The children worked together to choose three characters, two settings and two events to take place in our story. They each took it in turns to add a detail and created a fantastic imaginary tale about three friends working together to escape a volcanic eruption in the park, ending with a tasty frozen lava ice lolly. After we had created our story, the children helped me to make a book by adding some beautiful illustrations to match our tale. We had to think carefully about the colours and shapes we used and our story is now proudly on display in our classroom for everyone to read.

We made the most of the sunshine this week and we have spent lots of time outside. We created a cosy reading corner with blankets and pillows to enjoy our books in the sunshine. We used the books to complete a scavenger hunt, searching for different types of characters across the books. The children also loved feeding porridge to the 3 bears in the garden, using different sized bowls and spoons to match each bear. We took part in a book character quiz out on the sunny playground. We had to stomp, stamp, sneak, hop, wiggle and wind our way around the trail, trying to guess which book character was being described, then listen carefully to the instructions, to find the next one! Transition were so good at listening, that they managed to find them all!

We had a very special visitor at Russell House this week and the Pre-Prep were lucky enough to meet her. Author Helen Peters came to visit us and she read us one of her new stories all about a baby otter getting lost. The children were so excited for this special treat and listened so intently to the story, answering lots of questions and discussing the beautiful illustrations. Helen even signed some of our books for us to take home!

During circle time, we had a chat about our favourite story books. Everyone spoke so beautifully as they shared some information about their favourite tale with their friends and I was so proud of how well we all listened. We couldn’t believe how lucky we were when we unwrapped some of our favourite stories in our bookvent! The children have absolutely loved reading and listening to each other's stories and the children have been fantastic storytellers, retelling the tales to their audience. It has been very special to see each child light up as they got to share their favourite tale with their friends. Transition also enjoyed choosing their own stories from the school library this week as we spent some time getting comfy and enjoying a good book. I was very impressed with some of the tricky books the children chose to explore, using their phonics to sound out the words and using the pictures to help them tell the tale. Great reading Transition!

We had a very exciting story adventure on Thursday morning. Transition climbed onboard their rocket ships and blasted off into space for their first story: The Smeds and the Smoos! We enjoyed listening to space music and watching the stars as we listened to our story, then we used our senses as we explored the different planets from the story. After our space adventure, we climbed back into our rocket and returned to Earth for our next journey to the zoo with Mrs Cooper, as she read Poo in the Zoo. The children each chose a special animal to look after as they giggled along with the story. Our third adventure was with Miss Leagas, who took us on a windy, twisty path through the forest, visiting each of our animal friends in their different habitats until we found… The Gruffalo! What an exciting adventure and just in time for our final journey to the supermarket to help Supertato trap Evil Pea back in the freezer. What a busy adventure! We will certainly need a good rest before we return next week to continue our journey in space as we celebrate Science Week!