Maize Class
Well done to all the children for taking part in Sports Day! It was a wonderful day.
Build a boat using foil or clay. How many marbles can you put it in whilst it floats?
The children used linkies to recreate their favourite vehicle.
Forest School Challenge - Make your name using natural objects.
Making Smed and Smoo music!
Forest School Learning! The children worked with their grownups to tackle each activity. Everyone showed excellent teamwork, particularly when building their leaf boats.
Grouping carrots for our different furry friends.
What features are in a church? Reverend Peter took Maize class on a tour of the Church, to find out all about the different important features.
Leaf threading in Forest School.
Exploring making doubles, by playing a barrier game. Some pupils recorded their investigations using addition sentences.
After reading ‘What the Ladybird Heard’, Maize class created their own Prize Cow by joining and painting materials.
Ryewater Nursery Trip! Maize class had the most wonderful day learning about butterflies and the different ways to take care of wildlife.
Today our school was visited by a Paralympian - Katrina Hart! We loved meeting her and really enjoying having a go at her jungle exercise trail.
This week the children have been working in a pair to build a obstacle course. Next, they will be writing instructions for their siblings and friends to follow when they have a go.
A family of buttons. The children worked hard to create button mini me’s of themselves and their family, using googly eyes. They then attached them together on a “thread to their hearts”.
Building a dream home for our families. The children built their family home, then sketched and labelled it on a clipboard.
This week we have been enjoying Art week! The artist we have been learning about is Jackson Pollock. Here the children and exploring different ways of creating Jackson Pollock’s famous drip paintings.
Counting syllables. Maize class have been practising counting the syllables in longer words to help them read and write more complex words.
Today the children read ‘Mr Gumpys Boat’. Here they are exploring adding more creatures into the boat.
Maize class loved celebrating the Queens Platinum Jubilee. They all worked hard practising and performing our dance, ‘The Bunny Hop’.
This week Maize class are learning all about the Queen! Here the children are building a Palace and Castle fit for the Queen of England.
A wonderful visit to the church this Friday, to hear a story all about kindness.
Today in RE, we learnt about the Hindu story ‘The Gold-Giving Serpent’. We then retold the story with toys and talked about the moral being ‘Don’t be greedy’.
Maize class enjoyed exploring the clues to find out which story we are reading this week. Can you guess?
Which Bear belongs in which habitat? Today the children worked as a team to match up the type of Bear with its habitat.
Let’s all build a word wall! The children read the words to build up their word walls.
What is a good choice? Today the children were discussing which actions are good and which actions are not so good! The children listened carefully to the actions and ran to the correct face.
Maize class loved retelling Goldilocks and the Three Bears today, using bear masks! The children remembered the story really well.
Our new story this week is Goldilocks and The Three Bears. The children began the week by building Bear Caves and writing signs to welcome people in or warn people not to enter.
The children carefully planned and created a creature using collaging materials. First they drew out their plan and labelled which material they would use for each aspect of their creature, then finally they got creating!
Maize Class Easter Challenge
Thank you to all the children and families who have sent in or emailed me photos and work for our Easter Challenges. It looks like the children had a lot of fun completing theses challenges over the holidays.
I will be handing out certificates and prizes on Friday for children who have participated! If your child hasn’t yet brought anything in, but did have a go please send any evidence you have of this as soon as possible, so that they can be rewarded. The email address to send photos to is maize@milton.Dorset.sch.uk.
Thank you so much to those who have taken part. It has been wonderful to see the children's proud faces as they share what they have been up to with their class mates.
Many thanks,
Miss Walker
The Boy who Cried Wolf, here the children are reenacting the story!
Today in Forest School the children explored leaf symmetry. The children found a leaf, then they cut the leaf in half and had a go at drawing the other half.
Consolidating the children’s understanding of numbers within 10. Today the children matched up the quantities with the correct numerals.
My Granny went to Market family learning session. The children worked with their grownups to create a ‘mini- magic carpet’ and a tool for Tom’s Explorers backpack.
Investigating which materials would be best for a coat, for Tom the Explorer!
To support the children with their writing, we use the Song of Sounds phoneme finder!
Maize class have enjoyed spending the day learning all about the Holy Week leading up to Easter. The children took part in a variety of activities and have a good understanding of the Easter Story. We finished the day by going on a mini Easter egg hunt!
Learning alphabetical order, the children used the ABC song to help them put the magnetic letters in the right order.
Learning about the properties of 3D shapes!
Science week! Each day the children in Maize class have watched or had a go at a science experiment. Here the children are growing rainbows and seeing the effect of walking water. Capillary action allows the colors from the felt-tips to “walk” across the paper towel to form a rainbow.
In Forest School, the children made 2D shapes using natural resources. They described the features of each shape as they were creating them.
This week Maize class have loved reading Handa’s surprise! To finish the week, the children wrote instructions for how to make a Fruit Salad, using lots of Handa’s delicious fruits. Here are the children enjoying their fruit salads and describing how they taste!
Fizz Pop Science visit Maize Class! Today the children enjoyed their ‘Airmazing’ visit from Astro Alice. The children learnt lots about all the different interesting things air can do!
Maize class are currently reading ‘Handa’s Surprise’. At the end of this week, the children will be making their own fruit salad using the different fruits from Handa’s basket. First, the children planned out which fruits they will use in their fruit salad. They did this by drawing a picture of each of their chosen fruits and labelling it, with a describing word.
This week Maize class are learning more tricky words! Today one of the children's independent challenges was to compose and write a sentence containing tricky word ‘to’.
Maize class looking wonderful on World Book Day 2022! All the children showed an amazing effort and absolutely loved coming in dressed as their favourite character from a book. We focused on the author Eric Carle throughout the day and the children enjoyed hearing more of Eric Carle’s stories.
Inspired by our work last term on ‘The Three Little Pigs’, Maize class built their own houses made out of sticks.
This week we are focusing on the numbers 9 and 10. The children found lots of ways to show 10, they were then asked to show 9. We talked about how 9 is one less than 10, meaning we can just remove one finger/cube/bead.
Maize class had a wonderful first day back at school! We started reading the text ‘Pink is for Boys’ - a book all about challenging gender stereotypes. This promoted lots of discussion is the classroom and the children we asked if they agree with two statements “Only boys can play with cars” and “Only girls can play with dolls”. The children made some excellent points.
Where we were smaller! During circle time, the children shared a photo of themselves, from when they were younger. We then talked about how they have changed and what has stayed the same.
Maize class enjoyed taking part in a welly throwing competition today! Each child took turns to throw their welly, then used different measuring tools to see how far it travelled. The children explored using a trundle wheel and measuring tape.
Visiting the two little pigs next door. Maize class absolutely loved meeting two Kunekune pigs on Friday, the children were even able to throw the pigs some treats. We came up with adjectives to describe the way the pigs looked and the children used the iPad to take photos.
Today the children planted some seeds and bulbs in our flower patch today. We talked about the different ways we could measure our flowers as they grow. Some children suggested using our large wooden ten frame or a ruler. We also discussed using cubes or blocks to measure the plants weekly, which we will compare as spring continues.
Maize class celebrating Holi - the Hindu festival of colour! We started by eating popcorn, then throwing our rubbish onto the fire, to signify starting afresh. Next, the children enjoying throwing colour powder paint in the air and watching the beautiful colours combine.
The children worked hard today at combining dot plates to make 5 or 6 dots altogether. They were also challenged to record the numerals to match each part.
An important message Maize Class learnt today!
Maize Class were lucky enough to have a visit from the Fire service today! All the children listened so well and learned lots.
Week beginning 14.02.21 please can you send your child into school with a photo of themselves when they were younger? We are going to be comparing their photos to how they look now.
Today the children made cucumber caterpillars. Here you can see photos the children took of each other.
Maize class are making amazing progress with their reading and we are so proud of all of the children for working so hard in school and at home! It would be wonderful if the children could read at least twice at home each week, to make sure that they have a chance to practise the new sounds that they are learning.
We are also looking for parent volunteers who might like to come into school and read with children individually once a week. If you would be interested email office@milton.dorset.sch.uk.
Thank you so much for your continued support.
Miss Walker
Today in Forest school, the children made trolls with a partner. They showed amazing teamwork and decided on each component of their troll together.
The Life Cycle of a Butterfly
The children in Maize class, show the four stages of the Butterfly Life Cycle.
Next week (Friday 4th Feb) Maize class will be making Hungry Caterpillar’s using egg cartons. If you have any egg cartons in your recycling please can you keep them and send them into school with your children for us to use? By next Wednesday (2nd Feb) would be amazing! Thank you, Miss Walker.
Today we created a story map for our new class story ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. Then, the children had a go at making some of the different sections of the story using play-dough.
Today, we met Six dinner Sid. The cat who has six different homes and gets to eat six dinners every day! The children built Sid’s six homes and then labelled them in order from 1-6.
Foot prints in the playground! Who’s could they be? And what do they lead to, could it be Gruffalo Crumble?! The children in Maize class tried to solve the mystery by writing Wanted posters to try to find the culprit.
After taking inspiration from ‘The Gruffalo’, Maize class made their own monsters! Next, the children will describe their monsters, using exciting adjectives.
Building a Cairn. Maize class had a go at creating man-made towers by carefully stacking and balancing stones on top of each other. The children showed great concentration.
Today the children explored capacity. They made one of their cups show ‘full’, ‘empty’, ‘nearly full’ and ‘nearly empty’.
In Circle time Maize class have been using the PANTS resources. Here is guide for parents, to reinforce at home.
Comparing weight. The children were challenged to find something heavier and something lighter than an orange. We discovered that when something is heavier is pulls the balance scale bucket down towards to ground.
Chinese New Year. Today the children learnt about the Chinese New Year story and acted out the story with puppets of the different animals. They finished the afternoon, making their own Chinese dragons to be used next week when we have a Chinese New Year party.
What would be the best material to use for a roof? Maize class investigated which material would be most suitable for Jack and Jill’s house. We focused on finding out which materials are waterproof.
Maize class had so much fun making faces on the trees. They used salt-dough as a base, then searched for natural objects to become the features of a face.
Maize class have had a wonderful first day back. All the children are already showing an excellent attitude to their learning and have begun collecting beads to achieve a challenge certificate. Today we started reading the story ‘The House that Jack built’ and had a go at building our own houses. Next, the children wrote signs to welcome people into their houses.
Merry Christmas from Maize Class
More Christmas fun with our buddies. Today the children worked with their buddies to make stained glass window biscuits, paint their salt dough and plant some daffodils bulbs for spring.
Today the children each made a Christingle, which they took home to light at home. We talked about what each element of the Christingle represents.
Breakfast with Santa. Today Maize class visited Orchard Park Garden Centre and had breakfast with Father Christmas. It was a wonderful morning and all the children were very well behaved. The children in Maize class represented the School amazingly well and Father Christmas was very impressed!
Our Year 6 buddies joined the children in Maize class as a special Friday treat! The children showed great teamwork as they made Christmas cards and salt dough Christmas Trees.
The children have been cooking with water beads today, in the mud kitchen. They worked as a team to transport and transfer the beads carefully in order to make their concoctions.
Maize class were tasked with pretending to be ‘Slithering Snakes’ in Jungle Gym today!
Maize class discussing and finding out more about Nocturnal animals!
Christmas Story RE learning day! Today in Maize class the children reinforced and dug deeper into the learning they have done this term all about the Christmas story. We discussed the characters in the nativity and their jobs, then we acted out the stories taking turns to take on the different roles, we sang Carols and finally we created some artwork of the stable scene. Maize class really showcased what they have achieved this term.
Our kind Elf’s Jingle and Buddy brought us a wonderful surprise today! A mission from Father Christmas, to help him by wrapping up all the presents in one of his sacks. Maize class showed amazing teamwork in the Elf’s Workshop. Well done Maize Class!
This week Maize class innovated the story ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’. Our new baddie character became a dragon. The children had a good at making the Dragon, and coming up with adjectives to describe it.
What wonderful world we live in. Maize class listened to the song ‘What a Wonderful World’ and went out looking for things that make our world wonderful.
Maize Class Nativity
Our class Nativity will be taking place on Wednesday 8th December at 10:30am.
Please make sure your child’s costume is sent into school by Wednesday 1st December to give the children lots of time to practise whilst wearing it.
The children will also be coming home with their lines on Friday 26th November to practise over the next week and a half. If you have time it would be wonderful if you could practise your child’s lines with them.
Thank you for your support as always!
Best wishes,
Miss Walker
In PE at the moment, Maize class are focusing on gymnastics. Today in ‘Jungle Gym’, the children pretended to be monkeys swinging in trees around the jungle. They practised balancing and jumping off the benches, whilst moving like monkeys.
This week our class story is ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’. In Forest School the children had a go at building a strong bridge for the troll to live underneath. The children showed fantastic teamwork as they worked together.
On Friday the children used musical instruments to imitate the noises in our class story ‘Peace at Last’.
In Maths this week we continued our learning about 2D shapes, by printing with 3D shapes!
In Forest School this week, the children made transient art work! They used examples as inspiration and then got to work.
Welcome, to our new class Teaching Assistant - Miss Cross. Miss Cross will be in Maize class full time, the children have been enjoying spending the week getting to know her.
Tell me about that shape! The pupils in Maize class showcased their understanding of the properties of circles and triangles today.
To conclude our week learning about the story Owl Babies, the children experimented with different ways of moving. We discussed the animals you might find in the woods and how they might move.
Our value in Maize class this half term is ‘Team Work’. Here are some pupils modelling how when we work together we can create amazing things!
During this term, Maize class and Wheat class will be joining together on a Wednesday afternoon to share their learning and work together. Today this involved Owl Babies crafts, chopping up pumpkins and building super tall structures we all had so much fun!
Today the children learnt about woodland animal’s habitats. Then, built habitats for our woodland animal puppets. The children justified why they had chosen to build their habitats in different ways, depending on the skills of the animal. For example, Owls can fly up high which is why their habitat is at the top of the tree.
This week our class story is ‘Owl Babies’, therefore, today during Forest School Maize class made bird feeders. They used pine cones (kindly donated by parents), honey, lolly stick to spread the honey and bird seed.
Stories round the fire to end reading week! Mr White even told us a bit about what he used to build the fire.
To finish our week reading ‘Room on the Broom’, Maize class made potions. The witch asked each child to write a recipe for a magic spell which would transform the dragon into a mouse! The children drew their ingredients and had a go at labelling each item. Amazing effort Maize Class!
This week is ‘love reading week’! Maize class listened to the story ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ and then used salt dough to create their own caterpillar’s. The children used their rolling and pinching skills to achieve the effect.
Next Tuesday (9th November) the children will be making bird feeders using pine cones in Forest School. When you are out for a walk this week, if you spot any pine cones please can you collect them and bring them into school ready for this activity.
Hello all! We have enjoyed a fantastic first term in Maize class and the children have settled into the routines of school amazingly well. Attached is the overview of texts the children will be reading in class this term and our PSHE and Oracy links. From next half term reading books will be changed every Monday, ready for our guided reading sessions that week, these take place twice a week in small groups. The children have already made a huge amount of progress with their reading this term, thank you so much for your support with this. It would be wonderful if you could aim to read with your children at least twice a week to give them a chance to practise their segmenting and blending skills. All the best, Miss Walker.
Maize Class Gingerbread Man Family Learning morning. Everyone had so much fun working together as a team to bake and decorate Gingerbread Men. To end the morning Maize class retold the story of the Gingerbread Man to their grownups using our story map and actions.
Maize class got a little bit Halloweeny today! We decorated spider cakes, carved peppers and made conker spiders.
Maize class love mark making!
Today the children had a go at sorting representations by subitising! “Don’t count, say the amount”.
To finish the week Maize class listened to the story ‘Chapatti Moon’, which is a story based on Indian foods inspired by the Gingerbread Man. Next, the children compared eating an Indian food, poppadom and a ginger biscuit. The children described the taste and texture of each food.
Maize Class’s independence on the play trail has improved massively already, we are so proud of everyone! To finish our day Maize class enjoyed practising their climbing and balancing skills in the sunshine.
What is a repeating pattern? Today Maize class learnt all about what a repeating pattern looks like and how to make their own.
In RE today, Maize class learnt about another one of Jesus’s miracles - Jesus heals the blind man. We then worked in small groups and acted out the story.
Maize have enjoyed making counting sticks, which they then used to help them counting big objects!
To summarise our week of reading ‘Clean Up’, Maize class used the knowledge they have gained to create a poster to give to their buddies. The poster highlights what plastic can do to sea animals and what you can do to prevent this. All the children worked so hard and we are really proud of them.
This week Maize class have really enjoyed learning about how to take ever of wild life by recycling our rubbish and making sure to always take away our litter from where ever we visit. Here the children are working in the animal sanctuary to take care of the injured animals.
The wonderful Reverend Eve and Reverend Peter joined Maize class today, to help them add their blessed pebbles into the stream. The children waited patiently for their turn and carefully placed their beautifully painted pebbles in the perfect spot. Make sure to look out for your child’s pebble when you drop them off at school.
Maize class had a visitor today.. Kirsten from North Dorset, who taught us all about recycling! We learnt which bins each type of rubbish should go in and what rubbish can be turned into if it is recycled.
Junk request
This week Maize class will be reading the book ‘Clean Up’. We will then be doing lots of different activities linked to looking after sea creatures and recycling. To aid these activities we will be using lots of recyclable materials. If you have recycling at home that you could donate that would be amazing e.g. cereal boxes, kitchen roll tubes, yogurt pots, egg boxes, plastic bottles (and caps) etc.
Thank you so much,
Miss Walker
On Friday our buddies came to visit Maize class, to share stories with us. Kind words and friendship filled the room!
Maize class loved being introduced to their buddies today! The buddies worked together to make an animal using natural objects.
Today in Forest School the children have been working in teams to build some amazing mini beast homes. FYI our Forest school day has changed to Tuesday instead of Wednesday!
In Maths we are working on our subsidising skills. “Don’t count say the amount!”
Whilst reading the story ‘All Are Welcome’, Maize class have been making family trees. To create their family trees the children painted with broccoli to produce a leaf effect. Next the children will add all the members of their family.
Maize Class love to read :)
What’s in my circle? In Forest School this week Maize class used hoops to look closely at their natural surrounds. The children then used clipboard to draw what they could see in their hoop.
Maize class have now all completed the Department of Education Reception Baseline Assessments. Well done Maize class!
Big building today in Maize class! First the children made a speedboat and gave each other roles to keep it ticking over. Then they made a bridge, each child made sure to help their friends to cross it. Finally, they made a super fun slide! All the children worked as a team to build the creations, then supported each other when taking turns to try them out.
Bug hunting on Friday. Here the children are using their senses to spot some of the insects on their list.
Hello all, another wonderful week of fun in Maize class. Attached in the overview of texts the children will be reading in class this term and our PSHE and Oracy links. Our PE days are Monday and Thursday, please send the children into school in their PE kits on both of these days. Our Forest school slot is on a Tuesday afternoon and depending on the weather it would be useful for the children to bring in their welly boots, for them to change into if needed. Reading books will be changed every Friday! All the best, Miss Walker.
Maize class have been getting know some initial sounds this week and using actions to help them remember words that begin with the same initial sound.
Maize class getting ready to write! Here the children are painting with mops to strengthen their shoulder and elbow pivots. This is to build up their upper bodies to get them ready for writing.
Hello to all the wonderful parents of the fabulous new additions to Maize class! We have had a fantastic first week in school with the children and they have all settled in really well. On Friday the children were sent home with a Purple band Reading Book and a Reading Record. You will notice that the book has no words in it, this is to encourage the children to describe the pictures in their own words and promote discussion between you and your child (I have attached a document which explains this further). If you could please have a look at the book together and write down a short note about how you got on, in your child’s Reading Record. Thank you so much, Miss Walker.
Lots of making and creating in Maize class this week. Each child choose different materials to create their own spoon self. The children have already been enjoying playing with them!
This week Maize class have been learning nursery rhymes. At the beginning of the week, we learnt the words and actions to ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star’ and ‘Five speckled frogs’ has helped us with counting to 5. Next we learnt and performed ‘Head, shoulder, knees and toes’, then we talked about all the different parts that make up our body!
Welcome to Maize class! All of the children have settled into their new class amazingly. They have enjoyed exploring their new environment.
