle treasure hunt.

We have also been learning positional language; In, On, Under, Over, Infront, Behind. We have had fun doing physical activities, moving the scrunchy different ways, climbing on apparatus, going through a tunnel, putting hoops on a cone. We even tried to skip. 

We have worked hard with our number recognition. We had lots of fun using tweezers to pick up small objects and to match onto number mats.

In PSHE we have been learning about healthy lifestyles. We have used the song“shake your sillies out.” We liked the verse about wiggling best. We then used different jugs to pour ourselves or our friends drinks of water and joined in with a water chant. Then it was time to pretend to sleep and to wake up as the music changed. We had lots of fun with this. Finally we have explored different foods by touch, smell and taste. We had a different colour each week and had food linked to that colour. We liked the fruit better than the vegetables although the lemons made us pull funny faces. 1 of the children said “Lemon is sour.”

In Understanding the World we have been working on our Computing skills. We have been developing our photography skills using technology, before working on our design skills by using apps or programmes to edit our photos. We really enjoyed using different brush strokes and laying filters over our photos.

In RE we have been learning about how Muslims pray. We have been learning the steps of Wudu (the practice where Muslims clean themselves before prayer) and had a go at these ourselves. We having been learning lots about prayer mats, and even had a go at designing our own ones. We have enjoyed learning that Muslims feel calm and connected when they pray.

In Expressive Arts and Design we have been exploring the instruments Xylophone and Maracas. We have been playing along to familiar songs as well as instrumental music. We had big smiles on our faces when playing along to “the Entertainer.” when we played along to the music “into the forest” we turned off the lights to make the classroom dark. We repeated the music and used our colour of the week to make marks on paper in time to the music.

In Physical Development our focus this term has been circle dances.  We have been using the scrunchy to make a circle and then moving in different ways. We made choices as to what moves to do. We liked making cycling moves and passing the scrunchy fast to our friends and then changed the direction. We sometimes got it wrong and we laughed when this happened. We made big and small circles holding our friends' hands.  Some of us have continued to work on our MOVE programmes. We have had lots of time in our walking frames or standing frames.

In Communication, Language and  Literacy, we have been learning key words linked to the story; woods, father, stepmother, breadcrumbs, witch, sweets and oven. We used torches to follow a trail through a pretend wood following the shiny pebbles. We pretended to be Gretel who had to cook and clean for the witch. We made marks on paper following the breadcrumb trail being eaten by the birds. We used a sound board to identify the witch's cackle.

In Mathematics we have been joining in with songs and actions linked to patterns and then have copied  repeated patterns using different bricks.We have also been counting pebbles and jewels from the story and attempting to match them to numerals. It was fun exploring the different coloured rings and putting them on our fingers to count.In our shape work we have been naming and grouping 2d and 3d shapes. We have been on a hunt to find some in our school. In Number we have been working on giving quantities and rote counting to 10.

In PSHE we have been learning about emotions and trying to make faces while looking in a mirror. We have taken part in a relay race matching happy, sad and angry symbols to photographs. 

In Understanding the World we have been identifying and labelling different body parts through song. We then used the different senses related to the body part. Our favourite lesson was when we explored different foods through taste, smell and touch.

In RE we have listened to the story of the Good Samaritan. We painted pictures linked to the story. We all chose a different blanket and pretended to care for each other. It was nice and warm fun being swaddled in the blanket.

In Expressive Arts and Design we have been learning to use different media to create our  own castles.  We have had opportunities to get messy and make our own choices from the range of materials and media. We looked at the work of Paul Klee and John Piper. We made castles to represent their work. We also identified the castles of Disney princesses, Hogwarts and Windsor castle and chose who we wanted to live in them. 

In Physical Development our focus this term has been Football.  We have been learning to kick a ball and watch where it goes. We have all had a chance to score a goal into a small net.  Some of us have been working on our MOVE programmes to support us with our physical development balancing on a chair or bench and going in our walking frame. 1 of the children has been in control of our warm up telling us when to run and when to stop. She really liked being in charge of all the boys in the class.