Simple but effective and great fun!

OK, well maybe not exactly, but we had an amazing visit from Rosie’s mum who showed us lots and lots of amazing photos of animals and life in Africa.   We saw that some of the moths are as big as Rosie’s hand:

They once had a scorpion sneak under the door of their house!

The ground is very rich in minerals which means the fruit and vegetables grow really big!

This is fruit and vegetables from Rosie’s own garden:

This bug was as big as Rosie’s mum’s hand!

These are both avocados, the smaller one is from the UK and classed as large, the big one is the one grown in Africa and is classed as small!

A huge thank you to Rosie and her mum as this is such a great way to learn about Geography, where we are learning about geographical similarities and differences through studying the geography of a small area in the UK and a small area in a contrasting non-European country.

Class 1:  In our science lesson this afternoon we learnt about Spring.  As part of the year one science curriculum we need to learn about the changes in the seasons and what happens in each one.  We also need to learn the names of local plants, trees, flowers and animals.

With that in mind, we spent the afternoon exploring our wonderful grounds hunting for signs of spring.  The children were very enthusiastic.  We were excited and enthralled by the wonderful world we live in.  We found bluebells, apple blossom, fresh, bright green leaves that we discovered were incredibly soft and were even lucky enough to discover a little green minibeast on one of the plants we brought inside to look at!

Class 1 had a very exciting afternoon today, when we welcomed our pre-school children in to class as part of their transition into Reception in September.  We are very lucky at Bishops Nympton to have our own pre-school on site.  The pre-school and infant class meet up once a week to do Leap into Life or Yoga, and at other times to do activities related to our topics.   This ensures a smooth transition into Reception.  

Class 1 had a lovely afternoon learning all about sources of light.  We learnt that some things make light, like the sun and torches, and other things reflect light, like the moon and shiny paper.  The children spent a fun afternoon investigating sources of light and reflective materials in and around the classroom!

We have had a fantastic start to the summer term in class 1.  We made the most of the sunshine and spent lots of time outside enjoying it and building space rockets.  The children are really enjoying the new topic and learning about life inside a space rocket.

We had an exciting visit from the RNLI today to talk to the children about beach safety.  The children loved joining in and it was very informative about how we should stay safe on the beach!  Poor Mrs Hancock got swept away in a a rip tide, but thankfully lifeguards Aurelia and Eve were there to save the day – phew!

Class 1:  In Science this afternoon Reception were experimenting with building bridges and finding out what the best material for a bridge might be to make it strong.  The Year Ones designed an experiment to test which type of material would make the best parachute; next week we will be making the parachutes and carrying out our experiments.  Once they had finished designing, the Year Ones decided that they wanted to have a go a making bridges too.  They really thought about making their structures strong and how to make them stronger, with some designs being modified and improved throughout the afternoon!

Class 1:  After the fun of the snow day on Monday, everyone is back safely and excited about their learning in class one.  In our Maths this week we have been learning about shapes in Reception and recapping shapes and then learning about halves in Year 1.  The children have all worked really well, working together, helping each other and reinforcing their learning during their Independent Learning time.

Today we all had a fantastic day learning about different European Christmas traditions.  The children worked in mixed aged groups on a carousel of craft activities throughout the day.  They made Nativity scene pictures in one session, Norwegian Christmas baskets in another and German paper Christmas trees in the last group.  All children were able to complete the different crafts throughout the day.

All of the children made their teachers really proud with their superb attitude to their learning; the kindness and help that the older children displayed when with working with the younger children was lovely to see.  We had a European themed lunch with a choice British beef burgers or Italian pasta and Polish apple cake or Cheese and biscuits for desert!  A great start to December that was thoroughly enjoyed by all!