Damson Wood Nursery and Infant School

In English, Beech Class has continued our writing about the Great Fire of London and to finish this unit, we will be creating an interesting non-fiction fact file.
In Maths, we have focused on making different amounts using money and
calculating change.
In Science, we recapped what it means for a material to be suitable for a particular purpose.
We have also been preparing for our D&T project by creating designs for our finger
puppets. The children have shown lots of creativity and enthusiasm throughout this
process.

Willow Class continued to look at the story 'My Shadow is Pink'. This book is all about a little boy who dares to be different. We have been discussing in class how important it is to have the courage to be your true self even if at first it may feel a little scary. The character in the story at first was very sad when he felt like he did not fit in when he wore his dress to school. The children have been writing words of encouragement to the character, such as, put your dress back on, be happy, be you! The story has a wonderful ending when the character realises, 'I may be different, but different is best!'
In PE, we have been focusing on our underarm throwing and careful catching.
We did some partner work throwing and catching to each other followed by trying to throw our bean bag into a target. We have some strong throwers in Willow!
In Topic, we have moved on to our final topic for this year which is called Our
Wonderful World. We have started by looking at the planets in the solar system and
learning why Earth is the only planet known to have living creatures on it.
In Maths, we have been making equal groups. We found that some amounts
of objects such as 5 and 7 can not be shared equally into 2 groups and these numbers are odd. The children have been doing lots of sharing between 2 and working out which numbers are odd and which are even.

Last week in Nursery we read the story, ‘What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside.’
We went on a ladybird hunt in the outdoor area. It was tricky at first but eventually after lots of searching we found some ladybirds. We have been using our counting skills to count the spots on the ladybird. We have been using the word ‘altogether’ to count two groups of spots.

We had an excellent first week back in Maple class last week and have lots of exciting things coming up this last half term!
In English, we have started reading a new story called Julian and the Mermaid. The children have been sharing their dreams and wishes with the class and had a go at writing their dreams on a wishing shell.
In Maths, we have been learning about arrays and the children have been arranging objects into rows and columns.
The children had fun becoming explorers in History this week and have written some
brilliant diary entries about where in the world they had travelled to. In Science, we have been learning about the different animal groups and the children did an excellent job of matching the animals to their correct groups.
This week, it will be great to see the children displaying their amazing phonics knowledge during the Phonics Screening Check. We are very proud of how hard they have worked remembering their sounds and we wish them all good luck! Thank you all for your continued support at home.

In Beech Class, we have continued learning about the Great Fire of London and have written some amazing diary entries and warning posters. The children did amazingly at Sports Day and had a fantastic time! In Science, we have been learning about the functions of different parts of a tree while also measuring our sunflower plants. We have also challenged ourselves in Computing by attempting to debug different types of code to make programs work correctly. In Maths, we have been learning about money, focusing on making the amount with the fewest coins.

On Tuesday 16th June, the children in Nursery and Reception will be holding an event linked to Fathers’ Day. The event will run from 9:15am until 10:15am, in the school hall. We would love to see dads, grandads, uncles and anyone who has had a fatherly influence on the children, joining them to take part in some craft activities and enjoy some refreshments. Our Mothers’ Day event was a great success and we’d love to see the same as we celebrate Fathers’ Day.

In English, Maple Class has been retelling the story of 'Lost and Found'. Everyone worked very hard and had a go at creating a plan for their own stories.
In Maths, we have been learning to tell the time to the hour. We started focusing on o'clock, then moved on to half past.
We had so much fun on Sports Day and everyone tried their very best taking part and supporting each other. We are so proud of them all!
In Geography, we recapped the seven continents and everyone had a go at creating their own map, labelling each continent and the animals that live there.

In Willow Class recently we enjoyed thinking back to our visit to the Animal Centre. The children enjoyed looking through the photos from the trip and drawing a picture and writing a sentence about their favourite animal. The children have also been drawing their own habitats for a chosen animal and thinking about all the things that animal will need to stay happy and healthy.

In Maths, we have been sharing different amounts of objects into equal groups. The children have showed a really good understanding of the word equal and have learnt a very good technique to use when sharing out an amount of items to ensure it is fair and that each group has the same amount.

At Forest School, we had lots of fun using the natural resources we could find to build a little shelter for our tiny bear. We tried to make it warm and cosy and waterproof to keep them nice and dry.

We were very excited to welcome Katee into Willow Class. Katee works as a Vet and told us all about her special job. She talked to us about some of the things she uses such as a stethoscope and syringes. Katee also showed us how to bandage up Leo the Lion's poorly leg. Miss Amies got dressed up in all the protective clothing, which is very important to keep the animals and the vet safe.

In Computing the children have been using the keyboard to type in their login information independently to log in to Purple Mash.

We had a full programme of Sports Days during the week before half term. On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, Reception and Nursery competed indoors and it really was fantastic to see all of them focused on their events and trying their best. Whether it was balancing a bean bag on their head, going through and over obstacles, throwing bean bags and javelins or competing in the egg and spoon race (there was something odd about those Nursery eggs!) the children all performed brilliantly and were a credit to their classes.

We managed to dodge the weather and were able to compete outside for KS1. It was great to see all the smiles as the children jumped, balanced and ran down the different courses. They supported each other and made sure that everyone crossed the line each time. A massive thank you to all of the staff who coached the children and made the events such a success and to the volunteers from the PTA who set up and ran the refreshments stall. Throughout the week we’ve also been taking part in Walk to School week, with everyone being encouraged to make the most of the good weather and spend as much time on foot, scooter or bike as possible and leave the car that little bit further away. A big thank you to all of those who took part and supported this initiative.

We hope you had a lovely half term in the sunshine. We look forward to seeing everyone back in school tomorrow, Monday 1 June.