Rainbows

Yesterday we were learning all about rainbows. We are learning the story of Noah's Ark this week and our new sound of the week is 'r', so it was a good day to learn about rainbows! We looked at pictures of rainbows and talked about the shape and the colours. We learnt that the colours of a rainbow are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet and that they always appear in the same order. We made rainbow pictures using lots of different materials - paint, chalk, crayons, pencils, felt pens and oil pastels. We also used ICT to make rainbow pictures on the iPads, the laptop and on the interactive whiteboard. We had to remember to put the colours in the right order and draw the right shape of the rainbow.

Noah's Ark investigation

This afternoon we have been exploring materials and testing their properties. First we talked about different materials we knew and the properties they had, for example, metal is hard, glass is transparent and fabric is soft. We talked about why some materials are good for certain jobs - you wouldn't want a metal window because you wouldn't be able to see through it! And a chair wouldn't be good if it was made of paper - it wouldn't be strong enough to hold you! Would you like to have clothes that were made of wood? No!

We talked about which properties we wanted in an ark. We decided we wanted something strong, so it wouldn't break, and something that would float. In the water tray we tested 6 things to see if they floated or sank. First we had to make predictions. Sometimes we were right, and sometimes we were surprised by what happened! We recorded our predictions and our results on our investigation sheet. Look at our photos - can you work out which things floated and which sank?

We talked about what other properties we would need from a material used to make an ark - we wanted something strong and waterproof! In our child initiated time we explored lots of things in the water tray. We tested containers to see if they sank when we put water in, we tested the playdough to see if it would float if we made it into different shapes, we tested to see if things were waterproof and we made some arks and tested to see how many animals and people we could fit in!

Noah's Ark dance

This morning in PE we used dance to tell the story of Noah's Ark. We pretended to be Noah and chopped, sawed, hammered and painted the ark. Then we had to go looking for animals to take on the ark. We moved as animals in different ways. We were...

fierce tigers!

big elephants!

tiny mice!

and waddling penguins!

Lucy and Grace made an arch and we all walked into the ark two by two.

We made movements to show the rain was falling. Then we worked with a partner and used our bodies to make the ark. We had to move around on the water, bobbing up and down and swaying from side to side!

We pretended to be the dove that Noah sent to search for dry land. We used our arms as wings and flew around the room. Then we swooped to pick up an olive branch and flew back to the ark.

Finally we were the rainbow that God sent as a promise to never flood the world again. We worked with a partner. We crouched down, then slowly rose up with the music, raising our arms and joining them together to make the shape of the rainbow.

Doubling

Today we have been learning what doubling means and how to find double a number. We found out that when you double a number you add the same amount again - so 'double 4' is just '4 + 4!' We practised finding doubles of numbers with multilink or using our fingers. Then we explored doubling with some doubling challenges on playdough mats and some doubling puzzles. We are learning some of our doubling number facts by heart!

The Rainbow Fish music

On Friday we composed some music to go with the story we were reading all week, The Rainbow Fish. First we explored the different instruments to hear what sounds they made and how we could play them. Then we thought about which instruments we could play at different parts of the story. After that we practised the instrument we would be playing. Finally we played our instruments as Mrs Batson read the story. Can you hear the instruments we played?

We used rainsticks to make the sound of the sea and the triangles to show the beautiful rainbow fish. We used shakers to make the sound of the other fish darting around the ocean. When the rainbow fish gets cross, Olivia played her instrument very quickly to show his annoyance. Then, when he is feeling lonely, Aaron and Fallon played their instruments slowly to show how sad he was feeling. We used drums and tambours to represent the octopus, who has a deep voice, and Matthew used a scraper to show how happy the rainbow fish felt when he had friends to play with.

The Fish Who Could Wish

This afternoon we read a story called The Fish Who Could Wish. We are learning how to use talk partners effectively, so first we talked about ways to be a good talk partner.

We decided that you must:

• listen carefully when your partner is talking
• take turns to talk
• talk about what you've been asked to talk about
• only talk to your talk partner and no one else
• speak clearly so your partner can hear you
• face your partner when you are speaking and listening to them

We practised these skills by talking to our partners about what we would wish for if we could wish for anything in the world! Then we had to tell the whole class what our partner would wish for, to show that we had been a good talk partner and listened carefully. We had lots of interesting ideas, including: being an octonaut to see the fish, having a submarine, having a digger and having a one direction cake!

After that we wrote "If I had a wish I would wish" and then finished the sentence by writing about what we would wish for. We drew and coloured in pictures to go with our writing.

Exploring materials for our underwater pictures

This afternoon we have been exploring materials and deciding which ones to use to add more detail to our underwater pictures. First we looked at pictures of underwater plants and coral and talked about the colours and the shapes. Then we tried out lots of different materials on a piece of paper to test the colour and texture and to see if we thought they would look good on our underwater picture. We used pencils, felt pens, chalks, oil pastels, poster paint and thick acrylic paint.

Then we decided which ones we wanted to use on our finished pictures. The bubble background pictures we made yesterday were dry, so we could add the plants and weeds to make them look even better!

To finish our pictures we just need to cut out our colourful fish and stick them on our backgrounds - check back to see photos of our finished pictures!

Fish facts!

This morning we have been learning how we can find out information. We've been reading the book The Rainbow Fish and we wanted to learn more about fish and sea creatures.

First we talked about what we already know - for example, "they live under water," (Fallon), "they swim around in a fish tank," (Lilly) and "sometimes they live at the beach," (Emily).

Then we talked about what we wanted to find out and thought of some questions we'd like to answer. Some of these were - "What do they eat?" (Hope), "Are there big fish and little fish?" (Rhys) and "What colour tails do they have?" (Ollie).

Next we had to decide how we could find this information out. We decided that we could use the internet (which could be on computers, iPads or phones) or look in books. We split into two groups and looked at books about fish with Mrs Batson and used the internet with Miss Ayres to find answers to our questions and find some interesting facts about fish. Then we got together again in a big group to share what we'd learnt. Here are some of the things we found out!

Some fish are spiky, like the red lion fish.
Some fish are pink. 
They're very colourful animals.
Fish eat a lot of plankton.
The biggest fish is called the whale shark.
The smallest fish is called paedocypris progenetica and it's transparent! (We've learnt about transparent, translucent and opaque things before so we knew this meant that you can see through it).
The fastest fish is called the sailfish and it's very fast at leaping.
Nemo and Marlin in the film Finding Nemo are clownfish.
Jellyfish can sting you!
Some starfish are blue.

Making colourful fish and exploring shells

This morning we've been making colourful fish pictures to go on our display about The Rainbow Fish. We used bubble wrap and lots of different colours of paint!

We've also been exploring shells in the discovery area. We've been feeling them to see if they are rough or smooth, looking at their colours, looking closely at them with the magnifying glasses and listening to find out if we can hear the ocean in them!

Sharing

This afternoon we talked about sharing. In The Rainbow Fish the rainbow fish learns to share - when he doesn't share his shiny scales he is lonely because the other fish don't want to play with him after he is unkind and selfish. After he shares his scales with them, they want to play with him and be friends when they see he is kind and generous. Then he is happy because he has lots of friends! We talked about who we share with and used our phonics to help us write in speech bubbles who we share with.

"I share with Ethan." - Rhys

"I share with my cousin Harrison." - Aaron

"I share my digger toy with Jack." - Matthew

"I share my toys with Leila." - Lilly

"I share with Eleanor." - Olivia

"I share with my brother and my sister and my family." - Hope

"I share my One Direction doll with my sister." - Grace

"I share my toys with Hayden." - Trystan

"I share my toys with Sonny." - Ollie

"I share my fighting toys with Caden." - Jamie

"I share my cars with my brother." - Lucy

"I share my toys with Grace." - Maddie

"I share my lego with my mummy." - Lexi

The Rainbow Fish

This morning we read a story called The Rainbow Fish. It's about a beautiful, colourful fish who shares his shimmering scales with the other fish and makes lots of new friends by being kind and generous. We have got lots of fun things to do and learn about this week connected to the story - watch this space!

The adventures of Elmer and Steve!

On Friday afternoon we made up a story about Elmer, the colourful elephant we've been learning about. We thought of adjectives to describe him, such as funny and kind. Then we thought of a different character who wasn't like Elmer - he was rude and grumpy! Jamie decided to call him Steve. We are learning how to write a story in three sentences. The first sentence introduces our characters. In the second sentence something happens. Finally, the story comes to a conclusion in the last sentence. We practised telling our story using our kung fu punctuation and using our voices for expression. We had to remember to speak clearly and in a big voice. We watched the video of our first try and decided we weren't speaking loudly enough, so we tried again. This one is much better!

Colour changing water

This morning we did an experiment with red cabbage. We had some red cabbage water (which was purple) and we wanted to find out what happened when we added different things to it. We made predictions about what might happen then tested it out to see if we were right. First we added lemon juice. We guessed the lemon juice might make it go yellow "because lemon juice is yellow" so we were very surprised when it turned red!

Next we added egg white. Some people thought it might turn the water white "because it's white" but Olivia suggested it would turn the water red "the same as the other one." But when we added the egg white, it turned blue!

Then we added vinegar. Some of us thought it might turn the water white, but Harry said that because the egg white was white and had turned the cabbage water blue, the vinegar would too. But when we added the vinegar, the water turned pink!

Finally we looked at bicarbonate of soda. It was a very white powder, which Fallon said looked like snow. Most people thought it would turn the water white because it was such a bright white. But when we added it to the water, it turned blue!

We talked about our results and what we had found out - what happens to red cabbage water when you add things to it? The colour changes! The tricky science behind this is that our red cabbage water showed us whether something was an acid or an alkali - acids will turn the water red or pink and alkalis will turn it blue.

During child initiated time some of us chose to experiment with the rest of the cabbage water and try other things from around the classroom to see whether they made the water red or blue. We made predictions and then tested to see if we were right! We tried...

soap

milk 

orange juice 

water 

tea 

strawberry milkshake powder 

and honey 

Here are all the lovely colours we made! 

Colour investigations

This morning we have been doing some science investigations on our topic of colour. First, we were exploring what happens when different colours are mixed together. We knew from our work yesterday what happens when paint colours are mixed together, but what happens when you mix other things together? We explored mixing coloured water, coloured sand, coloured playdough, coloured play foam and different types of coloured paper and cellophane. Sometimes our predictions were right - red and yellow water did make orange water and we made purple playdough by mixing blue and red together. But sometimes we didn't get what we expected - blue and red water didn't really make purple and the grains of sand didn't mix together to make different colours, it just made multicoloured sand!

With Mrs Batson we explored oil paints and water and made some lovely marble pictures.

With Miss Ayres we did an investigation with skittles. We put 5 skittles in a clear pot and then dripped some water on with a pipette. Some of us thought the water might change the colour of the skittles and some of us thought the water would just make them wet. We had to keep watching the skittles and we saw the colours start to come off and make patterns! We tried the skittles in a different arrangement to make a different pattern.