This week in Dexter Class
Following on from the success of our study of a significant person in history (Mary Anning) and looking at fossils and dinosaurs, I would like to take the opportunity to carry on with some more science and history based exploring as part of the EYFS Understanding of the World learning. We will finish our fossils today so that they can come home this week.
Space Day is a fantastic day to celebrate all things to do with aerospace, planets, stars and their observation and takes place on May 3rd this year. The day is dedicated to the extraordinary achievements and opportunities that the exploration and use of outer space bring us. It was created with the aim to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects among young people however, it also aims to encourage the public to take an interest and learn more about space and space exploration. We will also base our Literacy, Language and Communication learning around this topic for the next week or so and I am hoping the children will really enjoy it. Our significant person will be Mae Jemison.
In Maths, we are finishing our work on first, then and now problems to help us with addition and then we will be moving on to subtraction. We are encouraging children to count on and back from a given number rather than counting the whole amount again. We will also be having another go at our Club Maths rapid recall challenge. This carries on throughout the school with questions on addition and multiplication. We start with the 3 club in Dexter class and look for children to be secure at answering '8 Club' questions in under 3 minutes by the time they enter Year 1. The ultimate goal is the 99 Club in upper KS2. It is only a very small part of our maths learning but it is something that we all enjoy here at Amberley.
Our phonics revision will be focusing on reading slightly more complex sentences containing CVCC, CCVCC and CCCVCC words this week. We will also be practising fluently reading, and also spelling tricky and high frequency words.
Our Worship continues to look at Justice and this week I will be following on from our Earth Day pledges and discussing how it’s really important to care for our surroundings and the environment in which we live, and in which other creatures live. The key question will be - Is it justice if we ruin God’s beautiful creation and cause creatures to lose their homes, or die because they have eaten our rubbish?
This theme is also continued in RE as we look at 'Which people believe God is the creator of everything? What is amazing about the world? ' and have conversations about our responsibilities and actions.
I'm afraid the weather hasn't perked up much but fingers crossed it is going to start getting a little warmer soon. Please continue to send children in with warm, waterproof coats as we are spending lots of time outside and have been rearranging the outdoor area to keep it interesting and engaging for the children. They have lots of opportunities to play with sand, water and to construct using a range of loose parts including guttering, planks and bricks. We have small world figures including animals, sea creatures and vehicles. We are working on encouraging everyone to look after the toys and resources and put them back where they belong so that they do not get lost or broken. This also includes the inside toys We want to support children to be independent and take pride in their environment. We would really appreciate it if you could encourage them to look after their things at home too as I'm pretty sure they wouldn't throw everything around all over the kitchen or garden in their own house!
So, fingers crossed for some sunshine as we head towards the Cow Hunt next weekend. Dexter Class are making a cow and so we will be working on that to get it finished for Friday when we will be sending it out to pasture! I look forward to seeing you there, it's certainly one of the highlights of the school year and an event not to be missed.
