The children, and staff loved coming to school dressed in their pyjamas or in spots or yellow.
They learned where the money raised goes and what it means for Children In Need. Many children just thought of it as Pudsey Day and weren’t sure what it was really about.
The classroom has changed around a bit and they are very excited and enjoying the Halloween Shop and messy activities set up for them this week.
The children have been having fun playing literacy and numeracy games and going over some of the learning from last term.
Most Friday mornings in Term One have been spent outdoors in our Loose Parts Zone. This gives the children opportunities to develop so many skills like co-operation, problem solving, teamwork, collaboration, etc.
Each time we go out there are different ideas, children go into different groups, different friendships develop, they get more confident using the materials available and allow their imaginations and creativity to take over.
The parent council provided us with some new resources, including half round guttering pipes and some very sturdy stands to support the pipes at different levels. This has led to some amazing problem solving and water courses in the playground.
The tree area is great for the children to learn about taking risks but being safe. They love building Dens and climbing in the trees.
On these mornings we usually have our snack outdoors which has been lovely while the weather has been good this term.
And we get to play too………
The children started building houses in the junk modelling area and got really into it, making floors, rooms, furniture etc. They began including ‘mini-me’s into the houses too.
From this they decided to make a big town with roads between the houses.
They then began to create other buildings and areas in their town. There was a park, hospital, school etc.
The toy cars were brought out so they then built garages and even a multi-story car park.
They worked in pairs to draw plans of their towns and include all the buildings they thought should be included. It was great to see the primary 2’s labelling parts of their plans and writing names on their buildings.
The children have also been learning about different aspects of safety, including crossing the road. They did some role play in the games hall and had turns at being the lollipop person.
They then re-played crossing the road safely in their ‘town’, using the toy cars and mini-me characters.
The children walked down to Taing Beach on Friday and had fun exploring in the ebb.
They found lots of shells, whelks, crabs and even a sea cucumber. It was so great seeing how curious and excited the children were about their finds.
Friday was a really warm day and the children have been learning about sun safety. They got onto discussing drinking plenty of water and staying cool. This got onto the subject of paddling pools and outdoor hot tubs. The class decided they would have a go at making their own paddling pool as we were heading outdoors.
They worked together to roll tyres into position to make a big circle. They then helped to get the tarpaulins over the top and pegged them down.
Once the tyres were in position and the tarpaulins on the top the children worked together to fill their pool with water. They used lots of different containers to fetch water from the water trays at the other end of the play area as the hose only reaches so far.
Once there was enough water it didn’t take long to get wellies and socks off and get in for a little paddle. The chairs made it a very comfortable place to sit and cool off. The children were so happy and excited with what they had built together.
There was a ‘changing room’ created for the children to dry their feet and get their socks and boots back on.
We were so lucky to have Becky in visiting the class to tell us about her job as an author. She told the children about writing the stories and shared lots of great vocabulary with them. They loved listening to the story and finding out about the characters on the pages of the book.
Her latest book is amazing and tells a really great story about a little girl who is a bit of a rebel. Her illustrations are beautiful and the children had the challenge of coming up with ideas for the last part of the book for her.
These are their ideas……
Children are often asked what they would like to be when they grow up. These ideas often change as they get older, but for now these paintings show what job they would like to do.
They were so good at painting in the classroom. Really great listening and careful work.
They have been enjoying role playing a few different jobs through play in the classroom and outdoors. A lot of different jobs in the hospital area, builders in the blocks, sand and Kapla and a spot of fishing in the water tray are just a few examples.
As the term goes on we will be discussing more jobs and having some parents in to tell us about their work.
The children were delighted to find a hospital area in the classroom to play in. Lots of jobs to do and great fun. Lots of the new p1’s told us last year that they are keen to be doctors or nurses when they grow up.
We got some time to play outdoors in our ‘Zone’. The weather was lovely and there was great excitement watching the tractor cutting grass in the field behind the school.
A few snaps of the children having their lunch. A great success and what lovely manners.
The children loved having the opportunity to explore and play with all the lovely things in the classroom. We are very lucky at Whiteness to have such an amazing learning space.
I loved all our class photo shots so thought I would just put them all on here rather than choose just one.
The beetroot is amazing this year. The children pulled it up and it has been picked and put in jars. They will get a taste after the holidays.
The carrots – not so amazing. They didn’t get the attention they needed and didn’t get thinned out as the seeds had been sown too close together. The children enjoyed laughing at how small they were but did manage to crunch a few of the bigger ones.
All the children got a sunflower and tomato plant to take home and there were plenty for some of the other classes too. More peas have been eaten and the other plants are getting cleared out before the end of term.
The children thought that next year they would like to have a plant sale and raise money to get some new trowels and tools for the polycrub.
the children have been learning about the Emergency Services and how to get in touch with them.
In small groups they created little plays about an emergency when they needed to dial 999 and ask for the Police, Ambulance, Fire or Coastguard.
They have loved playing with Emergency vehicles in class, especially the ‘Oscar Charlie’ helicopter.
Huge excitement today in the polycrub as the children discovered several of the sunflowers had opened up.
A lot of the peas were also ready to be picked. The children tried a few and Conan brought a tub back to the school canteen. The cooks were delighted and will serve them up with the picnic lunch on Wednesday.
Another Monday afternoon exploring our amazing local area. A walk in the Strom Road and down to the little beach to complete todays task…….’what can you make?’
Some groups decided to do dam building…….
Others diverted the water flow into new channels….
the children came up with so many different ideas………..
There was also time to explore the shoreline and find out what lives there.
The best way to practice counting out loud is to have lots of fun while doing it. The primary 1 children built an obstacle course and took turns at being the leader and counting to 30, controlling everybody who was running around, under, through, behind, over obstacles.
They presented their idea for fruit pots in assembly a few weeks ago and designed pot shaped adverts to display on the Health Committee board.
Today the children were very busy……washing, chopping and sorting fruits into little pots.
The children were very excited to welcome all the classes and staff to come and get a fruit pot at breaktime.
The radishes were the first thing to be ready for harvesting. They have grown really fast. The children got to take some home and the cooks at school chopped somefor the children to try at lunchtime.
The sunflowers are getting very big. The children have re-potted them and are keeping an eye on the flowers at the top to see which ones bloom first. They are measuring Laurie’s one everyday as it is the tallest at the moment.
They have also cleared out all the spinach. They got a little bag of leaves to take home and try and the rest has been frozen ready to add to a recipe soon.
Willum did a great job of tying up peas onto the canes. It is really exciting seeing the peapods growing now. The children are desperate to start popping them open.
The children finally got to try some peas today. So many growing now.
The polycrub looks amazing and the children work hard to water and look after the plants daily.
As part of our On Our Doorstep IDL we went to explre the areas nearby the school and find different colours of plants.
The children were vary careful and only picked what they needed to work in their IDL groups to create Colour in Nature pictures. They talked about and named different types of flowers and plants they found.
The results were beautiful…….and fun!
As part of our IDL about ‘On Our Doorstep’ the children practiced using a compass and looking for different landmarks in different directions.
They worked in their groups of four to complete the task and had great fun.
There was time left before heading back to school so they had a giant whole school game of ‘Octopus’ at the Strom Pitch.
As part of our IDL topic this term the children have been out and about again………
Today the children set off up the hill to explore and appreciate the amazing views which are just ‘On Our Doorstep’.
Once at the top they found ‘First Base’ and then they went into their mixed groups to complete their task. They had to find all the markers with letters on them and put them together to solve a puzzle.
It was great to see the children helping each other and working in their groups. There was time for a little rest at the ‘second base’ before heading back to school.
Going down the hill was much easier than going up.
Last Monday the children all went over to Strom Park. This time in their groups they used some sports equipment to practise some activities for Sports Day.
in their groups they had to decide what activities to practise and set it up themselves. It was amazing to see the inclusion of all pupils of mixed ages.
Great teamwork from the children working together to create a ‘hot tub’ which became a ‘chocolate flavoured hot tub’ with the addition of some mud!
The children had a snack area and enjoyed sitting together outdoors in the sunshine.
Lots of engineering going on to make the water flow around bends and pour into different containers. Also using the water as a force to push objects down the pipes and figuring out how to make the water flow faster and slower.
Children’s imaginations are wonderful….these vehicles were taking them all over the world and beyond!
And there is always time to do a bit of climbing amongst the trees. The children learn how to do this safely and are really good at helping each other.
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