Driffield Church Of England Voluntary Controlled Infant School

This week we have been thinking about a contrasting location. We have been comparing life in Driffield with life in Africa. We have used the book, Handa’s Surprise, to find out about the animals we may find in Africa. The children have also learnt that Africa is made up of many different countries and life is different in the various regions. They have learnt that Africa has hot, sandy deserts, large grasslands, called the savannah and even a rainforest. It also has the mighty River Nile and the huge Mount Kilimanjaro.

The children have also tasted some of the fruits from Handa’s basket. On Wednesday they tasted some of the different fruits and then recorded if they liked them or not. The children brought home their recording sheets yesterday. If may find the results interesting as many of the children tried some new fruits and the majority were very positive. Well done to everyone who tried something new.

In phonics this week, we have been reading and writing longer words, with the endings: ing, ed and est. Words such as swimming, hunted and plumpest. Next week we will be assessing the children’s ability to read some of these longer words by chunking them up and decoding each part using their phonetical knowledge.

In maths this week, we have been using shapes to solve problems, we have used smaller shapes to combine to make pictures and bigger shapes. We have also decomposed shapes by cutting them up. In today’s lesson we cut a rectangle in half to make two triangles, we then used these triangles to make different shapes. We also played a lovely online game to support quick recall of one more than a number, if you would like to play with your child at home, please use the link below:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/robot-more-or-less

Next week is sports day. The children need to come to school in their PE kit as normal on Tuesday, as we will be having a practise of all the races for sports day. Then the Early Years Sports morning is on Thursday 21 May at 9.30am at the Driffield Recreation Ground. Your child will need to come to school in their PE kit on Thursday too. Refreshments will be available to buy at the Recreation Club (cash only). We hope you will be able to join us to support the children in their races. The races should last approximately an hour.

As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Have a lovely weekend with your family,

Kind regards

Mrs Dean, Mrs Lawrence and the Hedgehog Team  

This week, Year 2 have been very busy cooking pasta sauces in DT, learning about staying healthy, visiting church for Pentecost and starting a science investigation about what plants need to stay healthy. They have all worked very hard and shown some excellent listening skills throughout the week.

Just a couple of reminders; it is the last swimming session on Tuesday, so don't forget to bring swimming kits and it is sports day on Wednesday afternoon, PE kits need to be worn! On Friday next week we will be visiting the Junior school to play mini games of 3 in a bucket, if children could come in PE kit for this too, that would be great!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend,

See you Monday.

Thanks, Year 2 Team.

Another week has flown by! 

On Tuesday the class went to church to learn all about Pentecost - they went around various stations and really enjoyed themselves. 

We have been practising for sports day! Don't forget we are on Wednesday morning at 9.30 at the cricket ground! Let’s hope the weather improves. 

We are getting quite proficient at digital writing - we have learnt all about bold, underline and italics keys, changing fonts, sizes and colour of text. We are super great at logging on.

We hope you have a good weekend.

Starfish Team

We have really enjoyed having the parachute out this week, both inside and outside of the classroom – we have used as an activity to sing lots of nursery rhymes with and play with balls.

The children, as always have been really busy and we have got some new sensory equipment in the classroom which they have been enjoying, we have also arranged for a block of sessions for The Sensory Bus to visit us in school again, so that’s something nice to look forward to.

Don’t forget to use the link https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/#tabnametabNurseryRhymesVideos to access the Little Wandle Rhyme Time Nursery Rhymes which we use in school as a basis for our phonic lessons.

In Maths this week we have been looking at numbers 1-5 and using the song ‘Five Current Buns’ to support this. This is the version of the song we have been using https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/articles/zm4nmfr

Some of you may have noticed on Tapestry the Paper Based Communication Boards we are using increasingly. If you need one for home for a specific activity or part of a routine please let us know by either sending an email, catching one of us on the gate or popping a note in your child’s bookbag.

Have a lovely weekend

Bumblebee Team

This week the Seals had a fantastic trip to Elmswell Farm, on Monday, where they identified several different plants and trees and thought about which trees were deciduous and which trees were evergreen. A highlight of the visit was meeting some of the calves! On Tuesday there was an outing to Church to take part in activities to learn about Pentecost. Other activities, this week, have been practising for Sports Day, ready for next Wednesday (20 May at 09.30am) and performing poetry, thinking about voice and body percussion. What a busy and exciting week it has been!

This week, we enjoyed our visit to church on Wednesday as we learnt all about the Christian fesitval Pentecost. The children were able to relay lots of facts, we have some great listeners! 

In Maths this week, we have worked on rotating shapes to make pictures using pattern block shapes and numicon. 

In Phonics, we continue to learn new words including words that end in -ing (jumping, swimming), words ending in -ed making a 't' sound (jumped, helped), words ending in -ed but making an 'id' sound (melted, hunted), and words ending in -est (strongest, softest). Our new tricky words this week are one, out, today. Next week, we will be assessing the children individually on the words we have taught over the last 5 weeks. 

Next week is our last week before we break up for May half term. On Tuesday, we will be going to Driffield Cricket ground for a practise sports day in the afternoon.

Our EYFS sports day is on Thursday, we aim for a 9:30 start. All parents are welcome, please make your way to the cricket ground prior to 9:30. Refreshments will be available at the cricket ground- cash only please. 

Next week as part of our PSHE curriculum, our lesson is to talk about something special from home. We ask for each child to bring one special item from home to talk about amongst their friends. Please ensure your child has this in their bag on Monday morning.

Have a great weekend, 

Miss Corrigan and Mrs Chapman

The Badgers class had a lovely time at Elmswell Farm. The tractor ride was enjoyed by all, and they had lots of answers to Farmer John’s questions! We saw the highland cows- and a 3-week-old calf! We then had a picnic lunch in the school room, and finished with a colour matching activity. The children had a challenge to find something in the environment to match their shade of green. Miss Corrigan and Miss Chambers were very proud of the children’s behaviour around the farm.

This week in phonics, we are continuing to learn new longer words including blanket, shampoo, chapter. Our new tricky words this week are: there, when, what.

We were very excited to discover that some of our caterpillars have formed a chrysalis. We look forward to the transition into a butterfly.

Next Wednesday morning, we visit church to celebrate the Christian festival Pentecost. We will work our way around different stations as we learn all about the celebration.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Corrigan and Mrs Chapman

This week the children enjoyed a wonderful long walk around Elmswell Farm, taking in all the sights and sounds (as well as smells!) of the countryside. One of the highlights of the day was meeting the newly born Highland calves that Farmer John showed us. 
While there we also explored the meadow, looking carefully at the flowers growing there, as well as the crops in the fields. It was lovely to see the children being able to explore so freely. 

We have enjoyed spending lots of time outside as usual, thank you to those who have completed the sun cream permissions and sent in sun cream - fingers crosse for some sun now! If you have not completed the forms please do so and send in the cream just incase of some sunshine!

Following the success of the Sensory Bus we are now in the process of organising some more dates for them to visit so that's exciting as the children had such a great time.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend.

In history, the Seals have been comparing Victorian toys with the toys they have today. They thought about the materials they were made from, their similarities and differences and whether they would enjoy playing with them or not. In DT, the Seals were enthusiastic about making their pasta salads and, judging by the empty bowls, they were pleased with the ingredients they had chosen! 

Please remember- we're going to Elmswell on Monday! Children do not need to wear uniform but do need suitable footwear. They should come with sun-cream applied and bring a coat too so that they are prepared for any weather!

It has been a short week, but a very busy one!

On Tuesday we headed off to Elmswell Farm. The children enjoyed the tractor ride to the farm and then they met 'Farmer John.' He took us on a walkaround the farm, we meet some of the Highland cows and their calves. We looked at crops which grow on the farm and the different trees we saw along the walk. We spotted wild geese in the field and found butterflies, snails and worms. We even found an egg shell which had fallen from a nearby nest. We all enjoyed our picnic lunch and then some activities in the garden before we returned to school. The children's behaviour was brilliant and we all had a wonderful day.

Daily phonics and maths have continued this week and we have been practicing our bouncy letters, 'n' and 'm' in our handwriting sessions.

The children have been very excited to discover that some of our caterpillars have made themselves a chrysalis ready to change into butterflies.

Our book of the week has been, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, linked to our theme of the life cycle of a butterfly.

Next week, we will look at contrasting locations using the book, Handa's Surprise. We will learn all about the weather, landscapes and animals which live in Africa. Please try to find out a fact about Africa and bring it into school on Monday to enhance our learning.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Kind regards

Mrs Dean, Mrs Lawrence & the Hedgehog Team.