Time to Tumble!

The children have been doing a great job working on their gymnastics skills in PE this half term.  The school have introduced gymnastics badges, and Mrs Ledger is very proud to say that we have two children who have already achieved their bronze level award.  We have another two children who are only one aspect away from getting their bronze badge as well.  Wow!!

To get the bronze badge children have to complete a:

. Log roll

. Pencil jump

. Jump with a bent knee landing

. Base balance (for 3 seconds)

. Point balance (for 3 seconds)

We've also been working hard on our bunny hops, jumping, climbing and rolling skills.  EVERYONE has made great progress with their forward rolls, here are some pictures of the children in action.

Trying out our green fingers!

Another busy week in Foundation stage!
Both Nursery and Reception enjoyed a trip to the Garden Centre on Tuesday - which also included a trip on the bus which the children seemed to think was very exciting!  We had a great time looking at all the plants and vegetables, thinking about how we grow them and what we have to do to make sure they grow well.  We enjoyed trying to name the more unusual ones whilst some of the children tried to work out what the various garden tools were used for.
Thank you very much to the parent helpers who made it possible.

Back in class we are watching our caterpillars (the real ones!) grow and talking about how they might change.

If any children have been growing things at home we would love to see pictures or some writing about how that's going!

In maths the Butterflies are learning how we use number lines or hundred squares to count on when adding - Our friendly alien, Bob appreciated their help in helping him count the sweets in his sweet jar which he was finding tricky..!

We have also been looking at CAPITAL LETTERS and singing the alphabet this week to help us learn our letter names.  Why not try at home with the grown ups to spell out your own and your family's names?

** Apologies for the lack of photos in this post  - They will hopefully be added next week! **

Welcome!

We have been so busy since the Easter holidays!

We have welcomed three new children to Caterpillars class and to make them feel at home we have changed our role play area in to a home corner.

We looked on "Twinkl" online to see what pictures we could find to put in our house. We thought it would be good to have a sink and a TV. We printed out the pictures and then drew our own pictures, looking really carefully at the colours and shapes we could use.

We have been super mathematicians in our new maths area, balancing objects using our scales and exploring different shapes with puzzles and tap a shape. Caterpillar class have been practising writing numbers 3 and 4 in the sand.

We are still anticipating the arrival of our very own caterpillars and have been reading the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. What foods did the caterpillar eat? Where did the caterpillar come from? What will happen to him next?

Ooops!

After lots of hard work by Mrs Beaufort and the children making beautiful Easter baskets, Mrs Ledger has fallen at the last hurdle and forgotten to give them out, oops!

I'm so sorry to have forgotten, but I promise not to eat the chocolates over the holidays...and at least the children have a good incentive to come back to school!  We'll keep the baskets safe and give them out on the first day back.

New Life

Caterpillars and Butterflies were very lucky this morning to have a visit from Em and Peter from Sandridge Church. They asked us to have a look outside to look for signs of new life. We spotted blossom, buds, daffodils, tulips and we also saw a crocus.

 

Em talked to us about how Spring is a time when new life starts to appear. She told us how some Christians believe that Jesus died and came back to life at Easter. She read us a story about a dove who saw lots of new life as well as seeing Jesus happy with his friends after he had come back to life.

Em and Peter gave us all our very own egg. They asked us to decorate them to show that Easter is a time to celebrate.

Looking forward to a busy final week...

We've got lots going on in the final week of term, so we thought it might be useful to have a little recap of everything we've got planned:

. Please begin to return library books over next the next week, in preparation for Easter.  (Sorry that books couldn't go out as normal today, there was an issue with the library computer.).  Reading books will be sent home as normal, and all children will have reading books over Easter.

. The children have now had their final PE session before Easter so kits will be sent home ready for a wash.  Please return kits in the first week back after Easter, complete with trainers/plimsolls.  The children have really enjoyed going outside for PE now that the weather is warming up.

. Thank you very much to those of you who have already contributed a craft donation.

MONDAY

Em and Peter from Sandridge Church will be visiting us to do some work around the Easter story, learning about New Life and Spring.

TUESDAY

The children will be making some Easter baskets and bringing home a few chocolatey treats!

WEDNESDAY

All welcome for the fun run in the morning!  After they've worked up an appetite the children in EYFS will be enjoying their hard-earned pasta party; Butterflies and Caterpillars are welcome to stay in their fancy dress outfits all day (please note the older children in school will be expected to change out of their outfits after the fun run).

Don't forget the talent show is taking place on Wednesday evening.  Tickets required.

THURSDAY

All parents welcome for the end of term celebration assembly at 9am.  The school day finishes at 1.30pm at which point there will be an end of term Teacher bake sale.

Thank you all for your efforts at home and support this term, the children are doing a great job, and we look forward to seeing everyone refreshed after a restful Easter break.

Green-fingered Gardeners!

Today in the Early Years Unit the children have been helping take care of the gardening area.  They dug out all of the weeds and old plants from our vegetable tyres and found some very interesting creatures on the way!  The soil in the tyres is now ready for lots of digging next week, before we plant some of the seeds we are growing in pots.

 

 

 Before....

 ...and after!

We also relocated our insect hotel as we are developing the gardening space.  We moved in some guests straight away: we recognised worms, caterpillars, slugs and snails, but wondered if anybody at home can help us to identify the two mystery creatures we found whilst we were tidying up?

https://ladybirdplantcare.co.uk/chafer_grub.html we've found it!

And what is this?!

The new insect hotel under construction.