The Festival of Lights

This week the children have been learning all about Diwali, the Festival of Lights. They heard the story of Rama and Sita and had a go at acting it out for the rest of the class. 

The children have also been learning how people celebrate Diwali and have been creating their own Rangoli patterns.

"Sometimes people take sweets to the neighbourhood" - Lily-May

Back to School!

The children have been back to school for 4 weeks now and what a busy start to the half term it has been! There have been new friends to make, school lunches to eat and lots of exciting things to learn and do.

This week Reception have dedicated time to supporting charitable causes as part of our topic 'People Who Help Us'. The children were lucky enough to have a visit from a lovely lady who volunteers at the Watford Foodbank who told us all about the fantastic work that they do there and how they help lots of people. Thanks to the generosity of the Reception parents we were able to send a sizable donation back to the Watford Foodbank which will be used to feed families in need!

If you would like any more information about the Watford Foodbank then please follow this link: http://watford.foodbank.org.uk/

Not only have the children been collecting food for the Foodbank, but Thursday saw the entire school baking up a storm in time for the Macmillan Cake Sale. There were cakes and biscuits of all shapes and sizes and the hall was full of people queuing up to see what treats they could find. With only a few crumbs left at the end of the sale, we are keeping our fingers crossed for a big fundraising total to send to Macmillan!

Take One Picture...

Across the school we have taken part in the National Gallery's 'Take One Picture' scheme as part of our Arts Week, using the picture 'Mr and Mrs Andrews' as a stimulus for creating our own pieces of art.

In Reception we chose to take inspiration from the countryside setting of the picture and create sculptures and art work using natural materials.

As well as looking at 'Mr and Mrs Andrews' we explored the work of Andy Goldsworthy to support our chosen theme.

The children collected sticks, leaves and other natural objects from the wooded area and used them to create some imaginative art work.

 "The Gruffalo"

 

A castle - "It has leaves and flowers on the floor"

The Long Arm of the Law...

Nursery 

Our role play is now a busy police station. Each policeman makes his own ID badge and all the prisoners have been fingerprinted!

When taking a break from fighting crime, the nursery children have been looking at their learning journals.

Flamenco Fever!

Reception

There are always lots of exciting activities to try out in the Early Years garden. Here is one of our Reception children exploring the musical instruments, incorporating the castanets into a fantastic flamenco dance! 

Reading is fun!

We have been lucky enough to have some new books in Nursery. This week we have been learning to enjoy our new books and to handle them with care.

Writing in the Role Play

RH

The children in RH have been exploring the hospital role play this week during CIL. They have been working hard to treat patients suffering from a wide range of ailments and injuries including broken arms and tummy aches!

There has also been lots of lovely writing happening in the role play this week. Our class mascot, Marcel Monkey was so impressed that he chose Poppie as his 'Star Writer' after she filled out this prescription form!

Story Writing

RP

This half term we have been enjoying reading and exploring traditional tales. In RP we have been inspired to create our own stories. Look at some of our amazing examples. Well done RP.

Magic beans...

RH

After hearing the story of Jack and the Beanstalk this week, some of the children were inspired to have a go at writing their own copy during CIL.

Nursery

While the sun has been shining, nursery have been busy preparing the flower bed for their vegetable seeds! The children are hoping to see carrots, tomatoes and runner beans growing soon!! 

St George to the Rescue

In Reception we have been learning all about St George in honour of St George's day on Thursday. 

The children were put into groups and given the challenge of re-enacting George's fight with the fierce dragon to rescue the princess! The children did a great job of acting out the story and had fun watching each other's performances. 

The children also produced some pieces of writing retelling the story of George and the dragon.

'Once upon a time there was a knight called George. He killed that dragon.'

Signs of new life

RP

In RP we have enjoyed watching our caterpillars grow and have enjoyed writing about them in our child initiated learning. 

Wow, we have also been using our phonics to write interesting labels for our models. 

Nursery

The chicks are getting bigger and nursery children are handling the chicks with care.

 

We enjoy watching the chicks stretch their wings as they jump around! 

We have also been learning about the life cycle of a chick.

Top tip...

RWI Pronunciation sounds guide:

http://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/resources/sound-pronunciation-guide/ 

Please check out this video to help your child pronunciate the sounds that we are learning correctly. 

Spring is in the air...

Nursery 

The children have been lucky enough to welcome 10 new arrivals into Nursery this week! All 10 of the eggs delivered on Monday have hatched into gorgeous, fluffy chicks and have been entertaining and inspiring the children all week!

RG

The children in RG have really got into the role's of Doctor and patient and are enjoying the hospital....

Especially as they are allowed to write on the walls!

We have had lots of fantastic writing! Keep going RG!

RH

5 little caterpillars wriggled their way into RH this week and have been the focus of lots of attention! We have been learning all about how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly and produced some non-fiction writing about the life cycle of a butterfly.

 Mollie's life cycle writing.

RP

The children in RP went on a walk to look for the signs of spring and then wrote about what they saw.

Get writing...

This week has seen the introduction of our 'Get Writing' backpacks in Nursery and Reception! 

 

The children have enjoyed using this exciting new resource to move away from the tables and take their writing in new directions! 

In RP, the children have also been working hard on their writing in our new role play area.  They have enjoyed finding out different dinosaur facts and writing down what they know!

Little Italy

This week in the Early Years we have been transported to Italy as part of International Week!


Nursery had great fun making their own garlic bread, mixing the garlic and butter and spreading it on the bread all by themselves. 

In Reception, the children designed their own delicious slices of pizza and then worked in groups to create them.

The finished products were then shared with friends and family during International Evening, giving everyone the chance to enjoy a taste of Italy!