Bears@taddy

 The Bears have been learning about the story of Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve in R.E today.  They made small world representations to them understand the story. They made a farm for Cain and a the fields and flock for Abel, who was a shepherd. They threaded cogs onto string to make the fences for the sheep. Cut up vegetables from the farm and painted the sheds.  

 Today, we’ve been learning all about Harvest. We discussed what Harvest is and how it is celebrated. The children listened to the story ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ and discussed the idea of greed and the importance of sharing. They decided that there was enough food for everyone, if we shared it out.  We started to learn a song about making soup, to help us make our own. The children then showed the vegetables that they’d brought in and decided to sort them into groups.  This afternoon, we learnt about how to use cooking equipment safely before chopping up the vegetables for our soup. The children took turns to use the equipment, each having a go at, peeling, grating and chopping the vegetables.  After we’d finished we worked as a team to wash and dry up then put the equipment back. Tomorrow, we will cook the soup and use the blender to blend the vegetables together. 

 We couldn't believe our eyes when we came into class this morning! The children found two large footprints, clumps of fur, bitten paper and a sack labeled 'Sam's stuff'.  It was very unusual. After a thorough investigation, the children decided that the footprints were too large to be human prints and that whatever it was must have got into our classroom last night and left their sack by mistake. Further investigations found more clues as to what the creature could be. There were claw marks, moss and leaves in a large hole in the woodland where the children thought the creature may have slept and what looked like part of a creatures tooth.    When we returned back to class and opened up the sack, that had been left, we discovered more clues about who the creature could be. There was a sandwich, a strawberry, a story and a letter 's'. The children noticed that all the objects inside the sack started with the 's' sound and that the sack must belong to Sam...

 We have been getting to know the trees growing in our woodlands, this afternoon. The infants were given tree identification charts to work out what trees the leaves they found belong to. After that, each group was given a specific leaf. They identified it and came up with a story to tell to the rest of the group to help them remember what it is, incorporating it’s special features.   I particularly liked the ‘Mountain Oak’. 

 The Bears are settling in really well into school. We are really enjoying getting to know each other and our classroom and school environment, which is fantastic.  This morning we have been on a nature hunt around the school grounds, to help familiarize ourselves with our surroundings. The Bears worked in pairs looking for the objects, ticking them off on their grid and adding them (where appropriate) to their basket. I was so impressed with how well they worked together as well as their eagerness to find all the treasures.  Well done Bears, you have had a great few days. I can't wait for the rest of ours adventures together. 

 We have been reading The Magic Paintbrush over the past few weeks. Today, we have re-told the story using puppets we’ve made and also through acting, using costumes and props to help us. I’ve been very impressed with the Bears’ knowledge of the story and with the vocabulary they have included.   

 This morning, we have been consolidating our learning in Maths. The children rotated round different activities, practicing taking away in lots of different ways. Here are some of the activities the Bears have been doing. Squashing play dough to work out the answer Using Bears to solve subtracting problems Building towers and turning over cards to find out how many to take away Singing '5 currant buns in a bakers shop' using a puppet  Putting bricks on a number line and rolling a dice to see how many to take away Writing new problems for our friends to work out Threading beads onto string and taking away a number of beads It was great to see the children working really hard together, helping one another to complete the tasks.

 The Bears have been very busy this morning making egg mayonnaise sandwiches.  They have listened very carefully to the instructions and followed them step by step. This afternoon they are going to enjoy eating them together. We spread the butter on the bread, using the knifes carefully and safely. Peeled the egg shell of the eggs. Added 4 table spoons of mayonnaise and chopped the eggs Put a tablespoon of egg mayo on the bread and spread it. Snipped off the cress and sprinkled it on the bread. Put the pieces of bread together and chopped the sandwich in half. Wrapped them in tinfoil to enjoy later.