Another busy and fun week spent together, learning and building upon last week’s Winter topic. The children were able to recognise some of the pictures on our Talk for Learning poster after remembering the picture for winter. There were lots of new words and it was great to listen to the children make connections and think of ways to describe the pictures. This activity is thought-provoking and a wonderful technique for promoting thinking and learning at this young age. The role of the adult is crucial as we guide the children through their learning process.

The children were super excited to collect our weekly shopping groceries from the Sainsbury’s Pop-up shop. We had a short discussion about handing the groceries and how some were more delicate than others… especially the eggs! It was wonderful to see all the children working together as a team. Great work, Team Robins!

Once back in class, everything was unpacked and placed on the kitchen counter, ready for our morning snack. In Robins, there is a big emphasis on snack times as this is when we come together to share our weekly news from our Home / School Journals whilst enjoying a yummy snack with friends. We also get daily visits from the older children in Form 6, which is lovely.

On Tuesday, we visited the Russell Hall for our PE sensory circuit. Our new children did a fantastic job and our existing Robins were great role models as they showed the children how to use and explore the apparatus. Imitation is a crucial aspect of skill development because it allows the children to learn things by watching and observing others. Therefore, at the start of every PE session, I demonstrate how to use the equipment, safely and independently.

 

Continuing with our topic, we enjoyed learning our weather song:

What’s the weather like today?

like today, like today,

What’s the weather like today?

Let’s look out the window and see.

Mr McCarthy visited us on Wednesday to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar story. The children were able to identify the different types of food and they also did some great counting. Mr McCarthy was very impressed with their good sitting and good listening skills.

The Robins were able to look out the window and identify which picture we should use on the board to describe the weather. It was in fact, a cloudy day, so the children took turns to add the correct picture and word. Again, these activities contribute to children’s communication and language development as they listen to many words and sentences.

Of course, we also incorporate the children’s interests into our weekly topics so there were lots of animal-themes activities set-up for the children to explore and also use their problem-solving skills. Especially as they had to work out how the animals could cross the bridge to get water from the river!

This week’s cooking activities consisted of bread rolls, jam/ cheese spread sandwiches, banana cake and warming winter soup. Lots of fun was had, chopping the vegetables for our soup maker. The children persevered and used their knives very carefully and what a fantastic job they did. The soup was delicious and we also tried some for our snack, along with toasty soldiers to dip in…delicious.

Lots of fun was had, playing the Kim’s Game. We spoke about a variety of hats which are worn during different types of weather and the importance of wearing sun lotion when it is warm and sunny. The Robins are remembering more and more each week as something is removed from the tray.

We always make time for a yummy hot chocolate treat, especially as it warms our tummies. This time, we enjoyed it on the bench, overlooking the South Downs and what a lovely view it was. Afterwards, we visited the Pirate Ship for a quick exploration and they all did fantastic climbing as there were sharks swimming around on the woodchip!

Lastly, our bird feeding station is now complete. I have added the wonderful class feeder which was very kindly given to me at Christmas. It has been stained and it has already been enjoyed by all the wildlife at Russell House. Thank you!

Next week’s topic is Chinese New Year and we have lots of fun activities planned. This includes lots of cooking and arts and crafts. There might even be a special treat for the children. Perhaps your child might like to bring in something from home linked to our topic.