World Book Day

Last week saw children and adults alike celebrating World Book Day.

There were fabulous costumes and exciting activities which created a real buzz around the school.

    

Throughout the day the children had opportunities to share books and stories and discuss their favourite characters. At the end of the day each of the children received a £1 World Book Day token, which can be exchanged for one of 10 special World Book Day books, which have been specially written for this event.

Celebrating this love of books and reading is so important for children of any age, but if we can embed this passion in their early years it really can last a life time.

Don't forget to use your token by Sunday 26th March and visit http://www.worldbookday.com/ for more information.

Finally, a big thanks goes to Mrs Ayrton for organising another fantastic World Book Day at the Grove Academy!

  

"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child." - Dr Seuss



The Squeaky Story

As our Primary Writing Project continues, the children in Reception have been busy learning 'The Squeaky Story'. The use of story mountains provide children with a visual representation of the story that they are all able to follow and actions help to embed the pattern of the story.


Exposing children to as many different stories as possible, as well as repeating favourite stories, will support children on their journey to becoming independent readers and writers.


Have a go at sharing 'The Squeaky Story' with your child tonight and see how many actions you can pick up on!!

The Squeaky Story

Once upon a time there was a little girl and a little boy who went to stay with their Grandma.
Just before bed, Grandma said, ‘Goodnight’, gave them a kiss, turned out the light, and closed the door……


but the children said, ‘It’s too noisy!’


So, Grandma said, what you need is a cat….’.
So, she said, ‘Goodnight’, gave them a kiss, turned out the light, closed the door……
and the cat said, ‘meoooow!’ 


but the children said, ‘It’s too noisy!’


So, Grandma said, ‘What you need is a dog….’.
So, she said, ‘Goodnight’, gave them a kiss, turned out the light, closed the door…… the cat said, ‘meoooow!’
and the dog said, ‘Grrrrrrr!’


but the children said, ‘It’s too noisy!’


So, Grandma said, what you need is a sheep….’.
So, she said, ‘Goodnight’, gave them a kiss, turned out the light, closed the door…… the cat said, ‘meoooow!’
and the dog said, ‘Grrrrrrr!’
and the sheep said, ‘Baaaaa!’


but the children said, ‘It’s too noisy!’


So, Grandma said, what you need is a cow….’.
So, she said, ‘Goodnight’, gave them a kiss, turned out the light, closed the door…… the cat said, ‘meoooow!’
and the dog said, ‘Grrrrrrr!’
and the sheep said, ‘Baaaaa!’
and the cow said, ‘Mooooo!’


but the children said, ‘It’s too noisy!


So, Grandma said, what you need is a horse….’.
So, she said, ‘Goodnight’, gave them a kiss, turned out the light, closed the door…… the cat said, ‘meoooow!
and the dog said, ‘Grrrrrrr!’
and the sheep said, ‘Baaaaa!’

and the cow said, ‘Mooooo!’
and the horse said, ‘Neighhh!’


but the children said, ‘It’s too noisy!’


So, Grandma said, what you need is a pig….’.
So, she said, ‘Goodnight’, gave them a kiss, turned out the light, closed the door…… the cat said, ‘meoooow!’
and the dog said, ‘Grrrrrrr!’
and the sheep said, ‘Baaaaa!’
and the cow said, ‘Mooooo!’
and the horse said, ‘Neighhh!’
and the pig said, ‘Oinkkk!’ 

but the children said, ‘It’s too noisy!’

So, Grandma said, ‘OK’ - and she - Took away the cat - meow!
The dog - grrrr!
The sheep - baa!
The cow - moo!
The horse - neigh!
And the pig - oink!

Then she said ‘Goodnight’, gave them a kiss, turned out the light, closed the door……

and the children fell fast asleep.
Shhhhhhhh!

The end.

Mud Pies

This week the nursery children have spent some time exploring the mud kitchen during CIL and created some amazing mud pies.

Outdoor play (especially messy outdoor play!!) is a fantastic way for children to explore different areas of the curriculum. In this photo we can see three children working on their communication and cooperation skills as they share resources and work out what they are making, developing their physical skills as they mix and stir and handle tools and growing their vocabulary through experimenting with different textures and materials.


For children, play is key in developing skills that they can use as they learn throughout their school and adult lives.




For children, play is learning.


"Play is the highest form of research" - Albert Einstein

Take a Walk Little Bear

Across the school, the children have been hard at work learning lots of different stories as we put our Primary Writing Project into practise.


In Reception, we have been leaning the story of a little bear who followed a bee in search of some tasty honey. The children have been using pictures in the form of a 'story mountain' as well as actions to help them remember how the story goes so that they are able to tell it to their friends and teachers.

 

Jessica's Little Bear 'story mountain'

Some children even had a go at turning their favourite stories from home into a story mountain!

 

Hungry Caterpillar 'story mountain' by Bradley

Learning and retelling familiar and much loved stories is such an important part of learning to read and write for children and using pictures to represent a well known story in this way gives children the opportunity to practise their writing and reading skills, even before they know how to read and write!!


To make the story come to life even more, the children discovered exactly what the little bear was hunting for by tasting honey and discussing why they thought he was so keen to find some.

If you would like to find out more about the Primary Writing Project then please talk to your child's class teacher or follow the link for more information... Primary Writing Project

The universe is made of stories, not atoms - Muriel Rukeyser

Internet Safety

As part of our space topic this half term, the children have been researching  rockets and what makes them fly. In order to find out this information we logged on to the internet and the children suggested the well know search engine 'Google' as a good place to start our research.


This raised an excellent opportunity for discussing internet safety and how to stay safe online. Nearly all the children in Reception are lucky enough to be able to access the internet on a wide range of devices and will regularly search for favourite games and websites. Unfortunately, this freedom to explore the online world leaves children open to discovering inappropriate or upsetting content and people, however innocent the search may have been.


In our classes we discussed how sometimes there may be things on the internet that are just for grown ups and suggested ways that we could make sure we stay safe online, just like we do in the real world. The children were very sensible, making suggestions such as asking a grown up to help them and keep them safe.


We then introduced a search engine specifically designed for children and explained that each time we log on to the internet, we should head straight to 'Kidrex' as this lets us search for things in exactly the same way as 'Google' but in a much safer way.


If you would like to find out more information about keeping your children safe online, then please talk to your child's class teacher or follow the links below. 


https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/


http://www.childnet.com/


https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/


http://hectorsworld.netsafe.org.nz/teachers/hectors-world-safety-button/

Space Adventures

Our half term space topic began with a bang (or should that be crash...), with an alien landing in our classrooms.

The children were keen to find out more about our visitors from space and thought of a range of questions they could ask. Some children even had a go at writing their questions down, using their phonic skills to sound out each word.

Inspired by their new alien friend, the children have been busy with lots of other space themed activities including rocket making and addition space games.

The Early Years staff work hard to find lots of different ways to engage the children and capture their imagination.

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.” ― Albert Einstein



Feed the birds...

This week the nursery children have been hard at work creating their own bird feeders to hang in the garden

The Ladybird group with their bird feeders.

Mrs Ricciardi - "We used a needle and string to thread the cheerios to make a delicious snack for the birds now winter is coming!"

At the Grove Academy we believe that outdoor play and learning is vital in developing a broad range of skills and encourage the children to spend time outside on a daily basis. 

For more information on the benefits of outdoor learning, the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) are a great resource.

“Let Nature be your teacher.” – William Wordsworth