The week started with a visit to the Old Hall to collect our groceries. We all worked super hard to pack everything inside the reusable bags. The children were able to identify a variety of fruit and vegetables and point to the correct one when asked, without any Mrs Warner clues. 

There have been many celebrations in class and lots of new experiences. As part of Chinese New Year, we spoke about the different animals on our Talk for Learning poster. We also learnt the Russian word for horse. During their time with us, we support the children’s home languages in many ways, from celebrating festivals, trying different foods and looking at words. During half term, it will be Maslenitsa, which is a traditional eastern Slavic holiday and this is celebrated by saying farewell to winter. To provide a taste of Russia, we made blinis and cheese was sprinkled on top. We hope you liked them. 

The children were very excited to learn about red envelopes, chopsticks and fortune cookies and we hope they enjoyed receiving these treats. The CTouch was used to watch a video about Chinese New Year and the reasoning behind red envelopes. Perhaps you could ask your child to see if they can remember some of this week’s learning. The sensory noodle table was of interest to the children and lots of fun was had, using tweezers to pick up noodles and placing them inside the special Chinese boxes. One of our Robins told us he was the noodle chef. 

They very much enjoyed learning about The Lion and the Mouse which is, of course, an Aesop’s Fable. We spoke about how kindness is never wasted. Even the smallest acts of kindness can have the greatest of impacts… as shown by the mouse. One of Robins made their very own pompom mouse and lion and she enjoyed showing her friends during carpet time. We also had some acts of kindness from one of the children which was very kind. Miss Ruby and I are so very pleased with the amount of parental support we receive each week with regards to our topics. It is lovely to have such fabulous items to share with each other which of course, supports the children’s learning. 

We had a little feast during snack time and everyone enjoyed trying rice, sweetcorn and prawn crackers. It was wonderful to see all the children trying different foods and some even asked for more!

Our sensory PE circuits provided the children with the opportunity to explore and navigate their way around the low-level equipment. Jumping can be a little tricky at this age, so this is therefore something we work on during their time with us. It is important for children to use their whole bodies as this supports writing. To develop upper body strength, Miss Ruby and I demonstrate how to move along the bench in a variety of ways. One of the children’s favourite ways is to pull themselves across which is great for upper strength. Each PE session starts with a warm up and ends with a game of sleeping crocodiles. This provides the children with a clear start and finish. 

Cookery this week consisted of heart-shaped banana and blueberry muffins, Blini pancakes, Angel Delight mousse with a CNY twist (red and yellow) and vegetable soup. There was lots of chopping and it was great to see how much the children’s confidence has grown and the amount of life skills learnt during our cooking sessions. 

Form 6 have enjoyed spending time with us and they love looking after our little ones by reading and playing with them. It is also great to have them support the Robins after their ballet sessions by walking them to the gate with me. 

 

The children enjoyed exploring some open-ended resources and there were lots of smiles as we made a house out of a huge cardboard box. It was great to hear lots of laughter when we added little balls inside!

The afternoons were spent exploring the woods and enjoying cheese sandwiches and warming drinks in the Outdoor Classroom. It was great for us to stand back and observe the children in the natural environment, exploring their surroundings whilst communicating with each other. Their confidence and level of independence is great for 2–3 year olds. 

Our topic after half term is colour. We have lots of fun activities planned, including some fun experiments. We encourage children to bring in something from home (just not too big please). This can be related to our weekly topic or anything else they would like to share or celebrate with us. The children enjoy sharing their objects from home during carpet time and it is a fantastic way to build effective communication and listening skills. 

Have a lovely half term and we look forward to sharing the children’s news on their return.