This week the children have continued to learn about measures through the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk.’ The children have been busy making beanstalks of varying lengths at the workshop table, in the construction area and on the light table. The children who had made beanstalks last week on the workshop table, went back to the workshop table this week and they improved upon their work by adding on leaves that they had cut out independently. The children have shown me that they can be great solveosaurus’ because they encountered a few difficulties making their beanstalks but they persevered to find their own solutions.

The children have also been wonderful stickosaurus’ when they chose to build Jack and the Beanstalk characters and artefacts with the unifix cubes. It was very tricky to click the cubes together and they needed great perseverance to complete the activity.

The children have also been fantastic artists this week. They have drawn some lovely pictures around the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ on the iPads and the children have tried to choose colours for effect.

The children have also been fantastic writers this week. They have written labels for the pictures they have painted or drawn and they have written labels for the models they have made. Some children have also used their phonic knowledge to write down key words from the story.

While some children even had a go at writing their own version of the Jack and the Beanstalk story. Wow!

The children have also completed a range of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ Maths activities such as using beans to help them solve more and less than a number and measuring beanstalks using non-standard measures. It has been a very busy productive week!

This week the children have been reading the story ‘Jasper’s Beanstalk’ by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen. After reading the story the children wanted to plant their own beans. We hope they grow into beanstalks just like Jasper’s did!

In the meantime the children have painted their own beanstalks. Aren’t they lovely? Each one is unique in its own way. There are some lovely paintings of Jasper too. The children are really thinking carefully about their choice of colours now.

Some children chose to make beanstalks using the play dough. The beanstalks are all different and carefully made. Some are so intricate too!

Lots of children chose to build their own beanstalks on the workshop table. Some beanstalks even had lots of carefully cut out shaped leaves!

Jasper thought that there may be giants at the top of the beanstalk. The Swans thought differently! The Swans thought that they may be a castle, a house, a school, a plane, a farm and even a dinosaur. Here are some of their ‘top of the beanstalk’ models.

Other children chose to write about what they thought might be at the top of the beanstalk. While other children wrote sentences about what they could see Jasper doing in the story. All the children used their phonic knowledge to write their sentences.

Some children chose to practice their spellings of words containing the /ai/ and /ee/ digraph this week. They played ‘Forest Phonics’ on the computer.

Some children decided to find the number bonds to 7 using beans as counters. They recorded their number bonds on a part, part, whole model.

Other children chose to measure the leaves from a beanstalk using non-standard measurements such as paper clips. While other children chose to practice their cutting skills and they cut our different sized beanstalks which they then ordered from shortest to tallest.

Lots of fun and learning has been done this week. The children are looking forward to next week as Jasper’s friend Jack is going to inspire the children. I wonder who Jack is and I wonder what he will do …

As well as looking after themselves and others, it is important for children to learn how to respect and care for living things in the wider world. With this in mind this week the children have focused upon developing a love of nature. The children have absolutely loved watching snippets from ‘The Blue Planet’ and they have loved learning lots of new facts from the wonderful David Attenborough!

Following this the children have drawn lots of different animals on the iPads this week. They have looked closely at the features of each animal and they have also tried hard to select the right colours and patterns for each animal they have drawn.

The children have also put themselves in David Attenborough’s shoes and they have shared some wonderful facts about specific animals. They wrote these facts down in their own fun fact file!

We have also encouraged the children to think about different ways that we could look after our planet and everything that lives on it. The children focused upon the text ‘Though we have come a long way… Just remember to leave notes for everyone else.’ The children then wrote their own notes explaining what they would want to tell other people so that they too can help make the world a better place for everyone and everything in it.