Chinese New Year

This week we have been looking at the celebration of Chinese new year and have a full week of finding out about the customs of the celebration.
We have made Chinese lanterns, Chinese dragon puppets, coloured and painted dragon masks and held handfuls of noodles. In PE this week we made our own Chinese dragon dance. In the pictures you can see that Miss Wright was the middle part and all of the children were made up the different parts of the dragon. It was so much fun.

In Phonics this week we have been learning lots of new sounds, including ow, ur, oo, ar, or.
It has been a very busy week for Phonics as we have learnt 5 new sounds and have been looking back at all the tricky words that we have learnt. We have also been practising our writing skills and are getting much better at writing these sounds.

In Numeracy this week we have had lots of fun looking at Ordinal Numbers e.g. 1st 2nd 3rd and putting numbers in order.
Here are the children putting themselves in order in our Numeracy carpet session.

Ask your child if they can remember the Chinese new year story about the special race that the animals had. The children loved it.

As you may know this year is the Chinese year of the snake and what better way to celebrate than to have a REAL snake in school. The children were much braver than the teachers. Here are a few pictures of the snake.

Thank you to all Mums and Dads for their support this half term. We hope that you all have a restful week off and we will see you all on Monday 25th February - ready for some more super learning.

Ladybird class.

Pet Week

This week in Ladybird class we have been thinking about pets.
The children have had an exciting delivery everyday from the pet shop and we have had to decide whether we can look after the animal in the classroom.

On Monday we had a bear, which the children decided would be too scary when it grew older and would be a little too dangerous for us to keep.

On Tuesday a snake turned up, which the children decided was quite a popular pet in people's houses but if it escaped in our classroom then it would scare us.

On Wednesday a sheep turned up and although we thought it was very cute, the children decided that it would eat the carpet and mess on the floor.

On Thursday a baby giraffe turned up (which was our favourite) but we all decided that he would grow too big and we didn't want to cut the top of our classroom off so that he could get fresh air. The children were all very concerned about the giraffe's safety and with gates around the playground that a giraffe might step over, we have decided that he should not be a pet in our class.

Today we are waiting for our pet to arrive and we all have a funny feeling that this one may stay in our class for a long time.

Here are a few pictures of us with the sheep on Wednesday:

 The children have enjoyed thinking about lots of different pets and have also told us which pets they look after at home.
Mrs Balls gave us a wonderful surprise on Tuesday, when she brought her Guinea Pigs in and showed us where they lived. The children got a chance to look, hold and stroke the guinea pigs. 
The children were excited to see the living pets and talked about the different homes that pets live in. Here are some pictures of the guinea pigs:

 

 

This week we have learnt the sounds ai, ee, igh and oa.

These sounds are in lots of words around the house. If the children practise any of these sounds at home please feel free to write them down and your child's work can go in their celebration book.

Here are the children practising their sounds using playdough:

 

 

 

 

 

Having a whole week looking at pets has helped us with our number work. The children have looked at pictograms and tried to work out which pet is the most popular in our class. It seems that most of the children in Ladybirds have either a cat or a dog. Please feel free to bring any pictures of your pets in and we can display them on our wall along with your child's family pictures.

 

The children had fun this week making Pet sock puppets. The children's designs were so good and the children were so proud of themselves.

Have a look at their finished puppets:

 

 

 

 

 

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday morning.

 

Ladybirds

 

 

 

 



February????? Where did January go?

Greetings to all Ladybird parents. Another very busy week is over and It only seems like yesterday we were writing the blog to you all.
We have had another week of fun and learning and have lots to tell you.

This week in Phonics, Miss Brind decided that we needed to take another look at last week's sounds to make sure we were confident in using them. We have looked at ch, sh, th and ng and we have enjoyed looking in the mirrors this week to have a look at what our mouths look like when we are saying them.
Ask your child to show you the difference between these sounds and if you catch your child mouthing this sounds in your bedroom mirror then you can blame Miss Brind.
Don't forget you will have the chance to see another Phonics session (this time it is Phase 3) on Monday 4th February at 9am, so when you bring your child into school, make sure you stay, ready for the phonics session.

This week we have had a look at 1 more and 1 less. The children have enjoyed using these words, but haven't yet been able to match this work with our number sentence work of +1 and -1.
Here is Denni-Mia trying really hard with 1 more at the table activity:

 

We have been really interested in our book this week 'Dear Zoo' and this has made us think about all kinds of animals that might live in a zoo. It has also made us look at a really long word. We have been thinking about the word 'Camouflage' and the children are able to think about why an animal might want to camouflage him/herself and which colours might be best for animals to stand next to.

Have a look at our 'Camouflage' display when you are next in the class. The children have made a collage of green animal pictures and then we have displayed them on a .......guess which colour we have put them on? The animals are displayed on a green background to camouflage them.

The children have been thinking about the things that they are good at. We have lots of helpful children, fast runners, swimmers, bike riders and artists in our class. We are now thinking about what we would like to get better at. Over the next couple of weeks the children are going to work hard at their chosen talent. Ask your child what they would like to get better at and see if they can show you how they are doing.

Jake is working hard at his swimming skills.

Jayden is going to help his little brother when his toys
are broken.

Jack is going to help his mum with the
washing up.

 

Last week Ladybird class were awarded 'On Time Turtle' because everybody in our class came to school last week on time.

 

 

Well Done Ladybirds.

 

Here are pictures of a few more things that we have been up to this week:

 

 Ivan has been very kind to Bethany this week.

 

 

Zak enjoyed making a home for a cheetah this week.

 

Finally you will have received a letter yesterday inviting your child to a karate club. Yesterday at 9:30 Ladybirds went to the hall to join in with a Karate 'taster session'. The children had lots of fun and were keen to learn more. If your child is interested in learning karate then please see the leaflet for a month's 'free trial'

 

Hope to see you all on Monday for our phonics lesson.

Have a great weekend.

 

Ladybird Class



Fun and games in the snow!!

Hi Ladybird parents.
What a week we have all had. The snow came to Great Yarmouth and covered it with many inches of snow. The children have told us so many stories of their adventures in the snow and according to educational experts, building a snowman is also a very good learning opportunity. The children can plan and construct and also be creative. Building a snowman can help with problem solving and Numeracy skills..... and they thought they were just having lots of fun.
The children have had lots of experience of building snowmen at school too. Last Friday the children helped build many different people with Mrs Whittaker and Miss Wright.

 The children came back to school in full learning mode. They have learnt 3 new sounds and 4 new tricky words. The children are getting very good at forming their letters and are practising at every opportunity. The children have enjoyed writing cvc words in their job of the day and are getting very good at blending the sounds together.
As your child is getting better at blending then they will soon be getting a reading book, (if they haven't already got one.) The children will read with an adult every Thursday/Friday so your child's reading book needs to be in school every week to help us to change their book.

This week your child has been looking at some key vocab in Numeracy. They are now confident in using words such as under, on top off, between, next to, beside, off, behind and inside. We have also looked at comparing sizes by using words such as 'taller' and 'shorter'.
Have some fun this weekend with one of your child's toys by asking your child to place the toy in the room and asking them to use some of the vocab that we have been using.

The children are definitely becoming more independent and looking at the resources in the classroom to see what they would like to use.
Jayden spent his learning time counting 100 beads on a bead string and then telling the adults his findings.

In PE this week we have been working on apparatus for jumping. We decided that it wouldn't be warm enough for the children to get changed into their shorts and T-Shirts to walk out into the cold to get to the hall, so the children took off their shoes, socks and jumpers (whilst in the school) and worked safely on the apparatus.
The children have been looking at safe landings and making sure that they bend their knees. The children have also looked at how high they might jump and the different things they might do with their arms to help them to balance.
Here are a few pictures of the children in action.

We are all hoping that next week will be a very normal week and that bad weather will not disrupt our school day. Don't forget that you are welcome to come and see your child's celebration book on Monday morning.
Have a good week and we'll see you on Monday.

Ladybird Class

Snow Snow Snow!!

What a cold week it has been! The whole of Norfolk stopped, but here at Northgate Infants School we have had a busy week and have made so much effort in keeping safe and keeping warm.

Well done to all those children in Ladybird class who have come to school everyday and on time too!

This week we have learnt some new sounds and are now up to and including 'qu' in the Phase 3 phonics books. Over the weekend ask your child to find words with these sounds in. I'm sure you will be shocked at how much they know.
We are also working hard to write the Phase 2 and 3 sounds, so if you have any spare time ask your child to form the letters and bring them into school for your child to get a sticker.
The children are always on the look out for these words.
Here is Rubie, she has found a q from yesterday's phonics session on 'q' and 'qu'.

The children enjoyed a visit from the Dental Nurse on Wednesday and learnt all about how to brush their teeth and what types of food were important to eat as a healthy snack in between meals.
The children in Ladybird Class were so well behaved and Mandy (the dental nurse) was very pleased that the children listened so well.

In Numeracy this week the children have been writing, recognising and counting numbers. The children are enjoying finding numbers on the number cards and matching them with the bead strings.

 

       
Harvey

 

Victoria

Jessica

The children have been investigating 'Floating' and 'Sinking' and are getting very good at predicting which things will float or sink. Can the children use this vocabulary at home?

Yesterday we joined in with the rest of the county and had snow settle on the playground. The children were very sensible and dressed up in their warm clothes, hat, scarves and gloves and went out to experience what the snow felt like.

Here are some pictures of the children yesterday:

 

 

 

We hope you have a lovely weekend playing in the snow and we'll see you Monday morning to look at your child's celebration book.

Ladybird Class