W/E 18th October
Who can believe we are already at the end of the first half of this busy term! It has been a jam packed, fun-filled few weeks and the children have definitely earned their break!
Year 1 have had a fun filled end to the first half term. The children bumped into the Nursery and Kindergarten children in the woods which was a lovely surprise! After recording our green man interviews the children explored the woods with Nursery and Kindergarten. The children have continued to develop their subtractions skills and have been using their understanding to solve number stories. The children were so excited to perform their maraca dance to the rest of Pre-Prep. They were fantastic and had a lot of fun!
W/E 11th October
This week Pre-Prep have been working like Billy Bee to empty the sand pit ready for fresh sand. The children used gloves and spades to empty the sand into the tractor which they all enjoyed. Many of the children also helped Mrs Winn and Miss Sander with gardening to create an area for trucks and mud construction.
Superworm is in Reception! We read the book and have made potions so that we can help Superworm who has been captured by the Wizard Lizard. We used smelly herbs and spiky plants from the garden to make our potion extra potent. We then all worked together like Billy Bee to make our own Reception Superworm. We made him super long and super strong. We had to work out how to join our worm segments so that he didn’t fall apart. We chose between masking tape, paper fasteners, stapler, needle and thread or rubber bands. We then had to really co-operate to get him back to class in one piece! Mrs Fulford taught us a lovely song about the Harvest and we sang to our Grandparents in the Harvest Festival. We then had a lovely session of ball skills in the sun with all the visitors watching.
Year 1 have been investigating the tale of the Green Man this week. We went down to the woods to listen to the tale and then created our own green man faces on the trees. We used mud, leaves and sticks to create the faces. The children then made ‘wanted’ posters using adjectives to find the green man. In Maths, the children investigated the number 10 and found countless ways to make 10 adding the numbers 2, 3 and 4.
This week in Year 2 we investigated solids, liquids and gases and made a chemical reaction using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to blow a balloon up. In history we read parts of the diary of Samuel Pepys and his account of the Fire of London, all written in code with a quill pen.
W/E 4th October
Year 1 have been travelling to Puerto Rico in their learning journey this week as they chose to explore maracas. This had started as a science lesson investigating noise, but the children soon took the idea and expanded it. They watched a school in Brazil do a maraca dance and asked if we could have a go. In English the children have been creating Acrostic poems in order to enter the young writer poetry competition. On Wednesday the children enjoyed No Pens Day and applied their mental maths skills using addition snakes and ladders, the magic cauldron and dominoes.
Year 2 made bread rolls this week to investigate how yeast makes bread rise. We had to work very hard to knead the bread to make the dough stretchy. We also had a great time on Wednesday on No Pens Day. We filmed a news report about the Great Fire of London and presented it to Year 1.
In STEM club Year 2 chose to explore the planets this week, with the aim of creating 3D versions of the planets. The children had to discuss how we could make the planets to scale. After watching a video comparing the size of the planets and stars the children were truly amazed by the size of the sun.
W/E 27th September
In Reception it has been another week of work for our Superheroes! All the children have been busy finding out about the people who help us. We have had some lovely ideas about who the children consider their Superheroes to be. We went to visit our very own Super Sister Kate, who told us all about how she looks after the children who feel sick. Quite a few of us felt poorly after that so that we all could go and try the magic biscuits!! We have not let the rain get in the way of our learning – we have spent lots of time doing listening activities and following instructions. We are getting rather good at this now. We have learnt about Harriet the cow who is very tall and tried to hold our pencil correctly all week. We also managed to dig for treasure in the mud on Thursday – sorry about the dirty clothes for the weekend!
Year 1 started their week by exploring food from different countries and we found out that lots of our favourite foods are from all over the world!
The highlight of our week was bug hunting in the little woods. The children used specimen collectors to find bugs whilst keeping them safe. As it had been raining there was a plethora of bugs to find and the children all had lots of fun digging through leaf piles and turning over logs.
To finish the week we made pizza wraps as many of the children were surprised to learn that pizza originates in Italy!
Year 2 have been learning all about the plague of 1665 and we acted in roles to get some historical understanding about what it might have been like to live in London at the time. Great acting skills too!
In STEM Club Year 2 made the most of the windy weather by building kites. The children designed and built their kites using everyday materials. We researched kite shapes and styles to begin with and then the children started building. They took their kites outside and the wind lifted them with ease. Although all of the flags were slightly different shapes and sizes they were all successful apart from a few string detachments!
W/E 20th September
Reception have been enjoying the lovely sunny weather outside. We have loved Woodland Learning this week and have collected lots of natural materials for our classrooms. We have started our phonic lanyards which have caused great excitement, especially as now we can all make a word with our letters. We have been exploring numbers to 10, making towers and playing ‘Beat Me’ with the sand timer. We have generally been total Superheroes!
Year 1 have been engaged and enthusiastic this week with our activities. We worked hard to finish our Kitchen Disco stories and many of you were written into the children’s stories to join in the disco. In Maths we have been exploring number bond diagrams and counting on. In outdoor learning this week the children listened to a story about a little girl who helped the woodland creatures and created a woodland crown based on the story. To finish the week the children used herbs from our garden to infuse their home made Playdough.
We made the most of the sunshine in STEM Club, heading down to the woods. The children were challenged to make a mini den, perfectly formed with a replica fire. The children put the skills they learnt last year about den-building into practice using pyramid and prism based shapes. They used leaves to cover the roofs and the lovely autumnal colours were perfect as flames for the fire.
W/E 13th September
The first full week of Reception has been completed for all our Superheroes. We have had an action-packed week. We did our first French lesson, music, gym and ball skills and not forgetting swimming! We made hedgehogs in the woodland learning area and have looked at our names and how to write them. In number work we sang songs, counted and played lots of games concentrating on numbers to 10.
Year 1 have had a fantastic start to the year and the children have been dancing their way into our topic. We started the week exploring the school grounds: from the pond to finding the best hill down which to roll. Our Kitchen Disco has been in full swing and the children enjoyed creating fruits to be the DJs at their disco. The wonderful vegetable garden has been used lots this week and we have picked a range of vegetables to use in our cooking. We made courgette crisps with vegetable soup!
The children are always excited to come back to STEM club and the Year 2s put their enthusiasm into tower building this week. However, there is always a challenge to be had in STEM, so the children had to build a tower on which they could stand. We discussed the fact that some of the towers were hollow and some were solid and whether or not that made a difference.
W/C 6th September
Pre-Prep has been buzzing with excitement in this short first week back. We have loved hearing all the stories of your summer holidays and watching the children throw themselves enthusiastically into their new class settings. We are so pleased to welcome so many new families and are thrilled to see how well the new children are already settling in. The Michaelmas Term is such an action packed term, full of fun and with so many exciting things to get involved in, and we hope you all enjoy following our news over the coming weeks.