Category: Pioneers Class

Over the weeks the Pioneers have had a passion for building large,extravagant structures. These have grown in size and detail. Along with Archie’s egg,they were the inspiration for our writing and investigations based on Humpty’s fall. I took advantage of their interest and suggested that they may like to try drawing some plans,using the ipad to take photographs and then make some measurements in centimetres. This was tip-top learning and I have been delighted with the process and the outcomes.

Go Pioneers!

At the end of last term Archie brought in a large goose egg. This caused a great deal of interest. Mrs McGill then brought in a selection of her eggs to compare the sizes and the colours. To start this term we have read Humpty Dumpty and taken a closer look at more eggs,who lays eggs and what an egg contains. The work has been fascinating. The children have handled the eggs with great care and only one dropped on the floor. The children made their own Humpty Dumpties from a selection of materials. An inusual egg made its way into our collection and they could tell that it was a bit different to the others. Everyone had their own ideas of what was inside ranging form dinosaurs and dirt bikes to puppies and possibly a unicorn. That egg has not yet hatched but it will very soon. Their writing and comments should be on the wall next week so do pop in to take a look. It’s cracking stuff.

The Pioneers have enjoyed the fresh air this week and have taken the opportunity to inhabit new areas to play. Often they restrict themselves and get stuck in to play in the same place each day. They are creatures of habit but the sunshine and new growth has sparked their curiosity to go and dig somewhere else. The corner near the fence has become popular for perfume makers and capturing worms. The area and the front of the classroom has some hidden areas to explore,under the cover of big trees. This was exciting this week. Kicking a football against the gate is always popular. We have also seen a lot of interest in planting sticks,some of which may actually root.

Some children like bugs. Some children do not like bugs. It has been beautiful to see how they care for each other and understand their different needs,likes and dislikes. 

Mre Idle said that they could have some water to add to the blossom and cutgrass mixture. This was very popular-almost as popular as digging holes.

Such happy learning.

This week, we are learning about keeping clean. Last week, we did some writing about hand washing and this week we are looking at teeth. The tuff tray was full of soap and we got stuck in with toothbrushes to clean the crocodiles teeth. Some fantastic descriptions were overheard when the children had their hands in the soap.

This week, we made butter with Mrs McGill. Everyone had a go at whipping the cream until it split into buttermilk and butter. The children shaped the butter into pats before we got a chance to spread it onto bread and have a tasty snack.

The discussion developed about the change in the cream from liquid to a solid and a liquid. The children discussed the other liquids they knew about. We will use the rest of the butter to make flapjack and the buttermilk to make bread.

It was the most beautiful day to explore Spring changes in the forest. The Pioneers were tasked with finding things to make them say “WOW”. Once they had found something they were seen writing labels and “WOWs” all over the place. I heard one little voice say,”I’ve found 5 WOWs .” A reply was heard,”And I’ve found 7″. The WOWs ranged from flowers to worms. We also checked out the pond, where we are due to release our tadpoles into the wild.

Very beautiful learning.

I set a table with a selection of paint, pallets and brushes. In the centre, I placed a few jugs of flowers. They were not the usual jugs-usually I use a red rubber vase for our classroom flowers. The children painted. Some painted flowers. Some painted hearts. Some painted tractors. Some painted the flowers in the red vase that is usually there, but wasn’t there this week. Some enjoyed moving the paint to create patterns and mix the colours. 

The resulting works are now displayed in a classroom near you. 

Beautiful Learning

A lot of time this week has been given over to finding out about tadpoles and watching how they are changing. This has caused great excitement, squeals and whoops. We have had a go at using Pic Collage on the iPad, drawn story maps of the development and gazed in awe and wonder at the little wrigglers. The children added some new words to their vocabulary – yolk, gill and they may remember amphibian. We discussed who might be eating who and what might be eating what. This learning will continue for a little longer, hopefully allowing us to see the development of limbs over the course of the week.