Welcome to Explorers Class
We are proud to be able to offer 2 year old provision for children in Explorers class. We are able to offer both private and funded places for children when they turn 2.
The term after their 3rd birthday, all children become eligible for government funding, this allows them to access 15 hours free childcare a week, or 30 hours for qualifying working families. It is possible to share funding between two different childcare settings and if you would like to do so please inform a member of staff.
Wherever possible, we are happy to admit children after their 2nd or 3rd birthday prior to the funding commencing. However, this is dependent on the availability of spaces at the time.
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ClothesWe hope that children in Explorers Class will enjoy a variety of play – some of it messy! With this in mind, we ask families to consider the clothes that children in Explorers wear during sessions. Key WorkerEach child in Explorers is allocated a key worker. The aim of this role is to oversee your child’s learning and development journey throughout their time in Explorers. This key worker will share key learning activities with children and report strengths and target areas to parents and families.
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Remembrance at Sleights
Throughout the week, the children have taken part in some excellent discussions about Remembrance. Children shared their own reflections with great sensitivity and thought. To mark Remembrance Day in Sleights, each child created a piece of art or message.
After school, Mrs Hann and I walked to St John’s and the War Memorial monument to display the children’s fantastic and thoughtful Remembrance reflections. The work is incredible and is now firmly in place to help the full village mark Remembrance Sunday this weekend.
Well done, Sleights.
Fire Engine Visit
Today was the day the fire engine and fire brigade came to visit Explorers class. The children were extremely excited and very intrigued to look around the Fire-Engine. Fireman Jay brought his crew along to show some of the equipment they use when going to an emergency. Fireman Joe put on the protective clothing and breathing equipment to show the children what they wear when going into a fire. Fireman Jay and Frazor showed the children some of the equipment that was inside the Fire-Engine and talked about the machinery to cut vehicles, the pump to retrieve water, one of the hose pipes and the ladders to help people stuck in tall buildings. We then listened to the sirens and watched the flashing lights! What a great experience for the children.The children received a fire-man Ted sticker. What a morning!
Rugby with Justin
The children have enjoyed a rugby session with Justin from Whitby Rugby Club this morning. The children did very well listening to instructions and all had a go at the different games. It was a great morning, thank you Justin!
What we can see
This week we have had a busy week trying to find things using our eyes in Explorers class. The children have explored some containers that contained different small objects hidden in sand or beans and were asked to draw what they saw.
Also in small groups we have explored our playground. Miss Idle took some pictures of different areas around our school and in our groups we had to identify each one and where they were on the playground.
From my head to my toes
We had a different sort of P.E lesson this morning! As we have been reading the story ‘From my head to toes’ by Eric Carle, we thought we would get moving like the animals in the book. The children used their listening ears and waited for instructions, copying the movements Miss Idle, Mrs Wharrick and Mrs Exelby made from the book. They used all different body parts to move around the room.
Our Body
This week in Explorers class we have been looking at our bodies. The book we are reading is called ‘From Head to Toe’ by Eric Carle. The children have already been moving in a variety of ways in which the animals in the book do. This will be continued each day with the different groups of children we have in. We have also been talking about our body and what body parts we have. During a group discussion this morning, we named body parts and drew a big picture of a body including all of the body parts we could see on each other. Finally we tried painting with different body parts.
The Gruffalo
For the last 3 weeks before we break up for the Summer holidays, our story book will be ‘The Gruffalo’. I know this is a firm favourite with quite a few of the children but for those of you who may not have read the story before or don’t have a copy at home, there is a PDF below. We have lots of fun activities planned to link into the book once we return in a couple of days.
PE on the field
We took advantage of the sun this morning and had our P.E session outside. Initially, we played with the balls, hoops and small rings. Miss Idle then thought we would try a few games where we would need to listen to instructions, take turns and take our time. The children did brilliantly! We had two relay races where the children each took a baton and ran and passed it on. We then tried putting the ball between our legs and waddling or hopping to the hoop. Finally, we used a small ring to place on our heads and balance it as we walked to Mrs Bland. We had great fun!
Balloons
We’ve been using baloons in P.E this morning. Firstly, the children were given an instruction to try keep their balloons in the air and not let them drop on the floor. They were then asked to place it inbetween their legs/knees and jump or waddle over to Miss Idle at the other side of the hall. The children did brilliantly,they showed concentration skills and had lots of perseverance as the balloons were very tricky to keep between their legs. Not one of them gave up though which was brilliant! We then all worked as a team to keep the balloon on the large parachute holding onto a handle each and lifting it up. The children listened for their names when shouted and had a turn at running underneath the parachute to the other side. A brave group of children even had a turn at laying on top of their balloons to see if they could put their body weight on it without it popping!
The wicked witch turned Mr Grason into a frog!
The Wicked Witch has been into our class this morning cooking up a potion. Mr Grason came for his daily chocolate biscuit from the cupboard and noticed the green tea looking all delicious. He was very cheeky and poured himself a cup but little did he know that it was a magic potion that would turn him into a frog! Off he hopped out of the classroom and went missing somewhere around school.
Miss Idle explained to the children we must visit Forest School to find the good witches hat, broomstick and wand, then we must collect some ingredients to make a potion together so that we could turn Mr Grason back.We said a spell of “Iggety, Ziggety, Zaggerty, Zog! Let’s turn Mr Grason back from a frog!” And guess what…..it worked! Yay! The children then enjoyed some imaginative play of their own. Some children were the frogs and some played the witch and the wizard. A great morning!
