Hedgehogs
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Curriculum Newsletters 2023 - 24
Statistics- In our Maths lessons focusing on Statistics we have been working on sorting by a given criteria or into multiple categories e.g. by shape/ colour/ size/ type of object. Some of us have then been using our understanding of counting to make block graphs and start to answer questions about these.
Viva Espania!! The children are on a Journey to Bethlehem in Geography this half-term. Each week we explore a different country. This week we travelled to Spain. We had our passports stamped and then boarded a plane to fly to sunny Spain. The children watched a video showing Spanish traditions, famous landmarks and authentic foods. Afterwards, the children had the opportunity to taste some Spanish cuisine.
This week in Hedgehogs class we have been talking about friendship. Some of the children gave examples of what it is that makes a good friend. The children played a variety of board games to practise turn taking skills. The children had lots of fun. We also made some Gingerbread Friends Biscuits.
This week the children enjoyed a trip to Asda. The children have been learning about how to use money and what it is needed for. The children had a shopping list and were encouraged to find the different items in the store. They then placed the items onto the check out and paid. They all had a very good time.
Children in Need- Here are some of the activities we took part to celebrate children in need including; Naming things we might see linked to Children in Need using symbols, using colourful Semantics to communicate about pictures linked to the 'Pudsey's great fundraiser' story and icing biscuits and making bandanas!
Time- We have been working on developing our awareness of time (including through activities comparing how long it takes to fill and empty different containers and pouring materials quickly and slowly) and ability to tell the time or solve problems linked to time through practical activities. Well done Hedgehogs!
Remembrance day- Here are examples of some activities we have been taking par in to commemorate and develop understanding of Remembrance Day,
Bonfire Night- In Art we took part in some Bonfire Night activities. We have been working on using materials appropriately in simple processes, attempting new techniques with less support, and completing a piece of Art work by following an established pattern of activity. We also took part in Bonfire Night motor skill activities.
Aliens love underpants- Here are some examples of activities we have been doing linked to the story including playing story picture bingo to support understanding of story vocab, devising questions that we would ask characters, finding pictures in the Alien 'goo' tray and using symbols to communicate about these, using symbols to make requests linked to the story e.g. to select colours to make our own underpants pictures, and playing story questions snakes and ladders. Well done Hedgehogs!
Phonics- Phase 1- These superstars have been working on mouth movement activities including blowing bubbles, feathers, instruments, blowing out candles and trying to drink through a straw.
Maths- These children have been working hard on their tallying skills.
Marshmallows for Martians- Here are some examples of the work we have been doing linked to this story including working on communicating what items we would pack to take to mars, Using symbols to communicate about what is happening in the pictures, and using our writing skills to make 'mini books'
Jeans for Genes- We have been taking part in activities to celebrate Jeans for Genes day and have been thinking about how our Genes make us all unique and special.
History- Anglo-Saxon jobs- As part of our work learning about Anglo-Saxons we have been learning about jobs they would have had to do such as farming and weaving and we have also been learning about how their writing was different to ours and made Anglo-Saxon Runes.
PSHE - This week we have been learning about how to keep our bodies fit and healthy. We have talked about healthy and unhealthy food choices. The children made Fruit Smoothies using a choice of fruits. The children had to decide which fruit they would like to make their smoothie either verbally or by using symbols.
French - Bonjour!! This week in French we have been learning the phrases for the ingredients needed to make French Crepes. The children followed a simple recipe and then chose what filling they would like.
Maths - We have been exploring 2D shapes in Maths this week. The children sorted shape beanbags in the lower woodland. Some children collaged some large 2D shapes for the classroom display.
English - The children have been learning about the Apollo 11 Moon Landings and imagining what it would be like to travel to the moon. We dressed up up as astronauts.
DT- We have started learning about Rockets. We have been working on beginning to name parts of a rocket and discussing the purposes of these.
English- This week we started the story 'Toys in space'. We have been working on developing our understanding of key language including our ability to understand single words and to communicate about story characters and pictures using 2+ key words.
2022 - 2023
In PSHE, we have been doing some Gardening. The children enjoyed planting some flowers. Over the last few weeks, the children have been watering the flowers each day and watching them grow!
We have been learning about French traditions. The children enjoyed imagining that they were participating in the Tour De France. They enjoyed riding bikes, trikes and scooter boards.
Geography- We have been learning about the seaside- We have been developing our understanding of features of the seaside and how we can stay safe at the seaside.
Money- We have been learning about Money. We have been working on exchanging coins within our counting capabilities during shop role-play and on identifying and sorting coins. We also went to ASDA to practice paying with cash in the shop.
Shape work! We have been learning about 2d and 3d shapes. We have been developing our understanding of shape names and related vocabularly. Some of us have been working on sorting shapes by requested features e.g. curved sides and have been beginning to describe shapes to others.
History- British Commercial Transport Museum trip- Linked to our Summer 1 History work on transport we went to the Commercial Transport Museum to explore lots of old fashioned vehicles, we were able to take turns getting on some of the vehicles, used the driving simulator and we made our own plane models. Everyone had a fantastic time!
National Numeracy Day 2023 - In Hedgehogs we had lots of fun exploring indoor and outdoor Maths activities and games
Earth Day- We have taken part in lots of activities to learn about Earth day and how we can help look after our planet.
This superstar was 10 last week- Happy Birthday!
Easter activities- Here are some examples of Easter activities we have been doing in class this week. These included reading the Easter story and making textured palm leaves and crosses for the Easter assembly, making chocolate Easter nests and taking part in Easter themed fine motor activities.
Science- As part of our work on Life cycles we have learnt about the life-cycle of plants.
Sharing Our Learning!- Thank you to everyone who came to Sharing Our Learning this morning. We hope you had a lovely time!
Science- This term we have been learning about Animal life cycles and we have been working on identifying animal baby and parent pairs. Here are some examples of what we have been doing.
World Book Day- We have been taking part in activities to celebrate 'World Book Day' including choosing our own books to read in the 'reading den', and activities linked to our focus story for the day which was 'We're going on a Lion hunt'.
St David's day- We have been taking part in activities to celebrate St David's day including making Welsh cakes, creating Daffodil mosaics, Making Welsh castle pictures and matching symbols or words/ phrases to pictures linked to St David's day.
This term the topic is Rainforests. In Art we are learning about 'Animal Sculptures'. We used clay to make a model elephant, following on-screen video instructions and with the help of an adult produced some fantastic animals.
In Hedgehogs we celebrated French Day. We thought it would be fun to make some French Sticks. The children listened very carefully to the instructions and made some delicious bread. We enjoyed eating the bread with butter and jam. Yum!!
English - Instructions - This week in Hedgehogs class the children have been learning how to follow simple instructions. The children had to listen to a simple instruction given by an adult and look at a visual display to learn the steps to make a sandwich. Once the children had made the sandwich they then sequenced pictures and statements to show the correct order.
History (Kings & Queens) - This week Hedgehogs class have been learning about where Kings and Queens live. The children designed their own castle using Duplo and Lego. They also designed a castle using different collaging materials and paint techniques.
In Art this half term Hedgehogs have been learning about famous Artists who use colour in their Artwork. The children created pieces using techniques used by Ian Davenport and Jackson Pollock. The children had lots fun squirting paint onto canvas using syringes and splattering paint with brushes.
Chinese New Year- We have been taking part in activities to learn about Chinese new year. We read the Chinese New Year story about how the years came to be named and we learnt about how people might celebrate Chinese new year.
Science- this term in Science we are learning about material changes. We have been learning to identify materials, identify solids and liquids and last week we started exploring how some materials can be changed by heating.
Assembly! We are so proud of how well Hedgehogs did in their assembly today. Our focus was 'New Year' and events that we are excited for this year. Here are some pictures of the work we did to prepare for this including exploring items linked to different events and symbols for these, selecting symbols of our favourite events, writing/ drawing about events and practicing communicating our work to a group. Well done everyone!
Maths- Hedgehogs have been doing some fantastic Maths work during the first week back. Groups have been working on different focuses including; joining in with sequences of counting, making amounts to 5, tallying to show amounts, more and less and doubling!
Birthday! This superstar is 10 next week- Happy Birthday!
Christingles- We have been making Christingles and learning about why these are important for Christians. We will see them lit during our Christingle assembly this afternoon.
Christmas dinner- We all enjoyed our Christmas dinner!
Maths- Statistics- This week in Maths we have been learning about Statistics. We have been working on sorting by a given criteria with occasional prompting and on sorting by a given criteria linked to number or shape. A few of use have also, following a sorting task, ued our knowledge of counting to make block graphs and answer questions about these! Well done Hedgehogs!
Children In Need- Today everyone wore their spotty or own clothes and donated £1 to raise money for Children in need. We talked about why this is an important charity and took part in lots of activities to commemorate the day including icing biscuits, painting Pudsey, looking for spots around school and painting Pudsey ears.
Geography - The children are beginning a long journey to Bethlehem. They are visiting several countries along the way. So far the children have visited France and Italy. They travelled by plane, checking they had their passport and boarding pass. They also enjoyed tasting some foods with the in-flight trolley service. Some children used laptops to find out more information about the country they have been visiting
English- These superstars have been doing some fantastic work reading and writing/ building words linked to our 'Betty and the Yeti' story!
Remembrance day- We have been taking part in activities to commemorate remembrance day!
Anglo-Saxon jobs- As part of our work on Anglo-Saxons, today we learnt about different jobs they might have had to carry out and compared these to what we would do now. The jobs included weaving to make clothes, farming their food rather than going to a supermarket and carving 'Runes' rather than writing using pens and paper.
French- As part of our French Café topic we have been learning the names of some French foods including vegetables. Today we practiced our understanding of the vegetable names by using symbols, repeating words or using the French words independently to request the vegetables we wanted to use to print with. Everyone engaged fantastically!
PE-Balances- In PE some of us have been working on carrying out a sequence of balances with a partner. Here are some pictures of 2 of our pairs trying their partner balance sequence on a bench- Well done!
In Science this week the children enjoyed making Lava Lamps. They had to listen to instructions and then re-create their own Lava Lamp using plastic bottles, water, oil, food colouring and fizzy tablets. The children chose what colour food colouring to use. They observed the results of the experiment using a torch.
History- Anglo-Saxon houses- We compared pictures of Anglo-Saxon and modern homes and then made our own Anglo-Saxon house pictures. We discussed differences between these and our homes as we worked.
Maths- Number work- In our number work we have been working on understanding the quantities that different numbers represent. We have been sorting/ stacking/ grouping items then counting these with support as appropriate or finding amounts to match number cards. A few of us have also been working on estimating.
DT- In DT we have been learning about Rockets. After learning about the different parts of a rocket e.g. nose, fins and thrusters, we made our own pull string rockets. We cut out the different parts our rockets would need, making choices about colours as we did this, and we then decorated them before carrying out test flights!
The children have been listening to a new story called, 'Alien's Love Underpants'. They have had lots of fun exploring sensory items related to the story, especially the Flying Saucer. Children have completed a variety of activities including, matching objects to pictures, listening to the initial letter sounds in words and matching to the correct picture, and building and writing sentences containing up to four key words.
In Science this week, the pupils discovered some amazing facts about the sun. They had lots of fun exploring shadows in the playground. The pupils used large chalks to draw around shapes of objects and their friends. They had lots of fun!!
Hi everyone, we have a fantastic first week back in Hedgehogs! Here are some examples of what we have been up to...
