Hello and a very warm welcome back to this weeks class blog. This week we have been learning all about Arctic Animals. We have discovered so much about these animals and we cannot wait to share all of our new knowledge with you. Firstly, let's take a look at this weeks invitations to come and play 

We started the week off with a scientific experiment. We had a challenge. We had to free the animals that were trapped inside of the ice. We looked at lots of different ways to melt the ice. We tried tin foil, paper towels, cotton wool, a hair dryer and hot water. Why not ask us which was the quickest and most efficient way to melt the ice. Here we are in action 

We created a fact file about the animals we have been learning about. We looked at information books and asked question using the Internet. Here we are recording some of the facts we learned. Interestingly, the children were amazed to find out that the Narwhal doesn't have a tusk as they thought it is actually an over grown tooth. Who knew? 

In learning about the Arctic we talked about the weather conditions and how they would differ to those in England. We had lots of great phrases and words to describe the cold temperature. We then explored painting using cold colours. We started off with white then added a tiny amount of blue to create darker shades. The children had a great time exploring shades of cold colours 

We then repeated and compared hot or warm colours the day after. We compared and contrasted the colours. We all agreed hat the lovely warm and sunny shades of yellow and orange were our favourites. 

We also created our own fact files and I Spy sheets about the animals. We wrote down clues and had our friends guess which animal we were describing and then we lifted the flap to reveal it. The children are making great progress with their sound recognition and their writing. It's amazing to see 

We have extended our knowledge of Arctic Animals into the Maths area in class. We have been identifying numbers and adding the correct number of snowballs.  We then set the children the challenge of giving their friend a number and asking them to count out that many snowballs. Great Fun! 

One of our highlights of the week was putting up our class Christmas tree. The children proudly chose their bauble and we all added it to the tree. It now takes pride of place in our classroom 

We have also been busy learning all about subitising. We had to quickly look at the formation of the counters and splat the number of how many we thought there were. We loved this so much! This week we have been learning all about 4 and 5. We have thoughts about all the ways we can show these numbers using our fingers. Ask us to show you 

Next week we will be using the text This Zoo is not for you - a lovely story about animals and looking after each other. We have so many lovely things to share with you. We also have our Singalong session next week so please don't forget to get your tickets from the front office. You are in for a treat!

Have a great weekend

Staff and Children in Reception W