Pioneers Class

We continue to explore the world around us. Sunflower heads have been drying out on the window sill and we got stuck in with the tweezers to harvest the seeds. We dried them out alongside last week’s pumpkin seeds and popped them into jars to plant in the spring. This involved a huge amount of concentration.

We went to the forest to collect forest treasure to add to our version of Pumpkin Soup. Compost,grass,seeds and conkers were mixed and mashed. The Pioneers used mashers and ladles to create a huge Pumpkin Feast. They filled egg boxes with soil and water to make chocolate eggs. Everyone helped with the tidy up job which made life much easier.

We looked closely at a number of different types of fungus but we decided not to touch. All the Pioneers were aware that some things should not be picked.

We noted the changes in the forest and kicked up the wet leaves.

Everyone manged their own welly boots and this is quite an achievement.

Well done Pioneers!

This week has been all about vegetables. We began by digging up some root vegetables and looking closely at the roots. Some of the onions had roots like a birds nest. The Pioneers also had a good look at the roots and the leaves of a pumpkin,noticing the curling tendrils they use to attach themselves to fences and trellis and other plants. We had a good poke around.

We acted out the story of the Enormous Turnip and worked on a story map to go with this. The Pioneers made their suggestions to add vocabulary to this and this was really wonderful.

The classroom is now full of pumpkins of all different shapes and sizes and colours . We have been lifting and carrying and counting and subitising Next, we will be having a poke around inside these next week to look at the seeds and get them dried and saved for next spring.

Very Happy Learning

This week we began looking at how the trees are changing. The Pioneers looked at a selection of leaves and compared their colours and used paint charts to match them up. The Pioneers looked closely and noticed that the leaves varied in size,shape and colour.  They used hole punches to make leaf confetti and used these shapes to subitise and make number patterns.

Every Pioneer is working very hard on phonics and we are starting to write words together. Blending is great and whiteboards are being filled with wonderful writing.

This week we have been subitising all over the place. The Pioneers are experts at spotting groups of 1,2,3 and 4 and representing these numbers by drawing. We have been building towers and making shapes.

Happy Learning

So much goes on in Pioneers in any one day!

This week we have been looking closely at a huge collection of buttons and the wonderful book called The Button Box. Everyone picked their favourite button and said why they had chosen it. There was lots of filling and pouring and teamwork to move buttons from jar to box and then into a makeup stand with tiers of sections.The buttons were sorted by colour and set out in shapes and in lines. The Pioneers left no button untidied and every little button made its way back to the jar.

We have played a number of maths games with hoops and skittles and bricks and dice. They have required patience,turn taking and counting and it was wonderful to watch this develop over the week.

We got some paint out on Thursday and did a bit of experimentation with mixing and moving the colours. The Pioneers pressed and rolled and painted and all was quiet while they concentrated.

Potions were popular on Wednesday and the Pioneers mixed up some flowers and herbs in the big giant teapot and made soup in some donated buckets. Many had damp feet but few complained!

Another week of happy learning!

Down in the forest we found an oak tree and under the tree we found lots of forest treasure. This treasure was piles and piles of acorns and we managed to sneak some away before the animals got them. They will be returned. After this trip to the forest, we have been retelling the story of Chicken Licken. The Pioneers have been using the story map and the basket of animals to support their own versions of the story.

Our story has Chicken Licken,Turkey Lurkey, Ducky Lucky and Lovey Dovey and one of the Pioneers suggested a very clever ending. He spotted that two of the birds were good at flying and the other two were not so Lovey Dovey and Ducky Lucky could fly to get help. The suggested ending was not so good for Foxy Loxy as he ends up chopped up and in the cooking pot!

It was wonderful to welcome our families on Friday to show off the classroom,indoors and out. The sun shone and it was lovely.

Looking forward to another cracking week. Go Pioneers!

The wonderful Pioneers have completed their first week and they did an absolutely marvelous  job. The brand new classroom has been tested out and it functions very well. There has been so much to take in and everyone in the team did their bit.

We have painted and washed up. We have played with dough and added herbs. We walked with the Leaders to see the Bike Race.We have been to the hall for some PE and joined the whole school for lunchtime and playtimes. We have sat on the new carpet and sat at new tables on new chair and of course we have used the new toilets with electronic flush. So good.

The whole school have been to visit and take a look at the new classroom and the Pioneers have enjoyed seeing old friends,siblings and relatives. We have also welcomed families in and this is so lovely.

We look forward to so much new learning.

We have been retelling the story of the wise man and the foolish man and where they chose to build their houses. At the same time we have been able to see the foundations being laid for the new build. The shutter pans went in and then they were filled with concrete. Andy the builder told the Pioneers all about how they used a laser to check the measurements. This was fascinating for all. Some Pioneers drew a map of the area and others wrote sentences about the building work and all of the equipment being used.

Back in the classroom,we all did some story maps and the resulting writing was simply stunning.

A great week of learning.

The Pioneers really enjoyed their time with the visitor from The Dog’s Trust. They were very receptive and were able to recap on the 4 important points from the lesson. They knew not to tough a dog if it is asleep ore eating. The knew not to cuddle a dog and to ask for permission before approaching a dog that was not known to them. This was quite impressive. They all had lots of chat about dogs in their families.

Very useful learning.

After reading Somebody Swallowed Stanley the Pioneers voiced their concerns about the animals in the story-the turtle,the whale and the jellyfish. some had seen videos of animals in distress trapped in fishing nets and discarded plastic. When we went to our forest they noted that their was rubbish and this could be dangerous to wildlife on our site. The Pioneers made their own Stanleys and added labels with a warning “Plastic Bags Don’t Belong in the Forest”. They made story maps and wrote about Stanley.

Happy Learning

This week has had so much great learning going on. Our old buildings have come down and we have met Andy and Jack our builders who are keeping us up to date on progress. we have a whole new vocabulary to use when discussing the building equipment-Skid Steer,Rotor Snip and Containers. We have seen recycling happening on a big scale and watched as the materials are sorted and moved.

Liz,our artist joined us to work on big boards,talking about animals and colours. This was a moment of peace and focus.

The chicks caused a great stir and we all found it very hard not to squeal and jump. They did have little scratchy feet and they did want to flap about a bit. Mrs McGill was there to reassure everyone and offer a firm but gentle hand to move the birds around.

Maths has been magical and involved as always.

Oh and we went to the forest and something had been making big holes in the bark chippings. The Pioneers had a few suggestions to offer but we did not come to a conclusion. We will have to look for further clues!

Very Happy Learning!