We have had a busy week with a dinosaur running around the garden and a giant who climbs down the beanstalk at night to play with all our toys. The children's imagination's are exploding and we have had some amazing discussions and creative writing happening throughout the week. It is great to see so much enthusiasm to write letters to the giant. The children have been having  two way letter writing for the last week and the giant keeps responding which is encouraging them to write more.
Even our reluctant writers have been engaged in these activities.
After the holidays we are going to be writing some shopping lists for a picnic. We are going to be looking at how much things cost and calculating how much we need to spend. We are also going to be walking to the woods so if you can spare some time please come along.
Have a great week.
Mrs Robinson:)

Mrs Robinson is on a school trip with year 5 so I am writing the blog this week.
Over the week we have been continuing the story of Jack and the Bean Stalk.
The children came in on Monday and found that the Bean Stalk had started to grow.
They were very excited to see if it would grow tall enough to reach the giant. They have been busy drawing pictures of the Bean Stalk and have stuck them next to it. When the Bean Stalk reached the roof we wrote a letter to the Giant asking him to come and be our friend. He replied he would love to be friends but was too big for our land.  At story time we read the story and used puppets. Then the children became the characters including a narrator.
When Mrs Robinson is back next week we will carry on the story and show her the letter from the giant!

On Friday we watched Reception class performing during their assembly. The children were excited to see their friends on the stage.

A couple of notes to finish off:
As the weather is getting warmer and the children will be taking off their jumpers and cardigans off please remember to name all clothing.
We are running low on spare clothes (especially girls underwear.) Please can you return items to school.
Thank you for the named hats and sun cream provided so far.
Have a great weekend.
Mrs Howe

This week we have been reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. We decided to plant some magic beans to see if we could grow our own beanstalk. We have watered the compost with some magic water and on Friday morning we noticed that it has started to grow. Hopefully on Monday it will have grown some more. We are going to be monitoring what happens over the next couple of weeks and hopefully we will end up with a beanstalk that we can use to create stories.
On Wednesday we made sandwiches with the cress that we had grown. The children are so independent with this task as we have always encouraged them to prepare their own toast when we have it in the setting. They can butter and cut the toast into halves and quarters without any support. They are also very good at eating it all too.
In the unit we have a discovery box and this week we have had an egg in it. The children have been observing the changes that have taken place and we now have a hatched dinosaur. This activity has motivated the children to record in many different ways what they have seen. They have also discussed the changes.
Next week we will be continuing to develop our beanstalk adventure and we are looking forward to watching reception perform their assembly. I will be out on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with year 5 on a residential trip. Mrs Sheehan will be in charge of the unit so please speak to her if you have any problems. Have a great weekend.
Mrs Robinson:)

We have been very busy this week investigating and learning lots of things about our world. The children have enjoyed digging and have unearthed dinosaur bones and volcanic lava. We have researched using books and the internet to find out more information. The children have made volcano's in the sand pit and  have made an erupting volcano using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.
We have created a group of archaeologists.
 In our investigation box we have a dinosaur egg which the children are observing and recording the hatching process. Finally we have planted some cress and lettuce and hopefully we will be able to make some sandwiches next week.
It is a fantastic time of the year as the children are thriving in the unit and are understanding that learning has no limits. We are amazed at the potential to extend learning through our observations. A simple dig in the soil has allowed us to create an exciting learning adventure for all the children.

Hope fully the weekend will bring some nice weather.
Have a great time.
Mrs Robinson:)

Welcome back to a very short week. The children were very keen to be back and it has been a pleasure to watch  them fit back into their routines and relationships. We have decided to change our fruit and milk system and we now have a café. The children take it in turns to be shopkeepers who take money for the fruit and milk and then serve the children. At the end of the day we  have 2 accountants that count the money and record the amount then and take the money to the banker who writes out a receipt. This is a brilliant way to engage the children with money and allows them to practise using it  in a purposeful way. When we discussed money with the children and asked them how we pay for things they all said with a card. We sometimes forget that children don't often come into contact with cash so this activity will give them a hands on experience in a fun way.
Next week we would like to continue with our wood walk. Please come along if you can spare the time. I hope that the weather continues to improve and the children can enjoy the outside without coats.
Have a great weekend.
Mrs Robinson:)

 

We started our week watching a performance by the year 3, 4 and 5 children called Rock Bottom. Our children decided to make their own production in the unit. We had a stage and the children made tickets for the audience. I'm not quite sure what the show was about and we did have 50 main characters but they all worked together and had lots of fun. Miss Chandler made a puppet theatre for the children and they created another production for their friends. I think that the West End could maybe see a few of our children in the future.

REMINDERS

•  The children are allowed to wear Summer uniform after Easter. Please make sure this is all labelled.
• We will be going to the woods every Monday so please come along if you can spare the time.
• We are hoping for some good weather in the Summer term, therefore please remember to apply sun cream on your child before school. Most sun creams protect skin for more than 6 hours, however if you would like the cream to be reapplied at school, you need to give us a written permission. The forms will be in the office after Easter. Please also provide a sun hat with your child's name on it.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter break and we look forward to seeing you On Wednesday 24th April.
Mrs Robinson:)

The children have enjoyed the story of Stick Man this week and have written their own stories and made their own stick men, women and children from natural resources. We have noticed recently how the children are using the  environment to be creative and we are happy that they have become aware that they can make things by using recycled materials. They are becoming more like me each day!!!!!!!!!
Easter is getting closer and the children have started talking about chocolate eggs which we are all looking forward to eating so we have decided to make chocolate nests next week and focus on the religious festival of Easter. We are also going to be making our own passports so that we can use them when we travel on our aeroplane.
We will be walking to the woods on Monday, if you can spare the time please come along.

Have a good weekend
Mrs Robinson:)