It has been so lovely seeing how well the children have settled into Robins, with both our Year 1 and Reception children following the routines and getting involved in all the activities from those developing their fine motor skills through cutting and sticking, picking up small objects with tweezers, to creating stories around our small world animals. With great enthusiasm the children have really enjoyed exploring our new ‘Loose parts’ area, always eager to show the adults what amazing pictures they have created using anything from buttons to our shiny bolts. They worked hard to create pictures of themselves, thinking carefully about which facial features they needed.
Year 1 joined Kingfishers (Year 2) this week and became scientific investigators, recapping on what they already knew about everyday materials and then taking this learning on to explore and sort objects according to what material they are made from. This session led to fantastic discussions around what the materials are used for, with the children fascinated if an object was made from two different materials!
While Year 1 were busy being scientists, our Year R children had a fun-filled session with Mrs Langford, exploring our junk modelling materials and using these to make an object of their choice. We were amazed by the level of detail our children put into their models, from a robot head with buttons to a car with wheels and windows, the children put so much effort and time into making their ideas become reality.
On Tuesday afternoon the children took part in a carousel of activities and showed perseverance and enthusiasm for completing their activity before moving onto the next. On our ‘red table’ we developed our cutting skills inspired by the book ‘The very helpful hedgehog’ that we had read on Monday. We enjoyed colouring in our hedgehogs and then took time to cut around him/her before making spikes using different length snips into our Hedgehogs back, this was one of the favourite activities with children showing eagerness to finish before taking it home.
On our ‘green table’ we explored using coloured lollipop sticks to make different shapes, we found this a bit tricky at first, but all the children were incredibility excited when they had completed one by themselves.
The ‘yellow table’ was however by far our most popular activity, where the children created their own remembrance candle for Queen Elizabeth II to support them if they needed a quiet moment for themselves. The children took time to make salt dough and then mould it into a candle holder, they then decorated these using gems to represent the crown jewels.
On Wednesday, as part of our Wednesday Welly Walk we laid flowers as a mark of respect for the Queen. The children were invited to sit for a moment if they wished and have some time for private reflection and thoughts. Many of them did. It was quite a moving occassion.
We finished the week on Friday with a PE lesson led by external providers MNR. The children ran and ran and ran - even on a fairly warm Friday afternoon the children had bags of endless energy left (not quite sure I did!!!!!). They got involved with every game, listened carefully to every instruction, worked as a team and as individuals - had so much fun and smiled and laughed throughout the whole hour!
Finally, before we sign off for the long weekend, you will have noticed that the children have come home with a small bag and a wooden spoon. Our PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) theme this term is Being Me in my World and therefore we are asking every child to decorated the spoon to represent themselves (EYFS have been asked to create up to 4 people who are special to them including themselves). We will being to understand where we fit into our class, our school and the wider community. Plesae can these spoons be created and returned by next Friday 23.09.2022…..and finally finally…..keep up with the reading Year 1’s and don’t forget to ask your adults to sign your reading record!