What a busy half term we have had! Here are some of cherry class' highlights...

We went on our first school trip to Aldingbourne Country Centre. The children learnt all about caring for animals that live on the farm and learnt where their food comes from. They fed the alpacas lunch and tasted some of the fruits and vegetables that grow on farms. They loved petting the goats and seeing the piglets and guinea pigs. The children were very excited to go on their first ever coach and enjoyed our picnic at lunchtime. 

We had chicks for 2 weeks. We watched them hatch from eggs and then we cared for them as they grew, feeding and giving them water every day. The children enjoyed holding the chicks and watching them. They learnt about different types of animals, including birds and labelling pictures of birds. Some children wrote care books for the chicks. 

We have completed our half term by learning about minibeasts, we have been watching our caterpillars as they form a chrysalis. We are excited to see them grow into butterflies and to release them after half term. We have read the stories 'the very hungry caterpillar' and 'super worm' to enhance our learning. The children have written minibeast fact books and retold the stories using story language. 

In Maths this half term the children have been learning about numbers within 20. We have been counting, recognising numerals and representing numbers using concrete resources. We have also learnt about 2D shapes, named them and recognised properties and learnt about money. 

What a busy and brilliant week we have had in Cherry class. We begun our week with world book day. The children loved dressing up as a book character and sharing their costume with their friends. 

We took it in turns to share our costumes and each of the children wrote a sentence or phrase to explain what they dressed up as. We shared lots of stories together and at the end of the week an Author came in to visit us and share with us his new book. 

We have been continuing to learn about 'People who help us'. The children were visited by a police officer and by a nurse. The police officer shared with us her police car, the children tried on uniforms and made finger prints. The Nurse showed us how to bandage up a cut and told us all about what he does at work. The children have been completing a variety of creative artwork, including making different vehicles, people toilet rolls and painting badges. They have also been labelling uniforms and writing phrases about how the jobs help people. 

We have been learning about doubles this week in Maths. The children have been recognising doubles in their environment and making doubles using concrete resources. 

In phonics we have been continuing to revisit the phase 3 sounds and reading longer words with the 'er' digraph at the end of the words such as "boxer, butter, shimmer".

At the start of this week we continued our learning about space. The children created space books, drew maps and created rockets, planets and star pictures. The children have been loving exploring space through role play in the role play space station and within the small world areas. 

We then moved onto learning about 'Valentine's day'. The children explored valentines by making 'love potions', exploring natural petals, creating with varied materials and writing cards. We have had circle time where the children told us what it meant to 'love' and be kind. They talked about someone they loved and why. 

In phonics this week the children have continued to revise the phase 3 sounds they have learnt and have been reading longer words containing these sounds. 

In Maths they have been learning about odd and even numbers. The children have been finding out if numbers are odd and even using resources and by sharing equally. 

Please remember to read with your child 5 times a week and write this in their yellow reading journal. 

In Cherry class this week we have been learning about how people around the world celebrate Chinese New Year.

The children have tasted Chinese food- including spring rolls, noodles and prawn crackers. They described what they liked and didn't like about the food they tasted. They then cut out and stuck their favourite food onto a plate and used their phonics to write words and sentences about the food they enjoyed.

We have been dancing like dragons in a Chinese New Year parade, with backing music in P.E and the children have learnt about vocabulary and cultural items such as lanterns and fans. They have made their own lanterns and have created dragons using lots of different resources. 

In Maths we have been learning about subtraction. The children have been counting back, learning about 'one less' and subtracting by taking away. They have solved number sentences and worded problems using concrete resources. 

In Phonics this week the children have learnt the sounds oi, ow, ear and ur. They have read and written words containing these sounds and are beginning to read sentences containing them. They have learnt the tricky words all, my, by. 

This week the children went out into the woodland area to identify and count birds, linking to British bird watching week. 

In RE we have begun learning about 'Noah's Ark'- The children have explored the story and used role play and stories to retell. 

This week in Cherry class we have been continuing to get ready for Christmas! 

We had a visit from Santa and lots of the children went down to Santa's grotto to recieve a present. The children have been writing Christmas captions, lists and cards. They have enjoyed using role play in our Santa's workshop, wrapping and designing presents ready for delivering to children. 

We have been reading a lot of Christmas themed stories including 'Christmasurus, Aliens love Panta Claus, The Christmas wish'. 

In Maths we have been exploring measure and capacity. We have been making Reindeer food and juice. The children have been measuring out amounts and comparing them. They have been using the vocabulary 'full, empty, half, nearly full, nearly empty'. 

We have been learning about how Christians celebrate Christmas. The children looked at images and described what they could see. The children talked about their own experiences of Christmas with their families. 

We have had a super week in Cherry class this week! We began the week by reading the story 'Dear Santa'. The children then shared their own wishes for Christmas presents and what they would like to ask for. The children then wrote their letters to Santa and we then walked down to the post box to post them off! We can't wait to get a reply back to school. 

The children have been beginning their Christmas nativity worship rehearsals. We have been reading and watching the story of the Nativity. The children have been using role play and small world characters to retell the story. They have been creating pictures and writing captions about the different characters in the nativity story. Keep your eyes peeled for any lines that your child brings home to learn for the performance. Please also bring in any costumes next week. 

In Maths we have been learning about number bonds to and within 5. We have been exploring making numbers within 5 using different amounts. The children have enjoyed making 'Numicon sandwiches' and using the part whole model to find number bonds. 

In phonics we have learnt the digraphs 'ch, sh, ng, nk, th' this week. Please continue to read with your child at least 3 times a week, as this really does help them consolidate their learning and help fluency. 

The children have continued to enjoy the vets role play area, so we have kept this for this week. They have been acting in role and enjoying looking after the poorly animals. We look forward to making a Christmassy role play next week!!