Celebrations!

This half term, we are learning about a variety of celebrations, festivals and traditions that people celebrate. We will encourage children to share their experiences while highlighting the importance of respecting other people's traditions and beliefs. We have read the story, 'Little Glow' which descibes many different celebrations that are linked to the importance of light. 

The children were really interested in the fireworks in the story and loved sharing their experiences, descibring the different senses, when we are near fireworks. We decided to make some firework paintings, create a small world bonfire and a firefighters role play outside. We also talked about the importance of keeping safe near fires. 

Christmas celebrations!

The children really enjoyed their Christmas party day. We really enjoyed seeing them dressed up in their lovely outfits. This morning, Santa came to visit and brought some Numberblocks gifts. For lunch the children got together with the rest of the school in the hall and enjoyed their Christmas meal with their friends. After lunch we had out class Christmas party. We played pass the parcel, musical statues, we did some winter themed yoga, read a story from Bookvent and the children enjoyed having their snack.

The festival of Diwali 

We have been learning all about the Hindu and Sikh festival of Diwali. We have read stories that explain how families prepare and celebrate Diwali. Then we had a go at writing Diwali cards, making our own diva lamps using clay, using PVA and glitter to create Rangoli Patterns and cutting out patterned hands and feet with Mehndi Patterns. 

Personal, Social, Emotional Development

We read the story, 'Rainbow Fish' and talked about the importance of sharing. The children were able to talk about the different emotions Rainbow Fish felt when she didn't share, compared to when she did. The children then made Rainbow Fish pictures with an emphasis on sharing the purposefully, limited glue spreaders, glitter, sequins and glue. 

RE

This term we are thinking about giving. In our first lesson, we pretended that a new baby had been born and discuss appropriate gifts to give a baby. We sorted some gifts into 'good gifts' and 'not good gifts' for a baby. The children were really good at giving reasons to back up their opinions. In Continuous provision, some children found suitable gifts in the classroom, wrapped these up and role played giving them to a new baby. 

Mastering Number

We have been learning about the Number Block 5 and how he likes to 'high 5'. The children have enjoyed showing they can high 5 with one hand but 5 fingers. We have been learning how to accurately count with 1-1 correspondance using a variety of objects. The children are also getting really good at describing how they have made 5. For example, 3 cubes and 2 minibeasts, on their hand printout. 

Children have been comparing groups of objects using the vocabulary of more, fewer and equal too. The children played picnics where they have to give the bears an equal amount of food and the children played a game where they had to grab a handful of cubes and compare the amounts. 

Fine Motor Fun!

We have been enjoying some fine motor Autumnal activities outside, using handrills to make holes in pumpkins and using mini hammers to hammer in golf tees.

PE Circus Training

The children had a great time pretending to be tight rope walkers, jugglers and acrobats in our first PE lesson in the hall. They worked superbly as a group, taking turns and encouraging each other. 

Martin Ridley inspired sketching

We have been looking at the artist Martin Ridley, who sketches and paints British wildlife. The children enjoyed discussing which painting was their favourite and why. We then looked at how different textures and colours were created using sketching. First the children had a go at creating different textures using lines, zig-zags and swirls on an owl outline. In the second lesson, the children practiced shading using a pencil to create the colour on a rabbit outline. For the final lesson, the children learnt how to draw their own rabbit using a step-by-step guide. Finally, they put their pencil skills together to shade it. 

Mini Forest School

To introduce Mini Forest Dchool the children had to follow a treasure hunt where they collected items along the way, marking it on their map of the school grounds. Once they arrived in Forest School, they found their treasure, a Percy Parkeeper story. Using the items they found on the way we built some dens and read the story. Throughout the week the children took part in many activities linked to out topic on British Wildlife including; making natural bird feeders, moulding clay hedgehogs, bird watching, sketching, making transient art using leaves and working in teams to build woodland animal habitats. 

The Nativity Story

As we rehearse for our Nativity performance the children have been learning the story of the birth of Jesus and Christmas time. We have made our own characters, decorated the home corner, made up stories in the small world and drew the story on a story map. 

Repeating Patterns

The children have been working on making repeating patterns with 2 or 3 objects or actions. They started off copying patterns, moved on to continuing patterns and finally had a go at creating their own repeating patterns. 

Shirley Hughes Stories

In History, we have been reading, 'Dogger' and 'Lucy and Toms Chirstmas' as they are set in the past. We talked about how children's toys have changed over time. Then we gave the children a dolly peg, a feather, a piece of wool and a lolly pop stick so they could make their own toys, just like in the past. The children were really imaginitive, making aeroplanes, fairies, flags and superheroes!