Christmas hats on and all set for a delicious feed of Christmas dinner today.
The school cooks did a tremendous job and the children really loved their special meal. Lots of lovely manners as they remembered to say ‘please’ and ‘thankyou’.
The children have had great fun using different materials and resources to create symmetrical designs. They have been using mirrors to check for symmetry indoors and outside and also painted wonderful symmetrical abstract designs.
They have also been learning about the 2D shapes and practised counting sides and corners. They designed their own pictures using different shapes.
We are very lucky at Whiteness to have so many fantastic resources for the children to use…..some modern technology mixed with some very old puzzles.
The Primary 2’s have been learning about which shapes can tile and which ones can’t. they found examples in and around the school and might find examples at home too. They investigated tiling using the different shapes they had been learning about.
The children have also been learning about 3D shapes and using their knowledge of 2D shapes they can describe the faces they can see. They have been learning about flat and curved faces as well as counting the vertices on the different shapes. They loved using the ‘feely box’ to describe and guess the shapes.
Again we found lots of examples of 3D shapes in the school and outdoors.
They used shapes to build models and the p1’s practiced sorting shapes into ones that could roll or not roll and ones that could stack or not stack.
The classroom has changed around a bit and they are very excited and enjoying the Halloween Shop and messy activities set up for them this week.
The children have been having fun playing literacy and numeracy games and going over some of the learning from last term.
As part of last terms topic learning about different materials the children created these beautiful magpie collages. They loved adding the shiny bits to the magpies nest to represent the treasures he found.
They also loved using magnets and finding out about how they reacted to different materials and to each other.
Most Friday mornings in Term One have been spent outdoors in our Loose Parts Zone. This gives the children opportunities to develop so many skills like co-operation, problem solving, teamwork, collaboration, etc.
Each time we go out there are different ideas, children go into different groups, different friendships develop, they get more confident using the materials available and allow their imaginations and creativity to take over.
The parent council provided us with some new resources, including half round guttering pipes and some very sturdy stands to support the pipes at different levels. This has led to some amazing problem solving and water courses in the playground.
The tree area is great for the children to learn about taking risks but being safe. They love building Dens and climbing in the trees.
On these mornings we usually have our snack outdoors which has been lovely while the weather has been good this term.
And we get to play too………
The children started building houses in the junk modelling area and got really into it, making floors, rooms, furniture etc. They began including ‘mini-me’s into the houses too.
From this they decided to make a big town with roads between the houses.
They then began to create other buildings and areas in their town. There was a park, hospital, school etc.
The toy cars were brought out so they then built garages and even a multi-story car park.
They worked in pairs to draw plans of their towns and include all the buildings they thought should be included. It was great to see the primary 2’s labelling parts of their plans and writing names on their buildings.
The children have also been learning about different aspects of safety, including crossing the road. They did some role play in the games hall and had turns at being the lollipop person.
They then re-played crossing the road safely in their ‘town’, using the toy cars and mini-me characters.
This is the primary 2’s favourite spelling game. They work in pairs to read and write the words on the cards.
Friday was a really warm day and the children have been learning about sun safety. They got onto discussing drinking plenty of water and staying cool. This got onto the subject of paddling pools and outdoor hot tubs. The class decided they would have a go at making their own paddling pool as we were heading outdoors.
They worked together to roll tyres into position to make a big circle. They then helped to get the tarpaulins over the top and pegged them down.
Once the tyres were in position and the tarpaulins on the top the children worked together to fill their pool with water. They used lots of different containers to fetch water from the water trays at the other end of the play area as the hose only reaches so far.
Once there was enough water it didn’t take long to get wellies and socks off and get in for a little paddle. The chairs made it a very comfortable place to sit and cool off. The children were so happy and excited with what they had built together.
There was a ‘changing room’ created for the children to dry their feet and get their socks and boots back on.
The primary 2’s are so good at helping the primary 1’s in the class. They worked together to draw and cut different sized circles to go on the peacocks tail feathers.
Feathery Four is a character in a story that helps with the number 4 formation.
We were so lucky to have Becky in visiting the class to tell us about her job as an author. She told the children about writing the stories and shared lots of great vocabulary with them. They loved listening to the story and finding out about the characters on the pages of the book.
Her latest book is amazing and tells a really great story about a little girl who is a bit of a rebel. Her illustrations are beautiful and the children had the challenge of coming up with ideas for the last part of the book for her.
These are their ideas……
The primary ones have been practicing their number formations in lots of different ways. They listen to stories, use craft materials, sand, whiteboards, shaving foam, playdough etc.
The other children have progressed onto numbers to 100. They have been using loads of practical materials to make tens and Units numbers, they love the interactive whiteboard games and place value basketball game on Topmarks. they have been working in pairs with playing cards and 100 squares to practise their numbers.
They love number games like Snakes and Ladders and are are really good at taking turns.
Children are often asked what they would like to be when they grow up. These ideas often change as they get older, but for now these paintings show what job they would like to do.
They were so good at painting in the classroom. Really great listening and careful work.
They have been enjoying role playing a few different jobs through play in the classroom and outdoors. A lot of different jobs in the hospital area, builders in the blocks, sand and Kapla and a spot of fishing in the water tray are just a few examples.
As the term goes on we will be discussing more jobs and having some parents in to tell us about their work.
The children were delighted to find a hospital area in the classroom to play in. Lots of jobs to do and great fun. Lots of the new p1’s told us last year that they are keen to be doctors or nurses when they grow up.
We got some time to play outdoors in our ‘Zone’. The weather was lovely and there was great excitement watching the tractor cutting grass in the field behind the school.
A few snaps of the children having their lunch. A great success and what lovely manners.
The children loved having the opportunity to explore and play with all the lovely things in the classroom. We are very lucky at Whiteness to have such an amazing learning space.
I loved all our class photo shots so thought I would just put them all on here rather than choose just one.
the children have been learning about the Emergency Services and how to get in touch with them.
In small groups they created little plays about an emergency when they needed to dial 999 and ask for the Police, Ambulance, Fire or Coastguard.
They have loved playing with Emergency vehicles in class, especially the ‘Oscar Charlie’ helicopter.
Another Monday afternoon exploring our amazing local area. A walk in the Strom Road and down to the little beach to complete todays task…….’what can you make?’
Some groups decided to do dam building…….
Others diverted the water flow into new channels….
the children came up with so many different ideas………..
There was also time to explore the shoreline and find out what lives there.
The best way to practice counting out loud is to have lots of fun while doing it. The primary 1 children built an obstacle course and took turns at being the leader and counting to 30, controlling everybody who was running around, under, through, behind, over obstacles.
The children have been learning about tally marks and this has really helped improve their ability to count in 5’s.
The primary one’s collected flowers sticks and stones and created this pictograph together outside.
The children have loved carrying out surveys and asking each other questions.
The primary ones practiced sorting objects using different criteria. It could be by colour, shape or size.
They worked really well with a partner discussing how they were going to sort the objects and taking turns at different stations.
As part of our On Our Doorstep IDL we went to explre the areas nearby the school and find different colours of plants.
The children were vary careful and only picked what they needed to work in their IDL groups to create Colour in Nature pictures. They talked about and named different types of flowers and plants they found.
The results were beautiful…….and fun!
As part of our IDL about ‘On Our Doorstep’ the children practiced using a compass and looking for different landmarks in different directions.
They worked in their groups of four to complete the task and had great fun.
There was time left before heading back to school so they had a giant whole school game of ‘Octopus’ at the Strom Pitch.
The children have been learning about capacity. The primary ones have been great at working in pairs to measure different containers. They were great at estimating how many cupfulls it would be before they counted and checked.
The Primary Two’s compared different containers and measured them using non- standard units. Againthey were excellent at making estimates before measauring.
They then went on to learn about using litres and half litres. It was great to be outdoors for this as they loved measuring the big containers.
It was great timing for the oil delivery to the school as the children were able to see the dials and put this learning into a real life context. We had 5000 litres delivered.
