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. We have also started a new phase in our phonics scheme and the children are now learning to read longer words containing more than one digraph.

Our topic all about Farms started this week and we linked this with the story book, What the Ladybird Heard, by Julia Donladson. 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. The children enjoyed setting this up and adding labels, making money, signs and a till. The children decided they wanted to sell real food, so we have added carrots, potatoes, onions and apples. Our farm shop also sells wool and milk. They really loved writing shopping lists, pretending to be shopkeepers and keeping the shop tidy and organised.

The giant sunflower growing competition has begun in Form 1 and everyone planted their seed in their own little pot and watered it carefully. We will be watching with great anticipation for any signs that the seeds have started to grow and we will be measuring them as they grow to keep track of their progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 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 have been enjoying painting this week and have painted animals from the story to create our own farm display in the classroom. We have also used collage to create hay-filled pens for the animals to live in and a pond with lily pads for the ducks. This will be the start of our display board to celebrate our learning journey this term.

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, 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 was wonderful to start this term's Pre-Prep assemblies as we kicked off with Mrs Curling and the Russell House gymnastics team. It was really inspiring to see how hard the children have worked and Form 1 came away dreaming of being gymnasts! The gymnastics team will be competing this weekend at the Under 11 Floor & Vault, Tumbling and Sports Acrobatics National Finals in Stoke-on-Trent and the routines they shared with the Pre-Prep were simply outstanding. We wish them lots of luck!