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This Week in Woodlands
Another week has passed and the children have been given many opportunities to absorb new information, practise their painting skills, engage in role play with their friends and teachers, fill up suitcases, pull them around and them empty them all over the floor!!!
Tuesday was a particularly exciting morning as Captain Anna from British Airways spent some in the morning with us, teaching us so much about aeroplanes, air travel and she revealed some secrets of her trade. We all enjoyed the visit a lot and we learnt so much in just a couple of hours.
Our maths learning this week has focused around the story of ‘Owl Babies’. We have counted owls onto tree branches, added groups of owls and subtracted owls, as they have flown away. We have looked for trees that have different sized branches for small, medium and large owls to sit on. Some of our N2 children have used their hands, feet and bricks to measure the ‘wingspan’ of their peers.
It is fascinating for the teachers to see the different stages of understanding when it comes to counting. Here are a few of the many maths skills that children acquire in the Early Years:
- Rote counting – saying number names out loud in order;
- Counting small groups of objects – giving meaning and context to the number names;
- Counting OUT a group of objects from a larger group – realising when to stop counting/having ‘enough’;
- Subitising – recognising small groups of objects by sight without having to count individual items;
- Counting two groups as a whole – understanding vocabulary such as add, more, total, altogether;
- Mental maths – being able to visualise an amount, count on in your head.
In Green Class we have been exploring the story of Rapunzel. The children used their imaginations to create their own versions of the story. We ended up with a real variety of adaptations – with dragons flying in to save the day and a Rapunzel who has short hair whilst the prince had long hair. But, who needs a prince when your parents are there to save you? After our creative discussions the children put their ideas onto paper, in the form of pictures. We have also explored the traditional story line, creating a tower and knights or princes, ready to climb to the rescue! We will show the photos from our spectacular show next week which the children organised and performed – Their own version of this well known story.
Orange Class have been learning about different kinds of celebrations; welcoming new babies, birthdays, holidays, weddings and Mothers’ and Father’s’ Days.
They were also visited by more guests on Wednesday. Zimal’s mummy and Alannah’s mummy came to talk to us about caring for babies. Mariam told us all about looking after the baby that is growing in her tummy and Caragh brought in gorgeous baby Eliza to teach us about helping her to be safe, happy and healthy. Thank you for bringing our celebrations learning to life.
We have been exploring traditions, celebratory meals, traditional clothing for celebrations, gifts and how we celebrate as families.
Catherine Claridge, who is very instrumental in the settling in our youngest children has also written a piece, sharing her expertise and experience of how we do this. Do have a read here
As always, we all send you our thanks for your support and wish you a super weekend.
With best wishes from all the team at Woodlands
Shirley, Donna, Emma, Catherine, Natalie, Ruth, Sophie and Tracy.
Through the Fairy Door is an intriguing book, with unusual illustrations combining both photographs and drawings. Interestingly each page has two levels of text – simple rhyming within the pictures for a delightful simple tale and then extra detail below for a more depth story.