Learning Experience

Over half term, our caterpillars have gone through their transformation (metamorphosis) from caterpillar to butterfly.

At the start of the week, a few of the butterflies had emerged from their chrysalides, and over the last few days all of the others have come out too. The children have loved watching them and counting how many butterflies we have each day. We have been looking after them and feeding them with sugar water, banana, and an orange! The thirsty butterflies have loved sitting on top of the orange slices and enjoying a drink of orange juice!

Yesterday was a very exciting day for the children – we released the butterflies into the woodland camp! The butterflies must have loved their classroom home as they did not seem that keen to go at first, but it meant that it gave the pupils a close-up view before the butterflies eventually flew away.

We will shortly post a video of this learning experience on Seesaw.

Swimming

Today was our first school swimming session! The children were very excited and had lots of fun in our outdoor pool. They listened well to the instructions, and we are very proud of them! We are sure that they will tell you all about it!

We will be swimming each Friday until the end of the school year.

PE kits

Puffins and Penguins will still be doing PE as well as swimming this half term. Please send in your child’s PE kit before Tuesday.

School Value – Determination     

This week we have introduced the school value of ‘Determination’ to the children. We talked about how determination means that you do not give up if it goes wrong – you just keep going and try again!

The children took part in some challenging activities including an egg and spoon obstacle course, and one where they had to work with a partner to get a ball in a bucket … but without using their hands! Sometimes this did not work, and we talked about how it is ok to fail but not to give up and that we can change things to improve it next time – indeed, this is how we learn. The children had great fun and more importantly they all showed a lot of determination!

“I have to try my best in everything I do.​”

“I think about how to solve problems even when they are tricky for me.​”

“If things don’t work at first, you just try and try again!”​

Mathematics

In Maths this week, we have been exploring weight and money. We used the balance scales to find items that weighed the same as each other – we especially enjoyed weighing the dinosaurs! We set up a shop in our role-play corner so that the children could practise paying for items, counting out the right amount of money and calculating change.

Izzy’s hair cut

Izzy has been growing her hair and has been determined to donate it to the Little Princess Trust. She is having her hair cut this weekend.

If you would like to read more or donate, then please use this link www.gofund.me/4da033ee

Sun safety

In warmer weather, please help to ensure that your child is protected from the Sun.

Sun cream: Please apply sun cream at home in the morning.

Sunhat: Send in a labelled sun hat each day.

Water bottle: Please also remember to send in their water bottle each day. (You could put it in the fridge overnight or add ice cubes to it to make the water cooler.) In hot weather the children will be drinking more, so if their bottle is finished, we can also refill it from the water cooler in school.

Home Learning

Storytime – Miss Lewis has recorded a lovely story for you to listen to on Seesaw.

Maths – Set up your own play shop at home and practice using coins to pay for items. It could be anything at all - a toy shop, a book shop, or a grocery store. You can be as creative as you like! Or maybe you could set up a café and sell real food, for example 6p for a slice of toast, 12p for a drink of juice, etc. Make some price labels for the items so that your customers know how much things cost. We would love it if you posted a photo of your shop on Seesaw so that we can show your shop to the rest of the class!

Phonics and reading – Practice reading your phonic and reading books.

From Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team