Exploring rhyme

This morning we met a new friend called Funky Monkey. Funky Monkey has been told that his name rhymes... but he didn't understand what that meant! It was our job to think of some rhyming words and try to work out why they rhymed so we could help Funky Monkey understand. We heard some examples of rhyme, for example, 'cat' and 'bat', and worked out that the words must have the same end sound to rhyme. 'Cat' and 'bat' rhyme, but 'cat' and 'cap' don't, because their end sound is different.

We explored rhyme in lots of different ways, and used paper and clipboards to record some of the rhymes we found.

We listened to nursery rhymes and followed them with the book.

We had to write words that rhymed with the words on the whiteboards. Some of them were tricky, like 'crunch' but Lucy came up with a good word - 'bunch' and Harry said 'lunch'.

We searched in the sand for buried coins. Each coin had a word on it. We had to read the word and try to match the rhyming pairs!

We had a big piece of paper that we could use to write rhyming words on, or sentences that had rhyming words in. Grace wrote "The fox got a box." Super rhymes Grace!

We played rhyming games like rhyming pairs. You have to turn over two cards, read the words and see if they rhyme. Here Harry has a pair because 'sun' and 'bun' are rhyming words.

We looked at books with rhyme in. Some were story books and some were poetry books. Here Olivia is looking for rhyming words in one of our big books of poetry.

When we found rhyming words we wrote them down on our clipboards so we wouldn't forget them!

We played a rhyming game on the interactive whiteboard called 'Cake Bake'. You have to put words into the bowl if they rhyme with the word already in there. Here you can see Jamie has to find words that rhyme with 'cat' to go into the bowl, and he is choosing 'bat'. Well done Jamie!

We picked things out of the story bag and then found the rhyming card that went with it. Then we said or sang the rhyme. Here Lexi is holding Humpty Dumpty and singing the Humpty Dumpty rhyme.

We used the iPads to write ideas we had and also to listen to a story. The story was called 'The Steam Train' and it was a rhyming story. We could read it ourselves or choose 'Read to me' and the iPad read the story to us while we looked at the words and the pictures.

We had to find rhyming words to fit the pieces of this rhyming puzzle together. Here Grace has already found 'frog' and 'dog'. Maddie also found the tricky rhyme 'tie' and 'pie'.

Then we shared what we had learnt with each other and with Funky Monkey. We had done such a good job of finding rhyming words that Funky Monkey understood what rhyme means! We finished by reading one of our favourite stories, The Gruffalo, and joining in with all the rhyming words.

How to make a symmetrical butterfly picture

Yesterday we told you about all the symmetrical pictures we were making and that we had learnt to say and write instructions to tell other people how to make them too. As promised, here are Grace's instructions so you can make a symmetrical butterfly picture!

Fabulous Writing

This afternoon we have been making up stories about some of the characters we dressed up as today. We talked about introducing the characters in the first sentence, having something exciting happen in the second sentence and then finishing the story in the last sentence (the conclusion). We also added a fourth sentence to our story to make it sound like a proper fairy tale! Here is the story we wrote altogether:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful and kind princess called Rosie. One day a fierce fire-breathing dragon took the princess and locked her in a tall tower. A brave knight fought the dragon and rescued the princess. They lived happily ever after!

Then we all had some time to try writing stories of our own. We looked at each other's work on the board using our new visualiser and talked about how we could make our stories better.

Dressing Up Day!

Today we have come into school dressed up as all sorts of different characters. We've had gruffalos, superheroes, princesses, pirates, a knight, a cat and many more! We talked about our characters and thought of ways to describe them, then drew or painted pictures of our characters. It seems that Aaron the knight is going to be quite busy today as he has got lots of princesses to save!

This is what some of us said about our character:

"I'm a good pirate, I go on a ship with a map to find treasure." Olivia

"Little Red Riding Hood goes to the woods, she is going to Grandma's house, and she meets the big bad wolf." Fallon

"Knights save people. They use shields. They fight dragons." Aaron

"I'm the cat from Room on a Broom. I'm a good cat because I don't scratch." Maddie

"I'm a fairy princess. I've got wings. I'm kind." Brianna

"Superman is a superhero. He's strong. He flies." Matthew

"Spiderman is good. I fight baddies. I get spiderwebs. I'm good at climbing." Trystan


This afternoon Reception are going to be making up some exciting stories about their characters!

Symmetry

This morning we have been learning all about symmetry. We looked at pictures of butterflies and talked about how their pattern is symmetrical. Then we explored lots of ways of making symmetrical pictures, including using pegs and boards, drawing pictures on paper and using the symmetry tool when drawing on the iPads. We made lots of super pictures!

Hope made this symmetrical pattern with the pegs and a board.

Brianna used the symmetry tool on the iPad to draw this lovely purple butterfly!

 

Matthew drew this symmetrical picture using the iPad

Harry made this lovely butterfly picture on the iPad

Hope and Maddie drew some super butterfly pictures with symmetrical patterns

We also made some symmetrical butterfly pictures and were learning how to give and follow instructions. We had to follow the instructions carefully so we knew what to do. This afternoon we have been learning how to write instructions so that other people can make symmetrical butterfly pictures too!

Look out for some of our instructions tomorrow so you can make a symmetrical butterfly picture too!

Exciting writing

Today we have been exploring lots of different ways of writing. We used pens, pencils, chalks, crayons, rainbow crayons, colour changing pens and feather quills and ink! We also used playdough to make letters. We had question cards to help us talk about the ways of writing – Is it easy to use? Does it look nice? Is it easy to read the writing? We wrote on lots of different types of paper as well – paper, card, coloured paper and even multi-coloured paper! We talked about which things were easiest to write with and which ones we liked best. We all enjoyed writing with the quills and ink but agreed that it’s much quicker to write with a pencil because you don’t have to keep dipping it in the ink. We also did lots of writing on the iPads.

Later in the morning we were exploring lots of ways of writing messages. We wrote messages on post-it notes that we left for people around the school, messages in bottles that we left on the stairs and in Year 5 and 6’s classroom, and even on paper planes that we flew through Mrs Lilley’s classroom door!

Visit from a fairy!

This morning we came back from Collective worship and found a visitor in our classroom... A fairy had appeared when we were in the hall, with an envelope containing a letter addressed to us!

In the letter the fairy told us that she had just moved to Great Gaddesden from Fairy Land and was looking for a new home. She asked for our help and told us some things she was looking for in a home. She liked seeing flowers in spring and she wanted to be near some new friends. She also said she didn't like being cold at night and would need something she could use to make a cosy bed. We decided to go exploring and find some places where the fairy could live. We took clipboards and paper, pencils, sound buttons and cameras to record what we found, and binoculars and magnifying glasses so we could look closely at the things we found.

First we went to the bark area. We found daffodils that were starting to grow, leaves and moss the fairy could use for a bed, and a birdhouse she could live in. We looked at the trees and thought there might be birds and squirrels she could be friends with.

Then we went into the garden. There we saw a pond - but we decided this wouldn't be a very good place for the fairy to live, because she might not be able to swim! Also the water might be rather cold. We saw that there were flowers here too, and there might be birds and animals to be her friends. Rhys said there are snails and worms that she could be friends with, too. We also said that she could sleep on the grass. Hope found something that could be a chair for her, and Matthew found a birdhouse that she might like to live in.

Finally we went to the music room. This was warmer because it was inside and there was a heater, but there weren't any animals that the fairy could be friends with. There weren't any flowers growing there, but Matthew said that she could look out the window to see the garden. Aaron suggested under the piano, but Jamie thought it might be too dark. We thought she might like playing the instruments and hearing the music, and she would have lots to eat because our snack is kept in there!

This afternoon we wrote reports on all the places we had explored. First, we wrote one altogether about the music room.

Then one group worked with Miss Ayres and wrote a report about the garden...

While the other group worked with Mrs Waites and wrote reports about the bark area.

Then we shared our work with each other.

Where do you think would be a good place for a fairy to live?