Snowflakes

Welcome to Snowflakes class page!

Mrs Evans, Miss Yapa and Mrs Gill

This is where you will find out about all the fun things we have been up to, the topics we are learning about and about the curriculum.

Please check frequently to see what we have been up to.

WC 15th May 2023

Our book this week was called Clean up! It was about a boy in Jamaica who cleaned up the beach from all its rubbish so people could enjoy it. In the classroom we spoke about why it was good to keep things clean and tidy and what we do with rubbish at home and when we're out and about. The children sorted some recycling items into categories and had a go and reusing some items to make new things - we made instruments and did junk modelling. In Forest school we went round with litter pickers and gloves on and collected rubbish that did not belong there. We used this in our maths too by counting how many of each category we had collected. 

W/C 8th May 2023

This week we read the story Fatou, fetch the water. We made our own shopping lists and pretended to go to the shop with a bucket on our head to carry the items. In maths we made patterns in forest school, there were lots of patterns created using sticks, leaves and flowers. We also made a well to collect water and create some colourful geometric shapes using paint and colouring. 

WC 1st May 2023

This week we have been looking at the King's Coronation. We read some stories on what to expect on King Charles III's special day and did some exciting activities in its build up. The children got to create crowns to wear, and some blue, red and white pasta jewellery.  In Maths the children counted out jewels to decorate a crown and used pegs to match the number shown. To end the week, there was an inside street party will the Early years classes and the children got to eat crisps and a biscuit they decorated and then participate in some party dancing and games.

WC 24th April 2023

This week we have been reading Handa's Surprise. We looked at Handa's village in Africa and how it is different to ours. We then got to look at halving and quartering with the fruit from the story. After this we got to try some of the fruits, we spoke about their tastes and textures - sweet, sour, squidgy, soft, hard, slimy. 

In Forest school we looked for signs of Spring, the children found lots of flowers growing, buds and blossom.

WC 17th April 2023

This week we started our topic of Big Wide World, our book was called Under the same sky. We looked at pictures of trips some of the children have been on and they then got to draw a picture of a trip that they have been on or would like to go on. They also drew a self portrait of themselves to represent them in this world. We looked at a world map at the different countries in the world and where we live.

In maths we looked at maps and the different routes we can take to go places. We drew a map together from our classroom to the trim trail but going a different route to normal. We then continued this in forest school where he children got to explore but had to use alternate routes to the main path.

W/C 27th March 2023

This week we have focussed on Easter. The children had great fun going on an Easter egg hunt in the forest - upon finding an egg they got a chocolate one in return. We read the Easter story and used this across the week as our focus. We looked at new life and how Spring represents this, the children made chocolate Easter nests to show this. In maths we counted eggs and matched numeral to quantity as well as counting and writing numbers. The children also did some crafts - using forks to paint and make chicks, decorating eggs and making paper plate bunnies.

W/C 20th March 2023

This week we have been looking at Harry and the bucketful of Dinosaurs. The children cut their own stick puppets to retell the story and used dinosaurs in the tuff spot to roleplay. The children had lots of fun taking a bucket and filling it with their favourite toy to be like Harry. In Forest school the children explored the natural materials they could find and used magnifying glasses to have a look at their marks, seeing their similarities and differences. In maths we did prepositions and used dinosaurs and buckets to practise this as well as using themselves.

W/C 13th March 2023

This week we have been reading The girl and the dinosaur. We spoke about fiction and non-fiction books and how dinosaurs were alive a long long time ago. In the story a girl dug up some bones on the beach to create a dinosaur of her own, so the children had fun exploring some bones and using magnifying glasses to see the marks and patterns on them. They also made some dinosaur skeletons using pasta. In maths we spoke about how big a T-Rex footprint and stride is and the children had a go at seeing how many steps it would take them to fill 1 dinosaur stride. They also had a look at how many footprints fill a dinosaur footprint.

W/C 6th March 2023

This week we have been reading Dinosaur Roar! The children had a look at opposites in the story and some of their meanings. They got to make skeleton dinosaur bodies and clay fossils using dinosaur skeletons too. We had a volcano experiment after talking about dinosaurs living long ago and what sort of things would be around where they lived. The children then got to experiment with baking powder and vinegar to watch it foam and bubble. In maths we counted some dinosaur eggs and counted dinosaurs whilst matching them to a number. In Forest school the children did some bark rubbings, looking at the marks they leave and the patterns they have.

WC 27th February 2023

This week we have been reading 1,2,3 do the dinosaur. The children had great fun joining in with the actions to the story and having lots of opportunities to role play the story in different ways.  Linking to this we went on a dinosaur hunt in the forest and had to mark them off on our sheet. The children did great finding. 

In Maths we looked at shapes and some of their properties, the children had to try and make dinosaurs out of shapes. 

Fab science came in to school and the children got to see and perform some cool experiments that involved red cabbage juice mixed with toothpaste, vinegar, baking powder and some other things. They also had a go at playing with bubbles made from dry ice.

WC 20th February 2023

This week we have been very busy, at the start of the week we looked at Shrove Tuesday and Mardi Gras. The children made paper pancakes and enjoyed the celebration. We started our topic of Dinosaurs reading Tyrannosaurus Drip, where the children did some dinosaur making, some frozen dinosaur egg exploring and labelling body parts of dinosaurs. We used dinosaurs as our theme for maths and did some dinosaur counting, ordering numbers and recognising numbers.

WC 6th February 2023

This week was feel good week, the children had great fun meeting the farm animals at the start of the week, learning their names and the sounds they make. They also got to make Rocky Road to take home and eat - they all looked very yummy! Scooter day was on Thursday and children enjoyed using their scooter on the track in the big playground. Alongside this, we also looked at Elmer. As a class we created a giant Elmer with different colours as well as creating individual ones. In maths we looked at patterns with colour, and there were lots of opportunities for the children to create patters in the classroom.

W/C 30th January 2023

This week we read the story of The Gruffalo. The children recalled the animals from the story and matched them to their housing. They also played pairs and had to find the same picture. We cut and stick labels to match pictures - some children had a go at identifying the first sound to be able to match the word to the picture. In maths we looked at sizing, small medium and large. We noticed how dirty our outside area was and the children had great fun using the litter pickers to collect rubbish and put it in the bins. Towards the end of the week, the children got to make chocolate cornflake cakes that looked like the Gruffalo. 

WC 23rd January 2023

This week we have been reading Room on the Broom. The children have been making witch hats, wands and cauldrons, as well as making potions in the forest and in the class. The children ordered the characters from the story onto the broomstick and used cubes to measure broomsticks and objects from the classroom. As a treat the children made edibles wands made from breadsticks, jam and sprinkles - no spells were performed as they were all eaten too quick. 

WC 16th January 2023

This week we have been looking at Goldilocks and the three bears. The children got to create their own stick puppets to retell the story by colouring, cutting and sticking. The were also able to retell the story in the tuff spot with some laminated puppets. We went on a bear hunt in Forest School to try and find the bear - we used the rhyme from the story We're going on a bear hunt along with this. In maths we looked at sizing, putting objects from the story and things we could find in the classroom and outside in order; small/little, medium/middle sized, large/big. 

We got to try some porridge as in the story - some liked and some didn't. The children made some bear masks to tell the story - lots of them wanted to be baby bear as well as explore some materials like from the story - wood (hard), material (soft).

WC 9th January 2023

This week we started to look at fairy tales, the first book we chose to read was Little Red Riding Hood. The children had fun retelling the story using puppets and creating their own food baskets for Granny by cutting and sticking. They also got to make their own bread roll for Granny by kneading and rolling some bread dough - it didn't make it to Granny as they all ate it!

In maths we looked back over numbers 1-10, identifying them and counting out the correct amount of cakes to the given number. 

We have had a fun filled first full week back and have enjoyed welcoming 3 raindrops children into snowflakes.

WC 19th December 2022

This week we have done lots of Christmas crafts to get ready for the holidays. The children made reindeer food so that they don't get  hungry, this was with oats and dried fruit. They also ordered different sized paper to make a Christmas tree. 

To end our term we had a party with snacks and juice and danced to some Christmas songs.

WC 12th December 2022

This week was a little bit different - with the snow day and then the icy days that followed. When coming back to school the children had great fun exploring the snow and being outside. We finished our Nativity story and did lots of Christmas crafts. The children explored some Christmas smells with ice, made some wreaths and Christmas cards.

In maths we looked at patterns, we played some patterns games and looked at patterns in everyday life that we could make; boy, girl, boy. The children then cut and stuck some Christmas patterns and made some pattern candy canes. 

To finish our week, we got a surprise visit from Santa, then made melted snowman biscuits and ate them at the end of the day as a treat. They were yummy!!

12.12.22 SNOW DAY!

This week in Maths we are looking at patterns. Play these games (links below) and ask your child to identify the next shape needed. This will follow on from our work on 2D shapes last week. To extend the activity, ask your child to identify shapes around the house; circle clock, rectangle TV, triangle Christmas tree, square box etc.

Here are a couple of interactive pattern games that your child could do today:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/shape-patterns

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/christmas-patterns

and a Christmas Decorate The tree activity;

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/christmas/decorate-tree

Outdoor Learning: Go outside and make a snowman! Take a picture and email it to me! 

pbunnage1@sphoward.herts.sch.uk

WC 5th December 2022

This week we read further into The Nativity story, seeing that Mary was travelling to Bethlehem with Joseph on a donkey and that Jesus was born in a stable. We linked this to Forest School where the children were creative in making a stable made from sticks and leaves. We also learnt our rhyme of the week with makaton signs - Away in a manger.

In maths we looked at some shapes, what we could find in the classroom that was a square, triangle, circle or rectangle. The children then went to the Christmas role play post office to post some shape letters in their matching post box. They also made some great pictures using shapes on paper, in the tuff spot and on the carpet. To finish the week we did some Christmas crafts using paper to make Christmas trees with tinsel for our classroom display.

WC 28th November 2022

This week we began to look at The Nativity Story. We focused up to Angel Gabriel coming to tell Mary she was going to have a bay called Jesus. Alongside this we practised our rhyme of the week - Little Donkey with makaton action signs. In Forest School we collected sticks to make stars, with adult support the sticks were tied in a star shape then decorated with glitter to make them sparkle. 

We have been looking at different sizes in maths - small, medium and big. We did some activities in ordering the children, ordering toys and Christmas pictures. At the end of the week, we got a bit messy with marbles and paint in creating a picture to take home. 

WC 21st November 2022

This week we focussed on the book Don't hog the hedge. The children learnt some great new vocabulary including hibernation, hedge and some animals that hibernate. There was a selection of activities over the week, using masks and puppets to role play and tell the story, counting hedgehogs, creating hedgehog pictures and making a hedgehog hotel in Forest school for the hedgehogs to hibernate.