The children were interested to learn that they need to eat lots of food to prepare for hibernation and that they can sleep for many months until warmer weather returns. Using cardboard, cotton wool, wooden blocks and other materials, the children have had fun making cosy nests for the different creatures and have thought about which materials might keep the animals warm.

In literacy, the children have been writing sentences about their favourite hibernating animals and drawing pictures to accompany their work. Later, they added card flaps to cover the picture of their animal to keep them cosy for their winter sleep!

In maths, the children have continued to learn about grouping amounts within 10 and representing this in a part, part, whole model. The children have been great at understanding that the whole remains the same but that we have simply separated the amount into parts. When working with 10 as our whole, the children have started to become more confident with number bonds.

The children have enjoyed working with clay this week in art and have had fun making their own little hedgehogs. The children collected twigs from the garden and then cut them to size to create spikes. Looking closely at a photograph of a hedgehog the children noticed they have a long pointy nose, two little eyes and four paws. Using clay tools the children added these features and used beads for a nose. There was an added challenge when they wanted to add legs to enable their hedgehog to stand up. Knowing how to measure came in handy and the children compared the twigs' lengths to find four that were roughly the same length. They really do look great!

As it has been so cold this week the children have had fun investigating ice. Lots of children were surprised that ice is in fact water that has just changed state from a liquid to a solid. We discussed temperature and how this can affect water, chocolate and even ice cream! As we passed the ice around the circle, the children noticed that the heat from their hands was having an effect, making the ice start to melt very quickly. We discussed how salt can also melt ice and poured washing up liquid on some to see if this made the ice melt more quickly.

In gymnastics, the children have been practising their safe landings and developing their strength by holding various balances. They are growing in confidence when using the apparatus and following instructions well.

Another great week in Form 1!