Old MacDonald had a Farm
Week beginning 6th March 2023
Last week:
Since coming back after half term, the children have been learning all about our new topic 'Down on the farm'. Our first week has been a chance for children to expand their knowledge on the animals we may find on a farm including the correct names for male, female and baby animals. We have been using some amazing adjectives to describe some animals, like woolly sheep, loud chicken and fluffy chicken! It is an amazing way for children to learn new vocabulary by asking them what something sounds like, looks like and may feel like!
In our maths lessons last week, we were focussing on the numbers 6,7 and 8. Learning about how numbers are made and the composition of numbers is a fantastic way to deepen their knowledge in maths. We ensure that the children understand how numbers are made from smaller numbers, and delving deep into numbers supports this. In one of our maths lessons, we read a story called Six Dinner Sid. The children really enjoyed this story - you can watch it here Six Dinner Sid - YouTube. After listening to this story, the children worked in pairs to order the front doors from 1-6. This was a great way to explain to the children that for Sid to find which house to go to, they must make sure they are in order. We also looked into how we can show 7 in different ways using a ladybird who had lost her spots!! The children were given counting cubes and challenged to show 7 in a different way to their partner. If you would like to support your child's learning with 6,7 and 8, you could try asking them to show you how they can make these numbers with different objects, or on their hands!
In our role play area last week, the children have loved getting involved in our Farm Shop! This has given the children a chance to get a feel for life skills of going into a shop, choosing different items, checking out and paying. The children have really thrown themselves into being different roles in this area, such as a shopper, a cashier, shop owner, and bagging their shopping. This has been a wonderful way for children to expand their vocabulary in different scenarios. Another activity in our classroom has been using the tap tap nails to create different farm scenes. Using these hammers and nails encourages the children to use their fine motor skills to place the pins where they need them in order to make their creations. We also played together in our small world area to deepen the children's understanding of the story through play.
To improve the children's writing, they have been using the whiteboards to orally segment and blend words, then practise writing them independently. This helps with their Literacy Development as well as their phonics knowledge, and fine motor skills through holding a pen correctly! Please challenge your children by giving them words to write which they can spell phonetically (buzz, book, spoon, quack, queen, cat, sat are some examples you could do).
The children have been working on their creative techniques this week through painting pictures of different farm animals, as well as working together to collage a farmer!
Last week, one of our favourite activities was learning our Old MacDonald had a farm song. We used team work and communication skills to decide on actions to go with our song. The children were so excited to perform their song and actions in front of all of their grown ups on Friday, and it was so lovely to see you there! Reception were so keen to practise their songs, as well as make their own masks and learn some fun facts to teach their parents! It was a lovely end to our week and was so amazing to be able to perform in front of you - so thank you all again for coming. The children enjoyed creating and wearing their own animal masks, and drawing some incredible pictures to show everybody.
This week:
This week, we are going to be moving our learning on to a story called The Little Red Hen. If you did attend on Friday, you will be aware that you can get versions of this story on YouTube. Here is a link to the story so that you share it at home: The Little Red Hen Fairy Tales and Bedtime Stories for Kids in English - YouTube
We will be continuing our focus on Communication and Language Development encouraging the children to use the new vocabulary they learnt last week through the use of the role play and small world area.
In our maths lessons this week we are beginning to learn all about making pairs. We are aiming for the children to understand that a pair is made up of 2 things that are the same. If you would like to work alongside us in helping the children with this concept, please feel free to challenge your child into finding pairs of things around the house (socks, shoes, matching clothes, the same plates/bowls etc) anything that can help them to learn that 2 things are a pair would be so useful for them!
We hope you have a super week, we can't wait to catch up with you soon!
Miss Davies and Mrs Cooper.
