This week we have been looking at our Local community in the past, there is so much we have looked at! We started with discussing the bottle kilns as this was the children's favourite thing to talk about. They loved looking at old images and videos of how the bottle kilns were used and how important they were to us in the past. 

We also looked at transport in the past and how we used the canal to transport goods, the children looked looking at the old bikes, cars and buses that use to be used.

In phonics this week we have been looking at longer words and teaching the children to 'chunk'. They have been practising breaking up words such as 'sunset' which include both phase 2 and phase 3 taught sounds. First we segment and blend 's-u-n' and then 's-e-t' and push it together 'sunset'. The children have been amazing at this! 

We continue to recap previously taught sounds within phase 3 as this is still new learning for us and we will start to recognise these sounds within our guided reading sessions. 

As always we are working on our letter formation, ensuring all letters are on the line with clear ascenders and descenders. Over the last couple of weeks our big focus has been finger spaces. We continue to work on this as it is a tricky skill to learn. I am so proud of the children's writing, they are becoming more independent and confident to sound out words and spell without support. 

Take a look at some amazing writing based on the past.

In maths we have learnt about repeating patterns, the children have loved using colours, shapes and objects to make different patterns. Everybody is able to make a simple repeating pattern and is able to describe what pattern they have made. We then challenged ourselves to make more complicated patterns, this included up to 3 objects! 

Last week we created a Clarice Cliff design and this week we are using that design to colour in with her most popular colours. The children have enjoyed looking at her work and this has given them lots of independent thought and inspiration when making their own. 

After a busy week I hope you all have a lovely weekend, I look forward to seeing you all Monday morning.