Welcome back to the Summer Term and so far, we have had a sunny start! The week started with a visit to the Old Hall to collect our shopping from the pop-up shop. We collected our groceries and everyone worked as a team to pack everything inside the bags. Once back in class, Miss Ruby unpacked the shopping and got the snacks ready. 

As part of our topic, we spoke about our family and some of the children looked at their photos from home to draw their family members. The Robins regularly look at our class All About Us book which contains the children's family photos. It is lovely when they also recognise and identify their classmates. 

To extend our topic, we spoke about our favourite things. During our Talk for Learning activity, we looked at the variety of pictures and afterwards, the children used glue to stick pictures onto paper. Some of the children’s favourite things were: ice-cream, Lego, cars, drawing, dinosaurs and trains. 

Another one of the children’s favourite activities is dancing to the Cha Cha Slide. This is great for children’s physical development and it supports their coordination as it encourages them to move in a variety of ways. 

A big emphasis is placed on the outdoor environment in Robins and there is much research to support the importance of the great outdoors and mental health. We removed the children’s socks and shoes whilst we sat on the field so they could experience the feeling of grass on their feet. Shoes can also sometimes cause stomping so it is good for children to experience walking barefoot as it will encourage natural muscle flexing. Whilst on the field, we all popped our legs in the air to feel the wind whooshing around our toes. 

Continuing with the theme of outdoor learning and physical development, combined with a twist of mindfulness, the children took part in a yoga session (followed by a short play in the woods). I demonstrated a variety of moves and the Robins copied my movements. They were also able to balance on one leg… very impressive, Robins!

Shadows have been of interest and to extend their interest further, we visited the playground to wave to our shadows and afterwards, we climbed over the wall to visit the sheep. Climbing is a great skill and especially in a variety of ways. I demonstrated how to successfully climb over the low-level wall and the children followed my instructions. Once on the field, we visited the geese and lambs. There were two friendly and very inquisitive little lambs. They came running over to us and let us stroke them. This was such a lovely experience and we were very lucky to have such a close encounter with them. I told the children that the lambs like to drink their mummy’s milk and in fact, one of the lambs started sucking on my finger. The children thought this was very funny and all laughed. 

This week’s cooking activities consisted of banana and sultana cake, focaccia bread, a giant cookie and sandwiches. Cooking provides many experiences for children and it is a fundamental life skill as they learn how to spread, chop, mix, clean the table and tidy away. 

 

I introduced a new song to the children called Silly Soup and hopefully they will share it with you at home. It goes like this:

We are making silly soup, 
We’re making soup that’s silly, 
We’re going to put it in the fridge,
To make it nice and chilly!

This song is often used to teach rhyming and initial sounds. However, rather than putting rhyming resources inside the bowl, the children pick their own items. This supports their communication and language development as we model the words. 

Finally, the children have been interested in shapes. Therefore, during carpet time, we spent some time looking at a variety of shapes. The children were able to identify the correct shapes. We extended their learning by modelling full sentences, such as it’s an orange rectangle.

Next week, our topics will be Mythical Creatures so I thought it would also be nice to learn about St George’s Day as part of this topic as they will link nicely. 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.