17/09/2026
We don't talk about maths and English at New Pastures as much as we should. Lessons are fun and interesting and something to be looked forward to! Making lessons relatable to what our students are interested in keeps them engaged and keen to learn.
In our Maths lessons this week, we practiced our understanding of place value by throwing the specified number of beanbags into the correct place value bucket. Students really enjoyed some fresh air and movement, and we became quite competitive! Some classes rolled giant dice to formulate numbers, and others had fun challenging each other by writing numbers on mini whiteboards. Our largest number was 9,876,543!
Students also went on a walk around the farm or salon to count each animal or item group, and we discussed multiplying the totals by 10, 100, and 1000. For some cross-phase learning, we also discussed some facts about each item or animal, as identifying facts is a key part of our English learning this week. The Pygmy goats were quite a challenge to count, as they kept running around. We finally settled on a total of 27!
In English, we passed around a sensory basket to discuss our opinions and facts about the objects inside. We distinguished fact from opinions, using our initial adjectives from the sensory basket as a springboard. We then proceeded to go on a treasure hunt around the farm or salon to find some cards containing facts, supporting details, and opinions about the animals or salon tools. We used our detective sheets to decipher what was fact, opinion, or supporting detail, and discussed the ‘clues’ that could help us within the text!
It's called FUNctional skills for a reason! ☺️
