Class News
w/b 19th October 2020
This week we used the green screen to create videos sharing facts that we have learnt about Tanzania. We had to be fantastic presenters by standing up tall, projecting our voices and speaking clearly. (Videos to be uploaded soon..watch this space!)
Our maths focus for this week has been odd and even numbers. We learned a chant to help us remember them, we sorted odd and even numbers and used what we had learned to complete a problem solving activity where had to read directions to assign colours to numbered houses.
w/b 12th October 2020
This week we have continued to revisit phonics that we have learnt previously and used them to write CVC words. We've really got the hang of stretching out words to help us hear all the sounds! We're working hard on correct letter formation and sitting them neatly on the line.
Our maths focus for the week has been measuring length using standard and non standard lengths. We spent time in the garden ordering leaves by their length and then used cubes to measure them. Some of the children went on to use rulers to measure in cms.
Aa part of our topic work, the children have shown an interest in life in Tanzania. This week we discussed the similarities and differences between schools in Wales and schools in Tanzania. We also learnt some interesting facts about Tanzania and found it on a map of Africa.
In Forest School we made musical instruments using natural objects and decorated them with African patterns.
As one of our independent learning missions this week, we worked together to decorate a pumpkin in the style of the art of Yayoi Kusuma, a Japanese artist. It turned out fantastic!
w/b 28th September 2020
This week we continued with our theme of dots and spots by learning a traditional African story called ‘How Tortoise Got His Patterned Shell’. We created some tinga tinga art inspired puppets to help us retell the story.
We also used the percussion instruments to create our own African inspired songs after watching a clip of some African drumming. We made some fantastic musical patterns!
We went on a hunt around the school grounds to collect Autumn objects to add to our Autumn display. We found lots of interesting things and loved spotting trees that had multi-coloured leaves!
In Welsh we practised asking and responding to 'Sut wyt ti?' (How are you?)
Our maths focus for the week was subtraction. We all learned how to sign into Manga High and tried some subtraction games. We can’t wait to use Manga High at home!
In our choosing time this week we loved answering the phone to write down messages from imaginary callers, playing CVC word bingo, exploring sunflowers with magnifying glasses and playing an addition board game.
w/b 21st September 2020
This week we received a very exciting letter from ‘Mrs Dorothy Spotuna’ asking us to create an exhibition for her art gallery all about art made from dots and spots from around the world. We are going to be researching tinga tinga art from Tanzania, pointillism from France, pop art from USA and mandalas from India.
We started by creating our own tinga tinga art using j2e on Hwb using the iPads.
We then went on to try writing our own traditional tales from Africa (similar to those on Tinga Tinga Tales). We talked about tortoise and his shell. How did it become patterned? I was very impressed with the children’s attempts at writing their ideas down on paper!
In maths, we continued looking at addition and using the counting on strategy. We looked carefully at addition sentences to decide which of the two numbers was the largest and which was the smallest. This helped us to decide which number to hold in our pockets, and which one to count on with. We played lots of games to help us recall addition facts to 10. Some of the children went on to use their knowledge of addition facts to 10 to solve addition problems to 100.
With the weather starting to change we looked at signs of Autumn on the school grounds. We found lots of interesting things to discuss and even had a go at some leaf rubbings.
w/b 14th September 2020
This week we celebrated International Dot Day! We read the story 'The Dot' by Peter H Reynolds and then created our own paper plate dots. We learned all about colour mixing to help us along on our journey to being real artists!
Our maths focus for the week has been counting up to 20 objects accurately (some groups moved on to counting larger sets by grouping objects and counting in twos) and addition. We ended the week by creating our own addition machines in the garden!
We discussed healthy eating and balanced diets. We designed our own healthy lunchboxes.
w/b 7th September 2020
Wow! What a fantastic first week! The children have adapted to the new routines really well and are very eager to learn!
We have spent the first week learning how to use the classroom resources and areas, setting out classroom expectations and getting to know each other (and washing our hands a lot!)
Our topic for this term is 'Dots, Spots and Circles'. After mind mapping things that have dots, the children decided that they would like to look at animals and art with dots or spots. This lead to the class looking at art from around the world that included animals! They were particularly drawn to the Tinga Tinga art from Tanzania and this will be the first focus area for our topic work.
In maths, we practised counting sets of objects accurately and matching them to numerals. We also used the chalk on the yard to practise writing numbers correctly.
Our literacy focus has been writing our names carefully, making sure that we get all the letters the correct way round and put uppercase/lowercase letters in the correct places. We will be continuing to practise this regularly this half term.
Well done Dosbarth Moel Siabod on a fantastic first week!