Last week began with lots of letter writing. The children were writing letters home and to their friends. We got out the post bag so we could deliver our letters.
In the construction area lots of children were building cages and zoos for the animals.
We remembered our story from guided reading all about sending letters to the zoo. It was called ‘Dear Zoo’. We read it at story time and then we got a delivery from the zoo!
We weighed the animals to see if they could be sent in the post. As everybody knows only animals that weigh less than a hamster can be sent in the post.
Some of the animals were feeling a little bit poorly but luckily the vets were there to make sure they were ok.
Some of the children decided they needed to use tools to make their zoos even better.
Then they asked to build a real zoo with real tools!
We thought about what we would need and wrote a letter to Ella’s daddy who looks after our school.
Then we drew designs for how we wanted our zoo to look.
We used the big drill, the saw and the screwdrivers to build our zoo. We had to work together and be very careful. We had lots of fun, especially using the big drill!
When the zoo was finished we sorted the animals to see who could live inside it.
What were we learning about?Â
This week the children decided everything we learnt about. All the activities were planned because of what the children said or did. This way the children were very interested in their learning.
The children did lots of mark making. They wrote letters to the zoo and to other people. They drew designs for their zoo and talked about their pictures.
We learnt about letter writing. We made sure we said who our letters were to and who they were from.
We learnt the names of different animals including more unusual animals like flamingos.
The children had discussions about where different animals live e.g. would we find a spider in the zoo? They learnt to ask questions and look in books to find the answers.
We learnt about vets. The children took on a role in their play, asking and answering questions. They began adding more mark making to their play by writing what was wrong with the animals.
We learnt about tools. We learnt how to be safe and manage risks.
In maths we learnt the words ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ and could sort the animals. We learnt that not everything that was big was heavy and not everything small was light.
How can you continue learning at home?Â
Following children’s interests at home is a great way to help their learning.  Children that don’t normally pick up a pencil will often write more if it is part of their play.
If your child likes to build encourage them to draw what they are building and talk about their pictures.
If they like to play football and other games give them a pen and paper or chalk to write on the ground and encourage them to keep a score.
Letting the children use tools in a controlled and supervised environment allows them to learn about safety. For example, letting children use scissors and talking to them about how to use them safely means they are less likely to be dangerous with them than if they never use them.
diamondclassfs1 