Term 2 Week 1

During our first week back we have been reading the story Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper. The cat, squirrel and duck work together to make the delicious soup. The Barn Owls have been working together to make pumpkin soup in a variety of ways, including using the leaves in mud kitchen, the orange water in the water tray and of course actual pumpkin soup!

The leaves in the garden have been keeping us busy sweeping and having fun as we threw them in the air. 
We have also been learning about Diwali, the Hindu festival of Light. We made Rangoli patterns using powder paint and shapes on the light box. Our  Diva lamps looked beautiful too. 

On Monday the class learnt why we have two minutes silence at 11am on the 11th November. The children made individual poppies which were put together to make a class wreath, which they sat around at 11am. They also made medals for people they thought were brave and kind, just like the soldiers. 
We have also been using our senses to explore fireworks. There has been lots of amazing art using chalk, paint, 2D shapes and glitter. We made a large class picture by flicking paint. The Barn Owls enjoyed tasting their indoor sparkler made from breadsticks dipped in sprinkles. The ribbon wands were used to make firework shapes and patterns. We used the instruments to recreate firework sounds and thought of words to match that sound. ‘Crackle’ was our favourite word! 

It was a Cold Dark Night...

This week we have been finding out about animals that hibernate. We have read the story of Ned the hedgehog who is looking for a home in the woods for the winter. The Barn Owls have been busy making dens for animals and themselves. The cold weather has brought some fun investigations as we explored how to make the ice melt in the Tuff Tray!

At the start of the week the children used playdough to make a hedgehog and then we developed these fine motor skills using clay to make our own hedgehogs.

Our Sensational Senses!

This we week have been learning about how we use our different senses. There has been lots of investigations and experiments. We have made string telephones, seen how rice jumps differently on the big drum depending on how we played it and the potions with herbs, spices and coloured water looked amazing. The Barn Owls were very brave when they put their hand into the tray they could not see to use their sense of touch to identify the objects. One of the favourite activities was tasting different fruits and  vegetables. 

The Nativity

This week we have been learning about the Nativity story and how Christians celebrate Christmas.

We have been busy painting pictures of the Nativity for our class display. The Barn Owls have turned the Wendy House into the stable at Bethlehem and they enjoyed dressing up to act out the story.

We had a wonderful time at the panto on Monday. The children were amazing and were enthralled by the performance. 

The classroom is looking very festive and we have all helped to decorate the tree. We have been  practising our songs with the Robins, ready for next week.

Term 2 Week 6

This week we have been reading The Christmas Pine by Julia Donaldson. We have been making and decorating our own Christmas trees using a variety of materials, including playdough, paper, chalk and icing biscuits.

On Wednesday we enjoyed performing our songs, which we did brilliantly and all our adults were very proud of us!

During our last week of this term we have been learning about the angels in the Nativity story. Reverend Helen came to school to tell the Nativity story to the Barn Owls and Robins classes, using figures and actions. We drew chalk outlines of our friends then added wings and a halo to make our friends into chalk angels.

On Wednesday we enjoyed our school Christmas dinner together. Then we went to All Saints church to go on an angel hunt. We found lots of different angels. It was a great way to finish the term. We hope you all enjoy the Christmas holiday and look forward to seeing you next year!