Living and Learning – 5 a day
In Living and Learning, we’ve focused on the importance of a healthy diet and the ‘5 a day’ message.
Fruit and vegetables are a crucial part of a healthy, balanced diet. They’re a great source of vitamins and minerals which help keep us healthy. They can even reduce the risk of disease!
What counts?
Almost every type of fresh, frozen, tinned and dried fruit and vegetable counts towards your 5 a day. Even things like fruit juice, tomato puree (not ketchup) and baked beans count. We were surprised to learn that potatoes don’t count! Potatoes contain a high amount of carbohydrate – another part of a healthy, balanced diet.
What is a portion?
A good rule is to consider that a portion fits in the palm of your hand.
Don’t stop at 5!
A total of 5 portions of fruit and vegetables combined is the minimum number to aim for. You don’t need to eat 5 portions of fruit and 5 portions of vegetables but the more the better!
Help at home by keeping a 5 a day diary. Have a look through The Eatwell Guide with your child. Are you eating a healthy, balanced diet?
Deciduous or Evergreen?
Year One have been learning about deciduous and evergreen trees. We explored different types of leaves, looking carefully at their shapes, textures, and colours. The children enjoyed sorting them and spotting similarities and differences. We now know that deciduous trees lose their leaves in autumn, while evergreens stay green all year round.
Living and Learning: healthy eating
This week in Living and Learning, we’ve been exploring how to stay healthy.
We’ve been thinking about how the food we eat helps our bodies and minds stay strong. We talked about the importance of eating our ‘five a day’ and learned about the Eatwell Plate. We now understand that a balanced diet is key to good health.
Here are some of the important things we’ve learned:
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Eating fruits and vegetables helps keep us strong.
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Fruits and vegetables are especially good for our hearts.
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Fizzy drinks aren’t healthy for our bodies, so we should drink them only occasionally.
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Protein is important—it helps us grow and keeps us healthy.
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Staying hydrated by drinking plenty of water is essential.
We also discussed how regular exercise and staying clean are important parts of a healthy lifestyle. Plus, we learned that looking after our mental health is just as important as taking care of our bodies.
You can support this learning at home by talking together about the things your family does to stay happy and healthy. What healthy meals do you enjoy together? How do you stay active? Do you have ways to relax and feel calm at home?
Let’s keep making healthy choices—together!
Counting in 5s
Today, we practised counting in 5s and made an exciting discovery — the ones digit in each number was always a 0 or a 5! We used a 50-grid to highlight these special numbers and spot the pattern. Then, we played a fun game where we counted fingers and thumbs in groups of 5. Working together, we counted in 5s to find the total number of fingers and thumbs.
Keeping safe in the sun!
This week, we’ve been making the most of the lovely warmer weather! The sunshine sparked some great conversations about how to look after ourselves and the environment when it’s hot outside.
We talked about the importance of wearing sun cream and a sun hat, staying hydrated by drinking plenty of water and finding shade when we need a break from the sun.
We also noticed our sunflowers and spider plants were looking a little thirsty—since there hasn’t been much rain lately—so we made sure to give them a good water!
Literacy
We’ve been reading Walking Through the Jungle by Julie Lacome.
We have loved talking about all the different animals in the book and how they travelled.
“Creeping through the jungle I can see a tiger.”
“Stomping through the jungle I can see a elephant.”
Phonics
This week, we focused on reading and writing longer words and compound words. We learnt 4 new tricky words: were, here, little, says.
Help at home: Go on a tricky word hunt around your house. Ask an adult to write some tricky words on scrap pieces of paper and stick them up around your house. How many tricky words can you find and read?
Maths
This week, we consolidated our understanding of the composition of 5 and practised recalling the parts of 5 when 1 part is not visible. We used our fingers on 1 hand to help with the composition of 5. We looked at how many fingers are ‘up’ and and how many are ‘folded down’. We used a rhyme about 5 kittens jumping ‘down’ from the bed to help us with this.
“5 is made of __ and __
__ and __ makes 5″
Help at home: Play a game the kittens game with an adult. You need 5 objects (kittens) and a piece of material or paper (bed) Take turns to hide some kittens under the bed. Use the below stem sentence to explain what you can see.
Have a happy and healthy weekend and thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Mrs. Small and Mr. Smith
Good Luck Year 6!
As you will all be aware, Year 6 begin their SATS tomorrow.
I’m sure you will all join me in wishing them good luck. They have made so much progress this year and this week will be a fantastic opportunity to showcase everything they have learnt.
Super 2D Shapes
This week, the children explored some 2D shapes. We looked at the shapes and sides of each one (properties) to help us decide the name.
We know that some shapes look different when we change their position, but they are still the same shape!
“A circle has one side that goes all of the way around.” Elliot
“A triangle has three sharp points.” Avery
“That piece of paper looks like a rectangle.” Frankie
“A hexagon has six sides.” Blossom
“Could a circle roll?” Miss Gledhill
We looked around our classroom to find 2D shapes. We know that they are everywhere and not just in our maths area!
Help at home: Can your child recognise any 2D shapes at home?
We loved singing this song to help us remember the 2D shapes.
Reading – Non-fiction Navigators
In Reading, we’ve turned our attention to non-fiction texts and the ways in which they help us to take charge! We’ve explored the differences between fiction and non-fiction and discussed their features.
Non-fiction can be read in any order to learn about a specific topic. Most non-fiction books help you to find your way around with some helpful features you wouldn’t normally find in a fiction book…
- contents – The contents page (sometimes called the table of contents) lists the sections of information in the book and where to find them, often with a page number.
- glossary – Usually found at the back of the book, the glossary contains key words related to the topic and their definitions. This can help with unknown, technical vocabulary.
- index – An index is an alphabetical list of all the topics covered in the book and where to find them. This helps the reader locate information quickly.
- subheading – A subheading is a bit like a signpost. It gives the reader an idea of what each section is about. It can also capture your attention – a bit like a mini headline!
We really enjoyed exploring some non-fiction books, using the features above to find information quickly and efficiently.
Help at home by exploring some non-fiction text with your child. Encourage them to navigate the text using the contents, index, glossary and subheadings.
Year One Forest School Fun!
This term, Year One have begun Forest School and are loving their outdoor adventures! They’ve been learning about May Day traditions and created mini maypoles for an imaginary fairy garden.
In science, they’re exploring how flowers and trees are similar and different. Next week, they’ll be learning about deciduous trees (which lose their leaves in autumn) and evergreen trees (which keep their leaves all year) – which will be reflected in their forest school learning!
Help at home:
– Go on a walk and spot trees – are they deciduous or evergreen?
– Collect leaves or flowers to compare at home.
– Talk about changes trees go through across the seasons.