Base 2 Weekly News

What a week we have had! Monday morning was very exciting. As you will see from the photos some very interesting things had appeared in our classroom in time for literacy. There was sand (or 'actual sand' as the children said) on tables and chairs, a whole variety of shells and stones, we even found a little rowing boat and tiny castle with light coming from it's windows. The children spent the lesson busily writing a list of all this evidence before recording it in their literacy books using adjectives and noun phrases to describe it more specifically. On Tuesday I introduced the children to the book that all of this evidence had jumped out of, The Sea of Dreams. We spent the rest of the week making predictions about the book, first using just the title and then looking at the whole front cover. The children came up with some wonderful imaginative ideas and we have even written our own adventure stories based on what we think might be going to happen. We're excited to have a look inside the book next week!

In maths we have continued our work on money. Now that the children are really secure with recognising coins we have been thinking more about their value and how we can use different coins to make amounts, as well as adding price tags together to find out how much we would need to pay. We have been working hard on our reasoning and problem solving skills when tackling problems involving money and towards the end of the week started to think about giving change. This work has not only required knowledge of coins and notes but has also been consolidating our addition and subtraction skills.

We started our week with a science afternoon when we learnt about and each made our own food chain for a polar bear. We had to use the vocabulary predator and prey, as well as carnivore, omnivore and herbivore when talking about the food chain. Challenge your children to see if they can remember all 5 life forms that made up the polar bear food chain!

We have also met the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton in history this week. I showed the children some pictures of him and they were tasked with guessing who he was and what he did. They used the evidence in the pictures really well to make some informed guesses. We learnt that it was his mission to be the first person to cross Antarctica (which we know is a continent!) via the South Pole and so set about thinking about what we might need to pack. We wrote kit lists (mostly with wooly hats and gloves at the top) and packed our bags ready to set off.

We had a really special day on Thursday when the author and illustrator Paul Geraghty was in school all day. He did two whole school presentations were we learnt about his work and he told some of his stories whilst drawing an illustration from one of his books. We dedicated the whole day to working on his books and in the morning made our own small books to re-tell one of his stories, Solo. The children worked really hard to use interesting vocabulary and their best handwriting. We were also lucky enough to take part in an illustration workshop where Paul Geraghty showed the children different techniques for creating expressions on faces and then helped them have a go at their own. The children really enjoyed the day and I hope feel inspired to work on their writing and drawing.

Have a lovely weekend.
Miss Pitchford