Learners Class

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. 

This week the Pioneers got the chance to handle a range of saplings provided by the Woodland Trust. We discussed the structure of the tree and use the related vocabulary. We wrote labels, having first discussed the links with our phonics. There were a few new teachers leading the learning during this session. The children all wrapped and packed individual trees to provide every family with a tree to take home and plant.

Pop into the classroom to see the wonderful writing that goes along with the photographs.

After reading The World Came To My Place Today, we made some orange juice. Mrs McGill cut the oranges in half and everyone got to have a go with the electric juicer. some were fascinated by the bits that were left after juicing. We enjoyed our freshly squeezed orange juice at snack time. While we were drinking, some of the children acted out parts of the text we have been learning. Ask a Pioneer to tell you all about it.

Such happy learning.

We have worked really hard with some challenging maths this week and the children persevered and did not give up. This was impressive. You could almost see their brains working. They were talking to each other and making suggestions, showing each other ways of doing stuff. They are making full use of Numicon and we added the pegs to experiment with sharing.  

Sometimes play happens on your own. Sometimes play happens in ones and twos but this week big play has been going on with everyone getting involved. The Pioneers have been building assault courses with prizes at the end. They can be seen helping each other across obstacles and making adjustments to equipment to ensure safe crossing. This play has been going on everyday and has not been curtailed by the bad weather. It has been a privilege to stand back and watch our school Christian Values in action.

Trust, Perseverance, Respect -Very Happy Learning