What a fantastic first week back after half term! The children have jumped straight back into their learning with lots of enthusiasm and creativity.

In literacy, we began planning our very own pirate adventure stories. The children used 'story mountains' to map out their tales, thinking carefully about the beginning, build-up, problem and resolution. From humongous sharks to greedy pirates, the children came up with some wonderfully creative ideas and we are looking forward to turning our ideas into full pirate narratives next week.

In maths, we began explored measuring and comparing lengths using both standard and non-standard units of measurement. The children worked together to design and build pirate ships, measuring different parts of their creations with cubes, hand spans, and rulers, used correct vocabulary  to describe and compare lengths, deciding which planks were the longest, shortest or tallest before setting sail!

Our COOL challenges this week were themed around Bonfire Night and fireworks. In our maths area, the children helped rockets 'blast off' by finding number bonds that made 5, 10 and 20 using Numicon pieces. In construction, we had an exciting firefighter challenge - one of the sparklers had caused a fire, and the firefighters needed our help! The children designed and built their own fire engines, adding important details such as ladders, wheels, hoses, and sirens, planning and labelling their designs before building.

We also talked about firework safety, and in our literacy area, created colourful posters to remind others how to keep safe on Bonfire Night. In the creative area, we made mixed media firework pictures inspired by the sounds and colours of Bonfire Night. In phonics, we wrote our own ‘firework words’ inspired by the night sky, using our sounds to describe the pops, bangs, and crackles we could imagine.

It’s been a busy and exciting week full of creativity, collaboration and curiosity. What a wonderful way to start the new half term! 🎆