We began our 3D shape maths topic today.  We found out the difference between 2D and 3D shapes and explored the cylinder, cube, cuboid, cone and sphere.  We worked in teams to use a range of different construction materials to make dinosaurs.  We love having construction focused afternoons!  We were surprised to learn that each piece of construction we used was a 3D shape.  Axel explained that some shapes will be rubbish for building because they are not flat – we are going to do an experiment to find out more about this next week.  We also plan to do a 3D shape hunt outside, make 3D shape dinosaurs out of junk, explore shapes further in our play contexts and learn to sort shapes based on different categories.

Please collect some junk for our 3D shape topic.  We particularly need cylindrical shaped junk e.g. Kitchen roll tubes, milk bottle tops etc.  No toilet roll tubes, medicine or raw meat packaging please. Thank you.

We continue to become more independent when completing our different literacy activities. Today the focus was the ‘sh’ sound, general sound revision,  reading for enjoyment and word blending.

Today we were introduced to real tools for measuring.  This built upon our work last week on using toys, dinosaurs and ribbon for measuring.  We used metres to measure lots of different items outside.  We had fun trying to find really big things to measure.  We wrote down all of our measurements with chalk.  We learned that we can use the letter m to mean metres. We all worked very hard!

Some of us gave ourselves a huge challenge by attempting to measure a tree.  We soon realised why this would be too tricky.  We estimated that the tree was 11m.

Last Wednesday we had a Scottish maths day.  We spent the entire day exploring different maths concepts with a Scottish theme.

We focussed on 2D shape initially.  We explored hexagons, pentagons, squares, circles, triangles and rectangles.  We learned that even when a square is on its side it is still a square, not a rhombus or a diamond!  Please reinforce these shapes at home regularly.

We used different shapes to try making a Scottie dog.  It was tricky to work out which shapes should go where and we needed to problem solve a lot!

We then watched a short video about the Loch Ness monster and worked with a partner to draw our own interpretations of what Nessie looks like.  We were only able to use shapes in our drawings which made it much more challenging.   We also had free-play with a range of different 2D shapes and explored how we could fit them together to make different pictures.

We  continued our measuring topic by measuring different classroom items using tartan ribbon.  We had to try and measure horizontal and vertical items.  Tomorrow we hope to go outside and measure outdoor objects.

Our favourite part of the day was measuring ourselves using our new measuring chart.  We found out who was the tallest and shortest in the classroom.  You can download the measuring chart we use here if you wish to use it at home too.

As part of our dinosaur project we were introduced to food chains today.  We shared a story together and found out that the herbivores and carnivores had special body parts or teeth that made them perfect for finding the food they liked.  Please ask your child more about this.

We tried to act out some food chains to show how different dinosaurs needed each other for food.  We found out that a food chain always starts with a plant or tree.  We learned that it was best to be a meat eating dinosaur because then you were at the top of the food chain and no-one would eat you!

Here are some examples of our dramatic food chains.

Click here

or here

or here to see our food chains in action.

The top table this week are the yellow table.  They were very, very proud of this fantastic achievement and are looking forward to getting to use the special stationary all of this week.  They got 120 cubes.  Well done yellow table!

We are all getting much better at counting up in 5s to find out which table is the winner.  We are also becoming more confident at learning to write and recognise 2 and sometimes 3 digit numbers! 🙂

Handwriting

We have now learned all 26 initial letter sounds.  Over the next 2 weeks please try practising the letter formation for all letters particularly those that you know that your child finds difficult.  Letters to focus on will be different for each child but generally most children struggle with the formation of: z, b, d, f, g and the letters that dig underground: y,g,j,q,p.  We have been learning that our letters are not superheroes – they can’t fly, we must ensure we keep them balancing on a line. We have also been trying to keep them the correct size.  Activities you could try to help letter formation are:

• Writing letters in shaving foam on bath tiles or a table
• Filling a baking tray with salt and writing your letters in it
• Rainbow writing on paper – your child will be able to explain this further
• writing on mini whiteboards
• using paintbrushes and water to paint their words on paving slabs/concrete
• Writing letters on peoples backs – they love doing this in class
• Erin also suggested using chalks outside

Maths

We have been learning about measurement in class.  We have been using objects such as ribbons, toys and templates of dinosaur feet to measure different objects in the classroom.  Please help your child to choose a toy or object that they can use for measuring.  Try getting them to measure three different objects around the house.  Try encouraging them to find things that are different sizes.  Please encourage them to use the correct language when measuring. For example, instead of them saying ‘It’s 3!’ encourage them to say,’ It’s 3 toy cars long.’  This will help with future measurement activities with standardised units such as metres, cm etc.

I am unsure how many of you are actually seeing this Blog and are managing to access homework activities.  Please write a very short note in the reading record acknowledging that you have seen this post.  Thank you. 🙂