Donaldson Class
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DONALDSON CLASS ARE READINGOur book this half term is....
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Welcome back! We hope you have had a fabulous sunny half term break and are feel refreshed ready for our final half term of curious investigations before the summer holidays begin.
Our topic this half term is The Olympics. We will be investigating many of the different nations that take part in the Olympic Games, thinking about their cultures and religions, listening to and playing music from the different nations, understanding what it takes to be a successful athlete and how to keep pour bodies healthy as well as exploring the text Hands Surprise by Eileen Brown and gaining a deeper understanding of fractions, money and time as part of our maths focus.
Fruit Salad!
Donaldson class have had such a wonderful week ending in us creating our fruit salads. Our Design and Technology focus this half term has been learning to cut and peel food to create a simple dish. The children tasted a variety of fruit using our senses in science; Designed their fruit salads, cut the fruit into halves and quarters in Maths, and assembled their dish in DT before aksing their families at home to evaluate their work. We hope you enjoyed your fruit salad!
Fruit Cocktails!
We've had a day of exercising our senses whilst learning about halves and quarters.
The children explored some of the fruits from our chosen text, Handa's Surprise. We cut them into halves and quarters and used our sense to describe their smell.
The staff members supported the children in slicing the limes and lemons and the children enjoyed combining the fruits with water and food colouring to make their own delicious juices and teas.
Please note - no exercising of the taste sense occured during this activity!
The children explored some of the fruits from our chosen text, Handa's Surprise. We cut them into halves and quarters and used our sense to describe their smell.
The staff members supported the children in slicing the limes and lemons and the children enjoyed combining the fruits with water and food colouring to make their own delicious juices and teas.
Please note - no exercising of the taste sense occured during this activity!
Pulleys and Levers
When we first read the story of The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch, the children were fascinated about HOW Mrs. Grinling got the lunch all the way from The Little White Cottage to The Lighthouse without it touching the water and without using a boat. It sparked deep conversation and investigation into pulleys and ropes and this week we have rigged up our own pulley system in our outdoor area so that we can see exactly how Mrs. Grinling managed to deliver the delicious lunch. I wonder if any seagulls will steal the food from the basket?!
The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch
Lighthouse fever has swept through the class this week! We have painted the characters and settings from our story, we have rigged up a pulley system to see exactly how Mrs. Grinling managed to deliver the delicious lunches to Mr. Grinling and we have learnt about repeating patterns by sponge printing lighthouses. We have also learnt to play @A Sailor went to sea, sea, sea' using the hand bells.
Summer 1 2021
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This half term our topic is all about the seaside. We will be investigating the physical features of coastlines, painting to the sounds of the sea, researching the invention of the lighthouse and why they are used as well as using the Talk for Writing technique to explore the story of The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch by Rhonda Armitage. |
Spring 2 2021
What a wonderful end the Easter term. Well done for all of your hard work Donaldson. Enjoy your Easter break and we will see you on the 20th April for our brand new topic, 'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.'
Pond Dipping
We had lots of fun investigate the pond life today. We found a newt, lots of frog spawn and some dragonfly larvae. This sparked a lot of questions about life cycles and we are excited to watch the frog spawn grow and change.
Windy Day Investigations
What's better to do on a windy day than go and fly a kite?! The children noticed that is was a windy day today, so decided to make their own kites out of materials they found in the classroom. They cut, joined and tested their kites and then we had a competition to see which kite could fly the highest. Look at the determination on their faces!
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Our First Week Back
WB 8th March
We have had a super first week back at school. We have measured using rulers, compared and measured quantities, orally retold our topic story, The Train Ride by June Crebbin and made some very special surprise artwork that will be coming home at the weekend! We have enjoyed getting back into the routine of phonics and handwriting sessions also.
Spring 1 2021
Ancient Eygpt
Welcome back Donaldson Class!
We hope you have had a lovely break and are excited to come back to school.
This half term our topic is ll about Ancient Egypt. We are going to have lots of fun finding out about where Egypt is and how the people of ancient Egypt lived a long time ago.
We hope you have had a lovely break and are excited to come back to school.
This half term our topic is ll about Ancient Egypt. We are going to have lots of fun finding out about where Egypt is and how the people of ancient Egypt lived a long time ago.
Look at all of our exciting Ancient Egypt Home Learning
Autumn Term 2 2020
Fireworks!
This week we will be exploring the reasons behind Bonfire Night and the story of Guy Fawkes.
We started the week off thinking of by recreating a dark night sky with firework explosions all over it! We used fly swatters and paint to flick firework patterns all over the giant night sky. It was LOTS of fun. We used adjectives to describe the shapes of the fireworks we made. Words such as bright, crackling, zooming, sparkling were used.
What fun!
We started the week off thinking of by recreating a dark night sky with firework explosions all over it! We used fly swatters and paint to flick firework patterns all over the giant night sky. It was LOTS of fun. We used adjectives to describe the shapes of the fireworks we made. Words such as bright, crackling, zooming, sparkling were used.
What fun!
R.E. WEEK
At Longstone Religious Education is a hugely important part of our curriculum. Our creative approach to teaching RE if fun and memorable for the children. Our RE curriculum embodies respect for the law and the principles of freedom, responsibility and fairness across all cultures, as well as teaching the importance of understanding and respect for all spiritual and moral beliefs.
Every half term we take part in creative R.E. weeks, this weeks theme was Harvest. In Donaldson Class we investigated how Harvest Festival is celebrated around the world. We talked about being thankful and appreciative and what this means to us.
We have printed with Yams and learnt that in Africa the Yam is celebrated at harvest time.
We have made harvest pumpkins and autumn sun catchers.
We have drawn pictures of what we are thankful for.
We have explored the Jewish festival of Sukkot and constructed our own sukkah.
Take a look at some of the fun we have got up to!
Hand Bells
In music this half term our focus was to use the hand bells. As our topic was Food and Farming we decided to learn the well known nursery rhyme 'Baa Baa Black Sheep.'
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Fire Pit Fun!
We have enjoyed our first Fire Pit session of 2020! There are so many benefits that the children gain from our fire pit sessions. During each fire pit session the children are learning about fire safety, how to manage risks, learning organisational skills and the skill of self control. They are learning to respect nature and the power of fire and other natural occurrences such as wind and rain. They learn how to cook and most importantly gain a huge amount of enjoyment from the sessions.
Harvest Hedgehogs
In Design and Technology our focus has been preparing food hygienically and understanding the importance of good hygiene.
We linked this to our topic of farming by learning about the 'Journey of Bread' from field to our plate!
We made our own bread and shaped them into harvest hedgehogs whilst talking about all of the animals in our country who are looking for a place to hibernate at this time of the year.
Ask us what we know about bread and where it comes from!
We linked this to our topic of farming by learning about the 'Journey of Bread' from field to our plate!
We made our own bread and shaped them into harvest hedgehogs whilst talking about all of the animals in our country who are looking for a place to hibernate at this time of the year.
Ask us what we know about bread and where it comes from!
What The Ladybird Heard
Our Talk For Writing approach to literacy means that we explore stories in all manner of creative ways.
Today we explored the characters of our book, What The Ladybird Heard By Julia Donaldson through the medium of biscuit decorating! Yum!
We used adjectives to describe the characters whilst we worked and talked about each character in detail.
Take a look at our edible characters below. You might be able to spot a Hairy Hog, The Fine Prize Cow, A Woolly Sheep, A Dainty Dog and of course....The Ladybird that never said a word!
Today we explored the characters of our book, What The Ladybird Heard By Julia Donaldson through the medium of biscuit decorating! Yum!
We used adjectives to describe the characters whilst we worked and talked about each character in detail.
Take a look at our edible characters below. You might be able to spot a Hairy Hog, The Fine Prize Cow, A Woolly Sheep, A Dainty Dog and of course....The Ladybird that never said a word!
Landy!
In keeping with our farm topic, we have been enjoying the Landy and Fender series of books written by Veronica Lamond.
Take a look at the activities on the Landy website. The children have been captivated by the stories and there might be a few things you can do at home.
Take a look at the activities on the Landy website. The children have been captivated by the stories and there might be a few things you can do at home.
Coding and Positional and Directional Language
We have had so much fun coding to direct our bee (ladybird!) around the farm. We have written instructions to help the ladybird get to different positions around the farm and then tested the codes by programming the beebot! We used lots of positional and directional language and worked together as part of a team.
Making Maps
As part of our Topic this half term we are learning the skills to help us become great geographers including recognising map symbols and learning how to use a map.
We used our class story 'What the Ladybird Heard' as inspiration and made maps around the farm that led to the fine prize cow's shed. We made up our own map symbols and talked about what each symbol represented.
Then came the fun part.... We screwed up our work and tore it around the edges to make it look like an old treasure map and we had great fun dying the paper using tea bags!
We used our class story 'What the Ladybird Heard' as inspiration and made maps around the farm that led to the fine prize cow's shed. We made up our own map symbols and talked about what each symbol represented.
Then came the fun part.... We screwed up our work and tore it around the edges to make it look like an old treasure map and we had great fun dying the paper using tea bags!
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This picture says it all! We had SO much fun! |
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Counting Sheep!
Our reception children have been working hard on their counting skills. We helped the farmer to count his animals into the pens and match them. Linking number symbols with their cardinal number value is a super maths skill!
Rosh Hashanah
The festival of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is a joyous occasion celebrated by members of the religious community all over the world.
Donaldson class have been learning about what it is like to mark the Jewish New Year by taking part in the dipping of apple in the honey.
This one of the most recognisable traditions associated with Rosh Hashanah.
The apple symbolises a blessing for all of the fruit trees, similar to the Christian beliefs of Harvest festival and the honey symbolises the excitement for a sweet New Year ahead.
We all dipped a slice of apple in the Honest and said "Let this be a sweet new year!"
Donaldson class have been learning about what it is like to mark the Jewish New Year by taking part in the dipping of apple in the honey.
This one of the most recognisable traditions associated with Rosh Hashanah.
The apple symbolises a blessing for all of the fruit trees, similar to the Christian beliefs of Harvest festival and the honey symbolises the excitement for a sweet New Year ahead.
We all dipped a slice of apple in the Honest and said "Let this be a sweet new year!"
Den Building
We have been learning how to use our outdoor area safely. We had so much fun using the branches from the recently prunes trees to make a den. We listened carefully about how to carry the branches carefully and safely and we used our problem solving skills to lean the branches in places that they would stand to make a secure and cosy den. Do you like our finished den? P.s.... we did make a door, it was around the back!
On The Farm
Our topic this half term is On The Farm. We have so many fabulous activities planned and we would love to encourage contributions to our topic from home.
We know many of you are from farming families, live on farms and grow lots of food in your own gardens and allotments.
We would love to see photographs of your farms, farming equipment, animals and plants. Perhaps you might want to give us a video tour of your farm or allotment?
It's these experiences that really bring the topic to life for the children and help to cement their learning.
Huge thanks to Eva who brought us a box of tomatoes that she grew on her farm.
We know many of you are from farming families, live on farms and grow lots of food in your own gardens and allotments.
We would love to see photographs of your farms, farming equipment, animals and plants. Perhaps you might want to give us a video tour of your farm or allotment?
It's these experiences that really bring the topic to life for the children and help to cement their learning.
Huge thanks to Eva who brought us a box of tomatoes that she grew on her farm.
Fabulous Phonics.
We have got off to a flying start with our phonics sessions. Year 1 have started reading and applying their set 2 sounds and are doing brilliantly. Reception are showing us how super smart they are by telling us all of the sounds they already know and we are practicing our correct letter formation too.
Hello Vole!
Oliver and his family were gardening at the weekend and they found this gorgeous little vole. We looked at the photograph today and Donaldson class decided to call it Voley! Thankyou for sharing Oliver. If you have anything you would like to share with us then please email it to us!
Nature hunters!
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This week in Donaldson we had fun turning over stones and logs to see what we could find. We found centipedes, woodlice, spiders and lots and lots of worms. We talked about the habitats that the creatures liked to live in.
We were also excited to say hello to a fabulous common frog who had hopped into our writing nook!
...and if all that excitement wasn't enough, we also found a family of newts next to our writing shed.
A super day all round!
We were also excited to say hello to a fabulous common frog who had hopped into our writing nook!
...and if all that excitement wasn't enough, we also found a family of newts next to our writing shed.
A super day all round!
The Colour Monster
This week we continued exploring our emotions with the book 'The Colour Monster' by Anna Llenas. We have had great fun exploring how we feel using the little monster to help us.
We have collaged with wool, cut with scissors, mixed colours and shades using paint, written sentences and thought of different words to describe each feeling.
Take a look at our work, we are very proud of it!
We have collaged with wool, cut with scissors, mixed colours and shades using paint, written sentences and thought of different words to describe each feeling.
Take a look at our work, we are very proud of it!
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Click on this image to see some of the activities that we will be doing based on The Colour Monster
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This term we are focusing on highlighting the importance of understanding and addressing our feelings, emotions and thoughts and what better way to do this than through the fantastic story of The Colour Monster written by Anna Llenas.
PLANNING
Click the image to see the planning for our topic this half term - 'The Olympics!'
Click the image to see the planning for our topic this half term - 'The Olympics!'
Parent Information