In classes 1 and 2 this week we have been learning about Diwali, the festival of light, and how it is celebrated. We watched a video showing a Hindu family’s celebrations. We made links to other celebrations we know such as Bonfire Night and Christmas. We were interested to learn about Rangoli patterns and how they are made. We had a go at using coloured rice to complete a whole-class Rangoli pattern. We read the story ‘Dipal’s Diwali’ and saw how diya lamps were used to decorate Dipal’s home. We made our own diya lamps and decorated them beautifully.
In Classes 1 and 2 in our PSHE lesson this week, we have thought about what we look like. We carefully felt our own faces, gently paying attention to particular features on our faces. We examined our faces closely in a mirror, thinking about the shapes we could see and how different features of our faces looked. We talked about how we are all different to each other and no two of our faces look the same and that it is important that we respect ourselves and others. In groups, we tried to assemble cut-up photos of ourselves from a jumble of eyes, noses and mouths which made us really have to look carefully!
Classes 1 and 2 have started their ‘Winter’ topic this term learning about some different celebrations that happen at this time of year. We have learned all about Bonfire Night and enjoyed making firework pictures using different techniques. We watched a fireworks video together and used musical instruments to create a very noisy fireworks soundscape! We enjoyed making our own sparklers using junk modelling materials.
This week, we have also been learning about Diwali and have made our own diya lamps using clay, paint and adding lots of sparkle. We have also created Rangoli patterns in lots of different ways.
Classes 1 and 2 have been enjoying creating some beautiful sunflowers. We looked very carefully at some sunflowers admiring the intricate patterns and colours we could see. We have been learning about all the things that grow and are harvested at this time of year and have learned some harvest songs – Big Red Combine Harvester and Harvest Samba.
We are so pleased with how well the children have settled in to school life at Huish. They are now very familiar with the routines and have been very busy making new friends.
They have enjoyed a tour of the school on their ‘listening walk’ and have been exploring different areas such as the outdoor classroom and the Reception garden. Our topic this term is ‘All About Me’. The children have been talking about what makes them unique and making self portraits with paint and through collage.
We were so excited to try the delicious food at lunch time in the hall!
In Reception, we have been celebrating Local History Month by thinking about Huish Primary School over time. Children looked at old photographs of the school and spoke to both pupils and teachers who had learnt and taught at the old school site. They discussed how school uniform has changed and how classrooms and lessons are different now. They then went to look at the bell tower from the old school and the time capsule which is in our school hall now. There was lots of fun thinking about what children might have put in there!
On Earth Day, children thought about our beautiful and amazing planet. Year R talked about how to looked after the planet, picking up litter, turning off lights, recycling and planting trees. They considered how they should avoid using plastic.
We were very lucky to have a fire engine visit this week. Firefighter Neil and Shane showed us how their fire engine works. We had a go at using the hoses, listened to the siren, tried on a firefighter’s uniform and helmet, used the radio and operated the lights. Some of us got very wet!
This week we have been learning all about the role of doctors. We began the week by learning about what a doctor does and how they can help us. We also talked about our own experiences of meeting doctors and how they made us better. We had lots of fun in our new doctor surgery role play area- using bandages and plasters from our medical bags to make our friends better! We also took part in a medical themed circle time where we worked through a range of scenarios with our medical kits and worked in pairs to decide how to help the ‘patient’. We then used our cutting and sticking skills to make our own doctor’s bag. To finish the week, we learnt two new songs ‘Miss Polly had a Dolly’, which we sang with actions and ‘There are Lots of People Who Help Us’ which we sang and played instruments alongside.
The children in Reception had an amazing time visiting Reverend Graham at St John’s church today. We all took part in a treasure hunt around the church to find five hidden letters which would spell out a very special word. We learnt lots about churches along the way and got to see some very special features in the church including the pews, altar, lectern, font, organ and stained glass windows. At the end we unjumbled the letters s, j, e, s and u to spell….. Jesus! Reverend Graham explained why Jesus is so important to him and how people worship with him in church.
We have been learning about the Easter story and how Christians celebrate this special time. We painted Easter pictures and took part in a variety of Easter-themed crafts. We thoroughly enjoyed our Easter egg hunt and collected our eggs in our Easter baskets.
We were so excited to come to school today dressed as our chosen words. We shared our words with the class and explained their meaning. We then took part in a vocabulary parade on the playground with Year 1 & 2 where we got to share our costumes.
The children had great fun in science week. As part of the whole-school ‘Biscuit Bonanza’ we set up an experiment to see would happen to the Gingerbread Man if he were to fall in the river. We ‘dunked’ gingerbread men in water and closely observed changes to the biscuit. We used vocabulary such as wet, dry, hard, soft, crumbling and dissolving to help us describe what we saw. We made jackets out of different materials to see if they would protect the gingerbread men!
We also enjoyed exploring the question “Can bananas help us to run faster?”. We went up to the field to see how far we could run in 10 seconds before sitting down and enjoying a banana for snack. After a short interval, we tried our run again to see if we were any faster. We observed and thought about how our bodies felt whilst and after running.
The children thoroughly enjoyed World Book Day and were excited to bring in and share their favourite books, talking about why they liked them and their favourite parts of the stories. We drew pictures of our favourite book characters. In the afternoon, they connected with children in Year 3 and 4. They paired up with an older child to share their books and learned about their partner’s favourite book. They really enjoyed the older children reading to them!
Alex, from the RSPCA Hedgehog Hospital, came to visit today to talk about British Wildlife and how the RSPCA rescue and care for wild animals in distress. We learned about the animals who the RSPCA might help and met Alex’s (pretend) pet hedgehog. She showed us how hedgehogs are cared for and returned to their natural habitat. Did you know a hedgehog’s favourite meal is cat food with bugs on it?! We found out about what to do if we see an animal we are worried about. We enjoyed making little hedehogs from modelling materials and sticks!
We have been learning all about the numbers 6-10 in Maths this term. We have also been consolidating our understanding of number bonds to numbers up to 5. We have explored this in lots of ways using 5-frames, counters, part-whole models and numicon to represent the bonds.
All the children have enjoyed connecting with others as part of wellbeing week. The treasure hunt with Year 3 was the highlight our week and our new friends helped us to read and find the clues. It was fun chatting to new people and getting to know other areas of the school. We have also enjoyed some mindfulness activities such as yoga and meditation as well as taking this week’s positivity-pebble spotting very seriously!
Class 1 and 2 have been thinking about fairy tale creatures for Art Week linking to our ‘Once Upon a Time’ topic. As well as enjoying some collage and junk modelling, we have drawn charcoal ‘big bad wolf’ pictures and painted fairy tale forest backdrops for some bears which we drew carefully with pens.
On Wednesday we had lots of fun in the snow!
We have had a very busy couple of weeks in Reception in preparation for Christmas. Firstly a huge well done to all the children for their fantastic performances in the nativity play. We were very proud of you all. We have also been very busy crafting- making salt dough tree decorations, chocolate truffles and Christmas cards for our families. On Monday we all enjoyed the Reception Christmas party where we played games, danced, enjoyed a party tea and even had a visit from Santa. We were also lucky enough to have a visit from Nutty Noah, who put on a magic show for us- we all thought he was very funny!
The children have loved celebrating Children in Need today, dressing in their spotty clothes and enjoying a yummy cake!
The children have been very busy in class consolidating their understanding of numbers to 5. They have made 2, 3, 4 and 5 in different ways and solved problems involving numbers to 5, playing games such as guessing the number of cars hiding under the cup! We enjoyed solving problems in the context of ‘the teddy bears’ picnic’, using playdoh to feed the bears and practise our mathematical language!
We have been learning to write sentences using our ‘red words’ and our phonics knowledge to spell simple words. Our writing is looking amazing!
We have enjoyed learning about different Winter festivals. We looked at Bonfire Night and made beautiful firework pictures. The children made Rangoli patterns with coloured rice just like those celebrating Diwali do and we learned about Hanukkah, practising our fine motor skills to make our own Menorah. We also learned about Remembrance Day and used printing to make fields of poppies. With our Nativity approaching fast, we learned about the story of Christmas and have been rehearsing lots of nativity songs – the children are very excited to perform them!
We have been learning about Winter as our topic this term. The children have been learning about how to keep themselves warm in colder weather, discussing the type of clothing we need to stay safe and warm and practising doing tricky zips and buttons to build their independence.
Class 2 have done amazingly well in their first few weeks at school. They have been incredibly busy learning new sounds in phonics, learning all about numbers 0 and 1, practising writing their names and getting to know each other through lots of opportunities to play and make new friends! We have really enjoyed lunch times in the hall and relaxing with a bit of yoga before our afternoon learning!
We held a Parent workshop on 13th July. Reception children and parents worked together to make a spiders web and a bee decoration as part of our Treasures in the Garden topic.
As part of our topic “People Who Help Us” Class 2 went to Gore Farm to learn about the job of the farmer. We met farmers Tessa and Stuart who showed us around. We started in the barn and then went on to the aviaries to see the turkeys, geese, hens and ducks. We were able to hold some chicks and ducklings. We had to use soft hands and quiet voices. Next we went to the cow shed and saw some calves. We learnt that healthy calves have bright eyes and wet noses! Then we met two piglets who were only six weeks old. They had little curly tails. For lunch we had a picnic outside together.
After lunch we got on the trailer and farmer Stuart drove the tractor around to different crop fields. We saw wheat, barley, rapeseed and beans growing We learnt that plants need sunlight, rain, and air to grow. We were allowed to pick some to bring back to school. We had such a busy day! And now we know about the work of a farmer and where our food comes from.
Classes 1 and 2 have enjoyed learning about the life cycle of a chicken. They have been lucky enough to watch chicks hatch from eggs in an incubator. Once the chicks had gained strength and fluffed up they were moved to a brooder box. This has a lamp to keep them warm, water to drink and chick food. The children have been able to identify them as male or female by the colour of their feathers. Everyone has loved watching them grow!
As part of our topic on People Who Help Us we had a visit from nurse Catherine. She told us about the many places where nurses work. She showed us her uniform and some of the equipment she uses to care for patients. Nurse Catherine gave us all aprons, facemasks and plastic gloves to wear.
Class 2 had a fantastic trip to Ninesprings. We learnt lots about plants and minibeast. The children enjoyed making clay models of their favourite minibeasts. They then made miniature dens for their bugs to live in.
We collected leaves and did some leaf printing. We even had time to go to the park. We really enjoyed our first trip out in the beautiful sunshine.
Class 2 enjoyed their first World Book Day at school. We shared lots of our favourite books and discussed our favourite characters. We had lots of fun!!
Class 2 have enjoyed learning all about winter this term. We have finished our topic off this week by making lots of Christmas crafts, including melting snowmen biscuits, Christmas cards and decorations. The children have enjoyed looking back through our floor book, reflecting on all the learning they have done this term. We look forward to our new topic in January.
Merry Christmas ?
Christmas has begun in Class 2. We have had lots of fun making Christmas crafts, learning the Christmas Story and eating a very yummy Christmas dinner.
This week we have been really busy learning about numbers 6,7 and 8. We have spent time lots of time using 10 frames and numicon to show how to make each number. Challenge your child to give you an example.
Class 2 enjoyed dressing up for Children in Need. We have raised lots of money! Well done Class 2!
We enjoyed learning about the importance of remember day and why this day is so important to remember those who lost their life to save our country. The children made a poppy and we put these together to create a class wreath. We laid our wreath next to the Huish flag pole to show our respects.
This term are topic is Winter. We will be learning lots of different things relating to winter.
This week we have started off with Polar Bears. The children have been learning lots of fun facts all about Polar Bears. We have discussed blubber and how that keeps the Polar Bears warm. The children have been very creative and made a very fluffy Polar Bear.
We have been very busy this week with all our learning! We are all very tired!
This week we have been learning m and d. Also the red word sno and go! We can now Fred talk then words mad, dad, pin, in and am.
In Maths we have learnt numbers 4 and 5. We have also been looking at composition of numbers (How to make a number e.g 2+3 4+1 etc)
In our topic we have been on a wellie walk collecting autumn leaves and played a circle time game of passing the emotion around the circle.
This week we have been really busy learning i and n. Also the red word to! We can now Fred talk then words it, pin and pan.
In Maths we have learnt numbers 3and then looked at the composition of numbers 1-3.
In our topic we have drawn our journey to school and talked about our feelings.
Our first full week at school! We are all very tired!
This week we have been really busy learning t and p. Also the red word I! We can now Fred talk then words at, sat and pat.
In Maths we have learnt numbers 1 and 2.
In our topic we have drawn our families and learnt all the names of our friends in the class.
We have had a very exciting week in Class 2. We have been a class of 30 children! We have made new friends, learnt some sounds and had our lunch at school. By Friday we were very tired! Enjoy the photos of our busy week.
We have all had a great start at Huish Primary School. We have been exploring our classroom and outside area. We are beginning to make new friends and learn the routines of school.
I would also like to thank all the children for their efforts in recycling materials and making new things. Her are a selection of photos.
Today we had a visit from Helen, the ‘Life Bus’. We learnt about our bodies and how to look after them. She had a friend called Harold the Giraffe. He talked about his feelings and looking after his body. He went for a sleep over at his Grandparents house.
This week we have had lots of fun in class 2. We have been reading and writing sentences about the character Zog. Using our brains and thinking adding two numbers to make a number in maths and learning about ‘Vets’ in our topic ‘People that help us’.
We are very excited to welcome two new chicks into reception this morning!
We are looking forward to meeting the rest shortly
Today’s mud fun in the garden…
Don’t forget in order for your child to play in the garden they need their own wellies.
We have had so much fun in the outdoors today. We are very lucky that our garden has been redesigned so we can have lots of fun! Please ask me about the new garden.
In Class 1 and Class 2 we have the 10 day egg experience. Today the eggs arrived and hopefully so will be hatched either tomorrow or Wednesday. Keep looking out for updates.
Wow look at all our ‘odd socks’. Today we are celebrating ‘Down Syndrome awareness day’. We have all worn odd socks to school today.
Today we had fun looking for chocolate eggs in the playground. We searched and searched as the Easter bunny had hid them well. We really enjoyed eating them!
We have been really busy since we returned to school. We have be working hard with our phonics, math’s and writing. Although our favourite activity at the moment is to play in the garden.
Happy Easter love Class 2
Class 2 have been really busy since coming back to school. We have specifically had lots of fun doing experiments in science. We have made lava lamps, colour wheels, re grown vegetables and planted sunflowers.
In the last week of lockdown it was world book day. Look at the lovely photos of some of our class reading somewhere different at home.
Today has been really busy in Class 2. We have celebrated the birthday’s of the children that we unable to have parties in September, October and November. We had lots of fun and partied and danced the afternoon away.
We also filled our class jar with pompoms which means we could have a treat. We had all decided that we wanted extra time on the bikes and scooter. This was so much fun!
This week we reception have been learning all about remembrance, we have made a beautiful wreath filled with the poppies we made, to remember and show our respect to those who have fallen. We watched a fantastic video on iplayer showing the children how the poppies grew, and we stopped at 11o’clock on the 11th to listen to the siren from Westlands and remember those who have sadly lost their life in the war.
On Wednesday we also took part on Earth Day, where we learnt how to protect and look after our beautiful planet. We looked at how pollution is ruining our beautiful world and what we can do to stop this. The children planted some daffodils and tulips in our garden, they have made bird feeders and painted our planet using our hand prints. Finally we read an amazing book by Michael Morpurgo called Grandpa Christmas, which the children loved!!
This week we have been learning all about number 5 and exploring patterns. We have also been learning new sounds, i & n and applying this to CVC words such as nap, sat, pit, nan. The children have been exploring the natural world by collecting leaves and creating autumnal animal art work.
Everyone has settled in really well. For the first two weeks we have been exploring and finding our way around the class room. We have been building relationship and meeting new adults. We have all enjoyed playing indoors and in the outside classroom, we have also painted ourselves as self-portraits, which will be displayed in the corridor. Finally, we have been introduced to P.E and have enjoyed learning to throw and catch a ball.
Autumns parents extending home learning… with floating and sinking...
Ella has learnt to ride her bike over the holidays…
The children performed their assembly on Thursday, ready for you to view on Mothering Sunday. Their messages to you are also uploaded for you to see. We hope you have an enjoyable day.
How strong is an egg, really?
When we think of eggs, we think easily breakable and delicate. For the most part, that is true. But how are chickens able to sit on eggs without breaking them? Maybe an egg is stronger than we think!
We rested 4 eggs in glue lids so we could investigate how strong they really are! We needed to make sure we could balance books on top of them. We thought “What would happen if we stacked our reading books on top of 4 eggs?”
“Would they be able to hold the books or would they break?”
We predicted what we thought might happen and then placed the books on top of our 4 eggs to see the results!
We were very surprised! It took more than 30 books to break the eggs.
Egg shells MUST be really strong? We thought about why?
On Wednesday the 29th January it was 'International Day’ at Huish Primary School. Class 2 went on an adventure to Africa. We arrived in school and was quickly taken to the airport where we were given our passports and we experienced what it was like to go through passport control and into the departure lounge. We then got on board our flight and watched a safety video and some inflight entrainment before we arrived in Africa. We then explored different activities, we learnt and African dance, we went on safari to see animals in the wild, we created African artwork before we flew home. On the home we were very lucky to taste some exotic fruits that are grown in African. All in all a very busy day for class 2 and we even got home in time to meet our mums and dads.
We visited The Methodist Church in Vicarage Street, Yeovil. We searched for the stars around the church and learnt about the Christmas story. We enjoyed lots of Christmas crafts and even some singing too. What a fun morning we all had!
Today we visited the library in Yeovil and learnt how a library works. We met Cathy the library assistant and she read us a fairy tale about a Princess in a paper bag. She has given us some library membership forms so we can hopefully join as a family.
A big “Thank you” to all of you who came and got involved in our Christmas Craft workshop. The children had lots of fun bending pipe cleaners and threading beads in order to make their own individual Christmas wreath decorations. A lot of fun was had and it was a really successful afternoon due to the great turn out of willing parents, grandparents and helpers. Thank you once again for giving up your time to join us in school.
We visited The Methodist Church in Vicarage Street, Yeovil. We searched for the stars around the church and learnt about the Christmas story. We enjoyed lots of Christmas crafts and even some singing too. What a fun morning we all had!
We have been learning to read and using our new reading corner, we have been counting numbers and learning how to make different numbers with numicon and we have been forming lots of letters.
Class 2 have been very busy over the last two week. We have made lots of new friends. Everyday is a learning day, with sounds, number, PE, dough gym, small world and lots more. This week we have also learnt how to eat in a big dinning hall and be independent with our cutting skills and clearing up after ourselves. We are very much looking forward to spending all day in school.
On 24th June we returned to Gore Farm for a Summer visit. We were able to discuss the similarities and differences from our visit in January. First we walked down through the wheat field to the woods. At Base Camp Angela gave us containers and magnifying glasses so we could go looking for mini-beasts. We found snails, centipedes, spiders, slugs, ants, beetles, a moth and plenty of woodlice. After our delicious picnic lunch we went to see the calves. Some of them were only three weeks old. We watched them feed by sucking milk from buckets. We also saw three big pigs, three sheep and a crazy goat called “Moses”! Finally we looked at some of the baby birds that live on the farm- chicks, ducklings and goslings. Thank you to Angela, Tessa and Stuart - and all the adults who came to help look after us!
We have been enjoying our new outdoor area activities. We ride our bikes and scooters following the direction of the arrows and we stop at the zebra crossing.
We chose our own Home Learning Task on the theme of “Mini-beasts”.
We met Helen and Harold the giraffe.
We learned about healthy life-styles.
Our Reception classes made the annual visit to Sock Farm.
Mr Snell showed us around the farm and we saw the milking parlour, the barn and the cornfields.
We saw cows, calves, pigs and piglets. Now we know more about where our food comes from and understand the meaning of “dairy”.
We have been learning the story of “The Little Red Hen”. We could tell the story in small groups. We made bread. We had a try at writing the story ourselves!
We borrowed an incubator with ten living eggs. Within a few days all ten chicks had hatched. We had to make sure the chicks were kept warm, had food and fresh water.
Once they had grown stronger we were able to get them out so we could watch them closely. We could see their wings already. We learned that the male chicks are the yellow ones and the female chicks are brown.
They have now been rehomed on a farm where they can run around and scratch about!
Year R met Pete the poet. He gave us all a puppet to help us think of words. We made a rhyme together. We looked at the pictures in the book “The Lost Words”. We liked the picture of the kingfisher so he drew it for us.
Photos of our visit from Peter Littlewood from YPTE (Young People's Trust for the Environment) and us doing our RSPB ‘Big School’s Birdwatch”.
To support our learning about birds we went to Gore Farm. The farmer showed us some of the birds that live on the farm. We learned about eggs and feathers. Then we walked across the fields down to the woods. Angela took us to “Base Camp” and we listened to the birds in the trees. We went bird spotting and found pictures of birds. We can recognise so many now! We hope to go back in the summer to see the animals.
Our new term starts with many special events to look forward to! We have our first school trip to Gore Farm, China day, Safer – Internet day and a workshop session, all before half-term!
Our new topic is “Birds”. We will be learning about the features of birds, their similarities and differences and their habitats. We have talked about how we could encourage more birds to our school environment and decided to make bird feeders to hang in the garden.
We used seeds, oats, lard and some leftover Christmas pudding! We hope the birds come!
Here are some photos of our first christmas at Huish…
On 11th December, Year R presented “The First Christmas” and we sang our way through the story of the Nativity. Thank you to Mrs Bennett for being our musical director.
We enjoyed nativity role play in the new shed…
On 12th December it was Christmas lunch. We all enjoyed a delicious dinner thanks to our great team who work in the kitchen
On 13th December we had a music lesson in the husky hut. We used a range of percussion instruments and sang along to our favourite Christmas tunes.
On 17th December, it was mince pie making! We took some home to share.
On 19th December, it was our Christmas party. We wore our Christmas jumpers to school and made ourselves party hats. We played traditional games like “Pass the Parcel” and did some great dancing. We had outdoor play with balloons then came in for party tea. We even had a visit from Father Christmas!
We have had our first Spanish lesson and we learned to say “Hola”, “Adios” and
“Me llamo …..”
This week we will be learning about why some people wear poppies in November.
Please take a look at our Remembrance display as you enter the playground.
I hope everyone enjoyed their half-term break and Hallowe’en.
We have been drawing pictures of “Winnie The Witch”.
We have been to our first Celebration Assembly with our Head Teacher, Mrs Price. We sat still and listened as some children were given birthday crowns and some had certificates for great learning.
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Class 2 have been busy settling into school, making friends and playing indoors and outside….
