This week the children have been learning all about their ears. We have listened to lots of different sounds and we have learnt about how we hear sounds. The children have also listened to the story of the ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff.’
In discovery time some children built bridges for the three goats to use to cross over the river. They had to be a solveosaurus as the bridges had to be tall enough to fit the troll underneath!
Some children made the troll out of play dough. They self-selected their own resources and they designed their troll themselves. Some children made four trolls as we have been learning the number four in Maths!
Some children made bridges and goats at the workshop table. The children were very independent in thought and action. They have been great thinkodactyls!
Some children loved making rafts for the goats to float along the river. It took the children several attempts to design and create a raft that held the weight of a goat and floated! Great solveosaurus’!
Some children painted lovely pictures of the characters in the story. The children are becoming very independent at the painting table and they are beginning to choose colours for a purpose. Their paintings are wonderful!
The children are also working really hard in their phonic lessons as well. They are learning lots of graphemes and phonemes and they are now blending the sounds together to read words. All the children were able to read the words and cross the bridge!
This week the Swans have been thinking about what makes a good friend. They have taken part in different circle time activities which have been centred round the theme of friendships. They have also brainstormed what they thought made a good friend.
This week the children have had the opportunity to express themselves and celebrate their individuality and what makes us all unique by wearing odd socks for the day. The children have also helped to raise money to help those children who are less fortunate than themselves. They did this by wearing something spotty and donating money to Children in Need.
Continuing with our theme of “It’s ok to be different”, this week the children have been learning about how the Hindu and Sikh communities celebrate the festival of Light, Diwali.
The children have listened to the story of Rama and Sita and they have discussed the importance of the story in the Diwali celebrations. They have also learnt and discussed how a little girl called Jessica prepares and celebrates Diwali with her family.
The children were fascinated by Jessica and Ryan’s Mehndi patterns on their arms so they had a go at designing Mehndi patterns of their own.
The children have also learnt how the people in the village lit diva lamps to guide Rama and Sita back home after the battle with the demon king, Ravana and this inspired them to make and decorate diva lamps of their own on the play dough table.
As well as learning about Diwali it has also been our Stay, Play and Chat sessions.
Parents were invited into school to discuss their children’s progress and to play with their child. Lots of parents attended and the children really enjoyed playing and exploring with their parents. Below are photos of the children and their parents working together to make highly decorated diva lamps on the workshop table.
I would like to say a big thank you to all those parents that attended these sessions. The continued interest that you show in your child’s learning, progress and attainment has such a positive and profound effect on your child’s journey through school. Thank you.
This week in Reception we have continued to learn about our eye sight. We have focussed upon what it might be like if we were partially sighted or if we couldn’t see at all. The children wore blindfolds and they tried to guess what objects had been hidden in the sand or in the discovery tray.
The children also wore blindfolds outside and helped each other to complete an obstacle course that they had made. The children discovered that it was very tricky to complete the course when they couldn’t see where to go for themselves.
Lots of children wanted to paint their own eyes this week.
Some children prefered to draw their eyes on the iPads.
Everybody used their eyes to think write, using learnt letters, a sentence about our eyes and some children used their eyes to make and read some words.
And lots of children wanted to make some glasses so that they would be able to see better if they wore them!
However the highlight of the week has to be the visit from Karen and her guide dog John. Karen explained to the children that John was a guide dog and through discussions the children learnt how important guide dogs are to people who are partially sighted or blind. The children learnt how guide dogs are trained and how they help people with sight loss get out of their homes and engage with their community, rebuilding their confidence and independence. The children loved meeting John and they thought it was very funny how lazy John was when he was not working and they loved how he snores loudly when he’s asleep! Thank you Karen. We all loved John.