Friday Headlines

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This Week in Westbourne

02 February 2024

In addition to reviewing their weekend of birdwatching and focusing on oral health, the girls in Westbourne have been fully engaged in all aspects of their learning.

In Reception, in Mathematics, they have enjoyed learning the new topic of 'Addition'. The colourful Heinemann books were very popular with the girls and once tasks were completed, they moved on to practical activities to reinforce their understanding. They particularly liked using crisps to add together to make a total because they could eat them afterwards!

After making gnomes in the Topic lessons, the pupils described them in Creative Writing. Some of their names were very original such as Strawberry or Marshmallow! The girls have also continued to learn all about plants and this week learnt what plants need to grow. They have their own Amaryllis in the classroom and have been watering it and watching it grow!

In French, Reception have performed songs, which included the 'counting up to 10' song, and completed dot to dot pictures and the Literacy lessons have been packed with learning new digraphs. They especially liked reinforcing their learning by using the iPads or the interactive smart board in the classroom to play games on.

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson has featured throughout this week in Kindergarten as the phoneme focus has been 'g'. The girls have used their creative skills to replicate the characters from the story using 2D shapes. They have discussed these characters with a particular focus on the Gruffalo's characteristics. It was lovely to see their enthusiasm for writing as they made a record of these details.

In Mathematics, children have worked on counting two sets of objects to make a total number. More traditional tales such as The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Gingerbread Man are other stories that have been shared this week during National Storytelling Week. This has enabled us to take part in lots of story retelling and also discussions and comparisons about size. Balanceability lessons have taken off successfully with girls also having been taught the importance of keeping safe and wearing helmets to protect their brains. They were shown how to correctly put on and take off their helmets along with checking that they fitted well.

The rhyme in Nursery this week has been The Grand Old Duke of York and the girls re-enacted the rhyme with the small world toys. They also sang the rhyme whilst marching and playing along with the percussion instruments - trying hard to tap the beat! They explored up and down, heavy and light by using our toys in the balance scales and also looked at what happened when they pushed the big can up and down the slope. Going down it went faster and on its own, but having to push it up the hill was slower.

Girls have been looking at the initial sounds of their names this week and all enjoyed collaging a large version to put on the wall. In Mathematics lessons the focus has been the number 3. Girls had to hunt for the number around the classroom and then identify and colour the chosen number amongst other numbers.

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