World Book Day

Today the children have had lots of fun celebrating World Book Day. This annual event is a wonderful way to promote reading, books, authors, and illustrators. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum, and developing a love of books and reading inspires children to read for pleasure.

It was lovely to see the children dressed up as book characters. They all looked wonderful! A big ‘thank you’ to parents and carers for your help in providing the costumes. The children enjoyed sharing with others who their dress-up character was, and they loved hearing about the other characters that their friends were.

Storyteller. We started the day with a fantastic storytelling session with local storyteller, Malou Evans. Combining storytelling, drama, dance, and music she retold traditional tales including ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’, ’Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and other folk tales from around the world. Storytelling encourages children to be creative - rather than being given the imagery to accompany the words, the child is able to use their imagination to picture the setting and the characters. The children were captivated by Malou’s stories, and they loved joining in with the repeated phrases and actions. It was a truly fun and inspirational session capturing a true love of learning and stories. 

“I liked joining in with the actions when she said, ‘Up the hill and down the hill’.  It was so funny!”  Beowulf

“I liked the 3 little pigs story when the wolf landed in the pot of hot water and burnt his bum! The storyteller screamed so loudly!”  Oscar

“We used our thumbs to pretend that they were Mr Wiggle and Mr Waggle.” Mila

Traditional tale character hunt. We went to the woodland camp where we discovered lots of strange creatures like a hungry wolf, some pigs, a gingerbread man, and a little girl in a red cloak.  We also found some straw, sticks and bricks, a broomstick, and lots and lots of porridge! We then found some traditional tales and enjoyed story time in the woods.

Bookmark. We have created a special bookmark featuring your child in their costume.

Reading anywhere! We have enjoyed taking books to different places today to share with our friends. We sat in ‘reading boats’ made from cardboard boxes and cushions; we snuggled under blankets; we lay in reading hammocks; we read upside-down under a table, and we put on headphones and listened to audio books. Some of us even read a story to our class guinea pigs!

Bedtime story. This afternoon we had a special storytime - we turned the lights down and had milk and cookies while we had a story read to us.

Booktrust pack. Thanks to BookTrust’s ‘Time to Read’ campaign, your child will be coming home with a pack today, including a book to keep, ‘We’re going to find the monster’. The campaign encourages families to make time to share stories and read together. We hope you enjoy the story book.

World Book Day token. Inside the pack we have also put your child’s £1 World Book Day token – this can be exchanged for a World Book Day book on the special display stands inside supermarkets and bookstores. These vouchers can be redeemed from now until Sunday 26th March 2023. We encourage you to use this to purchase a new book for your child.

We have all had such a wonderful World Book Day!

Lego League Discover Programme – Session 1: Let’s Discover

This week Puffins and Penguins started their new Lego programme - Lego League Discover – Superpower.

Over the course of 10 sessions, children will think and behave like engineers. The programme will enable children share and test ideas. Children will work in small groups to explore, design, create and evaluate their models. They will be using skills to communicate, problem solve, take risks, and pose questions.

The theme this year is called Superpower. The children will explore the entire energy journey, where energy comes from to how it is stored and used. The children will build a wind turbine and create their own energy saving models for the different people in the community.

Key vocabulary this week: energy, electricity, fuel, function.

This week we introduced the theme of energy. We found out that energy from the sun (through solar panels) and the wind (through wind turbines) can be used to make electricity.

The children were encouraged to play freely and build anything they wanted, using their imaginations and discovering the pieces’ functions, e.g., cogs, gears, accordion, pulley, rocker.  

The children all thoroughly enjoyed the session and are looking forward to the other sessions.

Save the Date – Parent Lego

On Wednesday 8^th March at 2.45pm, we would like to invite you to a parent information session in school. We would like to share the many benefits of the First Lego League Discover programme and how the learning can be continued at home. At the end of the session, you will be able to take home a free Duplo gift to use at home with your child.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask the class teacher.

We are always looking for ways to innovate our curriculum and the First Lego League Discover programme is a fun and exciting opportunity, which has been very successful over the past few years.

Maths

In maths sessions, we have been working on repeating patterns, progressing from children copying simple AB patterns (e.g., red, green, red, green) to more challenging patterns such as ABB (red, green, green, red, green, green) or ABBC (red, green, green, blue, red, green, green, blue). Children have had to identify the ‘unit of repeat’, and then continue a pattern.  Children have then been challenged to create their own patterns during choosing learning time, for example, in the builders’ yard with the coloured bricks. Patterns can be made with objects like coloured cubes, small toys, buttons and keys, and with outdoor materials like pine cones, leaves or twigs. We can also spot repeated patterns in stories, e.g., the crossing of the bridge in the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, the wolf trying to blow each pig’s house down, the Gingerbread man saying, “You can’t catch me” and running away from each character. We also used our knowledge of patterns in ‘snack time’ by making a fruit kebab on a bamboo skewer where we had to organise our selected fruit into a pattern, for example, pear, raisin.

Home Learning

• Enjoy the Seesaw story ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ read by Mrs Clague.
• Check your child’s book bag and Seesaw for phonics activities and reading to complete at home.
• Explore the contents of your Booktrust pack.
• Exchange your World Book Day token for a special WBD book. (Look out for the special display stands in supermarkets or bookstores).

Important Dates        

• Wednesday 8^th March at 2.45pm - Lego parent information session.
• Sunday 26th March - Redeem the World Book Day token for a special book by this date.

From Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team