Nursery:
We cannot believe that we have already reached half-term! The Nursery boys have done so incredibly well. During the last week or so, the boys have been taking some time to reflect on their Homefield journey so far. We have been discussing our favourite activities at school and spent time looking through our learning journeys, picking out the ones we enjoyed most.
It has been a very busy half-term, and it was lovely to sit with the boys and reflect on their first term at school!
Reception:
Reception have had an amazing first half-term. They have settled into a new school and started their Homefield journey remarkably well. We are really proud of how resilient they have been! Well done, boys!
Literacy:
In Literacy, we have been reading Percy the Park Keeper: After the Storm. We focused on story structure, discussing characters, settings, and the beginning, middle, and end. The boys have worked hard to understand what a setting is and have been identifying the different settings within the story. We have also been expanding our vocabulary and exploring descriptive language to describe the settings. For example, Theodore described, "The woods are bright and sunny," and Caleb shared, "The storm was dark and scary."
The boys have also practised writing their names in their Literacy books, and the progress in their letter formation since September has been remarkable. Well done, boys!
Maths:
In Maths, we have been exploring number bonds to 5. The boys have used various materials, such as chains, compare bears, Lego, cubes, and even outdoor resources like sticks, stones, and leaves to represent their number bonds. We have introduced new vocabulary related to addition, such as "more than," "together," "plus," "equals," and "makes." The boys have also worked hard on forming their numbers up to 5 correctly. Additionally, we have linked our number learning to shapes, focusing on pentagons and their five sides.
Our First School Trip:
As a reward for their hard work, we went on our first school trip this week. We visited Gatton Park in Reigate and took a stroll through the deep dark wood to find the Gruffalo! The boys behaved wonderfully and had lots of fun. We were tasked with finding the animals from the story, ending with discovering the Gruffalo hidden in the trees. The boys then made their own "Gruffalo crumble" using natural materials such as mud, sticks, stones, and bark. It was a morning full of fun (and mud)! Fortunately, the Gruffalo didn't manage to eat any of us, and we returned safely to school just in time for lunch.
Year 1:
We cannot believe that the boys have completed six weeks in Year 1 already! They have settled well into their new routines, and we are seeing great improvements in their learning. They are certainly ready for a break, and we look forward to hearing about their adventures when we return in November.
In English, the boys have been fine-tuning their sentence writing and even attempted some creative writing this week. We were very impressed with their first attempts. In Maths, we have been focusing on greater and less than, number bonds, and numbers as words. In History, we continued learning about the Titanic, ordering the events of the sinking and exploring its aftermath.
We are sending home the boys' Nativity lines for them to practise over the half-term. Please help them to learn these so they can confidently deliver their lines for our Christmas performance in December.
Year 2:
In Year 2, the boys have continued to show enthusiasm and positivity in all areas of their learning. In Maths, they have been practising different methods of addition, specifically making 10 first. In English, the boys have been developing their descriptive language by creating their own characters for our core text, Masha and the Firebird.
We have continued deepening our knowledge of the Great Fire of London, and this week, we have focused on the life of Laurie Cunningham as part of Black History Month. In Geography, the boys have been exploring how to use an atlas, finding different locations with the help of the index and contents pages. In Science, we have been studying the properties of materials, most recently testing absorbency and reflecting on absorbent everyday objects. In TPR, the boys have enjoyed learning about the story of Noah's Ark and contemplating why God chose Noah for this special task.
