Well, what a chilly start to our very busy week. Robins have been fascinated by the frost that we’ve been greeted with each day and how some has remained all day! Despite the freezing temperatures our spirits have remained high and we are certainly gearing up for Christmas.
In the rainforest this week the children were delighted by the arrival of some very and I mean very large boxes that were delivered to us on Monday afternoon! From Christmas trains to Santa’s sleigh, Christmas houses to quite simply large hideouts, “Mrs Brown, can you see us? (Giggle giggle), oh no we fell out!”
We continued our week with Christmas crafts and loved putting our design and technology pop-up skills to work! We can’t say too much as it will give the game away about what we have been making……I wonder if you can guess though from these photos……all wil be revealed next week when the Robins bring home their Christmas bags full of all the decorations and crafts they have been so busy getting ready to share at home with you.
On Tuesday afternoon we were treated to a wonderful Musical performance by not one but three groups of children. Firstly Red Kites tapped out familiar tunes on the Boomwhackers, then the choir (with one of our very own Robins in it) sang Defiying Gravity from the Musical Wicked as well as Alicia Keys hit “This Girl is on Fire”. The performance was finished off with Owls tapping out tunes such as Hakuna Matata and Dance Monkey. During the performance, many Kingfishers and Robins sat in the audience with eyes wide and mouths open - they were absorbed in the moment. You might wish to talk to your child about joining the choir after Christmas - they were certainly feeling inspired. You can see photos of the performance in this weeks newsletter.
On Wednesday morning, the EYFS children and siblings of those in Great Shefford Under 5s pre school headed over to St. Mary’s Church to watch the pre school perform their Nativity. It has been a couple of years since we have been able to be part of the audience due to the restrictions that have been in place, so it was really special that we were able to be part of it this year. As always it was a lovely community event and the pre school children were simply amazing - massive well done to all those involved - you were amazing and we loved it!
…and then on Thursday….the day had come….we finally got to meet…..Dandina! Booooooooooooo. Yes - we headed to the Panto in Oxford. It was fantastic - we cheered, we booed (every time we saw Dandina!!!), we laughed, we sang, we danced…..and we went on a bus!!!!
On Friday, in school, all the children wanted to talk about was the Panto, they retold the story, they recreated the costumes, they even used one of the cardboard boxes (remember we told you about those at the beginning of the week) to recreate the whole theatre, including the sparkly disco ball.
Official photo of the theatre taken from the webpage https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/cinderella-panto
This is the team efforf of Robins moving their ‘Oxford Theatre’ from one part of the classroom to the other so that it did not get damaged.
This is the Oxford Theatre’s official trailer, again, taken from their website. I am sure if you show this to your child, their faces will light up and they will tell you all about it.
Also, on Friday, we all participated in the Santa dash (wearing our Christmas jumpers and tinsel). Santa made a surprise visit and joined us on the run - thank you PTFA for all the goodies you gave us too.
And after all that …we finally relaxed with a hot chocolate and marshmallow on Friday afternoon.
Our warm up before the dash
Hot Chocolate and marshmallow