We really enjoyed our visit from Nick Knight, a local beekeeper, who came to talk to us all about bees! We learned about the different types of bees, how they make honey and how to stay safe around bees. Did you know that beekeepers use dried teabags in their smoking bellows to keep the bees sleepy when they’re collecting honey?!
We have been learning about form this term in art, here are some of the final outcomes – we enjoyed using watercolour pencils to create these final outcomes and used our knowledge of colour mixing from last term too. We hope you like them.
Have a go at singing these songs at home ready for our assembly next week.
The children have started their new maths unit – fractions. We have been learning about equal parts and how many parts there are in one half and one quarter. You might want to have a look at this game at home https://ictgames.com/mobilePage/fruityFractions/index.html . If you have toast or pizza or something which can be cut into equal parts this is a great chance for using the language of fractions in real life.
The children have finished their observational drawings and have started to add colour, drawing upon their previous learning about tint and shade to add areas of light and dark to the flowers and make them look 3D.
At the end of this term, we are sharing our learning with other Meadow classes and it would be great if the children could continue reciting ‘The Owl and the Pussy Cat’ for this. Have a look at this link as well for a read along version, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpwAP36-w7E
On Tuesday we completed our Miles for Mosaic. The children were so supportive and encouraging when participating in their sponsored run this week in aid of Miles for Mosaic – a charity that plays such an important role in children’s lives. Please remember to send in any sponsorship money by next Friday (more details have been sent via email).
In Literacy we have been enjoying The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. Some of the children have enjoyed learning this off by heart and performed to the class. We are looking forward to writing our own nonsense poems soon.
Our focus in Science this term is plants, we went on a scavenger hunt to see what plants we recognised around the school grounds, and have also looked at different seeds, making observations and predicting what they might turn into. We had some interesting discussions about where seeds come from and whether the biggest seeds turn into the biggest plants. What seeds can you spot in the food you eat at home?
The children have been doing some observational drawings of flowers in art and are looking forward to doing more of this over the next week in readiness for adding colour.
It has been wonderful to welcome everyone back this week. Our new big question is ‘Is our local area bee-friendly?’ There are lots of lovely ideas in our home learning leaflet for you to explore this topic further. In geography, we thought about how to locate our school on our map and its place in the wider area. We learned that our local sea is the English Channel and we also identified the three other seas that surround the UK. In literacy, we have started learning the Owl and the Pussycat and in maths we have been learning all about 3D shapes – their names and how to describe and classify them.
On Thursday, we loved taking part in a cricket workshop provided by Time to Shine. The children were absolutely brilliant and demonstrated fantastic focus and skills.
The children are enjoying developing their joined (continuous cursive) handwriting. If you would like to see the four different joins and additional support, please click here.
Don’t forget to keep practising telling the time at home ready for when we start looking at in maths later in the summer. Here are some games you may find useful:
Meadow 2 had a wonderful time at Shire Hall. We found out about the Great Fire of Dorchester, how it started and also how it was put out. We enjoyed seeing the building where the fire started, it used to be a candle maker’s shop. Candles were made of tallow (animal fat), reeds or beeswax at the time of the fire. We also looked at maps to compare how Dorchester then and now. There were no schools and hospitals but we could see the Guild hall (Shire Hall now) and also a number of churches and a prison.
We also had a go at making peg dolls, a popular toy in Victorian times.
Asl us what we know about the Great Fire of Dorchester or the Great Fire of London, we are experts!
This week, we have continued to enjoy all our learning about the Great Fire of London. We looked at lots of different sources of evidence about the fire and considered what each one told us. If you’d like to explore these more, have a look at this website: https://www.fireoflondon.org.uk/browse-the-collection/.
We have begun to learn about measuring length in maths. We measured lengths of string and made our own string people!
In PE, we’ve continued to work on developing our fitness and skipping skills. We learned how to complete circuits using different ways of moving, such as heel kicks, tuck jumps and lunges. In spelling, we have been consolidating all the different spelling rules we have been learning this term. Ask your child if they can explain some of these rules and write some examples.
It was great to see so many fantastic costumes for our Vocabulary Parade, well done Meadow 2!
We would like you and your child to take part in the Big Plastic Count 2024 from Monday 11th in the morning to Sunday 17th March in the evening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0nQHO7Mw-k
In 2022, nearly 250,000 people from schools, households and communities across the country made The Big Plastic Count the biggest ever investigation into UK household plastic waste. It showed that nearly 100 billion pieces of plastic are thrown away in the UK each year, with hardly any of it recycled.
The rest is burned, sent abroad or ends up in landfill. We can’t recycle our way out of the plastic waste crisis
By joining thousands of people across the country and counting all the plastic you throw away for a week, you can gather the vital evidence needed to convince UK ministers, supermarkets and big brands to lead the way at the global talks that could finally phase out plastic production for good.
It’s easy! count as you throw!
Simply mark every piece of plastic package as you throw it away in your bin or recycling on the Let’s Count Tally Sheet
TOP TIPS
1. Put the Let’s Count Tally Sheet up on your fridge, or near your bin or recycling.
2. Tell everyone you live with that you’re going to be taking part and ask them to include their plastic waste in the count too.
3. Using the Let’s Count Tally Sheet, record the different types of household plastic packaging waste you use for one week. This includes plastic going in your bin and plastic you put out for recycling.
4. Use the Plastic ID Tool to look up plastic items if you need to.
5. Remember to write down any piece of plastic packaging you use while out and about, then mark it on your tally sheet when you get back home.
Record your results online by 31st March using your class unique link https://thebigplasticcount.com/submit/2955/meadow-2. The platform will be able to work out each class plastic carbon footprint as well as our schools.
Prizes to be won for the top three classes that have the most children that record their results.
Good Luck!
