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Stanley is a plastic bag. In the original story that we read together,Stanley falls into the ocean and is a threat to marine life. We discussed the book in detail,used it for story mapping ,in our class and with the whole school and acted out the story with soft toys. When we went to the forest,the Pioneers discovered that Stanley was also a threat to wildlife closer to home.We found and collected other rubbish that had also found its way into the forest. No one was very happy about this. Stanley was flapping in a tree and looked out of place and could easily been eaten by birds or badger. One Pioneer said,”Stanley needs to be rehomed.” Everyone agreed.

I think we need to write our own book about Stanley in the Forest.

After reading Children of the Forest one Pioneer spotted a face made from grass. It looked a bit like a troll. This creature was named as a Grass Meenie. We went out and collected and then pressed leaves and bits from our glorious school site. We turned these into wonderful leaf people. Once they were created they made their way to the forest. We had a lovely morning in the autumn sunshine searching for all the forest fairies. Along the way we found lots and lots of fungus and more acorns. Something had been digging holes. Perhaps it was The Rainbow Raccoon.

The forest is a fabulous place , rich with learning opportunities.

The conkers have been added to a tray of water this week and all sorts of exciting things happened. The children built structures with sieves,baskets,big spoons and colanders and poured and filled and separated. They used tongs and got to grips with pipettes. The pumpkins also hit the water and they were washed and scooped and dunked-inside and out. The addition of funnels and bottles changed the learning and the children began making comparisons and helping each other to fill the bigger containers. 

The big pumpkin is now a glittering work of art after some small children started to stick on some gems. This caused a great deal of unplanned excitement and numbers have also been added.  

Happy Learning

This week we have been making magnificent numberlines counting everything in the classroom. The Pioneers worked systematically to collect and set out their finds. They worked very well together and the results were lovely. We have been working on slowing our counting down,moving or touching the item as we say the number and checking by counting again.

Go Pioneers

We have a selection of new books to tie in with our interest in woodland animals and natural things, The illustrations are wonderful. Since our visit to the forest last week and finding the beautiful acorns we have been reading and responding to Chicken Licken. A story map will be coming home soon with some photographs to help you retell the story.

The sky is falling. The sky is falling.

It is a joy to see children selecting a book from the shelf and sitting down to read. A few are even reading to the whole class. This makes my heart swell.

Pop in and take a look at these beautiful new titile.

This week has been punctuated by acorns and conkers. We went to the forest on Wednesday and found the most beautiful Oak Tree covered in fabulous,silky smooth acorns wearing little hats. We filled our pockets with forest treasure and lay under the tree to see if the sky was falling. On return to the classroom we looked at the most beautiful book called Lost Words. The illustrations are exquisite.

Taking inspiration from our own green and pleasant land we drew pictures using pastels. Some drew acorns and some drew the owls we saw earlier in the week.

Beautiful learning.

It is so lovely to have a busy classroom after school when families can stay and play and chat. It is fantastic to see confident Pioneers show off their learning environment. Parents get to sit on the carpet and learn like a Pioneer. Siblings add to the buzz.

Happy Family Learning

Our collection of conkers has grown and grown thanks to helpful friends,parents and Mrs Weston our wonderful reading helper. We now have enough to bury lions and tiger,to fill a wheel barrow and to make musical instruments with. I think a baby was also burrowing down in them this week too. Pouring,filling,measuring,rolling and balancing have all been very popular. The wheelbarrow added an extra dimension and it took teamwork to move it around our small space. The pipes and tubes have been adjusted and tilted to fire conkers from tray to tray.

Lots of fun and lots of learning

Go Pioneers-finding new ways to get things done.

We have been asking the question,” Who lives in our forest? and today we met some possible residents. The Pioneers were absolutely delighted to meet a snake and find out that like the boa constrictor in our song, in squeezes its prey. Next we were introduced to the hedgehog,who seemed to hicccup when he was tickled. The owls were spectacular and the barn owl flapped his big wings.

The squeals of delight said it all.

Pop in to the classroom to see our story maps and some more pictures. We also have a wonderful snakeskin to looks at.