Santa came to FS2

We were very surprised to hear "Ho ho ho" this afternoon. Santa came into FS2 to deliver a present.

Thank you Santa for our new wooden castle.

Time for more party food

Party Day

It's not quite 11 o clock and we've already eaten some quavers and biscuits!!!!!!

There's been lots of lovely playing with our toys. A few photos....

Christmas activities

Today we made Christingles using oranges, red tape, sweets, dried fruit and a candle.

Can you remember what each part represents?

Christmas counting

There are lots of lovely things to count on the discovery table this week. Here is a photo of two friends counting beads and sorting the Penguin stackers into size order.

Counting bead strings

Some of the bead garland has been cut into segments of 1-20 beads. Today a group of children were challenged to count the beads and order them. They were very pleased when they succeeded. 

Decorate the wooden tree

The finger gym challenge is to decorate the tree using the loose parts available. It's looking very festive 

Christmas Trees on the light panel

Lots of children have enjoyed playing on the light panel today. Here are some Christmas trees they have made.

Buddy the elf

Buddy seems to like playing hide and seek with us. So far he has hidden in the stocking and up high on the cupboard. On Thursday he was having a look at Moby and the baby snails.

I wonder if he will still be in the reading area on Monday? Are you enjoying reading the books Buddy leaves for us under the tree? 

Treasure Hunt

The children went on a treasure hunt today around the outdoor classroom. They had to read the word to open up the clue. 

Have you heard?

Santa has been in touch and sent a magic elf called Buddy to stay in FS2. He has warned us that Buddy can be mischievous but I'm sure he will be sitting next to my laptop when we come to school tomorrow.

Buddy was inside the bag with the letter from Santa. 

Buddy gave us a present too, it was a new book for our book area.

Exciting news!!

We have some baby snails to look after in FS2. They are about 3 weeks old and were born to Miss Morris' snails. We are going to look after them and put them with Moby, our adult GAL.

Quatrata

Imagine 3d Tetris and that's a little like our quatrata resource. The children have explored this before and know how to copy patterns and make structures.
This week we are using our thinking skills to find ways of combining the shapes to fill the board.

Gold Book

Congratulations to Ethan and Maisy

Ethan has had an excellent week of learning. He's been challenging himself to create excellent watches in the model making area. These became so popular, everyone wanted one!!

Maisy has such a wealth of ideas to share during our Big Talk sessions on Friday. Well done Maisy, I really enjoy listening to your suggestions.

Big Talk

This week Big Talk will be based on the video below.
The video is of a Galleon built for the film 'Pirates of the Caribbean'
(The first couple of minutes are the best)

What do you recognise?

Can you see a cannon?

What do you think the bell is for?

Where would a pirate sleep?

Where is the crow's nest?

What are all the ropes for?

What happens when the big wheel is turned?

Why do you think there are lots of people aboard the ship?

Fine motor control activity

Clipping pegs into number cards is the task this week. It's easier said than done! These two fairies are having a go together.

Pirate ships

We are continuing with the pirate activities again this week. Today we made pirate ships. Big ships outside and small ships inside. The children making a pirate ship outside included a plank for those troublesome pirates keen to steal all their treasure!

Inside, we were making ships that would hold a pirate figure and successfully float on water.

(More photos of this later in the week)

Gold Book

Congratulations to Maya and Logan K

Maya is in the Gold Book this week for always being friendly towards the children and adults in FS2.

Logan is in the Gold Book for sharing his excellent BIG TALK homework ideas. He has very interesting things to share.

Big Talk

Here is the illustration for Big Talk on Friday.

Credit - Jamie Smith

What can you see?

Who are these people and what are they doing?

Would you like to be aboard this ship?

Where are they going?

The pirates have landed in FS2!

What a great day we've had today. We've been on a treasure hunt, made pirate ships, created small worlds using the dough and started to draw our own treasure maps. 

I'm already looking forward to tomorrow!!

Fireworks on the light panel

FS2 really enjoy creating art with loose parts, we call it transient art. Here they are using beads and garlands to make representations of the fireworks they saw the week before.

Pumpkin seeds in the water tray

We cut open another pumpkin last week and explored how the seeds reacted in water. They felt slippery in the container when you swished your hand around. We have saved the seeds to use in our counting activities.

Children in Need Day

Thank you for taking part in our Superhero dress up day. 

Book time bags

I hope everyone enjoyed a special storytime yesterday with Mrs Critchley. Did you read one of your new books before bed last night?

Golden Children

Congratulations Harley and Samuel

I love having Harley in my class, he's always on the go busy making something, playing somewhere and learning something new.

 Samuel had an excellent week of learning last week. He continues to be such a polite member of the class and I always enjoy spending time sharing a book with him.

Big Talk

Here is the image we will talk about on Friday.

Source - Alan Peat

What can you see?

Can you explain what has happened?

How has this happened?

Where is this place?

Some examples of vocabulary to encourage;

Damage, wind, storm, force, power, uprooted, accident, safety, heavy, bent, ruined

Remembrance Day

Follow this link to watch an animation from Cbeebies called Poppies Click here

Making art with loose parts

I wanted to wait until this week to talk about fireworks and bonfire night so the children could recall their first hand experiences.

On our discovery table we have a variety of loose parts for creating firework art. 

Just look at these from today, they are super.

Remembrance Day

You have probably seen the poppies marking the start of the First World War, installed in the moat at the Tower of London. During August I went to see the poppies with my family and it was a spectacular sight.

Here are two of my photos.

To commemorate this in school, each class will be making poppies using different crafts. We intend to make our own 'sea of red' in the school hall.

In FS2 we have been making a giant poppy using collage. Here we are making it together.

We also made a carpet of poppies with tissue paper.

Here we are making our own poppy collage.

Maisy has painted a poppy

Next week we will all come together on Remembrance Day to hold a 2 minute silence in the hall.

Golden Children

Congratulations to Logan and Finn

Logan is such a polite and well manner member of FS2. He is a pleasure to teach.

Finn just loves to play and learn outside. He is an amazing footballer and always plays fairly with the other members on the team.

Welcome back

Hello everyone and welcome back to school. I hope your half term holiday was lots of fun.

Here is the Big Talk homework, we will talk about it on Friday morning. You all have a sheet with this photo but here it is in colour.

Possible questions;

Where is this place?

What can you see?

Would you like to be there?

What is happening?

What will happen next?

Examples of vocabulary to encourage;

Diver, jellyfish, float, oxygen mask, ocean, pattern, tentacles

Black History Month comes to an end

We had a great time with Lucy on Tuesday, she taught us an African dance. We had to listen carefully to instructions and move in rhythm to the music.

Here is a reminder of some art work we did earlier in the month.

Golden Children

Congratulations Rhyley and Amelia

I am really pleased that Rhyley is enjoying coming to school. As the weeks have gone on he is finding lots of lovely new activities to try and he's tackling these with a smile.

Amelia is such a busy learner in FS2. She can always be found trying out something new or leading an activity with her friends. 

Spooky fun in FS2

We've had lots of different activities linked to Hallowe'en this week. Have a look at all the fun we've had.

Fun on the trim trail

Playing and singing together

This is what some of the children got up to on Friday. Their organisation was superb and a delight to watch.

Outside fun with conkers

Before the heavy rain came we managed to get outside and play with the conker tray. Today we had a tube and some guttering to use too. Here is a photo collage of the children playing cooperatively.