This term has been very busy indeed! We have been learning all about what it takes for a plant to grow from seed to fully grown. The children have been amazed to learn how seeds can travel… Did you know that some plants grow on top of trees because their seeds are transported there by the birds that eat them? The children have enjoyed planting their own seeds, with varying levels of growth success. We grew beans in clear bags, this enabled us to clearly see the parts of the plant as it progressed.

It was very exciting to come in and check everyday. Seeing the roots spread out and the green shoot pop up really enabled us to understand what these 'parts' were and what their job was to help the plant grow.  Our grass seed unfortunately didn’t come to fruition, but this enabled us to have scientific discussions about what we may have done wrong, and what we would do differently next time. Using this knowledge, we have all planted some Giant Sunflowers that are happily soaking up the sun’s rays and the rain in the garden. The children are excited to see whose plant will be the tallest by the end of the year and to bring them home to care for over the Summer Holidays.

In maths we have been focusing on pattern and how we can see pattern EVERYWHERE! We’ve noticed how numbers continue in a pattern and were amazed to find out that a number pattern can be infinite… We’ve searched for patterns in books, noticing how in some stories the same words are used over and over, helping us to join in and anticipate what will happen next in the flow of words. The children have also really enjoyed identifying patterns in nature. Noticing how some creatures are symmetrical, this knowledge and understanding will certainly help us next term when we begin to start learning about doubling and halving!

In Religious Education and World Views we have been hearing stories from different faiths, some we knew and some we weren’t familiar with. The children have been able to share their own personal experiences and knowledge linked to the different faiths, and it has been a joy to see them interacting about their faith with others.

We have continued to build on our phonics knowledge and apply this to our written work. We have used our topic learning about plants, growth and lifecycles to write about what we have found out. We have also continued to practice our names and letter formation.