Pioneers Class

The Pioneers had some heavy lifting to do to move the pumpkins to the pumpkin patch. This was great fun and everyone managed not to drop their pumpkin and some of them were enormous!.

We read the beautiful Pumpkin Soup and realised we could read some of the words, which was so exciting. We added the characters to the Pumpkin Patch-cat, duck and squirrel and lots of bugs. The addition of bugs allowed us explore more vocabulary to read and write-a big bug, a fat ant and a kid bug were all suggested.

One Pioneer wanted to know what was inside the pumpkins so we cut them open and had a good rummage around. We watched some timelapse video showing the growth of the seed so we have dried our seeds to plant in the spring.

The Pioneers really enjoyed decorating the pumpkins with pins and shapes and matchsticks and leaves. The focus was fabulous.

Next week, we take the pumpkins to the forest.

The colours and textures of Autumn have proved fascinating for the Pioneers this week. We have worked indoors and out to collect and to select a variety of leaves and seeds to compare and consider.

We read a selection of books to fill us up with ideas and questions-Leafman, The Little Old Woman and her Coat and Little Red Hen Makes Pizza.

We created our own leaf collages. We made wonderful peg sculptures with leaves and dough and conkers and acorns. We made woodland pizza with conkers and sticks and sunflower seeds, harvested from last year’s sunflowers.

Thank you for a wonderful week of learning.

The Pioneers retold the story of The Enormous Beetroot using puppets and Beanie Babies and two buckets of beetroot. Back in the classroom they drew the characters and added labels-man, cat, rat, dog, bat and bug or ant. This was wonderful to see. We also drew storymaps to help us retell the story together.

It has been a fabulous week, using our magnificent indoor and outdoor spaces, making the most of the autumn sunshine.

Thank you Pioneers. It has been a wonderful week of happy learning.

The Pioneers loved exploring pattern this week. We have continued patterns with two colours and a variety of shapes. This initial work was focussed and we worked for an extended period trying out different combinations of loose parts. The Pioneers were so good at sharing the resources and the space. This was a wonderful way to end a fabulous week.

The Pioneers are settled in to their classroom and the learning is theirs. They know where everything is and are confident to ask if there is anything they need. 

They write and read and cut and stick. They build and explore, making comparisons and combine their selection of loose parts. At times the classroom is noisy but if you wait a few moments you will notice the change when the play focus changes and there is quiet and concentration. At the busiest times, it is so wonderful to look around and listen to the groups of play and learning. Learning is not tidy!

Happy Learning

Friday afternoon was really exciting. We looked at Google Earth and spotted the road and the river. We discussed the things to see in Sleights and then got going with some building. Even Sid the Cat had a go on the whiteboard! His paws caused a problem however.
We moved the furniture back and filled the space with boxes and tiles and sheets. The focus was fabulous and everyone explored in different ways. It was a pleasure to stand back and watch all of the interaction and decisions.
We discussed chimneys and how many were on different buildings. We discussed the river Esk and going over bridges. We talked about the railway line next to the river.
Some Pioneers began drawing maps and added the word ‘map’ which was a fantastic step.
Next week we will build and photograph from above to create maps.

We have the most wonderful school site and in the autumn it is simply stunning. The Pioneers got out and about to check on the acorns on our oak tree in the forest. We collected bags of forest treasure and had a story on the field. There were lots of brambles and nettles to tackle and this was tricky. Managing to find your boots when there are 25 pairs to choose from is quite a skill!

We welcomed the Pioneers into their classroom this week and everything was ready. They have filled the space with curiosity and questions. They have moved everything to combine dominoes and train track, buttons and magnets, dough and acorns. They have been dressing up, singing and dancing, writing and building. 

The days have found a rhythm and the Pioneers are learning the routines. They managed lunch and outside playtime, collective worship and our end of week disco which was quite something. We talked about how important it is to be part of a team and they certainly played this out in their actions this week.

Happy Learning

The Pioneers love to write and to draw and it is at this time of the year that we can look back and see just how far we have come. The desire to write is there. The desire to understand is there. The awe and wonder found by looking at and learning about our natural world is fabulous. The Pioneers love new knowledge. They are hungry and impatient and demanding and this is so wonderful and long may this continue.

Pioneer don’t stop.

We continue to be delighted by collage. This week we added our painted paper to our willow lanterns and onto wet strength tissue paper. We had additional single colour paper to combine in our collage. The Pioneers used cutting,ripping and crumpling to add a variety of textures.

We also had a go at combining colour , exploring how wool worked. One Pioneer identified that the strands needed to look like candy floss and this was the perfect comment to get everyone started on the right road. This took patience and focus and control. 

While working we listened to Carnival of the Animals and the variety in the music certainly changed how we worked!