This week we have been learning about what it is like in space. We started the week listening to the story “Whatever Next!” by Jill Murphy and have enjoyed listening to “Space Shuttle Blasts Off!” and the non-fiction book “My first book of space” which we chose on our library visit last Friday!

We have learnt about our solar system and the names of the 8 planets in it. We now know that the sun is the largest star at the centre of our solar system. We have tried really hard to learn the order of the planets in the solar system, starting nearest the sun to those furthest away. We know that the moon is made of rock not cheese! 

We have had lots of wonderful junk modelled rockets made – we have worked hard to ensure that our models had all the features of a rocket! We have used their careful cutting skills to cut out the parts of an astronaut and have used split pins to join the parts together. We have used black card and chalks to produce some amazing pictures of our solar system and we have even labelled the planets! We have enjoyed working together to complete a space jigsaw puzzle and we have had the opportunity to write a list of objects we would take into space and to write letters telling our important people that we are in space and what we can see. We have been using the 2D shapes to create shape rockets and have been drawing around them to produce our own pictures!

This afternoon we had a lovely visit to the library.

The grown-ups supporting Team EO  were really impressed with how safely and sensibly the children walked in their pairs to the library! The children displayed excellent road safety skills.

Once at the library our first activity was a scavenger hunt! We had to work in our groups to look around the room for pictures of different types of book such as fiction, fact, board and audible, each book had a name and once we had found the picture we had to write down the name. The librarian explained where we could find each type of book.

Next we listened attentively to a story read by one of the librarians and we were able to answer questions about it.

Then we were able to explore the library ourselves! Team EO enjoyed delving into the books and sharing stories with their friends! We even managed to find some books on 'space' which we have borrowed for our learning next week!

The children really enjoyed their visit to the library! Here are some photos of our trip:

This week we have been learning about what it is like at the seaside. We listened carefully to “What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside”. We learnt why it is called the seaside, names of
different seaside towns and we discussed different activities that we can do at the seaside. The children enjoyed watching “Barnaby Bear goes to the Seaside” and they learnt about which colour flag means it is safe to swim in the sea and what to do if someone is in danger in the sea. We have also found out about seaside holidays in the past.

We have learnt the following Makaton signs: seaside, bucket, spade, sandcastle, towel, hat, sun cream, boat, seagull, umbrella and fish and chips! Can your child show you how to sign any of them?

In provision we have been drawing and writing pictures about what we can see at the seaside. In the creative area we have been making seaside collages using a variety of materials such as sand, tissue paper, cotton wool and card – they look amazing! Our funky finger activity this week was to tear or cut up tissue paper and stick onto the outline of a beach ball – these have loved fantastic as we have taken such great care whilst making them. In the maths area we have been practising our counting to 20 and beyond by filling in the missing numbers.

We have also had lots of fun in our outdoor learning environment exploring in the sand and using the bricks to make our very own McDonald's!

In Literacy, Y1 children have finished drafting their letters to their new class teacher. We then used purple pen to edit their writing before copying it up using their best handwriting. We then popped all the
letters into an envelope addressed it to Miss Fury and delivered it to her!

In Maths, Y1 children have been consolidating previous learning on identifying pairs of numbers that equal ten and partitioning numbers 7 and 9 in different ways.

Reception children have been comparing mass using balance scales and have used the following language related to weight: heavy, light,
heavier, lighter, heaviest, lightest. We have compared length using cubes to measure how long/tall an object is and have used language related to length: long, longer, longest, short, shorter, shortest. We have learnt that we must start at the end of an object to measure. Finally, Reception children have been introduced to capacity and know that capacity is how much liquid a container can hold. We have used the language “full”, “nearly full”, “nearly empty” and “empty”.