Autumn Term 2nd Half

Our topic has been ‘Tales from around the World’ and we invited Kuda who lived in Zimbabwe to come and talk to us about her experiences of Africa.  Kuda taught us a song and dance called ‘Making Melodies’, which involved us using some very unusual dance moves. Our main storybook was ‘Walking through the Jungle’ and we drew our favourite wild animal from the story using oil pastels. 

We also read an information book about Bonfire Night and built our own bonfire from autumn leaves.  Guy Fawkes came to visit us to see our bonfire but we are not certain that he was impressed.  It could be something to do with the fact that his cunning plan did not come to fruition.  We celebrated the festival by watching fireworks on screen, whilst sipping chocolate milkshake and eating Parkin cake.  We created our own fireworks pictures which are displayed in our classroom.

This year we discovered the meaning of poppies in an introduction to Remembrance Day.  We had two minutes silence to remember and think about all soldiers, past and present, for their bravery and commitment to save our country.  We painted poppies in the style of the American modernist artist, Georgia O’Keeffe, who is known for her paintings of flowers on a large scale. 

The Clever Kittens quickly got into the festive spirit and made the home corner into the Christmas home corner.  The dining table was set-up with the traditional turkey, Yorkshire puddings, carrots and the must-have sprouts.

We have also been learning about 2D shapes and talking about their properties.  We created our Christmas cards using, circles, squares, triangles, rectangles and stars. Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year everyone!

Autumn Term 1st Half

The Clever Kittens have now settled well into their exciting adventures of school life at Redscope.

Our first topic theme has been ‘This is Me’ and we explored all about our feelings through the book ‘The Colour Monster’. We mixed colours together to make new colours to paint a Colour Monster. We also moulded clay with our hands and fingers to create a 3D Colour Monster.

We looked in the mirror and used our fine manipulative skills and used tools and techniques to craft our own portrait. They are all mounted on display in our classroom, but don’t worry, they will be coming home.

We went on an Autumn walk to Barker’s Park. On our walk we had the opportunity to notice different aspects of the outdoor environment in our local area and changes in the season. We found brown, orange, red leaves, conkers, acorns and all natural materials we could use to create an Autumn collage. We also had a ‘listening moment’ to listen for sounds around us whilst walking in the woods. We tried to name and describe the sounds we heard to help us in our phonics learning. We could hear the birds tweeting and the wind making the leaves on the trees rustle. We used our senses to notice different sights, sounds and smells.

In the whole school conservation week, the Clever Kittens learnt a new word ‘pollution’. We read the book ‘Little Turtle Turns the Tide’ and found out that by picking up our rubbish at the beach and riversides and putting it in the bin, we can keep our fish and animals safe. We have drawn some amazing sea creatures swimming in a clean ocean.

In the final week, we had a special visit from the Dentist and Dental Nurses from Kimberworth Dental Practice to teach us how to look after our teeth. We now know that we should brush our teeth twice a day for two minutes, after breakfast and before going to bed. We also need to eat healthily to keep our teeth healthy.