We've been learning about life under the sea. We started by talking about the creatures we know that live in the sea. We then looked at some images and named the creatures. We talked about what we already knew about them and learnt some new facts. We then explored using different materials and techniques to create sea creatures.

We painted pictures of sea creatures and talked about the facts we had found out about them. We also explored using different tools on a drawing app to create sea creature pictures. The first thing we did was choose an appropriate background for under the sea. We then chose colours and sizes for the brush according to what we were drawing. We also used different tools such as the glitter brush. We were able to try things out and change our minds by using the undo tool.

We practised our fine motor skills by drawing patterns. We tried to draw our patterns so that the lines were really close together but didn’t touch each other. After we’d practised we were then challenged to draw patterns on a fish. We had to try to draw the lines really close together and we had to try to draw different patterns in each section of the fish. All the children showed an amazing amount of focus during this activity and were very proud of their completed fish.

We've also been practising our writing skills by writing about some of the sea creatures. We learnt about the problems sea creatures are facing due to plastic pollution. We looked at some images of various creatures in trouble due to plastic. We talked about what we could see and how we thought this may have happened. We then focused on what we could do to help. We linked this back to our previous learning about recycling and also talked about the importance of not dropping litter.

We investigated which materials floated and which sank. We then used some of our recycling to make boats to carry some of our animals in the water tray.

We've been learning about minibeasts so we went on a minibeast hunt during forest school and looked closely at what we found. We identified what they were and then asked questions about them. We then watched some short video clips and looked at some non-fiction books to find the answers to the questions we asked. We wrote sentences about them and sorted pictures into sets according to whether they were insects or not. We drew minibeast pictures on the iPads, made clay models and created transient art pictures. We talked about the facts we could remember during all the activities.

Over the last couple of weeks we've been focusing on how to be a good friend. Myself and Mrs Feakins have modelled various scenarios and the children have discussed whether we were being good friends or not. They then came up with ideas of how we could be better friends. They were then given various activities to do with a partner where they had to focus on listening to each other and helping each other. I was very impressed with how they worked together to create minibeast pictures. They were all very kind and worked together brilliantly. There have been many other opportunities for the children to work together during continuous provision. One of the children's favourites has been building dens together to keep cool in the shade.

In PE we've been learning to throw and catch beanbags accurately by putting one foot forward. We've been enjoying getting outside and have been playing football, building obstacle courses and practising riding 2 wheeled bikes. I'm so impressed with the children's determination as many of them can now ride these without stabilisers.

We started by talking about where some of our food comes from. We looked at a world map to see where pineapples are grown. We talked about how they would get to the UK and then how they would get to the shops. I explained that lorries, boats and aeroplanes give out a lot of bad gas which goes up into the sky and is very bad for our world. We talked about how it’s really good for our environment to eat locally produced food as this produces less food miles. We talked about how to grow seeds. We discussed what we thought we would need and then watched a short story which explained how to grow a bean. We then planted beans.

We learnt about honey bees and why they’re important. We also learnt about how and why they make honey. As we found out that they need flowers we decided to plant some sunflowers. We also did lots of bee activities including making bee models, bee puppets and painting pictures of bees and flowers. We then used our phonic skills to write sentences about bees.

In PE we've been learning to control balls by dribbling around cones and by aiming at a goal. Over the last few weeks we've had a music teacher leading our music lessons. The children have really enjoyed listening to and exploring different instruments. They also really enjoyed Maypole dancing. 

We've been learning all about seasonal changes. We discussed this in relation to to the woodland animals we learnt about previously. We also went on a walk to spot signs of spring. The children took photographs of what they found. We looked at these photos in class and identified the different flowers that we found and talked about what would happen to the buds that we found on the trees.

As part of learning about where we live we learnt about farm animals. We found out about what they eat and what their babies are called. We also found out what the different farm animals produce. When learning about chickens we looked at some eggs. We discussed the fact that they're very fragile. The children investigated which materials they could use to protect the egg when they dropped it. They had great fun making egg protectors, standing on the chair and dropping the egg to see if they saved the egg. Some of the children showed great resilience and perseverance during this activity as when their egg smashed they looked at what the other children had done to protect the eggs that didn't crack and tried again.

We've been learning about what homes were like in the past. We talked about our kitchens now and the appliances we have in them. We discussed the fact that many of these need electricity in order to work. We then watched a short video about kitchens in the past. We talked about things that were different to our kitchens now. We learnt about how people washed their clothes using a dolly peg, washboard and mangle. We then moved on to talking about bathrooms. We watched another short video about bath time in the past and talked about the fact that most houses didn’t have a bathroom. We then sorted objects into two different sets according to whether they are found in our homes now or were found in them in the past.

We've also been learning about Chinese New Year. We listened to a story about how the years came to be named after 12 different animals. We watched a short video about how families celebrate Chinese New Year. We found out that this year is the year of the dragon so we made dragon masks and puppets.

In RE we talked about places that are special to us and why they are special. We talked about the fact that churches are special places for Christians. We looked at some photographs of churches and some of the objects found inside them. We also watched a short video showing some of the features of a church. We made stained glass windows.

In maths we've been learning to sort objects into different groups and to talk about how they have been sorted. We've also learnt about how to find out if numbers are odd or even. During some of our lessons we learnt how to compare the weight of objects and how to use balances to identify which is the heaviest and which is the lightest. The children then used cubes to find out how much the objects weighed and recorded what they found out on whiteboards. We also made a post office where the children could write letters and cards to their friends. They then bought envelopes and stamps at the post office before posting them in the post box. They also weighed parcels to send.

The children have been really enjoying the school role play area. They've been brilliant at taking on the role of the teacher. They've been using what they've learnt in handwriting, maths and phonics to teach and help each other.

We've been using our phonics skills to write sentences about woodland animals as we've been learning all about them.

After half term we focused on activities to develop the children's perseverance. I gave the children some challenges to have a go at. These included throwing a ball in the air and catching it with one hand, balancing a ball on a bat and walking across the hall, making a card house and bouncing a ball into a cup. They also had some that involved working together with a partner. These included walking along with a large ball pressed against their backs and keeping a hoop between them as they moved around. Most children found these activities very difficult but they kept on trying. We talked about how they were being determined like a dung beetle. We also talked about how they felt when they managed to achieve what they set out to do.

So far this term we've been learning about winter and the changes that occur. We started by looking at the trees and then moved onto talking about the weather with a particular focus on ice. We predicted what we thought would happen when we added cold water, hot water and salt to ice cubes. We then observed what happened and talked about whether our predictions were correct. We were challenged to see if we could pick up the ice cubes using string. We also investigated what happened when we painted the ice. We added salt, paint and food colouring to see what happened. During our forest school session we looked for interesting natural objects to put in our ice art. We worked together to carefully select objects and then froze them overnight. The next day we hung them outside and watched them melt throughout the day.

We then looked at maps. We started off by looking at a map of the United Kingdom. We looked at where England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales were located. We also identified Cornwall and discussed the fact that this is the county that we live in. We then looked at a map of our local area. We identified our school, the roads, fields, houses and woods. We then switched the map view to an aerial photograph and compared the two. Next, we looked at a map of Gunnislake and identified the features that were the same as the area around our school. We also identified where the river was and the bridge that crosses over it. We drew our own maps. We thought carefully about the colours and shapes used on the maps we had looked at to show the different features. Later in the week we compared where we live to Plymouth. We talked about Plymouth and whether the children had been there. We discussed what it was like. Were there any things that were the same as our school area? Were there any differences? We looked at a map of Plymouth city centre and compared it to the map of our local area. We then sorted some of the features found in the two different places.

Next we learnt about people in our community who help us. We looked at a poster showing lots of different people who help us. We identified the people and discussed what they do and how they help us. We then took part in various activities throughout the week which helped us learn more about some of these people. We learnt about some of the people who work in hospitals such as doctors, nurses, surgeons and receptionists. We then made a hospital and took on some of the roles of these people. The children were really caring towards each other. This was also a great opportunity for the children to practise their writing as they made notes about their patients symptoms and treatments. We watched a short video about firefighters and learnt how it's really important that they stay fit and healthy in order to do their job. We talked about the importance of smoke alarms in our houses to warn us if a fire starts and what to do if this happened.

Some of the children showed an interest in the job of scientists. We talked about the fact that there are lots of different types of scientists but they all try to find things out. During our forest school session we pretended to be scientists who could make special potions to help people. The children then collected ingredients to put in their potions and talked about how they would help people. They had some fantastic ideas!

In PE we've been practising finding our own space using the spot markers. We've also practised moving in lots of different ways, such as sidestepping, crawling, jogging and skipping, taking care to avoid bumping into anyone or anything. We've learnt how to make some gymnastic shapes with our bodies. Some of these included the straddle, pike, arch and dish. We've also been practising how to balance on various parts of our body.

In maths we've been learning a lot about the composition of numbers. We've investigated number bonds, doubles and odd and even numbers. We've also ordered numbers. The children have been brilliant at practising these skills independently during continuous provision!

Our phonics learning continues everyday and the children have now moved onto reading and writing short sentences. We're also learning to read and spell words with four sounds.

We started this half term with lots of Halloween activities. We practised our pencil control by colouring and writing Halloween cards for our friends. We also wrote and made spells and potions. We played a pumpkin throwing game where we could score 1, 2 or 3 points. The children then recorded their own scores. The children practised their scissor skills by cutting out facial features for their pumpkins.

We learnt about Diwali. We listened to the story of Rama and Sita and watched a video showing how Hindus celebrate this festival. We were very lucky to receive a video from one of the children's grandparents showing how they celebrate Diwali. He also brought in special clothes for us to try on and some sweet treats to try. We learnt that people decorate their hands so we worked together to create patterns on large hands and we carefully placed coloured rice to create rangoli patterns.

We learnt about Bonfire night and why we celebrate this. We created fireworks pictures and discussed how to stay safe around bonfires and fireworks.

We’ve also been learning about healthy eating. We identified which foods are healthy and which are not and why it's important to eat healthily. We did a range of activities linked to this. We listened to a story about Supertato and then drew our own vegetable characters. We also created fruit and vegetable characters on the iPad. We had a lot of fun investigating how to free the blueberries from the frozen ice! We looked at a portrait by Giuseppe Arcimboldo and identified the different fruit and vegetables we could see in the picture. We then created our own fruit and vegetable faces by cutting and sticking fruit and vegetables.

In maths we’ve been learning number bonds to 5. We’ve also been practising our counting skills every day. We’ve learnt to compare groups of objects and to say whether there are more, fewer or an equal amount. This week we’ve been learning to name shapes and describe their properties.

A big focus over the last few weeks has been developing our scissor skills. We’ve done lots of exercises to strengthen our fingers. We’ve also taken part in a wide variety of activities to practise holding the scissors correctly in order to cut. Many of the children started by snipping bits of paper which they found very difficult. However, with lots of practise they can now cut various shapes out independently. I’m very impressed with the determination they have shown to enable them to do this! 

As we've been learning about ourselves I asked the children to draw a picture of themselves. We then looked at their pictures and discussed what was missing or what could be improved. We then came up with some success criteria to help us remember what we needed to draw when drawing ourselves. The children then had another go at drawing themselves whilst checking the success criteria. We then compared the pictures and discussed which was better and why.

In maths we've been learning to recognise 2, 3 or 4 objects, pictures or sounds without needing to count them. We’ve also started to learn number bonds for 3 and 4. We’ve been investigating different ways of making these numbers using fingers, beads and objects. In addition to this we’ve also been learning about capacity.

We learnt to retell the Goldilocks and the three bears story. The children really enjoyed using different voices for the different characters. We then made a up our own story about Goldilocks and the three rabbits using the structure of the story.

We’ve been learning about our fives senses. We started by investigating our sense of taste. The children tasted a variety of foods including lemon, salty crisps, celery, very dark chocolate and milk chocolate. We then talked about whether they liked the taste of the various foods. There was a real mixture in terms of whether they liked the taste or not. Some children liked the crunch and the juiciness of the celery while others thought it was disgusting!

Next we explored our sense of hearing in a variety of different ways. We went on a listening walk around the school. We closed our eyes and listened to what we could hear. We listened carefully to a piece of music and then had to decide whether we needed to move slowly or quickly, loudly or quietly. We explored making loud, quite, slow and fast sounds on the musical instruments. We also made our own shakers and had great fun dancing to some music outside with them!

We then focused on our sense of smell. We had fun smelling different covered pots and trying to guess the smells. We then investigated how to make the smelliest socks. We chose things that smelt strongly to put on our socks. We then put them in plastic bags and left them for three days. We then took them out and smelt them again and talked about which ones we thought were the smelliest!

Later in the week we focused on our sense of touch. We had fun putting our hands in the feely bag and describing what we could feel. The children came up with some fantastic adjectives to describe the different textures. These included fluffy, scrunchy, bumpy, lumpy, smooth, rough and scratchy. We then explored our forest area to find smooth, rough, bumpy, hard and squishy things.

This week we’re focusing on sight. We have taken part in a range of activities where the focus has been looking carefully and talking about what we see. We even practised in PE by looking where we were going to avoid others when running around really fast!!

The Rainbow Walking Water Investigation

We set the investigation up and talked about what we thought might happen. We then looked at what had happened later in the day and talked about what we could see. "Wow, it’s a rainbow!" "It's green because the yellow's gone in and the blue's gone in."

Colour Glasses

The children loved making glasses with coloured cellophane. They really enjoyed exploring the environment whilst looking at it in different colours.

Mixing Colours

We investigated this by painting one hand one colour and our other hand a different colour. We then rubbed them together to see which colour they made when they mixed together. We were also challenged to paint rainbows. We had to mix the colours because we only had red, yellow, blue and white paint.

Bubble Painting

We had so much fun blowing bubbles in the paint! We then experimented with printing different patterns. We talked about all the different colours we could see.

On Friday 13th October we took part in Big Me day to support Action Aid. The children dressed up as what they would like to be when they grow up.