A week of rain and tornado (in science)!

Tregantle class has been all about the weather this week! We've had lots of rainy days  - but this certainly hasn't held us back! Our year 1 children carried out two experiments to help us understand more about the weather. Firstly, we made a 'tornado in a jar.' This consisted of water, washing up liquid, food colouring, a tightly screwed on lid and rapid circular movements! The results were impressive and showed us exactly how a tornado works. Next it was time to make a rain cloud. We did this with a jar of water and shaving foam on the top. We them poured in a little food colouring and watched carefully as it burst from the 'cloud' showing how rain happens. 
Continuing with our learning about cold places, Tregantle have begun to learn a new journey story called 'Poles Apart.' It's all about some penguins who get lost and end up in the North Pole! A friendly polar bear helps them find their way home via several other countries! We are really looking forward to writing our own journey stories over the next few weeks.
The EYFS children have been enjoying some early signs of spring. Our bank in front of the school is covered with beautiful daffodils which we have been using as inspiration for painting and modelling. We have also seen some fantastic writing throughout the week. The children are becoming really independent in their writing and have be writing for a whole range of different purposes.   

Number Day

We have enjoyed celebrating the NSPCC national number day at the end of the week. The year 1 children completed a 'counting in 2s ' challenge which ended with a wonderful picture. The EYFS children created some beautiful patterns to make their own flower on a stick. Along with our additional number challenges this week, the year 1 children have now become experts at using a number line to both add and subtract. The EYFS children can make the totals of 6, 7 and 8 by using 2 different numbers. What amazing mathematicians we have!
As part of our science unit, 'changing seasons,' we managed to make a cloud in a glass. The children leant about water vapour and changing temperatures when they used ice and hot water to make their clouds.
In EYFS the children have been enjoying the story 'Whatever Next' for their 'talk through stories' sessions. This week they made their own aliens from the story by printing with bubble wrap and folding long strips of paper. They look fantastic in our classroom! 

The great outdoors!

Tregantle class have really embraced the cold winter weather this week and enjoyed exploring the signs of winter outside. The children were delighted to experiment with the frost and ice that had formed overnight in our garden. We were all able to make marks and letters in the frost and we even found some large sheets of ice to experiment with. The Year 1 children meanwhile have been investigating, 'What makes ice melt quickly or slowly?'  They decided upon some different things to test and found out that heat makes ice melt more quickly and cold makes it melt more slowly. 

The EYFS children have been measuring in maths this week. They were given the task of following some instructions to make a magic potion! Our Year 1 children have been continuing their learning about place value to 20 and have really got to grips with using a number line.

We have had some wonderful writers this week. We started the week by each making a delicious hot chocolate and then used this experience to write clear instructions for how to make it. 

Our history session was really interesting as we have begun our learning on the explorer Robert Scott. The children looked at a timeline of his life and thought about what his life would have been like. 

The children of Tregantle have really enjoyed exploring their new book swap shed. There has been lots of interest in the books that are inside and it is a wonderful opportunity for children to share new books with their families with out spending a single penny!


It has been a busy week as always! In English the Year 1 children are learning all about instructions. They have found out about imperative verbs and adverbs of time. In EYFS the children have been reading 'The Gruffalo's Child.' They have made some excellent 'wanted' posters to help find the big bad mouse!

In maths we have been getting to grips with representing, ordering and comparing numbers 11 - 20 in Year 1 and sharing objects and learning all about the number zero in EYFS.

We have all enjoyed getting stuck into our new theme, 'What do we know about ice and snow?' We have identified suitable clothing for very cold weather and explored the features of winter. In art the children have been mixing blue paint with black and white to make a variety of different shades of blue. 

We are looking forward to another action packed week next week! 

What an amazing way to end the autumn term with our fantastically festive performance of 'It's a Baby!' The children from Tregantle and Lantic Classes Worked incredibly hard to learn their lines, the words to the songs and perform to a huge audience. What a show it was! The children were absolute stars - they wore their costumes with pride, sang beautifully and spoke clearly to retell the story of the birth of Jesus Christ.

We would like to wish all our families and friends of the Brunel community a very 'Merry Christmas!' We hope you enjoy the Christmas break and we look forward to welcoming children back to school in January. We are very excited about our new topic for the spring term, 'What do we know about Ice and Snow?' More information to follow! Merry Christmas!

Saltash Christmas Tree Festival

What a fun filled week full of Christmas activities we've had!
We all had a very festive evening on Tuesday when we held our annual 'Hunt The Izzy' event. Children and their families enjoyed searching the school for the hidden Izzy's whilst sampling the delights from the Christmas fair.
In Tregantle we have bee busy practicing our Christmas production of 'It's a Baby.' The costumes are looking fantastic and the singing is raising the roof! We are very excited to be performing our show to parents next week!
We ended our week with a visit to St Nicholas and Faith church to see the Christmas tree festival. The children took part in a festive treasure hunt, finding the decorations in the pictures. We all loved the Brunel tree! 

Christmas is coming!

Christmas has arrived at Brunel! The children had an exciting surprise this morning when they arrived at school to see their classroom transformed into a winter wonderland! Our preparations for our Christmas production of 'It's A Baby' are coming on nicely and we enjoyed taking part in lots of Christmas crafts this week ready for our 'Hunt the Izzy' event next week. 

Tregantle Class joined the rest of the school on Wednesday to take part in a tree planting event. We planted a selection of native trees and shrubs to develop our beautiful outside areas.

We were lucky to have some Year 6 reading ambassadors join us this week for story time. The children in Tregantle class chose which story they would like to listen to and enjoyed listening to the older children reading.