Welcome back Marvellous Meerkats Class!

Welcome back and a very Happy New Year to you all.

The marvellous Meerkats have returned with oodles of enthusiasm for our new topics and have jumped straight back into their learning.  We have had a busy first week back with a new book in English to inspire our writing and vocabulary, a new science topic to explore and a new maths learning.

We have been sharing ‘The lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’ by David and Ronda Armitage in English.  We began by looking at the front cover and making predictions before sharing the story.  It was fantastic to hear the children’s confidence in speaking aloud to the whole class and language choices when explaining the possible story plots.  After reading the story we wrote character descriptions and created our own picnic basket of treats.  Interestingly sushi, spicy chicken wings, cookies and a variety of ice-cream flavours featured in many of the lunch lists – fancy!

Here is a link to the story if you would like to share it at home. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46wCRq50Wwg

This week we have used the base 10 manipulatives to support our learning and understanding when adding and subtracting. The children have dipped into their back brains and used their knowledge of number bonds and counting in 10s to help them find the answer, reason and then explain how they know it’s correct.  It has been great to see the collaborative learning when the children have been exploring the concepts.

The weather this week perfectly supported our science learning block of ‘Winter’.  We have had the opportunity to fully observe the various winter weather types; sleet, snow, frost, bright sunshine, grey skies and icy breezes.  We have looked at how humans and animals adapt in the winter months. The children had great fun pretending to be various animals showing how they adapt.  We thought about what activities we can and can’t do, what clothing suits the season and what foods to eat.  We even had a discussion on ‘If it was always winter…’  It was wonderful to hear the children’s positivity; hot chocolate and snowball fights featured heavily.

Following singing assembly this week, another member of staff praised the musical Meerkats for their enthusiasm during the assembly, so it was no surprise today that they all excitedly joined in the learning of another new song in music called ‘Boom, Chicka, Boom!’ We sang in different styles and included actions linked to the style.  As the term progresses will be learning about different percussion instruments and so next week we will make our own instruments to practice the beat, pulse and rhythm.  If you have any plastic bottles, boxes or plastic containers please send them in on Monday as we will make instruments on Tuesday.

In PE, we thought about the various ways we could move about the space around us and created ‘freeze’ poses.  The children then formed poses with a partner and I was very impressed to see how many of them made symmetrical poses, demonstrating a transfer of their maths learning to PE.  Check out the pictures to see the poses! PE days this term are Monday and Friday.  PE kit to be worn to school.

The weather has certainly turned much colder, please ensure that your child comes to school every day with a warm waterproof coat.  If you child wears a hat, gloves or scarf please ensure that they are labelled.  We do not wear our outside shoes in class so please do send in slippers to keep those little toes toasty and cosy.

I will be in class Monday, Wednesday and Thursday next week, Mrs Rous will be teaching Meerkats on Friday.  Our wonderful TAs, Mrs Allen will be in class Mon-Wed and Miss Smith on Tues, Thurs & Fri.  We will be wishing Mrs Allen all the very best on Wednesday as she leaves to commence her maternity leave.  We will all certainly miss her very much.  Miss Smith will be returning full time to Meerkat Class for the rest of the year.  

Wishing you all a very happy and cosy weekend.

Mrs Jeffery, Mrs Allen and Miss Smith.

Class email – class3@westbury-inf.wilts.sch.uk