What a week we have had in Robins, from our amazing cultural trip to Reading Synagogue on Tuesday to ending the week reflecting upon how we can make changes that will have positive effects on others.
On Monday, Year One started the week by exploring how to find the difference and explore it as a form of subtraction. They were able to count both on and backwards to find the difference, or could visually see how many more or less a number is. We used sentence stems such as “The difference between ____ and ____ is _____” and were all able to both understand and use the language ‘more’ and ‘fewer’ to make comparisons. We then continued the week by moving onto understand subtraction and addition as the inverse of each and using this to find related facts.
12 + 1 = 13
13 – 1 = 12
Reception have continued to explore the composition of 10, exploring when two equal parts combine to make a whole, they explored this through a range of different representations including using their fingers to show a double amount. They were then encouraged to match their fingers to check that the same number of fingers were being shown on each hand.
On Monday afternoon Year 1 continued to explore Toys from the past and this week were introduced to timelines. We explored toys from the 1930’s, 1980’s and from today, looking at the differences between them, the uses of them but also who would have played with them. Whilst we ordered the toys, a ‘Mini Museum’ was set up in the classroom, which the children absolutely loved. This transported them back in time and gave them a wonderful opportunity to explore toys from the past with a firm favourite being the ‘Pop gun’ and the ‘Yoyo’s’!
Whilst Year One were taking on the role of historians, the rest of Robins were of course busy in the rainforest. Whilst some created their own colourful butterflies, others were busy exploring our sensory box, filled with polystyrene chips! From filling tubes to hiding animals and cars within the box, the fun was endless!
On Tuesday we put our high visibility jackets on and boarded the bus, with growing excitement we travelled through our familiar countryside and onto the busy motorway, we were on our way! We got all the way to Tilehurst before the familiar “Are we there yet?” questioning began but we were soon far too interested in spotting familiar buildings
“I can see Tesco’s”.
“I’ve been to Ikea with my mummy!”
As our bus driver made the tight turn down into the residential areas of Reading, we pulled up outside the Reading Synagogue and we were all excited to see what lay inside. The members of the synagogue could not have given us a warmer welcome and we were soon inside the prayer room, listening intently to information about Jewish beliefs and what takes place on Saturdays which is their day of worship. We were shown the Torah scrolls and were all excited when a velvet curtain was pulled back to reveal the Ark, an elaborately decorated cabinet containing glistening silver items including a crown that we got to touch!
As we looked around the prayer room, the Ner Tamid or eternal light, hung above our heads burning bright as a symbol of God’s presence. The room was also decorated with many Menorahs, which are seven-branched candelabras.
We were then warmly welcomed into the synagogue’s hall, where the female members of the synagogues taught us all about Jewish food. We tasted Challah bread, a sweet tasting loaf which we all wished we could have had more of! The ladies shared with us a prayer book, which we were surprised to learn to read back to front as it is written in Hebrew.
As we moved across the room, we learnt all about Passover and that Robins as children are in fact the most important people at the table! We got a chance to create our very own Passover Seder plate, learning about the different foods which are placed upon it and what these represent.
1. Zeroa (shankbone)
2. Beitza (roasted hard-boiled egg)
3. Maror/Chazeret (horseradish)
4. Maror/Chazeret (onion)
5. Charoset
6. Karpas (parsley)
We then tried Matzah, a Jewish flatbread which we were told can be spread with butter to make it even more delicious!
At midday our bus arrived to take us back to school, we thanked the members of the synagogue and began our journey home, reflecting on the cultural experience that we had just had. For some the journey back meant more excitement, gazing through the window at new sights but for others they were simply exhausted and used the journey to recharge their batteries as when we arrived back at school it was a quick lunch and then time to welcome Great Shefford Under 5s!
The sun was shining and it was warm enough to take our coats off! We all had a fantastic afternoon and it was so lovely being able to share both our outdoor space and our time with such an enthusiastic and confident group of learners. The pre school children threw themselves (not literally) into the water play, using the balance bikes, climbing, sharing, chatting and making friends. Some of our Year 6 children were on hand to help and to encourage those pehaps a little less cnfident at first to get involved. Thank you to Denise and team for joining us - can’t wait to welcome you again soon.
and then……as soon as Pre School left, this happened……yes, good old British weather as within minutes it was back to sunshine!
In Science this week we have been learning about plants - thinking and talking about plants we can eat such as carrots, onions, strawberries etc - over the weekend, if you find yourselves enjoying some plants you can eat, please send us a photo and we will print it out and glue it into our Science books.
Talking of plants, we have done a very special bit of planting this week…..along with a special bit of designing and painting….we can’t say much more other than please wait until Sunday! Here is a little sneaky preview of what you may receive - click on the photos to move the images on.
