At the beginning of the week, I was a little bit confused because I didn’t know which animals belonged on the farm. Transition were very helpful and helped me to sort out our animals into the correct habitats. Some of the animals were a bit tricky to sort because we hadn’t heard of them before. We used the iPad to look at real photographs of some of them, including a scorpion and researched where they lived. Some of the children even chose to create their own habitats in the provision during their play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In literacy, we listened to The Little Red Hen story. It took a lot of concentration because there were lots of actions to go with it, but Transition soon got the hang of it. We discovered that some of the characters in our story were not very kind as they didn’t help each other or share, unlike Transition, who have been practising taking turns and sharing with their friends. Inspired by The Little Red Hen in the story, we decided to make our own bread. We weighed out the ingredients, then carefully poured in the water to make a dough. It was lots of fun kneading the dough, but tiring work too! We were glad when the rolls were proving so we could have a little rest! It was very toasty in the classroom as we had to keep all of the doors shut so our bread could rise, so we enjoyed getting some fresh air as we headed outside for an exploration. We enjoyed eating our bread the following day and it tasted delicious. Some of the children didn’t finish all of their bread as they wanted to take it home to share it, unlike The Little Red Hen, so you might even get to try a bit, too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another special chicken we learned about on the farm was Dora and her eggs. In our story, Dora took us on an adventure around the farm, meeting all of the baby animals. The children were great at naming most of the baby farm animals and we learnt a few new words too! After we heard about Dora’s eggs hatching, we were intrigued by what a hatching chick looks like, so we watched a video of some baby chicks being born. We were surprised that the chicks were all slimy when they hatched, but we thought they looked very cute and fluffy once they’d dried off. The children then helped me to create the life cycle of a chicken using photographs on the carpet and we acted out each different stage. The children had some wonderful ideas of how to move like a chicken and even began to lay their own eggs!

As part of our phonics lesson this week, we used our bodies to make different sounds for our friends to copy. We started out with some short sound patterns but by the end it was getting quite tricky to remember all the different sounds. The children gave it a really good try and listened very carefully to each action to help them remember how to make it. We also learned our new single letter sound e this week and the children came up with some interesting words beginning with e, including elephant and egg. We had a go at using the playdough to make our e sound and practised forming it in the sand and using chalk. Some children also chose to use their sounds to complete a puzzle and begin making words! Great work Transition.

 

We have also been egg-stravagently treated this week with two drama productions and a visit from the Easter Bunny! Form 4 and Form 5 each put on a fantastic performance for us to watch at the start of the week, where Transition sat and listened beautifully to each production, admiring the costumes, lights and drama. After each performance, the children recounted the plot to Mrs Nelson or myself, making sure they didn’t miss any of the details! We were also so excited for the Easter egg hunt kindly run by the Russell House Parents' Association. The children searched high and low in the sunshine to fill their baskets with eggs and were very grateful when they got to swap their basket of toy eggs for a chocolate one! How lucky. We had to make sure we all said a big thank you to the mummies and daddies after that!

I do hope the sun continues to shine as we continue our Easter celebrations next week.