We discussed how the weather is changing and becoming very hot now that we are in June. We asked the big question: why do we have seasons? The children had some interesting ideas about the wind moving hot air around the world. The children discovered that this was in fact because of two factors. The Earth moving around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth. It was a great opportunity to learn some new vocabulary such as orbit, hemisphere and axis. We watched an interesting clip that showed this and looked closely at our globe to discuss the different parts of the world. The children were fascinated by the fact that Australia would have a very hot Christmas, while we might be lucky and have snow at this time of year.

In literacy, the children wrote sentences to describe the weather and changes that happen in each of the seasons. They looked carefully at the spelling of each of the four seasons and tried hard to remember to use spaces between their words, full stops and capital letters. They added little drawings of their favourite season to complete their work. All the children are now confident to work independently as a whole class in readiness for Form 2. 

The children loved taking part in our Pre-Prep Sports Day on Tuesday where they ran their races brilliantly, showing excellent team work. All their practice definitely paid off and I am sure you will agree they did a wonderful job. When we later discussed our Sports Day, the children said how much they loved having all their mums and dads watching and cheering them on. So a big thank you from them for making it so special! Form 1 carried out their races showing lots of determination, a sprinkle of healthy competition and more importantly, huge smiles throughout. It was a fantastic morning and one I am sure the children will remember fondly.

On Wednesday, it was Form 1’s turn to present at our Pre-Prep assembly. We chose to share the work we had done on rock pools and retell the story Sharing a Shell. Some children wanted to act and other children wanted to share a fact they had learned about the animals that live in rock pools. They also sang a song about crabs that everyone enjoyed. They really do have great memories and retold the story using the same language they had heard in the book and the correct vocabulary when sharing a fact.

On Thursday Form 1 enjoyed French Day and everyone came dressed in blue, white and red to mark the occasion. They all looked wonderful! In the classroom, they enjoyed playing in the French Bakery and made croissants, baguettes, pain au chocolate and crepes using play-dough. Lots of french flags were painted or coloured and they loved adding art straws to their flag so they could wave them around. Some children built fantastic models of the Eiffel Tower In the block area and thought carefully about the shape they were trying to create. The children learnt about France, its landmarks and the food and drink that originate from there. Lots of children said they enjoy pastries, bread and cheese at home, however, there were not many keen to try escargot!  

At lunch, the children enjoyed a French-themed picnic on the Paddock and luckily the weather was just perfect. After returning from playtime, they enjoyed watching an episode of Peppa Pig in French! The children loved hearing their favourite characters speaking in another language and they recognised lots of words. We also counted up to 10 in French and practised saying hello, goodbye, thank you, please, yes and no. After lunch, the children enjoyed a croissant for snack time with their milk and continued to have fun with all the French-themed activities.

We continue to rehearse for our Pre-Prep Celebration event which is taking place in the final week of term. The children are becoming more confident to recite their poem and sing their songs.