This week we listened to our song for the half term ‘A New Year’s Carol’. We had to warm up our mouths and voices ready to sing – it was so much fun making all of the funny faces!
This week in Birches we have been developing our understanding of fractions, solving fraction problems in different ways and using our mental maths knowledge, written maths skills and practical objects.
Birches were all pleased to see each other after the holidays! It was lovely to see them catching up and talking about what they’ve done during the break.
Our new topic is ‘Frozen Kingdoms’. We will be learning about the Arctic and Antarctic – the landscapes, the people who live and explore there and the wildlife.
The children in Birches class have been preparing for Christmas by decorating the classroom. The children made their own candy canes in DT to add to our tree decorations. The children have enjoyed counting down the days until Christmas with our Christmas tree calendar! The children have been working hard over the last few weeks practicing Christmas songs using Makaton signing. The children have really enjoyed learning new signs and had fun singing and dancing along. We’ve also had time for some fun in the snow earlier on this week. 
This week in Birches the children have been learning 3D shapes. They were able to identify the properties of different shapes including their faces, vertices and edges. The children were very enthusiastic about building their own 3D shapes using straws. The children thought carefully about how many pieces they would need to correctly make their shape. 
In Flourish club the children have been experimenting with chocolate. They created their own designs and were able to re create them using chocolate and sprinkles. The children worked on turn taking and learned how to safely melt the chocolate. 
This week in art the children in Birches class have been looking at artwork by Sir Frank Bowling. They looked at examples of his ‘poured paintings’ and experimented by creating their own versions. The children really enjoyed watching the paint run down their pieces of paper!
The children in Birches class have been learning about why we celebrate Remembrance Day. They worked independently to create some beautiful poppies using a variety of materials.
The children in Birches class have created their own African silhouette pictures. The children used different chalks and were able to blend the colours to create a sunset background. They added some African animals to re-create an African safari scene.
The children have been learning about traditional African music. This week we’ve been listening to traditional music using djembe drums. The children listened to the music then each had a turn using the drums and created some simple drum beat patterns.
