I was very lucky to have a spare big cardboard box at home that the children thoroughly enjoyed turning into a rocket ship, complete with buttons, lights and fire! One of the children brought a book about rockets from home for Show and Tell which we used for inspiration on how to create our rocket ship. We had to wait a whole day for the paint to dry before we could begin to take turns to drive the rocket ship and blast off into space!

We also watched a very interesting video on the C-Touch about the first astronaut to fly in space with a jetpack, outside of a rocket ship. The children each had a milk carton and worked hard to turn it into a jetpack. I was very impressed with the children’s creativity, each coming up with their own ideas. The children are very excited to wear their jetpacks and journey through space!

We have been reviewing 2D shapes this week as our maths focus and some children had a go at cutting out and sticking different 2D shapes to create a rocket. The children persevered well during some tricky cutting and were brilliant at naming different shapes.

Our letter sound this week was g. There were lots of fantastic ideas including goat, girl, garden and gate! It is lovely to see the children’s drawing and ability to hear the sounds in words hugely improve as they are now getting much more comfortable with our letter sound sessions.

Our Christmas play rehearsals are well underway and the production is looking fabulous with lovely singing and some brilliant acting! You are all in for a real treat in a few weeks' time! I look forward to our final week of rehearsals next week and decorating the Transition classroom as we begin to get into the festive spirit.

Finally, I had the very sad job of telling the children in Transition that I would be leaving Russell House at Christmas. I have absolutely loved my time at Russell House as the Transition Form Teacher, but look forward to pursuing opportunities in Australia for a little while. Luckily, this very sad news was soon followed by some very exciting news. The children were thrilled to get to meet the new Transition teacher, Mrs Winser, who enjoyed a day at Russell House meeting and playing with the children. It was a lovely opportunity for everyone to discuss their new beginnings in January, as some children also move into Form 1. We realised that changes can feel exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time, no matter how old you are!