Elm Class

Welcome to our class page! This will give you a bit of an idea of the amazing things we will be doing in Elm this term.

Our homework is predominantly reading, and it is expected that your child reads a minimum of three times a week, every week. This includes the flashcards sent home for practice, as well as the new sounds we are learning, common exception words and reading the books issued in school. The books sent home are carefully matched to your child's current phonic and reading level and it is therefore important that your child reads the school books. In school, we encourage children to read for a purpose, so may be reading in all subject areas and environmental print too. Your child may like to read signs, notices, cereal packets etc outside of school.

Reading books will be changed up to 2 times per week, unless your child has not read the book at home. Research indicates that each book should be read at least three times to enable your child to understand the text and build their fluency in reading. We find children enjoy the story more on a third, or fourth read as they are not simply sounding out the words (decoding). Book changing days are a Monday and Thursday. Please record all reading at home in the reading record book. 

Topic homework may be set during the term and this will be no more than two pieces each term.

Please read class emails regularly so you know what has been set. We will ensure that sufficient time is allocated to complete topic homework, and this is usually two weeks.

We may set maths homework if your child needs some further support at home. 

Our PE days are Tuesday and Wednesdays. Please could children come to school in their PE kit on these days and I would suggest packing extra layers as we will be outside as much as possible. Children will also need a coat every day as we aim to be outside for playtimes and lunchtimes. We also access the Outdoor learning area most weeks, so warmer clothes are needed for these sessions. 

Children will be offered a bit of fruit every morning as a snack however if you would prefer to send your child in with a different healthy snack then please do so. Also, please ensure children have a named water bottle to bring in every day, with fresh water daily. We are a Healthy School, so please only provide fruit, raisins or crackers / cheese, rather than unhealthier options, such as biscuits / chocolate.

If you have any questions or queries about anything this term please contact me through my class email at elm@eastsomersetfederation.co.uk and I will be happy to help.

We have had a very exciting term so far. The children are engaging well in our 'Awesome Australia' topic.

In English, we have been retelling the story of 'The Cantankerous Crocodile' and we have innovated which Australian animals will come to help the crocodile who is suffering from toothache. The children have now created their innovated story maps to help them tell the story in the correct sequence, and include their own ideas. We have had 'cute Koalas', 'daring dingoes', 'brave sugar-gliders', echidnas, emus, thorny devils, snakes, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils and another crocodile to come and pull out the crocodile's tooth. Some children offered to read their stories in front of the class, on the 'Author's chair', using their story maps to guide them through. They did a fantastic job and I explained that they are now a real author!

The children have decided how the story will end - Will the crocodile in their story be thankful and let the animals drink in the Adelaide River, or will he eat the animal who helped him?

We are looking at words with 'ed' endings, such as pulled, jumped, and encouraging the correct spelling of this suffix. 

The children will now 'box-up' their ideas, then write their final story for our 'BIG WRITE'. 

In maths, we have been focusing on place value - understanding what numbers 'look like' and their relative value to each other. We have comparing sets and using words fewer, same/equal, more. We have been comparing numbers and relating this to a number line so the children can see that numbers get larger the more you count. When comparing 9 and 6, we explain that 9 will be more as it is further along the number track and has a greater value. 

We have revisited counting on and back from different given numbers, reminding children not to say the start number, and to use their fingers, or a number track, to help them keep stable number order when counting forwards and backwards. This is an important prerequisite skill to addition and subtraction.

We are learning how numbers are made up of smaller numbers, using a part part whole model and splitting up numbers, for example, 6 can be split into 6+0; 5+1; 4+2, 3+3. This is an important part of addition. The children will then learn relative number facts. For example, if we know 4 and 2 = 6, then we know 6-4 is 2 and 6-2 is 4. 

In Science, we have been sorting animals into groups. First of all we looked at animal characteristics and thought about how animals differ from each other. We looked at pets first, then wild Australian animals. We found out why some animals have long tails and whiskers. 

We then grouped animals according to their features. The children had to guess how I had grouped the animals e.g wings, no wings; feathers, skin; fur, skin. The children they came up with their own criterion. we had some fantastic ideas to sort the animals by - beaks / no beaks; ears / no ears; small ears / large ears; legs, no legs; can swim, can't swim. We discussed why some animals could swim e.g fins, webbed feet. 

We then sorted animals by lives on the land / lives in the water and introduced the Venn Diagram.

We have been looking at what animals eat, and have sorted animals into groups according to their diet. The children are learning that carnivores eat other animals; herbivores eats plants; omnivores eat plants and animals. We talked about human teeth and how they are designed to eat meat and plants, but discussed that some people eat a vegan / vegetarian diet. 

Our first Scientific enquiry question was 'How can we use animal poo to identify if an animal is a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore. The children seemed delighted to engage in our 'poo experiment', observing and breaking up the fake poo, to reveal what the Australian animals had eaten. Inside the smaller, round rabbit poo, there were leaves and carrots. Inside the cube shaped wombat poo, there was Eucalyptus leaves. Inside the Emu poo, there was grass, stalks, seeds, bones and red food colouring (blood). Inside The Tasmanian Devil's poo there was just bones. 

Our next Scientific enquiry is: Do all animals have the same senses? We shall be researching animal pictures using the chrome books and looking carefully at their features. We will encourage children to ask questions, such as 'Why does the possum have such large eyes for a small creature?' We will answer a question posed earlier in the topic by a child - 'Why does a koala have a big nose?'

We shall finish our Science unit by classifying and sorting animals into 5 groups - amphibians, birds, mammals, fish and reptiles. The homework over the Christmas period will be to extend the learning and find out more about the animals your children are fond of and which group they belong to.