Minnow Class is taught by Miss Jackson and is supported by Mrs Worley and Mrs Francis. Other adults who work in the class are Mr Frisby (teaching music on a Wednesday) and Mr Bourne (teaching PE on a Monday).
Below you will find a gallery of all the exciting learning activities that have taken place in Minnow class this year.
Our First Weeks at School
All of the children in Minnow Class have settled beautifully into school. Over the first couple of weeks the children have spent time getting to know us and each other. We have spent lots of time both inside and outside and have enjoyed taking part in our PE and Music sessions. We have also talk lots about ourselves and our families as part of our All About Me topic.
European Day of Languages
We had a great time celebrating European Day of Languages and learning all about France. We learnt how to say hello and goodbye in French and made our own French flags. We then went down to the hall and enjoyed trying a selection of French food including brie, croissants and crepes.
Art
This term the children have been learning how to print. In art we used a variety of different materials, including sponges, cotton buds and bubble wrap, to print the leaves on our Autumn trees.
Mental Health Day
All of the children looked amazing in their yellow clothes to celebrate Mental Health Day. During the day we took part in lots of different activities. We did some yoga with Mrs Worley and made sensory bottles with Mrs Streetin. Mrs Francis used her skills from her drawing and talking therapy to help us to understand our feelings using The Colour Monster story. We then draw some pictures of things that made us happy and sad.
Sponsored Ride
The children had a wonderful time taking part in our sponsored ride. It was lovely to see the enthusiasm they all had for cycling and scooting. Thank you to everyone who donated and sponsored the children. I am really pleased to announce we have exceeded our target thanks to all of your kindness and support.
Eco Day
The children really enjoyed participating in eco day. They loved exploring the VRs and learning more about how we can look after our planet in the virtual reality workshop. Then in the afternoon we read the story 'Somebody Swallowed Stanley' and used this as a prompt to talk about what else we could do with our rubbish. The children then had fun using junk to create lots of different models including rocket ships and robots.
Remembrance Day
To mark Remembrance Day the children practised some of their art skills by making different types of poppies. We talked about why we wear poppies and the importance of Remembrance Day. The children stood respectfully for the two minutes silence and enjoyed listening to Mr Streetin play The Last Post on the bugle.
Diwali
The children have really enjoyed learning about Diwali. We had a go at painting our own Rangoli patterns and have learnt about the story of Ramayana through our dance workshop.
RNLI Visit
The children really enjoyed having a visit from the RNLI. Several of them enjoyed dressing up to show off the different gear and uniforms that are used by the RNLI. They also demonstrated some great listening skills and learnt all about what the RNLI do, how they help us, how to stay safe around water and what to do if they or someone else gets into trouble.
Church Visit
The children had a lovely time visiting St James Church. They had time to explore the church and the different features. They did some rubbings of the different reliefs around the church. Finally they helped Reverend Keen find the Nativity characters hidden around the church and then retold the Nativity story.
Guide Dog Visit
We were very lucky to have Iris visit with her guide god puppy Cory. She told us all about how she trains the puppies to give people the help they need.
Music Day
The children had a wonderful time taking part in music day. We had the opportunity to work with different teachers learning different musical skills. We went into Miss Jones's class and had a go at playing the boomwackers, Miss Broadribb's class and had a go at playing the recorders and Mr Green's class where Miss Darch taught us how to play the African drums.
Dinosaurs
One of the things we have been learning about this half term is dinosaurs. The children had a wonderful time learning all about fossils and paleontology. We looked and Mary Anning and her life and learnt lots of new vocabulary. During our class activities we made salt dough fossils, fossils from playdough and explored dinosaur slime.
Outdoor Learning
In outdoor learning this week we looked at Andy Goldsworthy and his art. We then went and collected lots of different natural materials and had a go at making art in the same style.
Jumping Beans
We really enjoyed having Jumping Beans Gymnastics come into school to work with us. We have fun practising our balancing and climbing around the circuit and taking part in relay races with bats and beanbags. Finally we all had a turn at working with Leah to do a forward roll around the bar.
World Book Day
World Book Day in Minnows was a day full of fun! I was really impressed with all the effort that everyone put in with their costumes, they all looked amazing. We had a great day doing lots of different activities, each one themed around a different book. We were retelling the story of The Gruffalo, cave painting like in Cave Baby, hunting for the minibeasts from Mad About Minibeasts, rescuing the fish from Tiddler and sorting the bears from Goldilocks.
Computing Day
We had a great time taking part in computing day. We started the day off by playing some different games on the iPads and then the year 6 children came and helped us to programme the Beebots around different courses. In the afternoon we visited Kingfisher Museum where we had the chance to look at some fantastic old technology and talk about what it was used for. Finally we spent time in the classroom playing with the code-a-pillars and drawing pictures on the interactive whiteboard.
Easter
We really enjoyed celebrating and learning about Easter in Minnow Class. We learnt about the Easter story and the meaning of Easter. We also talked lots about how Easter represents new life at Spring time. We carried out lots of activities including painting Easter symbols, writing Easter words and retelling the Easter story.
Space
This week we have been learning about space. We learnt all about how people live in space and we watched some videos of Tim Peake in the International Space Station. We talked lots about how there is no gravity in space and how astronauts need to strap themselves in to stop themselves from floating away. We read the story 'Whatever Next' and based a lot of our activities around space including junk modelling rockets, space small world play and constellation pictures.
Earth Day
On Monday 22nd April we celebrated Earth Day. We spent the afternoon learning all about how we could help our planet. We focussed on plastics in the ocean and enjoyed reading and discussing the story 'Someone Swallowed Stanley', about a plastic bag who ends up being eaten by a turtle who thinks it is a jelly fish. Then we carried out some activities including using plastic bags to make jelly fish, cleaning up the plastic from the water tray and rescuing the animals from the net.
Making Boats
The children loved using the different materials to make boats. We talked lots about the features of a boat including it needing to be waterproof and to be able to float. After the children had made their boats they then got to test them in the water and see how much treasure they could carry.
Dinosaur Workshop
The children had an amazing time at the dinosaur workshop. They got to have a go at being palaeontologists and unearth some of their own fossils. They learnt all about different dinosaurs and creatures that were alive back then. Finally they got to meet two baby dinosaurs and give them a little stroke.
Planting
The children enjoyed having the opportunity to plant some bulbs that will grow in the Kingfisher School welcome garden.
Handa's Surprise
As part of our learning based on the story Handa's Surprise we made fruit salad using tropical fruits. The children demonstrated their cutting skills to cut up bits of fruit to make their salad and then enjoyed having it for their afternoon snack.
Pete the Poet
We were very lucky to have the opportunity to work with Pete the Poet. The children had a wonderful time dressing up, finding a little friend and going on a magical, musical adventure.
Supertato
As part of our 'Let's Explore' topic we looked at Superheroes. We used the story Supertato to work from and had a great time creating our own super veg. We then wrote about all of the superpowers our vegetables had and how they could help people.