Monthly Archives: January 2017

Sort and classifying animals

Class Work, Science
IF

Today in Science we started to sort or classify animals. We learnt some facts about 6 different groups of animals:

We then worked together in our row groups to sort a set of animals. There were a few we were unsure of so we talked together as a class about these. Some animals were easy; there are lots of mammals. Some were more difficult – some of us struggled with whether they were amphibians or reptiles. We had a go at our own sorting and checked our facts out on a help sheet. It was tricky but interesting!

Our very own books

Class Work, English

Today we finished publishing our very own books. We have been working on them from start to finish since we came back to school in January.

First we read lots of different journey tales. We focused on the Little Polar Bear stories by Hans deBeer. We read many different stories and then used the main character of Lars to write our own.

We planned them, wrote them, edited and improved then and finally this week we published them. We were so proud of ourselves! Mrs Hill invited us to Reception to read our books to the children. In English today we finished illustrating them and then practised reading to a partner. We had to make sure we used a loud, clear voice and some expression to keep our partner interested. We then went to Reception this afternoon and had a wonderful time! The children really enjoyed our stories and we enjoyed sharing them. Thank you Swans and well done Toucans! Our final books are on display in our classroom, please come and read them as they are AMAZING!

Money discussion

Class Work, PSHE

Today, in PSHE, Toucans had an enlightening discussion about money.

We discussed where we get our money from, they were quick to tell Mrs Sabir about wages, but then thought about where THEY actually get all the money they seem to have saved up! It seems Toucans are great at saving money from birthdays, Christmas and Halloween. They even told me how they get money for “being good” and when they complete jobs at home. Toucans came up with a variety of places that people can keep their money safe- pockets, money boxes, safes, in a drawer and the bank.

Spending the money is easy, Toucans certainly know where they would like to spend it. We thought about the things we buy and whether they are bought through NEED or WANTS. There was a little debate about whether a new bike was a need in life or a want… what do you think?

We came up with a few needs: clothes to keep warm, healthy food, shelter (a home), medical treatment and an education.

We also came up with lots of wants: snacks, toys, holidays and TV.

Well done toucans for exploring money and the things we need and want.

Discussing our value word – Appreciation

Circle Time, Class Work, Values

Today in Circle Time we focused more on our value word. We discussed some more examples of what it means to appreciate something. We defined it as someone doing something for us that is kind and we are grateful for. We then went around the circle and shared some examples of times in the last few days that we have been appreciative of someone:

Super appreciation Toucans! Remember to thank all the people you appreciate

Animal habitats

Class Work, Science

Today in Science we learnt more about animals and how they are suited to their habitats. We focused on polar bears and learnt lots of new facts. We learnt that although the Arctic would not be a suitable habitat for people, or many other animals, the polar bear is perfectly suited to living there.

We had a picture of a polar bear to label with features showing it is suited to the Arctic. We then wrote facts about what we had learnt. We chose our own way of presenting our facts.

Colour mixing

Art, Class Work

We have been learning about colour mixing. We have used the primary colours to make secondary colours.

These are the primary colours:
Red
Yellow
Blue

These are the secondary colours:
Orange
Green
Purple

We learnt that:
Red + yellow = orange
Yellow + blue = green
Red + blue = purple

Next week we will learnt about what happens when you add black or white to a colour.

Fun in the snow

Class Work, Science

This morning we made the most of the snowy weather. Our topic this term is polar explorers so we simply had to take advantage of the polar weather that happened overnight and this morning. We had a wonderful time but soon got very cold!

Behaviours for Learning

Class Work

Today we had a really fun time exploring our next behaviour for learning. So far we have focused on listening, pride and concentration. This term we are particularly focusing on independence but we also decided together we think perseverance needs to be linked to it. First we discussed what we think it means to be independent:

Miss Williams set us a challenge to help us think about things in our classroom that help us to be independent. We had a list of things to find and collect and just 5 minutes to complete the challenge. First we talked about what we can do if we get stuck. We thought we could:

1. Look around the classroom at the labels and other things that might help us.
2. We could ask a friend.
3. We could ask a teacher.

We set off on our challenge and did really well! Nearly everyone found most of the things on their list. Before we put them all back in the correct places Miss Williams asked Melissa to be her and she became all of us. Miss Williams kept running up to Melissa (the teacher) and saying ‘Miss, Miss, I found a pencil’ and Melissa said ‘Put it back where it goes then’. Miss Williams then said ‘Miss, Miss, I found a counter’ and Melissa said ‘Put it away then’. She did the same thing lots of times and Melissa got very fed-up! It was very funny to watch but also helped us to think about how we could be more independent. We are going to try much harder to just get on with things over the next few weeks and see if we can solve our own problems.

Materials experiment

Class Work, Science

In Science today Professor Pole asked us to do an experiment. He wanted us to find out which material would be the best to make him a new umbrella. We had lots of ideas about materials we thought would be good and those we thought wouldn’t be.

We predicted these would be good:
Plastic because it is waterproof.

We predicted these would not be any good:
Metal because although it is waterproof it wouldn’t be easy to open or close and it would be too heavy.
Wood because although it is waterproof for a short time it does eventually absorb water and would go rotten.
Fabric because the water will go through it and soak in.

We then experimented with paper towel, plastic bag, plastic wallet, cardboard, fabric and tissue paper. We made it a fair test by putting each material in the water for the same amount of time.

We found out that fabric, tissue paper, cardboard and paper towel absorbed the water. Plastic bag and plastic wallet were both waterproof so we found out that plastic would be the best material for an umbrella.