We really enjoyed our first Christmas Fayre!

We hope you enjoy our Christmas performance.

This week the Swans have been learning all about milk and how to keep their teeth healthy! They have learnt all about the benefits of drinking milk and how to keep our teeth healthy too!

We read the book ‘Oliver’s Milkshake’ and learnt that milk comes from cows. We watched a video clip of how to milk a cow and a few children had a go at trying to milk a rubber glove! We also watched another video clip showing how cows are milked today using a milking machine.

The remaining nine Swans enjoyed our last trip to Sainsbury’s to buy the fruit and milk needed to make our two milkshakes.

We made two different milk shakes, a banana milkshake and a strawberry and blackberry milk shake. As well as using milk the children also wanted to add ice cream. It was a fantastic idea! Both milk shakes were extra creamy and cold! The banana milk shake was the most popular amongst the children however, the adults preferred the strawberry and blackberry milkshake and we all agreed it would make an amazing frozen yoghurt!!!

To begin our week focussing on teeth we brainstormed together as a class what we use our teeth for, why it is important to keep our teeth healthy and how to keep our teeth healthy.

In Language for Thinking the Swans watched a short video clip demonstrating how to clean their teeth properly. The children then opened their Colgate teeth pack containing a tooth brush and tooth paste and every child had a chance to brush their teeth.

They did a fantastic job!

Many of our Discovery Time activities were based on teeth!

The children enjoyed brushing the white unifix cubes with toothpaste in the tuff tray!

In the other tuff tray the children had a great time pretending to floss the ice cube tray teeth using play dough and ribbon!

On the Maths table the children had to add the correct amount of teeth to each mouth.

The children were very good at sorting out the pictures of food that is good for our teeth and food that is bad for our teeth and can cause holes in our teeth or cavities!

On the play dough table the child made super pink lips and a mouth full of healthy teeth!

The children played a fun game on the Funky fingers table using the tweezers to remove the pom pom teeth.

Insert race to lose a tooth

In the sand tray the children placed the white unifix cubes in the ‘mouth’.

On the Workshop table the children enjoyed sticking the mini marshmallows in the card shaped mouths!

On the Writing table the children used their phonic knowledge, robotic arms and blending hands to write about how they keep their teeth healthy.

Well done Swans you have worked so hard on our Healthy Me topic! You deserve to have a Christmas Break and be back in January raring to go once again to work hard and continue to ‘knock our socks off!’

Mrs Hill had a fantastic day on Thursday working with two groups of the Swans and their parents at our Christmas Workshop!

The children and their parents worked together to make and create a variety of Christmas activities and decorations. A fantastic time was had by all!

Thank you to all our parents who came along to support and work with their child.

This week the Swans have focused on fruit as part of our Healthy Eating Topic this term.

In Discovery Time many of our activities were fruit related.

On the writing table the children used their phonic knowledge and their robotic arms and blending hands to write about which fruits they did like and which fruits they didn’t like.

On one of the Maths Tables the Swans discovered just how heavy real pieces of fruit are! Well done for balancing the scales children. Some fruit took far too many cubes to be able to count them as well!

The Swans enjoyed working with real money on our second maths table, making sure they added the correct number of 1p coins in the tens frame.

In the water tray the children sorted the plastic fruit and counted how many of each type they had found.

The swans enjoyed putting our fruit jigsaws together, making sure all the pieces were for the same piece of fruit and placing them in number order!

The Swans even managed to draw their favourite piece of fruit on the iPads!

A group of the Swans also visited Sainsbury’s to buy what we needed to make our fruit salad.

The children prepared the fruit that they had bought from Sainsbury’s and enjoyed eating our yummy fruit salad!

Well done Swans you have worked really hard on all of the fruit related activities this week and you have made a fantastic fruit salad. All of you tasted it and some of you had a second helping!

This week the Swans have been focusing upon healthy food, particularly vegetables. We have read books about eating vegetables and discussed why eating vegetables is good for us.

In Discovery Time the Swans worked on lots of vegetable based activities.

On the painting table the children used the pastels to make observational drawings of a variety of different vegetables.

The children decided which food and drink pictures were healthy and then chose which healthy foods and drinks they would like in their healthy lunchbox.

In the water tray the Swans fished out the healthy food to put in their shopping baskets.

On the Workshop table the children made a heathy plate of food using a variety of resources and on the writing table they used their phonic knowledge, robot arms and blending hands to explain which vegetables they liked and which vegetables they didn’t like.

The Swans were very excited to find out they would go on a trip to Sainsbury’s on the bus with Mrs Hill. It was explained that everybody would get a chance to go but we could only take nine children at a time. This week the children bought the vegetables that they needed to make ‘Potato and Parsnip’ soup  and ‘Spicy Carrot and Potato’ soup.

On Friday the children helped prepare the vegetables and they put them in the soup maker to cook. When the soup was ready the children tasted both soups. It was decided that the Potato and Parsnip soup tasted the best!

Well done Swans! You have all worked really hard this week!

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This week the Swans, along with the rest of the school, focused lots of their circle time on Anti Bullying and online safety.

We began the week by wearing odd socks on Monday to represent how it is good to be different and how we are all unique!

The Swans put together a list of all the ways we could show kindness and respect to each other. We then decided which were the eight most important (difficult to choose from as all are so important!)

Then every time one of the teachers or children witnessed an act of kindness it was added to the list. By the end of the week all of the children were on least one list! Everyone was on the list for using their manners every day… We have a very polite set of Swans this year!

In another circle time the Swans discussed what they should do if another child said or did something they didn’t like. With their talk partner, the children discussed what they should do and we have some actions to show you!

The Swans also discussed staying safe on the internet and what they should do if any content they didn’t like appeared on their computer screen, tablet or phone screen at home or at school. Swans said they needed to inform a grown up or a teacher – well done!

During our ‘Wake and Shake’ sessions we learnt a new song which proved really popular with both the children and the adults! You can watch Andy and the Odd Socks here: Andy and the Odd Socks – One Kind Word (Official Video) – YouTube

Well done Swans. You have had a fabulous week trying so hard to be kind and respectful to each other!

Your teachers are very proud of you and so should all of your parents be!

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Last week the Swans learnt all about the festival of Diwali and Bonfire night. This week we began our new topic ‘Healthy Me!’

We began the week in our Language for Thinking lesson, discussing what foods we need to eat to stay healthy. We decided that we need a variety of different foods to do this.

We can have chocolate, sweets, chips or a fizzy drink for a treat but we certainly can’t eat just these foods all the time!

The Swans also decided we needed to do some exercise to stay heathy and in our family groups we devised an exercise routine which I’m sure the children will show you at home!

In Discovery Time the Swans could choose from a variety of activities with healthy eating as the focus! In the tuff tray this week the children had to sort the play food into a plate of healthy and unhealthy food.

On the Funky Fingers table the Swans had to choose five heathy food pictures, cut them out and stick them on the picture of a body.

On the Work shop table the children created their favourite meal using a variety of resources, sticking them onto a paper plate.

Our writing focus this week was for the Swans to draw a picture of their favourite food and colour it in carefully and use their robotic arms and blending hands to help them write about the food they had chosen.

In our Maths lessons this week we have been learning about 2 and not two, and in Discovery time the children demonstrated this with a variety of resources. They also recapped learning about 1 and not one on the Maths table.

On the Play dough table the children also practised their repeating pattern skills, choosing two shapes and making the pattern of two.

Well done Swans! Another fantastic week of showing your teachers your amazing Characteristics of Learning!

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This week the Swans started our new topic ‘Celebrations’ and we had two to choose from this week – Diwali and Bonfire night.

The children have learnt all about Diwali, a festival that Sikh and Hindu’s all over the world celebrate every November and is called ‘The festival of Lights’. Diwali is a five day celebration that began on Thursday.

The children watched a few short video clips that showed a little girl called Jessica prepare and celebrate Diwali with her family. The swans also learnt about the story of Rama and Sita which inspired the whole festival.

All our activities in Discovery Time were inspired by Diwali.

We made Diva lamps out of clay which when dry we will paint and add a tea light which they can then light at home.

The Swans made Mehndi patterns with a pencil, carefully drawing beautiful patterns and shapes.

They also made Mehndi patterns using sequins too !

Hindu and Sikhs also prepare their homes ready to celebrate Diwali by drawing and making Rangoli patterns on their door steps outside their houses. The Swans made some fantastic Rangoli patterns in various ways. On the Work shop table the children made Rangoli patterns out of beans and pulses.

The children also made Rangoli patterns with the loom bands on the Funky fingers table.

On the Maths table we made Rangoli patterns out of the Numicon and 2D shapes.

As you can see The Swans have had a fantastic time learning all about Diwali and used all the characteristics of learning to achieve this!

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