Habitats and hibernation!

This morning we learnt all about habitats. Did you know that different types of bears live in different parts of the world? We had some pictures of bears and we had to match them to the place they live. We also looked on the globe to find the different places, such as China, where pandas live in the bamboo forests, and the North Pole, where polar bears live.

In Play and Learn time we looked at the globe and a smaller globe which has animals we can stick on with velcro. Some of us also sorted other animals into different habitats, for example, the desert, the ocean and the rainforest. Jack was super at this!

This afternoon we were learning all about hibernation. This is when some animals go to sleep through the winter. We read the book 'When will it be spring?' and talked about what hibernation means and why some animals might hibernate. Then we sorted pictures of different animals and talked about whether they hibernate or not. Do you think these animals hibernate?

Hedgehogs?
Cows?
Bears?
Dogs?
Goldfish?
Bats?

Tomorrow we are going to learn all about one of the types of bears we've looked at yesterday and today and explore their habitat in more detail. Which bear do you think it will be?!

Learning about bears

This week we are learning all about real bears! We talked about the difference between story books (fiction) and information books (non-fiction). We came up with some questions that we wanted to know the answers to and talked about where we could look to find this information, such as in books or on the internet. We researched different kinds of bears and learnt some facts to tell the rest of the class. Did you know...

The sun bear is the smallest type of bear.
Pandas eat bamboo.
Polar bears live in the North Pole.
Polar bear cubs are born blind, pink and with no hair.
Some bears are really good at climbing trees.
Some bears eat fruit, nuts and berries. Some bears eat meat.

This week we are going to learn lots more about bears including the different parts of the world they live in. Which bears do you think live in China? You'll find out later this week!

We're going on a bear hunt... the alternative version!

This afternoon we wrote an alternative story of We're Going on a Bear Hunt. We chose different places to visit in the story and for each one thought of two adjectives to describe it, such as "thick, oozy" which is used to describe the mud in the story. Then we decided on the action and sound we would make as we travelled through that place. We practised the story, then worked in groups to make cards to prompt us in our storytelling. Each group had one place to make a picture of. We thought about which materials to use, how to make the picture and what we needed to write. Then we practised telling our story again before performing it for Mrs Comer!

Here is our version of the story:

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

by Reception

We're going on a bear hunt.

We're going to catch a big one.

What a beautiful day!

We're not scared.

Uh-uh! A beach!

A sandy, shelly beach.

We can't go over it.

We can't go under it.

Oh no!

We've got to go through it!

Step hop jump!

Step hop jump!

Step hop jump!

We're going on a bear hunt.
We're going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared.

Uh-uh! The sea!
The wet, blue sea.
We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
Oh no!
We've got to go through it!

Swim swim swim!
Swim swim swim!
Swim swim swim!

We're going on a bear hunt.
We're going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared.

Uh-uh! A desert!
A hot, dry desert.
We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
Oh no!
We've got to go through it!

Need some water!
Need some water!
Need some water!

We're going on a bear hunt.
We're going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared.

Uh-uh! Mountains!
Big, snowy mountains.
We can't go over them.
We can't go under them.
Oh no!
We've got to go through them!

Slip and slide!
Slip and slide!
Slip and slide!

We're going on a bear hunt.
We're going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared.

Uh-uh! A cave!
A narrow, gloomy cave.
We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
Oh no!
We've got to go through it!

Tiptoe! Tiptoe! Tiptoe!

WHAT'S THAT?

One shiny wet nose!

Two big furry ears!

Two big goggly eyes!

IT'S A BEAR!!!!

Quick! Back through the cave! Tiptoe! Tiptoe! Tiptoe!

Back through the mountains! Slip and slide! Slip and slide!

Back through the desert! Need some water! Need some water!

Back through the sea! Swim swim swim! Swim swim swim!

Back through the beach! Step hop jump! Step hop jump!

Get to our front door.

Open the door.

Up the stairs.

Oh no!

We forgot to shut the door.

Back downstairs.

Shut the door.

Back upstairs.

Into the bedroom.

Into bed.

Under the covers.

We're not going on a bear hunt again.

Bear Hunt Adventures!

Today we went on a bear hunt!

We went through the long, wavy grass...

Through the deep, cold river...

Through the thick, oozy mud...

Through the big, dark forest...

Through the swirling, whirling snowstorm...

And through the narrow, gloomy cave...

Where we saw one wet, shiny nose... two big furry ears... two big goggly eyes... it was a bear!!!

Quick! Back through the cave (tiptoe tiptoe), back through the snowstorm (hoo woo hoo woo!), back through the forest (stumble trip stumble trip!), back through the mud (squelch squerch squelch squerch!), back through the river (splash splosh splash splosh!), back through the grass (swishy swashy swishy swashy!), get to our front door, open the door, up the stairs, oh no! We forgot to close the door! Back down the stairs, close the door, back upstairs, into bed, under the covers!

We're not going on a bear hunt again!

Exploring the world!

This afternoon we did some geography and began to explore and talk about the whole world! We looked at the globe and learnt that our planet is called Earth, our country is the United Kingdom and the rest of the world is made up of countries, which are all very different, and lots of sea. We found the UK on the globe and talked about how small it is compared to many other countries.

We rolled the globe around in a circle and all pointed to a country that interested us. Then Miss Ayres told us some things about that country. We looked at countries that have sea next to them and countries that only have land around them.

Then we worked in pairs and looked at a picture of somewhere in the world. We talked to our partner about what the place looked like, what we thought it might be called, if we thought it was hot or cold, what animals might live there etc. Then we shared our ideas with the rest of the class and found out where in the world our photo was from, looking to find it on the globe.

Brianna recognised the desert straight away and said "there's sand, it's hot" and said there might be camels there. Emily and Fallon had a picture of the rainforest, and we talked about how some rainforests are being cut down and the animals are losing their homes. Olivia pointed out that the trees could grow back up again, but Miss Ayres explained that they take a long time to grow. Finlay and Harrison knew their picture was a cold place ("freezing" said Harrison) and Finlay said there was water under the ice. We found the Arctic and the Antarctic on the globe and talked about the different animals that live there, such as polar bears and penguins. Jack and Blue had a picture of mountains which they recognised were cold. We learnt that the mountain in the picture was Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world! Olivia and Harry had a picture of the sea and said fish might live there. Emily added some more ideas, saying "whales, sharks and dolphins." Tommy and Charlie had a picture of the beach. We looked again at the globe and how some countries have a coastline and some don't. Summer had a picture of the English countryside and we talked about some things we recognised as being from our country, such as the green fields.

Afterwards some of us made pictures of the different places in the world we'd looked at and we looked at our new atlases and all the maps of the world. We also looked at Google Earth on the iPad and zoomed in to see Great Gaddesden and our school! Emily and Charlie were also busy putting puzzles together, first a tricky one of the whole world with lots of pieces and then one of Europe.

Preparing for a bear hunt!

This morning we've been talking about things to pack when we go to different places, like what we bring to school, what we'd take on holiday to the beach etc.

We talked about all the different places the family visit in the story We're Going on a Bear Hunt and the different types of weather they face. We came up with lots of ideas of things we might need and found them in the classroom. We chose:

• long trousers for the long, wavy grass because "there might be stinging nettles" (Finaly) or "there might be thorns" (Emily) or the grass might have things in "that bite us" (Fallon)
• welly boots for the deep, cold river and the thick, oozy mud
• torches for the big, dark forest and the narrow, gloomy cave so we can see where we're going
• hat, scarf, gloves and a coat for the swirling, whirling snowstorm - something to keep us warm and dry!
• binoculars so we can look out for bears!
• magnifying glasses so we can look closely at other things we see along the way
• cameras to take pictures of what we see!

We gathered all the things and shared them out. Then we acted out the story on the playground, wrapping up warm during the whirling, swirling snowstorm, shining our torches on the ground in the big, dark forest and the narrow, gloomy cave and splashing and squelching with our wellies in the deep, cold river and the thick, oozy mud!

After that we used the welly boots to make patterns on paper by putting the wellies in paint and walking across the paper - the boots all had different patterns on the bottom so it looked different on the paper!

We're going on a bear hunt..!

This week our learning is focused on the fantastic story 'We're going on a bear hunt'. We have been learning how to perform this story and make it exciting for people to watch. We watched the author, Michael Rosen, performing the story and talked about what he did that made it a good performance, such as adding actions, using his face to make expressions and using his voice to show how he was feeling. We've been practising telling the story and tomorrow we are going to perform it for Mrs Comer - watch out for our video!

We've also been busy this week making binoculars to go on a bear hunt, making some swishy swashy grass from the story, making masks of the characters to help us retell the story, using playdough to create scenes from the story and exploring some snow, like in the 'swirling, whirling snowstorm' in the water tray.

This afternoon Reception also composed a musical accompaniment to the story, deciding which instruments worked best for each part of the story. After practising playing our instrument, we listened to the story being read aloud and joined in with our instruments at the right time to make the story even more exciting! We recorded our performance on our touch screen computer and then played it back, talking about what we liked and why and which bits were the most effective.

If you want to watch Michael Rosen's storytelling of the story, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gyI6ykDwds&safe=active