Christmas Celebrations Part 4- Giving Presents

The last week of school was one of our busiest yet….. in between the party and Father Christmas’s visit we had some special jobs to do. We’d looked at the Christmas story and talked about the gifts given by the kings and also how Christians believe that Jesus was a gift to the world from God. Everyone was very excited to talk about the gifts they would be receiving. Miss Parker and the teachers asked us what gifts we would be giving. We decided to use the TASC wheel to help us plan our activity and work out what we needed to do if we wanted to make gifts for our grown ups. After talking about it and all the possible ideas the children all decided they wanted to bake something. They did however want to bake different things so we got into groups based on what we wanted to bake. There were buns, gingerbread men, mince pies and jam tarts baked.

Once we’d done the baking some children needed to decorate their baking as well making their own choices about why that looked like.

To go with our gifts we also made some cards. We had to draw something that we thought about linked to Chrsitmas and our grown ups. Everyone thought of their own idea and drew it themselves. We even wrote the inside of our cards indepedently so our grown ups could see how much progress we’d made during Autumn term. Here are just a few of them for you to see.

We also went to find different people who worked in school to give them a Christmas present to say thank you.  We talked about the different reasons we give presents and how giving people presents made them feel. We were pleased when we made people smile.

Then on our last afternoon we were all a little bit sad because we couldn’t find our elf but he had left us a surprise. It soon cheered us up and we were exicited to see what it was. Santa had sent us a present early because we’d been so good while the elf had been with us. We got a copy of the book Zog by Julia Donaldson and also our very own Zog toy for the classroom. The elf told us Zog was on TV over the Chrsitmas Holidays so he thought we’d like to read the book first. Everybody loved it! 🙂

Grandparents’ Afternoon Tea

We really appreciate the role grandparents have in the lives of the children in our school. This is why we decided to celebrate Grandparents’ Day again this year with an Afternoon Tea. All grandparents in Foundation Stage and Key Stage one were invited and there was a great uptake. We had a very busy Hall full of children loving some special time with their grandparents. Everyone got to enjoy the special biscuits which the children had prepared while they played the games together.

A huge thank you to everyone who came and made it such a great event 🙂 

Escape from the Volcano

Everyone had been talking about volcanos and playing a game called ‘Escape from the Lava’ for ages so we decided we should learn about volcanoes in class.

Miss Parker found a book which told us a bit more about volcanoes. Can you remember what it taught us?

We also watched a video that lots of us had seen at home. You can watch it again here. Can you tell a grown up how an island grows?

Then we watched some videos of some real volcanoes and found out there were volcanoes erupting right now while we were in school. We thought about how we would feel if there was lava coming towards our homes. Miss Parker told us about when she went to an volcano but thankfully it wasn’t erupting when she was there.

We thought how we would help the people in Hawaii escape after they wrote to us asking for help. We came up with a few suggestions.

There was lots more role play and children wanting to experience what it was like to be near the lava. Outside was a popular place for this and the children loved building bridges and other ways to stay safe. They used our loose parts in all sorts of imaginative ways and even added water to be lava.

 

As the children were so engrossed in making up stories we used this to practise our writing skills. First we had to THINK IT and decide what we wanted to happen in our story. We drew a story map to help us remember it.

Then we had to SAY IT for each sentence so we could remember what to write. Then we had to WRITE IT. We worked hard to sound out the words and think of the letters we needed to write. Here is the beginning and the middle of the story.

When we had written it we had to READ IT to see if we’d done a good job. Can you see the ticks and crosses on our writing? We used the sentence hand to make sure we’d remembered everything putting a tick if we had and a cross if we hadn’t. On Wednesday we forgot our capital letter but on Thursdays we remembered them.

from Sparklebox.co.uk

Do you think you could write the end of the story? You could write it on paper and bring it to school or put it in a comment below or an email.

Our learning about volcanoes went over two weeks because we were all so interested and there was so much to learn and do. We decided we wanted to make a volcano of our own and see if we could make it erupt. It took us all week to make. We started with a bottle and some masking tape.

Then we had to use papier-mâché to build the shape of the volcano. It took a long time because we had to wait for it to dry in between.

 

Everyone enjoyed helping with our volcano which was good because there were still more jobs. Next we had to paint our volcanoes. First we painted the mountain and the grass before we added the lava. We used one of our volcano books to help us think what the volcano should look like.

 

Finally our volcano was ready and it was time to watch it erupt. Miss Parker used bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar to create the lava inside the volcano. Everybody loved it and said it was well worth the wait.

We loved learning about volcanoes.

What have we been learning?

• To find out about volcanoes using videos and books.
• To find out where volcanoes are using first hand experiences and technology.
• To build our own volcano and watch it erupt.
• To role play what we think it would be like near a volcano which is erupting.
• To make up stories about volcanoes.
• To think how to stay safe near volcanoes and send our ideas to Hawaii.

How can you continue the learning?

• Watch the video above and talk about how the volcanoes grow.
• Use Google to find videos of real volcanoes and watch the lava flow (Make sure before doing any Google search with children that you have the appropriate safety measures in place)
• Continue the story above writing it either on paper or typing it.

 

Our Day at Cannon Hall Farm

We all had a wonderful time on our school trip to Cannon Hall Farm. We looked at the photos when we got back to school and Miss Parker turned it into a book all about our day. We remembered so much about what we’d done and where we’d been. We really did learn lots not only about the farm animals but also about an environment which is very different to Manor Top and near school.

We had such a good day its hard to say what our favourite part of the day was. You’ll have to ask us next time you see us.

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If you would like to find out more information about Cannon Hall Farm you can find out more on their website.

A HUGE thank you to all the grown ups who came with us to help. We couldn’t have gone without you. And a huge thank you to Alison and everyone at Cannon Hall for a wonderful day. The children had a wonderful time 🙂 

 

Our Trip to Build a Bear Workshop

We had a wonderful visit to Build A Bear Workshop on January 31st. We did lots of talking about our visit and reflected on what we had seen and learnt when we got back. This has been turned into a Learning Story which you can see both in the classroom and below. We’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

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After the February half term Charlie will start to come and visit the children at home. Please make sure you look after Charlie and bring him back to school. We’d love for you to complete the special diary so we can share your child’s experiences with the whole class. We encourage the children to write in the diary themselves rather than have you do it for them. Look out for Charlie coming to a house near you soon!

A huge thank you to the Parents/Carers who came with us on our visit. Without you we wouldn’t be able to take the children on these important visits.

How you can continue the learning at home? 

• Go on visits to other places in Sheffield.  Talk about how they are the same as Manor Top and Meadowhall and how they are different.  
• Go on visits on public transport, such as the bus or tram, and allow your child to help paying for tickets. It will help them understand money and how the different coins work. 
• Allow your child to take small risks (with your close supervision) such as going on escalators. It will help them develop their self confidence and ability to manage their own safety. 

You can send us pictures of your visits or complete a wow moment in class.

Yum, Yum, Christmas Dinner

It was our Christmas Dinner today. Nearly everybody in the class tried a school dinner which was great to see. We have to try hard to use our knife and fork even when it gets a bit tricky.

We even had some special visitors come and join us for Christmas Dinner. The PCSOs came to catch up with us and enjoy their dinner as well. You might even spot Miss Parker’s mum as well who came to share the occasion with us.

We all agreed that our dinner was delicious and now those of us who celebrate Christmas are really looking forward to Christmas dinner at our homes over Christmas.

What we have been learning? 

• To use a knife and fork.
• To try new foods. 
• To talk to members of our community. 

How can you continue the learning at home? 

• Encourage your child to use their knife and fork when they eat at home. 
• Encourage your child to try a range of foods at home and to eat school dinners each day. 

A Visit from the Dogs Trust

On Tuesday we had a visit from the Dogs Trust. We talked all about dogs and if anyone in Onyx Class had a pet dog.

Then we talked about the foods that dogs like to eat and also the foods that make dogs poorly so we know how to help take care of our dogs at home. Can you remember what a dog should not eat?

We talked about staying safe around dogs and what to do if a dog you don’t know comes up to you. Can you remember what to do?

We all got a certificate to say that we had listened well and participated in the session. Well done everyone 🙂

Parents/ Carers if you want to find out any more about The Dogs Trust you can go to their website by clicking here.

 

Our First Visit to the Library

This week we had our first visit to Manor Top Library. We had to leave school and walk with our partner across all the busy roads to get there. Everyone was very sensible and walked safely to the Library. Miss Parker was very impressed.

 

When we got to the Library we got to have a look at all the books they have there. It was great to look at some new books including some we don’t have in school. We really enjoyed looking at the books and listening to our grown ups tell us the stories.

We will go to the Library every fortnight on a Monday in the afternoon. We will be able to start taking books home next time we go if your child has returned their Library Card form or you’ve already given us their Library Card.

We will also need parents/careers to come with us so look out for the sign up sheet in the classroom. We can take as many parents/careers as want to come but we do ask that you leave younger children at home.

 

 

Go Green for Grenfell

On Friday 23rd, we were invited to wear the colour green to support the people suffering or were involved in the Grenfell fire in London. By wearing green, we show solidarity and support for the people who died, were injured or lost everything in this tragic event.

We talked as a class about how the people who survived lost everything in the fire and how the money that we raise can help them get some new food, clothes and other essential items.

A huge thank you to all of our parents and carers for sending donations in for this cause. We have raised over £200 with some more last minute donations still to count up. This money will go towards helping those that have been affected in London.

Chocolatey Easter Baking

For Global Citizenship Week we refreshed our learning about Fairtrade from earlier in the year. We learnt about how chocolate gets to us from the plants in Africa. Did you know chocolate comes from a plant? 

We decided that we wanted to make something with our chocolate and because it was also nearly Easter decided to make Chocolate Easter Buns. We had to safely melt the chocolate watching carefully to observe what happens. There was lots of talk about what we could see and also smell! It smelt yummy.

We helped to make the buns following the recipe and weighing out the ingredients. We also had to count out the eggs for the top to make sure there was an equal number on each on.

What have we been learning? 

• where our food comes from in the world. 
• which food is Fairtrade and what this means. 
• where our favourite chocolate comes from and how it gets to us in Sheffield. 
• what different chocolate tastes like and how we can use different and interesting words to talk about it. 
• about what happens to chocolate when it gets hot and melts. 

How can you continue the learning at home? 

• look at different foods at home and in the supermarket to see where it comes from. 
• talk about the taste of foods using as many different words as possible. Examples are:  sweet, sour, salty, spicy, chewy, soft, crunchy, fizzy, fruity, gooey, mushy, icy, cold, hot. 
•  look for other foods which melt when they get hot and talk about what happens when it cools down again.