Hello Squirrels one and all! We've had a good first week in the Den, although we're still getting used to remembering where everything is in our new classroom and new routines.
Mantle
We've been busy developing our DT skills and instruction writing abilities in mantle this week. Following on from the children's marvellous magnetic toy designs last week, the children experimented with different DT joining skills on Tuesday. As you can see from the photos below, they did a super job practising joins such as flange, L-brace and using split pins. The children then made their magnetic games and every single one had some form of 3D structure and a DT joining skill evident on it. They've decorated the games according to their plans (think under-the-sea fishing, magnetic ice hockey, a jungle maze and more!) and next week we will be making the magnetic counters/fishing rods/monster trucks/ice hockey pucks.
The children have also writing fantastically bossy instructions to go with their games, using this week's SPAG content of adverbs and adjectives, plus imperative (bossy) verbs, time openers and a clear layout. Everything is coming together and soon the team will be meeting with Toys R Us to present their hard work.
Mental Health Awareness Week
On Thursday afternoon the wonderful Miss Taylor led a session all about mental health. The children explored worries and what can happen when the worries keep on building, like adding a cup of water for every worry into a tub on someone's lap. Soon it seemed like the worries would spill over, but luckily our thoughtful Squirrels had plenty of suggestions on how to calm worries. Sharing them with family or friends was suggested as the number one way to fix a worry problem.
Miss Taylor also organised some scenarios to help the children understand how we all see the world differently and how, for some people, their brains work in a slightly different way. It's really important for us all to remember that we all view the world in a different way, we all feel differently about things and we will all respond to different situations differently... and that is okay! We need to always remember to show kindness and compassion to others, as we can never truly know how they are feeling on the inside.
SPAG:
This week we focused on adverbs. The children recalled that adverbs add more information to a verb and mostly use the -ly suffix. They had fun acting out different verbs and thinking of root words to add an -ly suffix to in order to create an adverb. E.g. Mercy hopped strangely around the room, Henry yawned slowly, Teddy grinned crazily, Beau ate greedily. The children noticed how for some root words, we simply add an -ly. For others, we needed to drop the y and replace it with an -i, then add -ly.
Try spotting adverbs in things you read together or thinking of adverbs to describe what actions you can see around you when you're out and about this weekend. When you say the adverb out loud, does it sound as though just an -ly is needed, or does it need to be -ily?
Maths:
Year 2: We began this week by counting using fractions! The children have become quite good at counting in thirds and quarters (as well as halves from the previous week) and writing mixed numbers. Please continue to practise counting in fractions/mixed numbers at home. How many thirds does it take to brush your hair? 1/3, 2/3, 1, 1 1/3, 1 2/3, 3, 3 1/3 etc.
On Thursday, we moved on to working out fractions of amounts. The children did a super job of recalling their doubles and halves knowledge for working out 1/2 of an amount, but solving 1/3 of an amount proved a bit trickier. Using the resources, they were able to recognise that three equal groups are needed as that bottom, bossy number (denominator) was 3. Try sharing amounts out equally at home using objects, then verbalise it together. E.g. 1/2 of 10 = 5. 1/3 of 15 = 5.
Year 3: We began the week by simplifying fractions... Ironically this proved to be a tricky challenge and Year 3 did a super job of showing endurance and not giving up! Soon they realised that whatever we do to the denominator, we have to also do to the numerator. We found a visual fractions wall very helpful and will keep building on this skill later in the term.
On Thursday Year 3 also moved on to solving fractions of amounts and have tackled a variety of fractions of amounts including 2/3 of 9, 5/6 of 12 and 3/4 of 16. Remember to look at the denominator first, but then also the numerator. At home, try sharing amounts out equally at home (using objects or pictorial representations if needed) then ask your child to explain their understanding to you. Encourage them to explain the numerator and denominator.
SPAG and maths homework has been set over on Doodle!
This week I have another special Doodle shout out for Indy who is now on a 200 day streak!! This is incredible! Well done Indy!
Finally, in RE today we were learning about Jesus recruiting his 12 disciples. I asked the children "if you had to choose 12 people to help you change the world, who/what kind of people would you choose?" Below is just some of their answers, which I think speak for themselves...
Have a wonderful weekend Squirrels!
From Miss Cartwright
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