Previous Learning Journal 20/21

Summer 2 - Week 6

Our Last Week in EYFS

We have had a lovely last week in EYFS to celebrate coming to the end of Reception and moving forwards into Year 1. In our Literacy lessons we have wrote a letter to Miss James to tell her all about ourselves. In Maths we consolidated our understanding of numbers to 20. Through continuous provision the children were excited to create ice-creams by making their own playdough. In outdoor learning we enjoyed splashing about in water play and playing games of football. Through Physical Development we developed our gross motor skills by using the bikes, climbing, hoola hooping and dribbling a football. During Monday's worship we played a game which taught us that it is important to enjoy our lives but to be wise, disciplined and tolerant. They children loved rolling a dice to score a 6 and competing to eat a bar of chocolate, but they understood the feelings of coming close to success and narrowly missing out. We linked this to the the Euros final, England v Italy, and the children discussed the excitement and joy they felt just from taking part.

On Wednesday the preparations began for our 'End of Year Party'. The children baked their own chocolate cornflake cakes, enjoying melting, mixing, stirring and distributing the cake mixture. We made two cakes so we could taste one beforehand! At our 'End of Year Party' on Friday EYFS had so much fun. We played pass the parcel, musical statues and musical bumps. We had a dance competition and played with balloons. The children were so excited to bash the piñata! There were lots of sweets, chocolate and prizes on offer. We enjoyed eating the chocolate cornflake cakes we had made and cooling down with an ice pop after a run on the paddock. All of the children seemed so happy and it was lovely to have a treat after a fantastic year.

Thank you so much to everyone for all of the cards and gifts. The EYFS team are so grateful and appreciate all of your efforts. The children have worked very hard this year and we wish them every success in Year 1.

Have a lovely summer, stay safe and wishing you all the best for the future. ☺️

Summer 2 - Week 5

Welcome to the Puppet Show!

This term in EYFS the children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the theatre and the arts. In our Literacy Development sessions, we watched the CBeebies theatre performance of Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's'. We developed our understanding of the structure of a play, the characters - actors and actresses, acts and scenes and the use of props. We were inspired to create our own performances and using our puppets that we have created in Expressive Arts and Design, we presented our very own puppet shows. The children were in stitches watching these, and thought they were absolutely hilarious. In Mathematics we have consolidated our understanding of grouping and sharing, using both concrete manipulatives and pictorial images to solve a variety of word problems. 

We had a brilliant time in our Physical Development activities on Thursday, the children have refined their footballing skills as England edge towards the final of the Euro's! They also developed their gross motor skills through skipping, hula hooping and climbing as they rotated through the activity stations. On Friday we completed some exciting gymnastics activities sent to us by Mrs Winward. The children show great skill and were able to progress to doing the splits! We were very lucky this week to have a special end of term treat and experience another Wild One Adventures visit, which you can find out more about below... 

Wild One Adventures - The Smeds and The Smoos

On Wednesday we had an amazing time with our space fairy in the Wurpular Wood, with the Smed’s and the Smoo’s from our current favourite Julia Donaldson book!

We jumped and bounced on the Humplety Hill and adventured down to the Loobular Lake to play in the water. We explored the Wurpular Wood with all our senses and decided that the Smeds and Smoos should all play together because it is much more fun!

After our big adventure we sat to explore colour mixing in the tough tray, to find that red and blue do make purple like the Smed’s and Smoo’s purple baby in the story! We then sat down to enjoy a drink and roasted marshmallows over the fire.

To finish our adventure we used ribbon sticks to dance and move to music in the outdoors, this was lots of fun.

What a wonderful time we had in the Wurpular Woods! 🌳
❤️+💙=💜

Summer 2 - Week 4

A Midsummer Night's Dream

EYFS were delighted to return to school this week after a period of remote learning at home. They embraced the warm weather and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the paddock and the field with their friends. In our Literacy lessons this week, we listened to Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. The children thought that this love story was hilarious, especially when Queen Titania fell in love with a donkey called Bottom. They were impressed that Puck, a Sprite, was able to cause so much mischief by using a magic flower called love-in-idleness to make the characters fall in love with the first person they see. The children all designed their own magic flower and ascribed to it a magic power. They applied their phonic knowledge to write about their magic powers, such as making you turn into a rabbit, begin to sneeze, vanish or turn invisible and jump up to the moon. They had such vivid imaginations and wonderful ideas. We enjoyed making our magic flowers through Expressive Arts and Design.

We have had such an exciting time in our outdoor provision, pretending to be Kings and Queens in our Castles developing our Understanding the World. In Mathematics, we have consolidated our doubling skills and ability to recognise odd and even numbers, and introduced the concept of sharing. Through our Physical Development sessions we have developed football fever, practising our football skills in the spirit of the ‘Euro’s. We even created England flags! On Friday we celebrated Sports Day which you can find out more about below… we had a wonderful time!

Sports Day

We have had such a brilliant day at Sports Day today! The children have participated in 7 races; the 100m running race, target shooting (throwing bean bags in a hoop), the egg and spoon race, the bean bag interval race, an assault course, a space hopper race and the sack race! We competed in our house point teams: Fire (red), Air (yellow), Water (blue) and Earth (green). The winner from each team then went head to head in each race to find the overall class champion and 2nd, and 3rd place. The children showed great sportsmanship, energy and enthusiasm. We had so much fun and continued the activities all day long! At the end of the day we were rewarded with an ice pop, sticker and certificates and stickers for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. We were so excited for our ice pops! 🍦 

We were also WOW'ed by the children who participated in the 'Virtual Sports Day' at home. We loved seeing the assault courses they had built and watching their families cheer them on at home. They showed true sportsmanship!

The overall winners in EYFS Reception were Water who took the lead by just 5 points! We all performed amazingly and are fantastic sports stars! All of the children deserve a big congratulations and a round of applause! 

Summer 2 - Week 3

Home Learning 

We have had another fantastic week of online learning in EYFS. All of the teachers are incredibly proud of the children for working so hard this week and even more amazing work has been completed and uploaded onto Tapestry.

During Maths, the children were able to recognise when a number or quantity is an even or an odd number. They looked at this through playing ‘odd one out’ and using the numicon pieces. The children have also begun to learn about double facts this week, using the ladybird doubling method.

During literacy this week, we have continued to read ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’ by Julia Donaldson. The children drew their own map of a planet, where they created some exciting areas such as candyfloss clouds and a strawberry farm. The children then retold their story first by creating two new alien characters, then by changing the setting where Janet and Bill explored their own planet and finishing the week by combining their new alien characters and new planet to create their own story.

This week in Expressive Art and Design, the children created their own thunderstorm using instruments and materials they could find around their house. The children used rice, pasta, tinfoil and drums to create their own thunderstorm. In our Understanding the World task this week, the children learnt all about their past when looking at their baby pictures. They had discussions about what they used to eat or play with in the past and how this is the same or different to what they eat and play with now.  In French, the children compared schools in France with schools in the UK noting the similarities and differences and repeating key phrases. Finally, in Gymnastics we enjoyed learning with Mrs Winward from home and meeting Mrs Winward’s dog! :)

Summer 2 - Week 2

School Learning 

The children had two very busy days in school this week, filled with learning and fun activities. They were experimenting with colour, making their own aliens on the creative table and building spaceships in the construction area. The second group of children loved creating their sock puppets with Mrs Dixon, creating many weird and wonderful designs. We also had multiple opportunities throughout the day for the children to develop their writing.

Home Learning 

Whilst this has been an unusual week for the children, they have adapted to home learning extremely well and the EYFS team are very proud of them. The level of work that has been produced and uploaded has been fantastic, and each child deserves a massive round of applause.

This week in Maths the children have further deepened their understanding of subtraction using concrete materials and pictorial methods. The children have gained a deeper understanding of number to 10, by looking closely at the composition of numbers and counting beyond 20. They have used tens frames, part-part-whole models and bar models to support them to solve subtraction word problems. In Literacy we have studied the book, ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’ by Julia Donaldson, which the children have really enjoyed. Throughout the week we have sequenced the story, identified, drawn and described the main characters and created our own aliens and wrote a description about them.

In our Expressive Arts and Design activity, the children used materials from around their house to create their own spaceships, and rockets, and we even saw some aliens too! We listened to some wonderful descriptions of the children explaining what they had made, how they had made it and what they had used to develop their creations. In Understanding the World, the children were tasked with observing the natural environment around them and creating a picture to represent what they could see. We saw many beautiful and detailed flowers, several birds and animals, and even a turtle! In PE, the children enjoyed dancing with Mrs Winward, and revising the different positions they have learnt in Gymnastics this year.

Summer 2 - Week 1

Hoddlesden Globe

Romeo and Juliet

It has been lovely to welcome the children back into the classroom this week, after a well-deserved half term break. The children have been eager to share and discuss all of the exciting activities they have experienced!

In our final school term, we commence the theme of the 'Hoddlesden Globe'. To begin, in our Literacy lessons we have studied the classic Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet. The children were enthralled when listening to the age-appropriate adaptation, and responded with lots of questions about the rival families. We looked closely at the main characters Romeo and Juliet, and their families the Montagues and the Capulets. The children explored the city of Verona, Italy, where the story is set, and made comparisons between the city in the 16th Century and now. The children developed their understanding of the story to retell this, sequencing the key events. The children enjoyed looking at 16th century architecture and through Expressive Arts and Design the children explored mixing paints and combining materials to create castles and city scapes.

With Mrs Dixon, the first group of children began making their sock puppets. We will be using our own props and resources to conduct our own plays in the outdoor theatre, when exploring the art of the theatre and being imaginative and expressive.

In Mathematics, the children have began to learn about the inverse of addition, subtraction. They have explored developing their reasoning and problem solving skills by solving a variety of word problems using tens frames and the number line. We recognise that when we subtract, the number becomes smaller and is less than the original quantity. In our Physical Development sessions the children were particularly excited about developing their ball skills through football. 

Our Christian value this term is Service. As a class we have discussed how we can serve others, by sharing our talents and using these to brighten up each others day. 

Summer 1 - Week 7

Middle Eastern Culture

To conclude our Amazing Asia themed term, the children have enjoyed a second week of learning about the deserts of the Middle East and Asian culture. In our Literacy lessons, the children used their Understanding of the World of the desert to tell their own stories about a desert safari. Each child contributed to the story, adding an experience such as a sandstorm, an animal encounter such as a camel, sand cat, jerboa or snow leopard, and taking part in desert sports including dune bashing in a jeep, quad biking or sand boarding. Our stories brought the experience to life!

In Maths, we applied our understanding of addition to help us to solve real life problems using a variety of methods including concrete materials, jottings and the number line. 

We loved exploring mixing colours when creating our Cherry Blossom trees, so this week we decided to explore mixing red and yellow to create a desert scene in Expressive Arts and Design. In Gymnastics, the children have worked hard on developing their balance and co-ordination and are now confident to demonstrate forward rolls and embrace further challenge. We apply this in our indoor and outdoor provision, and EYFS have loved showing off their forward rolls in the Paddock. We have also enjoyed taking on the role of shopkeeper and customer, reading outdoors, playing on the farm, and exploring the garage. 

What a fantastic term! We would love you to see our 'Exploring China' display which is situated in the entrance hall to the school. We have shared below some photographs of the display and would love you to take a look. As always, we are incredibly proud of the work they have produced. The EYFS team hope you all have a lovely half-term break! 

Summer 1 - Week 6

The children in EYFS have had a busy week this week following our desert theme. In our Literacy lessons, we have been looking at the book ‘Is a camel a mammal?’ by Tish Rabe. The children have enjoyed this book, and have learnt about different mammals, and were surprised to learn humans are mammals too. We have been describing different mammals, thinking about what they do and eat, for the rest of the class to guess the animal. We have also written some excellent sentences about the mammals from the book. In our Maths lessons, we have continued adding two single-digit numbers together using concrete materials, pictorials, and abstract calculations, to further deepen our understanding of addition.

During our Expressive Arts and Design lesson, the children have been learning dance routines from the Middle East. They were eager to participate in the dances and showed off their amazing dance moves whilst dancing to Arabian music. The children have also enjoyed learning about and making their own cactus. Whilst doing this, they developed their fine motor skills and were very pleased with their creations. In our Understanding the World lesson, the children have continued to learn about the four seasons and have compared them to each other to understand their changes.

Continuous Provision 

During continuous provision this week, the children have been making their own cherry blossom trees using picture prompts to inspire them. They have also enjoyed building different structures in the construction area and using the whiteboards to complete their own number sentences. This week we have learnt about the celebration of Eid. The children recognise that Muslims celebrate Eid to mark the end of their month-long fast during Ramadan. Eid is a time of joy and blessing for the Muslim community and an opportunity to share their wealth and give to the poor. As this is a celebration, the children have created mehndi patterns on hands; the henna patterns are to celebrate being alive. We listened to stories from members of our Muslim community about their Eid celebrations.

When the weather was nice, we went onto the playground to play on the apparatus. The children developed their gross motor skills whilst climbing over the play area, walking across moving slabs, and swinging on tyres. In our outdoor area, despite the rain, the children have continued to enjoy playing in the water, letting it roll down the tubes we have outside.  

Summer 1 - Week 5

Eastern Asia

In EYFS this week the children have adventured across into Eastern Asia as we learnt about culture from China. In our Literacy sessions, the children were enthralled by the tale of 'Kung Fu Panda'. We discussed the importance of believing in ourselves and striving to be the best we can be. The children were able to sequence the events of the story and enjoyed painting and writing using Mandarin symbols during continuous provision. When discovering and developing our Understanding of the World, the children took part in a Chinese lion dance, learnt how to say several phrases in Cantonese, and discussed several of the traditions leading up to Chinese New Year. In our Maths lessons the children have continued to deepen their understanding of the concept of addition. We have added two single digit numbers and solved mathematical problems by using concrete materials and pictorial representations. This will enhance the connections between the concrete objects and the abstract number sentences. The children have also enjoyed writing their own number sentences on the whiteboards. 

Through continuous provision the children have explored the home corner where we have introduced some Chinese artefacts to discover. We have enjoyed creating Chinese lanterns in our Expressive Arts and Design area and building and labelling our models in the construction area. We developed our fine motor skills in the malleable area by exploring with money and picking up noodles using chopsticks. In outdoor provision we pretended to be shopkeepers, buying and selling goods!

Martial Arts and a Chinese Picnic!

The EYFS Reception children were delighted to have two special events in the setting this week. On Tuesday morning, the children were very excited to learn some 'Kung Fu' which we found out is a martial art from China. The children practised different stances, learned to move like a crane and a tiger, and even practised their tiger faces. Everyone showed great discipline and determination, whilst developing their gross motor skills and listening and attention. 

On Thursday afternoon the fun continued, as the children explored tasting different Chinese foods. They tried vegetable spring rolls, duck spring rolls, prawn toast, and prawn crackers with a small amount of sweet chilli sauce on the side. The children enjoyed this activity, and used chopsticks to eat their food which supported fine motor development. 

Summer 1 - Week 4 

Amazing Asia 

EYFS have continued to travel through the South East Asian rainforest this week in our literacy lesson, with a focus on ‘Monkey Puzzle’ by Julia Donaldson. We have delved deep into the forest and learnt about different rainforest animals and what they eat, and we discovered rainforest tribes and discussed what they do. We created our own rainforest adventure, where each child added to the story through the rainforest, where we met a parrot, monkey, jaguar, and even a tribe who taught us their tribal dance.

In our maths lessons, we have been learning about adding two single-digit numbers together with concrete materials such as cubes and teddies. The children have understood the concept of lining the objects up to help us count and holding the first number in our heads to count on. They have enjoyed playing with the adding machine in the maths area to support this learning.

This week, the children have used different strategies of glueing, sticking, and manipulating card to make 3D shapes in our Expressive Art and Design activity. They have created binoculars which they used to go looking for rainforest animals in provision. We had another exciting sculpture session this week, where we developed our rolling and pinching skills to make an orangutan. In our Understanding the World lessons, we have looked at Summer changes and recognised how this differs from Spring. We have also further developed our understanding of past and present whilst looking at past occupations and how they differ from today.  

Continuous Provision

We have had a busy week in the EYFS as the children are encouraged to engage in child-initiated play. Many amazing crafts have been made on the creative table this week such as binoculars, singing carrots and sweeping brushes. The children have also enjoyed having slime and shaving foam in the malleable area, following maps to find treasure, and pretending to be robots.

Whilst the weather has not been the best this week, the outdoor area has been well-loved, with the children engaging in sand and water play. They built an amazing moat and have loved splashing around in the water. The mud kitchen has been turned into a café, with children cooking different food and drinks and serving it to their customers.   

Summer 1 - Week 3

Amazing Asia

EYFS have travelled deep into the depths of rainforests of South-East Asia this week through our Literacy focus text, Monkey Puzzle by Julia Donaldson. The children have loved learning about all the different animals which can live in the rainforests and learning about different rainforest monkeys; the howler monkey, spider monkey, capuchin monkey, squirrel monkey, tamarin and marmoset. The children were able to apply their phonic knowledge and knowledge of tricky words to play 'Who am I?' reading clues and guessing the rainforest animals. We then extended this activity by writing our own clues to read to a friend. The children were able to describe the rainforest animals in detail, recalling key facts.

In our Maths lessons, we have been learning how to find one more than a given number, and to find one less than a given number. We have used concrete materials including cubes and counting bears, pictorial images and abstract methodology such as the number line to help us find this. We became so confident at finding one more and one less, that we challenged ourselves to find two more and two less than a given number. The children have become confident at playing the 'bees in the hive' game on the interactive whiteboard which develops this skill. Well done mathematicians! 

In our Expressive Arts and Design activities, we have used and combined a variety of materials to recreate our own rainforest animals including parrots and monkeys to add to the rainforest roleplay area of the classroom. The children have loved pretending to be monkeys in continuous provision and even climbing trees in the paddock! In our weekly sculpture session with Mrs Dixon we learnt how to roll clay and model shapes. We continued with our pinch pot techniques and learnt about rolling cylinders to create an Asian elephant.

 In our Understanding the World Past and Present sessions, we looked at pictures and videos from World Book Day to recall memories from the past, recognise the present moment and think about the future. 

Nature Walk

The develop our Understanding the World in The Natural World, this Thursday the children went on a Spring Nature walk to identify important processes and changes from Season to Season. Prior to the walk, the children looked at objects and pictures of the features of Spring. We discussed how blossom and leaves begin to grow on the trees and how seasonal flowers begin to grow such as daffodils. The children recognised that the weather was becoming warmer and the daylight hours longer. The children loved talking about the baby animals they have noticed in the fields in the local area such as lambs and calves. 

On our walk, the children sensibly walked in pairs through the woodland to a large field. Here the children were delighted to observe sheep in the fields and hens, ducks and roosters in the local hen houses. Unfortunately, we did not see any baby animals but we discussed animal offspring, lambs and chicks. At the bottom of the field, the children found bluebells and daffodils. We used clipboards and paper to draw pictures of the animals and plants we could see around us. The children thought carefully about their observations to add detail to their pictures and discuss these.

Summer 1 - Week 2 

Wow, what an exciting week we have had! The children and teachers enjoyed every second of the forest school experience we received on Monday, and we could not have asked for better weather. We walked down to the front of the school where they were met with their Superworm adventure. The amazing team from Wild One Adventures re-enacted the Superworm story to the children, and then they went off to create their own worms using clay and natural materials and they also went bug hunting. After this, the children had the delicious treat of roasting marshmallows over the fire and drinking hot chocolate. To finish our forest school session, they had a wiggle and dance using shakers to music, and they especially loved the bees in the hive song.   

Superworm 

This week, we have continued to follow the ‘Superworm’ theme. In our literacy lessons, we created our own storyboard of ‘Superworm’ and acted this out to the rest of the class using actions to help us. The children have enjoyed reading this book and can read it alongside the adults. They have also worked extremely hard in guided reading and writing groups throughout the week. In our maths lesson, we have measured the length of objects using non-standard units of measurement. We have been able to compare the length of two objects using the vocabulary longer and shorter and order the length of three or more objects from shortest to longest. The children have applied their previous knowledge from last week by identifying and creating repeating patterns in the classroom environment’.

In our Understanding the World lesson, we looked at the habitat of frogs and how this differs to where we live. We had a look at the wormeries we made last week and discovered the worms have buried themselves into the sand and soil, and we have now released them back into their natural habitat. We have also been learning about the past, present and future by looking at pictures of what their classroom looked like in September and discussing how they are different to their classroom in the present day. In Expressive Arts and Design, the children enjoyed making sock puppet worms. They were all eager to make their own, using cotton wool and elastic bands to create them. They then took the worms into continuous provision and had fun with them all afternoon.

Throughout the week, the children have been encouraged to choose their own learning indoors and outdoors. They have enjoyed making Giant Panda’s out of clay, building houses, towers, and princess mansions, using the mud kitchen as a café, planting sunflowers, playing Doctors, creating musical performances, and especially playing with the balls.

Summer 1 - Week 1

This week the children have returned to school feeling refreshed and ready to learn following the Easter break. We have loved hearing all about the activities the children have participated in with their families and special visits from the the Easter Bunny!

In EYFS the key workers have taken over 1000 photographs of the children's learning this week, which has made it so difficult to share a snapshot of all of the wonderful activities taking place. In preparation for our Outdoor Adventures experience on Monday, in our Literacy Development activities this week the children have enjoyed listening to the story Superworm by Julia Donaldson. The children recognised key themes in the book, such as good vs evil, and recognised how the minibeasts all worked together as a team to rescue their 'hero' Superworm. We thought Superworm was a superhero because he is always there to rescue and help all of the minibeasts in the story! In our Maths lessons the children have demonstrated the ability to recognise, continue and create their own repeating patterns whilst changing the variables including colour, shape and size. 

Our Understanding the World lessons enabled us to delve in the habitat of worm, discussing the similarities and differences between this and our own environment. The children had a wonderful time following the recipe to make their own soil habitat, mixing and stirring the ingredients to make mud. They created a wormery, by carefully alternating layers of sand and soil. We fed the worms pear and leaves and made sure that there was adequate breathing holes for air. We have now placed the wormery in a dark place and will continue to care for and observe them before releasing them back into the wild. In Expressive Arts and Design the children explored creating a variety of lines, patterns and marks on paper using spaghetti worms. 

Beyond the specific learning experiences, both indoors and outdoors the children enjoyed a range of child-initiated activities from ball games, writing birthday party invitations, completing assault courses, building castles to gardening and many more activities. Here are some of our photographs...

Celebrating the Life of Prince Philip

Following the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip this week, the children in EYFS have taken the opportunity to celebrate and reflect upon his life and the dutiful service Prince Philip demonstrated during his lifetime. The children recognise the importance of Prince Philip, as the Husband of the Monarch our Queen, and as the Father and Grandfather of senior figures in our Royal Family. We discussed photographs of Prince Philip throughout his life and talked about Prince Philips contributions to society during his naval career, to education through his Duke of Edinburgh award and his generous charity work and public appearances.

Together, the children created a picture to commemorate HRH Prince Philip. They produced a beautiful naval scene using their fine motor skills to tear paper for the ocean, creating small paper boats and arranging these to create a sea scape. We wrote a prayer celebrating Prince Philip's life and achievements and placed our thoughts with his family. The children responsibly held a minutes silence to reflect upon his life, demonstrating an important value - respect. 

Spring 2 - Week 5

Reception has been busy this week exploring our indoor and outdoor provision, and we had a visit from 'the bitbats' alongside our alien theme. The bitbats spaceship crashed into the big tree outside of school and have lived in our classroom for the week. The children have seen the bitbats running across the classroom and they have even entered a "dance competition" with them. They used the telephone to call planet Zog (where the bitbats live), and they made spaceships so the bitbats could go home. 

In our understanding the world lesson, we looked at the similarities and differences between the rooms in our houses and our friend's, which the children really enjoyed. In the creative area, they made their own house and in the outdoor provision, they designed and built a house together. 

Indoor Provision 

In continuous provision, the children are encouraged to follow their own interests when learning in the classroom. They have enjoyed exploring the classroom in the hope of seeing a bitbat as well as playing families in the home corner. They have loved playing with the dogs, feeding them, letting them sleep and walking them.

Outdoor Provision 

The outdoor area has been well-loved this week. Alongside the alien theme and helping the bitbats get home, the children loved playing doctors, teachers, and police officers. They used bricks and planks to build different constructions, and have designed and built a house, roads, walls, and a swimming pool. 

We made a trip down to the trim trail this week, and the children enjoyed running around and climbing the ropes to help build their gross motor skills. 

Spring 2 - Week 4

Wow what a busy week we have had! This week the EYFS children had plenty to look forward to as we enjoyed judging the talent show entries for Comic Relief's 'Red Nose Day', we had a non uniform day on Friday where we wore red to highlight this cause and have raised an amazing £330.10 across the school. Thank you very much for your kind donations!

On Thursday we finally were able to celebrate World Book Day altogether, and we absolutely loved seeing the creativity of all of your fantastic costumes!

Here are the amazingly talented EYFS children in action!....

Shark in the Park

This week the children decided that they would love to learn more about sharks! Following their interests, we developed our Literacy and Understanding the World lessons around this. The children have learnt all about ocean habitats and compared this to where we live, creating their own habitats through small world. Whilst in the ocean, they encountered pirates, and built their own ships and defences through construction and roleplay. We knew that X marked the spot when following a treasure map. They enjoyed playing a game of 'Shark in the Park!' outdoors where they had to demonstrate balance and co-ordination, negotiate space and find a place of safety on a plank or in a tyre whenever a shark was spotted!

Learning is Limitless

The learning does not stop there. In Maths, the children have explored printing and constructing with 3D shapes by exploring their properties. We even had a replica of "Darwen Tower". We have separated the treasure from the trash, identifying real and nonsense words in Phonics. Fish swam through the ocean in the outdoor sandpit. We chopped wood, built dens and balanced and wobbled across assault courses built from the children's imagination using tyres and planks. 

Here is a snapshot of the learning that took place... 

Hoddlesden St Pauls World Book Day

Everyone was so excited for our very own World Book Day this Thursday! Each costume was uniquely wonderful from Cruella Devil to Wonky Donkey, Buzz Lightyear to the Gruffalo, The Cat in the Hat and Cinderella. The children and adults looked incredible. We held our own character fashion show where the children were able to show off their costumes and tell us a little bit about their characters. 

Well done everyone for your efforts and enthusiasm! It was a great day. Here are some of the photographs...

Spring 2 - Week 3

We have all been super excited this week for the children return to school following 8 weeks of remote learning! It has been lovely to see all of their smiling faces as they catch up with their friends and teachers once again. The children have embraced the opportunity to learn collaboratively through continuous provision with their friends both indoors and outdoors. This week our theme was based around the book 'Owl Babies'. The EYFS team have observed the children developing their knowledge and understanding of the world, exploring habitats and building nests for owls. We have developed our art and design skills by printing using foil in Maths and our speech and language in Music by pronouncing some very tricky tongue twisters!

Let's find out more....

Owl Babies

In the book 'Owl Babies' by Martin Waddell, we learn about a family of Owls. The owlets wake up one night to find their mother has gone, they worry about where she may be, when their mother returns the owlets are overjoyed. The baby owls recognise that although Mummy has to go and hunt and provide food for the family she will always come back for them. The book is useful for settling children who are anxious about returning to school. In our Literacy Development sessions, we discussed our families and how we have spent a lot of time with our close family during lockdown. We drew our family members and wrote their names. We were able to name the characters from Owl Babies, Sarah, Percy, Billy and Mummy and draw and write a speech bubble for each character.

The children were excited to learn more about owls and we researched different owls and their habitats, their food and how they build their nests. Through continuous provision the children applied and developed their knowledge indoors building owl nests using twigs, wool and feathers and outdoors using tyres and large sticks. They pretended to be mother owls swooping and searching for food including mice, insects, fish and birds to feed to the baby owlets. We explored printing using foil, using a pom-pom to create a feather effect when painting the owl babies. 

Continuous Provision Indoors

Alongside our theme, the children are encouraged to follow their interests when learning in the classroom. We have loved observing the children express themselves through painting, drawing, construction and roleplay. This week in EYFS the children have decided to make their own pull out books, to draw treasure maps, to recreate scenarios (particularly pretending to be the teachers and enforce the classroom rules which was hilarious!) and have enjoyed relaxing, reading and reconnecting with their friends.

Outdoor learning

In EYFS we love to learn outdoors whatever the weather! This week we donned our waterproof clothing to head outdoors and our imaginations flowed. Alongside our fantastic owl nests, we observed cooking in the mud kitchen, writing and mark making on the chalk boards, and a swimming pool being carefully constructed in the sandpit, whilst being careful not to allow the water to seep into the sand. The children completed a water challenge to make the boats float without directly putting water into the tray and to enable to fish to swim to the pond. 

Whilst being at home, the children had missed the opportunity to climb and explore on the trim trail, so we also made sure to take a trip down to the field to climb and explore!