The children kicked off the week brilliantly with their first swimming lesson and they were all superstars. Everyone had so much fun and they didn't want the lesson to end. The children were beaming from ear to ear and very much enjoyed the whole experience of visiting the pool. Their swimming teachers were very impressed with how confident all the children were in the water and their super listening skills.

This week we have been following our theme of getting to know each other and celebrating being unique. During our literacy lessons, we have been developing the children's confidence to share their thoughts and ideas and listen to one another. The children have been telling us about their families, homes, their friends and the things they love to do. We compared these and noticed if they were different or the same as each other. The children then set about recording this by drawing on a large piece of paper laid out on the carpet. Mrs Parmenter and I annotated the drawings with the children's comments, encouraging them to explain further. Their drawings are now proudly displayed in our entrance hall.

We read the story Incredible You, by Rhys Brisenden and Nathan Reed, which explains to the children that they all have special talents and that we are all incredible. We had a discussion about all the things the children are amazing at and we had some fantastic responses, such as; telling stories, dancing and spinning on one foot, being incredible at homework, numbers, riding their bike and reading! 

The children have also been thinking about the physical similarities and differences between us all, looking at our eyes, hair and skin colour. Everyone is unique and the children know that this is to be celebrated and what makes our world a very special place to be! Each child has been working on a large self portrait of their face, looking in the mirror and then mixing colours to get just the right shade needed for their features. The children have also created a class portrait on a canvas, carefully drawing themselves (but this time in any way they would like!) and this is on our classroom door to welcome them each morning. 

In maths, we have been counting carefully and sequencing numbers to 20. The children loved a competitive ladybird game, splitting into two teams and taking it in turns to turn over a ladybird and count the dots. We spoke about how many dots were on each wing and then how many dots there were altogether. We recorded each person's number and then counted the total for each team at the end. Later in the week, we used 10 counters and arranged them in various ways to see how many different ways we could make 10. The children could explain their thinking by saying I have a group of 5, a group of 3 and a group of 2, that makes 10 - what super mathematical reasoning!

On Wednesday, we gathered all the Pre-Prep and Form 2 pupils together to welcome everyone back and introduce the children who are new to Russell House. During our Pre-Prep assembly we celebrated birthdays and our superstars of the week. It was lovely to see all the Pre-Prep children together and to give our new starters a warm welcome with our hello song. As we start a new term, we thought about the special attitudes we should strive to bring to school each day. To be brave (it's ok to feel nervous when we try new things, but we can do it!), a positive smile and a kind heart.

The children have enjoyed being creative and making little wooden peg dolls of themselves that we will use for self-registration. They painted their peg in their favourite colours and we will be adding hair and eyes next week. Little lollipop houses have also been made and the children added who lives in their house to their work - it has been lovely to find out so much more about the children's families and pets! 

As a class, the children thought of what makes a good friend and how they should behave to ensure our classroom is a safe and happy place to be. The children came up with really good ideas such as being kind, sharing fairly, lining up sensibly and using walking feet around the classroom. Once everyone had contributed and the children were happy with their ideas, we decided to make these our class promises. Each member of Form 1 signed the promises to show that they would work hard to try and keep them. 

Clubs also started this week and the children who attended have all very much enjoyed their ballet, tap and modern dance, tennis and Spanish lessons. They have also loved STEM and Nature Club as well as Storytelling Club.