This week we have asked the question, ‘what makes me special?’  To explore this we have read the story of ‘Elmer’, the elephant with many colours.  We discussed the story and how although Elmer was different, this made him special.  We read how he used his colours for lots of good.  We discussed how we were special (kindness, a good friend, what we were good at doing, etc) and who we were special to.

We painted pictures of elephants and decorated them in different colours and patterns.  The children then cut them out.  They look fabulous and are hanging on our ceiling in an Elmer parade!

We also learned about the elephants of India that are decorated in bright patterns for the Holi festival.  The children learned lots of facts about elephants, such as what they eat, how they keep cool and where they come from.

In English we read the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear and the children learned to repeat the phrases in the story, ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?  I see a red bird looking at me.’ They then chose their favourite animal from the story to draw and write about, listening for the sounds in the words and writing what they could hear.  Eg ‘rd bd’ for red bird.

In Monster Phonics this week we learned the sounds o c k ck.  The children are practising recognising these sounds along with those we already know.    Please see the video in the Monster Phonics section of our class page to see the actions for these sounds and practise those from the start to ck. 

We compared size in maths by building tall and short towers to talk about height and compared ribbons to talk about length.  We used language of taller, shorter, longer, shortest, tallest, etc

In Forest Learning we read the story ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’.  We made to the sounds in the story and then listened for sounds in the forest.  The children explored the forest and showed us all what they had found.  Please see pics on the Forest Learning section on our class page.

Thank you for sharing the children’s reading books with them at home.  We will change their books weekly.  Please read as often as you can, and of course enjoy other books too.  We will soon also send home a book to share with your child from our picture book library.  These are simply to read to your child, share and enjoy.

Have a lovely weekend!