This week we have really enjoyed hearing all about each other's Easter breaks and all the lovely things everyone has been up to. The children enjoyed writing about their holiday news and sharing their favourite moments with one another.

Our topic this week is Farms and we linked this with the story book, What the Ladybird Heard, by Julia Donaldson. The children have learnt about the process of milking cows and thought about the animals that are found on farms and why they are helpful. Many children had been to farms over the Easter holiday, so it was really lovely to hear them share their own experiences; feeding lambs was a firm favourite!

Our role-play area for this topic is the Russell House Farm Shop and the children have enjoyed thinking about the food and produce that it should sell. The children decided they wanted to sell real food so we will be adding carrots, potatoes, onions and apples. Our farm shop also sells wool and milk. They have really loved writing shopping lists, pretending to be shopkeepers and keeping the shop tidy and organised.

In maths, the children have been learning all about sharing amounts equally between groups by feeding our colourful counting chickens tasty cubes! Always ensuring they are fed an equal amount of food, the children have been experts at counting, checking, and adjusting to ensure it is fair. The children have been introduced to the mathematical term divide and understand this as sharing equally between groups.  We have looked at how these questions might look in written equations using the division symbol and we are also using part-part-whole models to record our work.

The children learnt all about maps this week through the book, What the Ladybird Heard. Using the map of the farm that features in the story, the children drew their own maps, whilst looking carefully at the position of each of the buildings, the pond, the gate and the various animals. Directional language was introduced and used during our class discussion as we created a large floor map to get us thinking.

It has been a busy few days in Form 1, but an excellent start to the term.