Term 1 Week 1 (First Full Week)

This week we began our brand-new text for the term, Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balit. The dramatic story of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius has already piqued the children’s interest. There were plenty of “wows” and gasps as we imagined what life was like in Pompeii all those years ago!

To bring the eruption to life, the children watched an animated clip of Mount Vesuvius exploding. The children were asked to use all five senses to describe what they could see, hear, smell, feel and even touch if they had been there. Their ideas ranged from “smoke billowing into the sky” to “the ground shuddering beneath their feet”, vivid images that made the story feel real.

We also introduced some ambitious new vocabulary – cascaded, smouldering, shuddered, towering and smothered. Through a fun loop card activity, the children not only learned what these words mean but also used them in sentences and identified their word classes. Their vocabulary exploded into action, just like Vesuvius!

In maths this week, the children have been getting to grips with place value, working with numbers up to 1,000 and even 10,000. We used concrete resources such as place value counters and base ten, which really helped them to see how numbers are built and what each digit is worth.

Practical activities like this are so important in maths. They allow children to move from the abstract idea of a number to something they can see and touch. This hands-on approach makes tricky concepts much easier to grasp and gives the children the confidence to apply their knowledge to written methods later on. It also makes learning fun and engaging. Our classroom was buzzing with teamwork, problem solving and plenty of “aha!” moments.

In PE this week, we started our new unit on fundamental movement skills. These are the building blocks that help us run, jump, hop, skip and balance. They are the kinds of skills we use every day, often without even realising it.

The children had a great time practising balance in different ways. One of the highlights was balancing along a skipping rope laid out on the floor, which really tested their concentration and coordination. They also worked on jumping and hopping activities, discovering how small changes in their movements, such as landing quickly or holding their arms steady, could make a big difference to their control.

These sessions are not just about physical skills. They also help the children develop focus, perseverance and teamwork. It has been wonderful to see their confidence growing already.

It has been such a busy and exciting week of learning, and the children should be really proud of all they have achieved. Keep an eye out for next week’s update where we will be sharing more of our learning adventures. We cannot wait to show you what Owl Class gets up to next!