Week ending 3rd May

This week we have focussed on moving and growing in our wider curriculum work.  We learnt about how the skeleton grows with us and supports our bodies and helps us to move.  The children looked at x-rays of the human skeleton and we enjoyed watching the Funny Bones as well as singing ‘dem bones.  Using great fine motor-skills as well as a lot of patience and perseverance, some children cut out and connected the bones of a skeleton using split pins so that the limbs could move.
 We also thought about animals and their young and played games where we matched baby animals to their mother.  The children drew, coloured and cut out and matched animals, while outside in the orchard, we used clay and natural objects to make a variety of minibeasts and other animals.
As usual, the children enjoyed using various construction to imagine and create and used modelling dough to create a revolting breakfast inspired by our drawing club visual text this week – Trapdoor – I’m sure you remember this old animation.  They are enjoying drawing club more and more and the detail in their drawings and the ideas they have are amazing.  Some children are really challenging themselves and writing sentences about their pictures with and sometimes without adult support.
We are continuing to think about special places in our Religious Education focus and this week we began learning about different places of worship including, churches, mosques, synagogues and gurdwaras.  The children enjoyed using musical instruments this week in music using call and response type activities as well as copying rhythms.  We had our weekly dedicated weekly PE session with Mrs Jordan this week and the children showed imagination and control in their movement skills.  Thankfully, we did get an opportunity to use the outdoor area where plenty of physical exercise takes place including rolling, climbing, swinging and lots of running around.
Maths
Our focus this week was consolidating the understanding of the composition of 5.  This was practised through the rhyme 5 kittens jumping on the bed; the children were able to identify how many kittens were on the bed and how many were not, therefore learning number bonds to five using sentences such as 5 is made of 3 and 2, 3 and 2 make 5.  Later in the week we went on to think about the composition of 6, 7, 8 and 9 as ‘5 and a bit’.  In maths, we use rhymes, visuals (including Numberblocks clips) as well as games and opportunities for the children to hone their maths skills in the continuous provision.
Reading and phonics
The children are making great progress in our daily phonics lessons and it is a pleasure to hear children reading fluently and to see them trying so hard with their writing.  We also enjoy daily stories, chosen by the teachers or sometimes brought in by a child.  This week we read The invisible string brought in by one of the children from home.  I thought this was a beautiful book and one I would recommend others to read with their children especially if they find separation difficult.