Meet the Historians!
Wow – what a fantastic week the marvellous Meerkats have had! From writing poetry, programming BeeBots to taking part in a history workshop, and that’s just for starters!
We were visited by a very famous lady this week – Florence Nightingale herself! She brought some friends along who told us all about another famous lady - Mary Secole and the important work she did. The children saw how Mary would have made medicines and how they would have been applied to help the soldiers in the Crimea. Some of the children even had a go at mixing up medicines and applying them to our visitor! ‘Florence’ told us all about her life, where she lived, what she did to create clean hospitals, train nurses and how she had a pet owl who accompanied her to the Crimea. She even showed us the very special lamp that she used when visiting the sick soldiers at night. The children were amazing, engaging in all 3 workshops and showing all that they had already learnt about Florence and Mary.
In Maths this week the Year 1 children were looking at number lines and place value. They estimated, using their place value knowledge, as to where numbers should sit on the line and then challenged their partners to plot numbers. They partitioned numbers by identifying the 10s and 1s and looking at the value of the whole. The Year 2 children continued working through multiplication and division facts, grouping and sharing. They calculated amounts using the 5- and 10-times tables. I have been so impressed with the reasoning that the children use to explain their findings.
We continued looking at different types of poetry in English. The children used metaphors and similes to conjure up images of the characters in their poems and used imagery to write a poem in the style of Kit Wright’s poem ‘The Magic Box’. What a talented bunch of poetic Meerkats.
In PE, the children have been practising and developing their ball skills. They worked in groups to pass the ball with increasing distances between each other. They then played some team games whereby the had to accurately pass the ball between the team without dropping it. I am always so impressed with the positive teamwork and encouragement that the Meerkats display when playing in teams and groups. Well done superstars!!
The children created a playground map in computing and then programmed the BeeBot to visit all the attractions at the park. The children decided what would go where and which path the BeeBot would take. Some programmes worked first time, others had to be checked and reprogrammed but all managed to successfully negotiate their BeeBot around the park in the end.
In music we listened to Ravel’s Bolero and the children watched as different instruments of the orchestra joined in as the music progressed and the impact this had on the tune and volume. The children then used clapping, clicking, tapping and stomping to create their own rhythm. We then watched the famous Torvill and Dean ice-skating Olympic performance to Bolero.
New reading books will continue to be sent home each Friday but you can use the Oxford Owl log in to access and share books online. Please continue to support your child with their phonics and reading by visiting the RWI blog.
Next week, I will be in class Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Mrs Erikson (supply teacher) covering Tuesday as I am on a course. Miss Smith, our amazing TA will be with the class all week.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
Mrs Jeffery, Mrs Hughes and Miss Smith
Meerkat Class Team
Our class email is class3@westbury-inf.wilts.sch.uk
