Thursday 20th June 2019

Today we became investigators in maths! We were trying to find out if the oldest person is always the tallest. We used metre sticks to measure each other and spoke about what year and month we were born in to find out if this was true. We concluded that this is not always true. We then started to think about the difference between our heights and used subtraction to help us with this.

Thursday 6th June 2019

This week we have learnt a new game to help us practice our times tables! We have been practicing our 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables by rolling a dice, multiplying these numbers and filling out the game board. The first one to get all of them correct was the winner. We have also been using times tables rockstars this week on the computers. Don't forget that if you want, you can log into timetable rockstars from home.

Thursday 23rd May 2019

Today we have reached the end of our Dubai topic. We discussed what we have learnt about Dubai and used this knowledge to think about what we might see out of a window in Dubai. We then designed and created our own collage of these views. We used lots of different coloured materials to create different layers and textures within our artwork. We want to say thank you to our pen pal (Miss Cooper) for providing us with lots of information about Dubai.

Friday 17th May

This week we have been preparing to write our own stories based on 'The Clockwork Dragon'. We thought about what he might look like and used lots of different things to build our own clockwork giant. We really enjoyed working as a team and made him have a big, round belly. After this, we wrote our character descriptions for him so that we were ready to write our stories.

Thursday 9th May 2019 

Today was very exciting! We received a new letter from our pen pal (Miss Cooper) who is a teacher in Dubai. She was thrilled to receive the pictures we took and maps we drew of our school. In her reply, she told us that she could spot some similarities and differences between our school and theirs. She included some maps and pictures to see if we could make any comparisons. We noticed that their school had a swimming pool and was surrounded by lots of tall buildings.

Using the information that she had sent, we thought about what we would need to take with us if we went to visit Dubai and made a list of what we would pack. We thought we might need binoculars to help us see from the Burj Khalifa because it is the tallest building in the world!

Friday 3rd May 2019 

This week we have continued to exchange letters with our pen pal (Miss Cooper) who teaches at a school in Dubai. We looked at maps of the world and mapped the route we would take on an aeroplane. We noticed which continents and oceans we would cross, and what we would see on the way. We think Dubai is likely to be hot because it showed there is a desert close to the equator. We live in Europe and Miss Cooper is in Asia. 

Also, Miss Cooper asked us to show her children what our school is like. We took photographs and showed her using symbols on our maps. We can't wait for Miss Cooper to write back and tell us about her school! 

Thursday 25th April 2019 

All week we have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes. We have thought about their properties and how they're related to each other. For example, we recognised that cylinders have circular faces and that all prisms have rectangular faces. Today we had great fun building 3D shapes. Did you know that a cube and cuboid have the same properties even though they look different? 

Wednesday 27th March 2019 

Recently we have been looking at artwork created by Beatrix Potter. We found out what she used to make her artwork and compared this to what illustrators use today. Potter used sketches and watercolours, however illustrators such as Lauren Childs creates her pictures on the computer; digitally. We have had lots of fun becoming artists and drawing our own animals. We have also practised using watercolours; choosing appropriate colours and creating light and shade with more or less water.  Did you know that Queen Victoria was on the throne at the same time Beatrix Potter was alive; Victorian school children would have been the first to hear her tales.

Friday 22nd March 2019 

This week we have had a very exciting delivery. The farmer gave us six eggs to take care of! We looked after them in a heated incubator and waited patiently for them to hatch. After just a few hours our ducklings made their arrival and we put them into their cage. They are growing every day! It is great fun watching them, especially when they paddle. In Science we have been learning about the life cycle of ducks. Did you know a male duck is called a drake? 

Friday 15th March 2019

This week we have started to learn about time. We have been using time vocabulary such as days of the week and the months of the year. We learnt some songs to help us remember the correct order! 

Today, the year 1 children went outside and had races like the tortoise and the hare. They used stopwatches to see how long it took to get to the finish line. They recorded their timings in seconds.

Did you know, it takes 60 seconds to build a minute? And 60 minutes to build one hour? 

Thursday 7th March 2019 

Today was a very unusual day! Everyone arrived at school in their wonderful costumes; ready to celebrate World Book Day. However, when we arrived at school we were faced with a crime scene! Our new crayons were missing! We were confused and disgusted. 

We put on our forensic gloves and shoe covers and started our investigation. To help us find the criminal we wrote missing posters and offered a reward to anyone who found them... 

We soon found out that the crayons had in fact QUIT! Red crayon had wrote to us to explain how fed up he was about being used to colour everything! We wrote back to him and begged for all of the crayons to come back. 

After lunch we were delighted! The lovely ladies in the office returned our crayons and we celebrated by using them ALL. It turned out to be a great day! 

Thursday 28th February 2019 

This week we have had started lots of new learning. 

We have been using number lines to help us with our addition calculations and practising our number bonds. 

We're most excited about our English learning. We started the week by running races and 'magpie-ing' the vocabulary we used throughout. These were words such as; champion, exhausting, panting, boasting. After, we listened to the story of The Tortoise and The Hare and had wrote our own versions using our new words.

Tuesday 12th February 2019 

It has been a busy half term for Otters learning about The Great Fire of London. To finish off our learning about Pudding Lane we were visited by The Hampshire Fire Service. 

They told us all about what fire safety is like today and what we can do to keep ourselves safe with our loved ones at home. Have you tested your smoke alarm recently? Did you know you're supposed to check the batteries once a week! 

Miss Fewtrell has loved looking at all our home learning too! So far she has seen some fantastic Tudor houses and tried delicious treats which you'd find in a bakery. 

We hope everyone has a lovely, safe half term break. 

Wednesday 6th February 2019 

Today we became historians and looked at many different historical sources to see if we could find out anything new about The Great Fire of London. 

The old newspaper article told us that people believed the french and dutch made the fire worse. We're not sure why this was reported? 

Wednesday 30th January 2019

Today we thought about the buckets which were used to carry water during The Great Fire of London. 

They were made of leather. We considered what the best material would be today and why. We agreed that the chosen material should be waterproof. 

We tested the materials we had available. 

We tried four different types: fabric cloth, plastic, tissue paper and cardboard.

We predicted that the fabric cloth or the plastic would be the most waterproof because we know how they are commonly used to protect things from water, or used with water. For example a carrier bag, and cloths for cleaning the lunch tables.

We noticed that although the water didn’t travel through the cardboard it still changed its appearance.

‘The cardboard became soggy and it isn’t strong anymore which shows the water affected it so it isn’t waterproof.’

We agreed the tissue paper was the least waterproof because the water created a hole and tore it.

Wednesday 9^th January 2019

Today we discovered a ripped, old and burnt piece of paper. We went to see if we could find the rest of it and bumped into the other KS1 classes who had the missing pieces. We decided to put the pieces together and realised that they were instructions by spotting the clues. We followed the instructions and created bread. We then discussed that this must have been a recipe and we wrote our own new recipe to replace it.

Tuesday 11th December 2018 

Today we investigated which is the warmest country in the UK. 

We researched by looking at maps, photographs and graphs about the weather. We concluded the following; 

'We think England is the warmest country in the UK because people visit the beach and the pictures showed it was hot and sunny. Also London in England had hot weather up to 28 degrees which is very warm. The charts showed that England doesn't have much rain either.' 

Also, today in English we started to record our weather reports for the BBC news. Miss Fewtrell is impressed with how grown up we sound! 

Tuesday 4th December 2018 

This morning we had a lovely time sharing our completed Weather Monster stories with Year R children. 

We asked them if they would like to listen and helped them find a quiet spot to sit. 

They were great listeners and we enjoyed our visit. Thank you for having us Ladybirds and Bumblebees! 

Thursday 29th November 2018 

Last week we learnt about how to use coins and notes to make amounts and prices. We enjoyed buying weather items for the Weather Monster. This week we have been having great fun finding out about shapes and how they are related to each other. Did you know that you will find 2D shapes on the faces of 3D shapes? For example, a cylinder has circle faces on either end! We noticed a Pringles tube, glue sticks, bins and smarties tubes are all this kind of shape! We've even tried making shapes using geoboards and elastic bands. Next we're looking forward to finding out about symmetry! 

Thursday 15th November 2018 

This week we have celebrated our differences by wearing odd socks. This was to raise awareness of Anti-Bullying week. We like that we're different because it makes us all unique. 

Also, we were lucky enough to have a visitor from Perform on Monday! We went to a circus and performed as lion tamers, clowns, human canon balls and tightrope walkers. And we had to cheer up the miserable clown. It was great fun. 

Thursday 8th November 2018 

This week we made an unusual discovery! In our outside story area we found coats, umbrellas and welly boots! It was all very strange. We wondered where they came from, and who might have left them there?! We think it could have been the Weather Monster! 

In English we made our own weather monsters and wrote questions for them. 

We have been making predictions about what will happen in the story. Year 2 wrote their own blurbs which they think will match the plot. 

1.11.18

It has been a busy first week back at school for Otter class. We have visited the life bus, carried out a science experiment, started to write our own riddles, and begun our new topic about weather!

We are looking forward to becoming meteorlogists! 

Thursday 18th October 2018 

This week we have had great fun writing letters to Jack to let him know where we think he should live. We used all of our previous research about villages, towns and cities to let him know our reasons. 

Most of us thought that Jack should live in the village of South Wonston because it is a quiet area with lots of houses to choose from. It also has bus stops so he is still able to get into the city. 

Also this week, we really enjoyed watching a pantomime. It was the story of The Wizard of Oz. It had a lovely happy ending. Some of us even got to go on stage!

Friday 12th October 2018 

This week in English we have been writing a new ending for the tale of The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse. Miss Fewtrell has enjoyed reading them. She was impressed with our use of adjectives.

Also, we have had fun using The Mighty Writer to create new stories. In Year 2 we wrote about a pretty fairy and beautiful mermaid on an old pirate ship, and Year 1 wrote about a friendly dinosaur and little girl who lived a tree house. We loved using this new piece of equipment!

Thursday 4th October 2018 

This week we have been finding out more about Winchester and what it is like there so that we can help Jack choose a place to live. We looked at 'google street view' and many photographs. We noticed there are lots of shops, a cinema, a cathedral and important statues. We are looking forward to our trip around South Wonston tomorrow to see how it compares to the city. 

Thursday 27th September 2018 

This week we have had great fun learning about instructions. 

The Giant from Jack and The Beanstalk left his instructions for 'How to grow a beanstalk' in our classroom!

Did you know that instructions have to be followed carefully, and it is the only time we're allowed to be bossy? 

We have also been giving instructions to Jack. 

He wanted directions for how to get to places around the village. We used compass directions (North, East, South and West) to help us. 

Thursday 20th September 2018 

This week we have been very busy in our English and Maths learning. 

We have planned and written our own story endings for The Gingerbread Man tale. Miss Fewtrell was impressed with our new ideas. 

In Maths we have practised building numbers in different ways and finding which ones are more or less. 

Also, we had great fun trying to show Jack what South Wonston is like. We drew maps with our own symbols. 

Thursday 13th September 2018

Hello! Welcome to Otters' class page!

We have been having great fun getting to know our class friends and teachers. 

Last week we played team games, and started to learn about fairy tales. Did you know that Jack from Jack and The Beanstalk is looking for a new place to live? We are trying to help him decide whether a town or city would be best. 

Today we had a great time celebrating Roald Dahl's birthday. He is a famous author who has written lots imaginative stories. We designed our own sweets for Willy Wonka and described them using adjectives. We read about his amazing sweets in the story Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.