Summer 2
Friday 3rd July
As part of our transition process, the EYFS children had their first 'proper' Forest School Session, lead by our Forest School Leaders; Libby Ladybird and Lisa Lacewing. The children were very excited to think about their own forest names and enjoyed lots of different activities including the Japanese art technique of Hapa Zome. There was even time for a spot of forest bathing, lying in the hammock and enjoying the sight and sound of the trees!
Friday 26th June
As the heatwave hit us, the children joined the rest of the school in a timely assembly lead by Essex Fire Service about how to keep safe in the summer months. The children listened attentively as they learned how to keep safe near water and during very hot weather. This was followed with with some classroom activities to reinforce the learning. In hot weather, the children understand the importance of drinking water frequently and the need to wear a sun hat and sun cream. To cool us all down we had fun spraying the water hose!
Friday 12th June
This week we were thinking about adjectives to describe the settings in our Talk For Writing version of The Gingerbread Man. The children went outside to our lovely wooded area and hugged the trees, listened to the wind blowing in the leaves and did some bark - rubbing. They returned full of ideas for suitable adjectives to make their writing really interesting. Then they had a D.T. related activity; to make a bed suitable for a classroom teddy. First they thought about the quality of the materials they would need and came up with lots of adjectives. Then they set to work, working together, sharing ideas and choosing their own materials. There was lots of measuring and collaborative sharing of ideas. It was wonderful to see all the different creative ways in which they chose to 'fill the brief'!
Friday 12th June
This week the children got busy making their own gingerbread men with craft materials, practising their cutting skills and making their own decisions about how to decorate them. In Maths, the children were introduced to Rekenreks, a counting abacus which helps devleop their understanding of the composition of number. We used it to further investigate subitising; the skill of immediate recognition of an amount of objects. They also explored simple map reading and were very excited to find a map of our school field with an X marking a spot! They followed the map and were delighted to find gold chocolate coins, which must have been left there by "the pirates". The children also carefully planted sunflower seeds and are looking forward to seeing them grow.
Friday 5th June
To start the new term we had a new Talk for Writing text; the familiar tale of The Gingerbread Man. The children helped to write a shopping list for ingredients and then looked at a recipe and thought about the importance of carrying out the steps in the correct order. Then it was time to bake! Each class had time in our D.T.kitchen, working in teams to share the jobs and following a recipe to make their own delicious gingerbread men! We have also spent time this week, exploring different versions of the tale and we even considered how instruments can be used to convey emotion in story-telling.
In P.E. EYFS had lots of fun with the SCS coaches, learning to stretch and warm up well, bowl a ball like a cricketer and jump with precision.
