We started the week with a visit to the pop-up shop in the Old Hall to collect our weekly groceries. Never missing a learning opportunity, I held up a variety of foods and asked the children open-ended questions. They were able to understand a range of mathematical language and they pointed to the biggest and the smallest. 

As part of this week’s topic, we spoke about VE Day and its meaning. I explained in a very simple way that VE Day stands for Victory in Europe Day. Some of our Robins brought in some photos from home whose relatives were in the war and RAF. It was lovely to share the photos during carpet time and afterwards, we watched the remembrance video. I showed the children some photos of my grandad who served in WW2 and we also looked at a special book called A Day to Remember. This week’s craft activities consisted of VE Day anniversary flags. The children had access to red, white and blue tissue paper, but they also wanted to use many other colours. We have started making our Coffee Morning props which include tall wavy grass, muddy swamp, volcano, cave and a DINOSAUR! In true Robins style, we have tweaked a classic story to support the interests of the children. 

Dinosaurs are a fond favourite at present, so on Wednesday it was our turn to host the Pre-Prep assembly. We started with a dinosaur quiz, then we acted out a story and finally, we closed the assembly with some dancing and singing to… Everybody Walk the Dinosaur! It was great to see all the children engaged, having fun and showing off their fantastic dance moves. 

Our outdoor activities consisted of walks around the school grounds, playing on the grass (barefoot) and zooming around on the ride-on bikes. The children thoroughly enjoy the freedom and space to explore the school field without their shoes and socks and it provides them with many sensory experiences. Lots of fun was had jumping in the long jump sand and rolling. 

As the weather has been dry, we enjoyed an outdoor yoga session on the school field. The Robins were able to listen to my instructions and repeat the poses. Yoga can have many positive effects on children’s learning and development and it can improve their strength and balance.

Following the children’s interests, we have developed an area of the front garden for football and the Long Garden has an improved mud kitchen area. The Robins love using the metal pot to make soup and stew. This area is great for their imaginations and it is always wonderful to see the children find open-ended resources to use in their play. 

Our cooking activities consisted of rolls, banana cake, VE Day biscuits and sandwiches. There was lots of mixing, weighing, spreading and kneading. All of these actions support children’s pre-writing skills and cooking is, of course, an important life skill. 

Thank you once again for your continued support with our weekly topics. It is truly wonderful to receive such a great level of parental support as it extends the children’s learning. 

Next week, our topics will be Sun Awareness and Mindfulness. 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.