On Monday, the children found out about the different jobs that farmers do. The children learnt that cows must be milked twice a day and that the animals pens have to be cleaned out and fresh straw or hay added. We also learnt that the farmer has to feed the animals everyday and make sure they have plenty of water as well as look after the baby animals and collect the hens' eggs.

After learning all about this, the children wrote captions to match the pictures of different jobs on the farm. The children were able to think of their own simple sentences to match the photographs of each of the jobs. The children have started to work as a whole class during these lessons to develop their independence and confidence. They have done really well and their ability to think of their own sentences is developing steadily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday, the children learnt about the different produce that we get from farms. They learnt that all the animals on the farm have a purpose and we discussed the food or produce that each animal gives us. The children had fun working in teams to sort the different produce and match it with the correct animal. We shared our ideas at the end of the activity and checked we had them all correct. Later, as an additional challenge, the children used their reading skills to decode the different names of the animals on their activity sheet and then match them to the picture of the item they produced. They underlined the digraphs and trigraphs within the words and chunked the longer words such as chicken - super reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In maths this week. the children have continued to learn about number bonds to 10. They have become more confident to use their fingers to solve these problems, rather than relying on maths resources such as Numicon or cubes. By learning to take away an amount on their fingers and then look at how many fingers are remaining, they have been able to solve these problems. The children were introduced to the bar model as another way to represent this concept. They were challenged to find the missing part of the number bond, having only been given one of the numbers.

On Wednesday, the children had a wonderful time taking part in the Easter egg hunt! The weather was perfect and the children were very excited to say the least! After listening to the instructions, the children quickly got busy hunting for all the colourful plastic eggs that were hidden in and around the Pirate Ship. Once all the eggs had been found, the children were rewarded with a chocolate egg to take home! Once back in the classroom, the children carefully labeled their own egg ready for home time. On behalf of the children, I would like to say a big THANK YOU to the RHPA for organising the Easter egg hunt. The children loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have enjoyed the story of Farmer Duck this week, which also further explained to the children all the jobs that need to be done on a farm. The poor duck in this story is made to do all the work while the lazy farmer stays in bed all day, which everyone agreed was very unfair! The children enjoyed the story and then were challenged to write captions to match some of the key moments. We have been supporting the children to generate their own sentences by focusing on who is in the picture, what they are doing and where. This has helped the children to think of their own ideas about what to write.

The children have also been exploring maps this week. We started off by looking at a map of Godstone Farm which the children were really excited to explore. The children noticed all the various animals, the barn, ponds, giftshop, the paths with arrows and the entrance and exit. The children were challenged to create their own farm map, either by looking at the Godstone Farm map or inventing their own. Some children worked collaboratively on a large roll of paper, some chose to make individual maps or work with a partner. They really loved adding labels, animals and arrows.