What a great start to Spring 2 we have had this week. We have begun our next topics of where I live in the UK, changing materials and real life superheroes this week, beginning to look at our local area and the people who work in our community. The children will be thinking about this further throughout the term.
 
Reception have focused on firefighters and their role this week through drawing club as well as in continuous provision. Drawing club looked at Fireman Sam and we have made our own fire engines by cutting and sticking 2d shapes.
 
All of chestnut have looked after each other and the teddies in our new doctors surgery roleplay area, made Shepherds Pie in the mud kitchen and built a house with a water slide.
 
Year 1 have planned their fantasy stories in literacy tree this week and have come up with some fantastic ideas, including an angel that takes the toys to catch a shooting star, a unicorn toy that rescues Anna and Elsa and a Minecraft person who meets a toy dog to go on an adventure!
 
Within Maths, Reception have been focusing on one less and one more and counting backwards. They made some fabulous number books counting to 10 with drawings of the appropriate number.
 
Year 1 have been counting to 50 and looking at groups of 10, they have been working really hard on their number formation, something we are focusing on across this half term.
 
Science this half term is changing materials and we had a brilliant lesson where the children explored some different materials and discussed which materials would be best used for making different things, an example ‘we definitely do not need a t-shirt made of wood, that would be too tricky to run in at playtime’
 
We will be looking at our local area and the UK in Geography, learning how to read and create our own maps. We started looking at maps of the UK, Devon, North Tawton as well as a map of the School on Monday. We will then be comparing what it is like to live in the UK with Uganda. 
 
In RE, we thought about spring time and what an exciting time of the year it is, representing new beginnings. The children decided it was the best time of the year because it means sunshine, chocolate at Easter and new baby chicks, lambs and flowers!
 
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Warwick and Team 

We have had a very busy final week, with dancing, party planning, a spy hotel, an obstacle course and a talent show to finish off this half term.

We have come to the end of our unit on space and I am incredibly impressed with all their hard work across the different subjects to learn about all things space related. In science this week, we looked at different jobs within space in addition to being an astronaut, including spacesuit designer and space scientist. The children enjoyed getting to draw a picture of the space job they would want and write why they have chosen this job. Reception have been learning a little bit about constellations with Abbie and Rachel, creating some beautiful paintings of the stars. Reception also spend a few short afternoon sessions a week in Acorn class, seeing Karen, Kath and friends and this week had fun at the playdough table and in the mark making area. It is great to see and continue to support the relationships across all of EYFS, the children really enjoy this.

Drawing club this week has been Superworm and we have drawn some new evil sidekicks for the Wizard Lizard and helped Superworm with some ideas of how to rescue the insects.

Our Toys in Space work in literacy will carry on into Spring 2 where the children have been beginning to plan a fantasy story of their own, thinking about how to connect ideas and using adjective to describe. We also got creative this week, planning a party to cheer up the toys in the story.

All of Chestnut class have made huge improvements with their phonics and as a team we are incredibly proud of their progress this half term. Year 1 have been working particularly hard with extra speed sound lessons and their spellings. Please continue to support them with this at home as it is an essential part of their learning.

We have had a short unit of addition and subtraction in Maths at the end of this half term and this week we have been looking at subtracting within 20 and finding the difference. We have used lots of manipulatives to support understanding. Reception have also been looking at taking away within 5 as well as greater and less than within 10.
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The children did an amazing job finishing their Ferris Wheels this week, they built a stand (with a little help from Rachel and I) and went to town on decorating to make them bright and colourful. They have really enjoyed DT this half term and getting to finally put all the pieces together and seeing their deigns fully functioning was a joy to watch.
 
It has been a pleasure teaching this half term, stepping into my new role, finding our feet with all the changes and I am looking forward to next half term.

I hope everyone has a lovely half term and break.  
Miss Warwick and Team 

This week has been full of Maths, space and practising for the talent show.
 
Both Reception and Year 1 have worked incredibly hard in Maths thinking about counting on and using part whole models to understand number bonds of 5, 10 and 20. We have also been working on our number formation and using as many different mediums including sand, chalk and our adventure codes in drawing club to practise.
 
In Drawing club this week, we have read The Magic Porridge Pot and created some brilliant new ideas including The Magic Jelly and Broccoli Buckets, The Magic Porridge Water Bottles, The Magic Butter Volcano and many more.
 
We have been to space this week, listening to music and imagining what it would be like to walk on the moon and discover a new planet, the children used their voices to create space sounds as well as learning all about Neil Armstrong in history, discovering why his story was significant and retelling his life.
 
We have started a new book this week in Literacy Tree after being sent a mysterious box filled with ‘Toys from Space’ arrived in Chestnut Class. The children have created lost and found posters, describing the toys inside and made freeze frame images based on parts of the story in role, thinking about how the toys might be feeling when they end up in space. We will begin to develop ideas for our own fantasy story over the next few weeks.
 
A small group of Chestnut class have decided to take part in our talent show next week and have spent the end of the week practising, they will be doing a dance that is well-loved by all of Chestnut Class. Rachel and I enjoyed watching them rehearse Thursday afternoon. We are wishing them luck in their audition and performance.
 
Miss Brooking is with Chestnut on a Friday and this week they will be making and decorating the wheel and pods of their Ferris Wheels. The children have been very excited about this and I cannot wait to see them on Monday, ready to put them together.  
 
Have a great weekend.
Miss Warwick and the team