Infant – Page 4 – Toftwood Infant and Junior School Federation

RE Summer Term 2023

Reception

This term we have been looking at the continents of the world and learnt about many of the animals that live there. In RE we have listened to the story of ‘A special promise’ from the Bible and talked about how Noah was able to save the animals from a flood because God had instructed him to make a boat. We also linked this to our SAW activities and experimented with how much salt we needed to make something float, just like Noah’s boat did.

Year 1

This term in RE, the children thought about how the universe was created. They learned about Christian and Hindu views and beliefs and used this to think about their own views on the universe. The children made pictures to show the different days in the Christian creation story and then made lotus flowers to represent the lotus in the Hindu creation story. The children took time to think about what the universe is made up of and looked carefully at the nature around them to appreciate the beauty of the world.

Year 2

This term, the children have recapped their previous RE learning by retrieving facts and ideas from their previous enquiry questions. They have also looked at a variety of religions as part of a philosophy focus, listening to videos from Ian Gardner and Marsha Parker about why people have different ideas of God. The children thought about morals, and if different scenarios were right or wrong, and thought about how they could be nice to each other in different ways. The children wrote notes to each other about what they liked about them, and why they were a nice person. They ended their RE learning this year by drawing their own Rangoli patterns on the playground!

Federation Time Capsule Project with Taylor Wimpey East Anglia

Toftwood Infant and Junior School have been involved in an exciting project to create and then bury a time capsule at the nearby Taylor Wimpey East Anglia development site. Children from both schools chose items which would help people in the future understand what 2023 was like and to give them an insight into school life. Items included photographs of events, drawings by the children, brochures and tickets of places visited, leaflets of Dereham, memorabilia linked to the jubilee and recent coronation, a letter to King Charles, handwritten notes, coins, stamps, a school jumper, a map of the school, a school dinner menu and a sweatshirt.

On Thursday 13^th July, a selection of children accompanied Mrs Pedlow and Mrs Sutterby to witness the time capsule being buried at the Etling Grove site in Dereham. The time capsule has been placed in the grounds and the plan is to open it in fifty years.

14.6.23 – Ian Gardner Assembly

Ian Gardner came in to speak to the children about the theme of teamwork in their assembly this week.

He started by teaching the children some sign language “Jesus says love one another”. The children enjoyed learning the signs for each of these words, Erin in Year 2 said “I thought it was really interesting to learn some of the sign language”.

Ian then asked two children to help him. They were to start a competition to see who could get their medal (on the opposite of the room to one another) the quickest. The children had to hold either end of a stick and pull to get their stick. They found this really tricky, and in the end neither where able to get their reward!

Ian then came up with a solution, if they worked together, and took it turns to collect their medal they could both win their prize!

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Geography Summer term 2023

Reception

During the first half of the summer term, reception children created a class story map from Jack and the Beanstalk. They also had the opportunity to create their own story maps.

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A part of the topic ‘Around the World’, Reception children have been learning about maps and plans. They began the topic by looking at a plan of our school, then created a whole class plan of the classroom. They used google maps to find our school and familiar places in the local community, then explored further afield. One child decided to search for the North Pole as he believed he might find Santa’s house. During independent learning time, some children chose to create their own maps. The children develop their sense of place and knowledge of countries over the term.

Year 1

Year one children learnt about Norfolk and their local area. They looked at a map of Norfolk and had a great discussion of places they had visited and where they would like to go. The children were given riddles and had to work out places that could be located on a map. The children had an in depth conversation about the physical features of these places and if they had visited them before.

Year one children also created maps of Holkham Hall, following on from their visit.

Year 2

Year two studied the topic “Art around the world” in spring 2 and the first half of the summer term. They continued to build on knowledge of Antarctica from year one, considering how humans and animals survive in the environment. Sessions also included finding out about Africa, Australasia, South and North America, and Egypt.

Year two also developed their compass skills in the school grounds.

History Summer term 2023

Reception

In the summer term, Reception children visited Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse for a fairy tale event. Part of the day involved helping the ugly sister and Cinderella with jobs around the house and gardens. Jobs included pumping water from the well to water the plants, washing clothes using the wash board and washing dolly, and milking the pretend cow. They got to see the Suffolk punch horses. This sparked a conversation about working horses and their role before tractors were used.

Year one

Link to Year one Holkham Hall visit.

Year one children wrote letters to the King; they asked him questions about his coronation.

The King’s Coronation Celebration

The children at Toftwood Infant and Junior School have had a celebration fit for a king!

The Federation came together for two days of activities and a special lunch to help celebrate the King’s Coronation. To mark this important occasion, the children dressed were invited to dress up in red, white and blue or as a king or queen.

Over the course of two days the children took part in lots of fun activities including crown making, creating Union Jack flags, learning to sign the National Anthem and naming photos of the royal family. Year one children will also be writing to King Charles next week. A special assembly to commemorate the King’s Coronation led by Janet Marshall took place at both schools.

Children were invited to participate in a competition to decorate a Coronation rock. We were very impressed with the individuality of the children designs which included a corgi, a crown and the Union Jack flag. The children have been given the opportunity to take their rocks home or place them in the community in Toftwood or Dereham. Perhaps you will find one of the special rocks when you take a walk around the locality.

On Thursday we had a special federation picnic lunch which we were lucky enough to have outside and all together. Seeing the children outside laughing, playing and enjoying their time together was a wonderful sight.

What a wonderful two days we have had celebrating such an important historical event and special time for our country. Hopefully very memorable for all the children and staff. A big thank you goes out to our wonderful lunchtime and kitchen staff for their hard work.

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19^th April 2023 – Marsha and Todd visit to Year 2

The children enjoyed their visit from Marsha and Todd this half term. When the children arrived into the classroom, a Passover table, set ready for the Jewish celebration, greeted them. Marsha and Todd gave each child a kippar, which they wore throughout the session. The children were able to retrieve from their RE learning about the story of Passover, and Marsha and Todd were very impressed with their accurate knowledge. Marsha and Todd went through the story of Passover again and told the children the relevance of each of the parts of the Seder plate. The children were then able to try a traditional Passover Seder plate, trying Matzah bread, grape juice, parsley with salt water and more. Harley said “the bread is flat because the Jews had to leave the city quickly, the dough wasn’t able to rise”. Kendra said “I really enjoyed trying the Matzah”.

Music EYFS KS1 Spring 2 2023

Year 1

In year 1 the children have explored wide range of musical styles and have had an introduction to learning about the beat of a song. They have experienced listening, singing, playing as well as performing their ability to find the beat. The children enjoyed learning the songs, ‘Hush Little Baby’ and ‘Upside Down’.

The children also enjoyed a visit from ‘Rocksteady’ where the children got to experience live music and some even got the chance to play instruments like the drums, electic guitar and keyboard to make part of a band!

Reception had lots of fun joining in with the drumming workshop. The children enjoyed dancing to the music and Miss Gold showed us how to play the drums!

Year 2 This half term the children in Year 2 have been exploring lots of different music styles that link to community. They have listened and appraised different genres of music such as swing and classical. They have learnt different songs and performed these in class. One of their favourites was ‘The Music Man’. They have worked on listening and responding whilst learning these songs and performed these in groups.

PE Spring Term 2023

EYFS

During the Spring term, the children in Reception have been focusing on skills such as throwing at a target, balancing on tiptoes, jumping rotations and hopping in different directions.

They have been practising these skills by using the ‘Action Mats’ and also by doing activities such as bowling.

The children have also been introduced to speed stacking and using the dice to find out how many of a certain exercise to do, such as star jumps.

Year 1

In year 1 PE, we have focused on several fundamental skills of movement using the Real PE scheme. We have focused on balance, starting with a static balance and developing this skill to completing it on equipment, which required not only balancing skills, but also determination concentration! The children then developed this skill, to balancing whilst walking on a straight line, imagining that they were on a tightrope!

During the second half of the spring term, the children moved their focus onto co-ordination and their ball skills. Their aim was to be in control of a ball, moving it around their body whilst sat down, and this developed onto them maintaining control whilst moving the ball up and down their bodies whilst standing.

In year 1, the children have also enjoyed a module on dance, choreographing their own dances and working together to dance, using Real Dance.

Year 2

Year 2 children have been exploring making standing and floor shapes to music. They have then worked with a partner and in a group to create a sequence of shapes which they can remember and repeat. We looked at how we could join the shapes with connecting movements and were then able to show our dances to the rest of the class.

The children have also been working on their balancing skills being able to balance along a line, on a bench and on a narrower beam. We have worked at improving our ball skills and coordination through controlling a ball as we move it about our bodies. This included some partner and group work where we demonstrated trick we could do and our group had to try and repeat them too.

RE Spring term 2023

Reception

In Reception this term we have enjoyed reading ‘A Kind Stranger’, a bible story about the importance of showing kindness to those around us. We thought about why it is important to make good choices and be kind to others. The children discussed how we can be kind in school and linked this to our school’s Golden rules.

As it got closer to the Easter holidays we read another bible story called ‘The Happy Day’. This story taught us how Christian people believe that Jesus rose from his tomb after three days and how joyful his friends and disciples were. We learnt that this is why many people celebrate Easter and that our chocolate Easter eggs symbolise new life.

Year 1

This term in RE, Marsha and Todd visited the children and told them all about the celebration of Purim. The children were able to make masks for a Purim party and retold the Story of Esther using finger puppets. The children also made Hamuntaschen biscuits and learned some Purim songs. They were able to link this celebration to when they learnt about the Jewish celebration of Hannukah in December.

In the later part of the term, the children also learnt about the Christian celebration of Easter and learned the Easter Story.

Year 2

This term the children have been learning about how we may belong to a faith family. Clare from Norwich Cathedral visited us for a day to talk to us about the Cathedral and how christenings are important when belonging to a faith family. The children acted out, and made their own Christening scene.

The children have also learnt about Passover and how it is celebrated. They thought about the celebrations they take part in, and the objects that are important to them. They then created their own Seder plate.