This week in Orange Class we have been focusing on being kind as it is anti-bullying week and it was lovely to see so many of the children in their odd socks on Monday!

In phonics this week we have learnt two new sounds; this week we introduced ‘j’ and ‘v’. We practised pronouncing these sounds correctly and read some words that use these sounds for example jet and jump, as well as van and vets. We then learnt how to write these and practised these on our whiteboards. We also continued looking at all the tricky words that we have already learnt, especially focusing on the word ‘to’ that we learnt last week and the new word ‘no’. We explored how the words are spelt and that we need to remember these words when reading so that we don’t get tricked!

In Maths we have been continuing to explore the number bonds to five. We have been showing these on fives frame, as well as the newly introduced part-part-whole model. The children have been seeking out ways to show the number bonds during their active learning including finding them using big foam dominoes, leaves and sticks as well as duplo. To support our number understanding we have been watching the Numberblocks, this week we looked at episodes 13, 14 and 15. It is amazing how enthusiastic the children are to recreate the learning from carpet times when they are initiating their own learning!

We have been exploring different houses this week. We began by looking at the types of houses including cottages, semi-detached, terraced and flats. We discussed what makes these types of houses different. The children thought about what house they live in before they then painted this considering the colour, size and shape of their homes. The children were also able to use oil pastels outside to recreate their houses. Following on from this we then began to discuss the different rooms inside everyone's homes and what items might go inside them. The children were then drawing the rooms of their houses, some decided to draw all of the rooms and others just wanted to draw their favourite.

Building on this topic we have begun to explore the story of the three little pigs. The children were able to recreate this learning in the outside area. In one of the tuff trays we had some straw, sticks and bricks so that the children could retell the story. The children have also been having a lot of fun in the role play area which is a construction site. They all looked very safe with their yellow hard hats and hi-vis jackets.