Unicorn Class Blog                    Term 1 Week 7              Week Commencing 14th October 2024

This week we have had another fantastic week of fun, creative learning and exploring.

We have enjoyed listening to the ‘Pumpkin Soup’ story by Helen Cooper. We had the opportunity to have discussions about how the animals in the story were feeling, whether their actions were kind and about working together. They learnt what bagpipes were and some of us thought the banjo looked like a guitar because they both had strings and a similar shape. They have also enjoyed using the tough tray to act out their own story using the cat, duck and Squirrel puppets and have made some very interesting soups working together.

This week we have been very excited as Zoe has started giving us lessons on using the new balance bikes safely. We have been learning to put a helmet on our head, how to balance, move along and stop using our breaks. Also outside we have enjoyed collecting different coloured autumn leaves to make fires as part of our imaginative play and make autumn leaves bouquets. We have been travelling around the climbing frames, trying not to touch the floor as we were pretending that it was lava. We have enjoyed playing Hide and Seek, What’s the time Mr Wolf and building with the construction. 

During Forest School we search for mini beasts, if we were unsure of any of the names we could use a mini beast identifier that Libby showed us. We found lots of worms, some of them looked like they had made letter sounds. There were lots of slugs and two woodlice hiding under a log. Some of us wanted to carefully hold one of the woodlouse, it felt tickly when it walked. We also found a scurrying beetle, like in the book ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Creepy Crawly Halloween’ we listened to. We noticed lots of Spider webs and we were very pleased when we spotted one that had the spider on it. We also enjoyed using the swings, hammocks and playing Hide and Seek.

During maths this week we have been singing number songs such as 5 Little Duck, 5 Currant buns and 5 Little Men in a flying saucer. We have been focusing on counting, saying one number for each item, showing ‘finger’ numbers up to 5 and solving real number problems. We were learning ‘One elephant went out to play’ which we really enjoyed. We have also enjoyed playing the Duck fishing game.

We enjoyed using the Tap tap nails, hammer and shapes to make pictures, which we were very pleased with. This week we have also very carefully been using our fine motor skills to put small pegs into the pegboards. 

During phonics this week we have had a focus on general sound discrimination as part of this we have been reciting the rhyme Old MacDonald had a Farm, revealing new animals each verse. Children have listened carefully for clues about what is on the farm, thought about and discussed which instrument sounds most like each animal. We have also substituted instruments for animals and used body percussion by reciting the rhyme alongside an action that an animal would do e.g. stamp their feet. We have also enjoyed spotting rhyming words in books and discussing the beginning sounds of children’s names.

Some of us enjoyed going into the cosy area, sharing stories with each other and listening to stories. There were discussions around how the characters may be feeling, why and what the characters could have done differently. The home corner has again been popular this week with children pretending to be families in their home.

This week we listened to ‘The Family Book’ by Todd Parr. We discussed who was in our family, similarities and differences between each other. We drew pictures of family members, discussed our special people and why they were special.

Jamie shared his photographs of his Mum, Nana and Auntie’s adventures when they went to Kenya. Everyone was very interested. We liked listening to Jamie talking about the photographs and looking at the pictures of the African animals, particularly the buffalos, vultures, cheetahs, jaguars and lions and the home in the village that was made of mud and straw. We were also very interested in looking at photographs and hearing about Margot's family.

Next week we will be continuing with our ‘All about me topic’, please can your child/children bring in a picture/pictures of their family or you send it to the Unicorn Class email address on unicornclass@nettlebed.oxon.sch.uk . We will also be having a focus around autumn and Halloween.

Hope you all are having a lovely weekend and looking forward to seeing you all this week for more exploring.

Best wishes

Mrs Fenwick