Bears@taddy

 The Bears have started their new book 'Lost and found' by Oliver Jeffers where the boy takes the lost penguin back to the North Pole on a boat. We decided to make our own boats during Forest Schools this afternoon.  We split into 2 groups, one group made a large scale boat, big enough for the whole group to fit in. The other learnt about some of the tools that we use in Forest schools and started to make our own wooden boat. We started by sawing the wood using a bill hook. We then split the wood into two pieces, using a bill hook and mallet. Then we started to whittle the shape of the boat using potato peelers and sheeth knives. I'm really looking forward to continuing this project- there's going to be some masterpieces.

 The receptions have been exploring patterns. We looked for patterns in the environment and then made our own ABAB patterns using natural materials.

 The Bears have been measuring capacity this week. We estimated how many non-standard units of sand and water would fit into different sized containers, then measured to see if our estimates were correct. We made sure we filled the containers to the top, to ensure the measurements were correct. 

 This week, during Forest Schools, the children  made bird feeders to hand up around out school grounds.  First, we added string to pine cones then spread peanut butter around them and dipped them in bird seeds.  We also melted lard and added bird seed it and spreaded it out on a tray then waited for it to set. The receptions then used cutters to cut out bird feed 'brownies' the next day.  The children were very excited to hang up the bird feeders for the birds to enjoy.

 We arrived in class to find that there were paintings on our classroom walls. The children discussed how it could have happened and why, which led onto talking about things the children had done in the past that were mischievous.  The children then did their own paintings on the wall and named their animals, remembering capital letters for the start of it's name. 

 The children have been getting stuck into our new book- The Extraordinary Gardener this week. Before reading the story, we used our inference and thought about why the character might be extraordinary. The children decided it must be because of all the unusual creatures and plants growing on the front cover. They didn't think that a child gardening was extraordinary as they all enjoy gardening themselves. In the story, Joe is very creative and creates all sorts of interesting creatures and plants to make the world more exciting. The children have created their own plants and creatures with extraordinary features using various different material. They then wrote about their features and what species they are.

 The receptions have been comparing numbers to 10 in lots of different ways this week. They've thrown beanbags and quoits into a hoop and compared who had landed the most. And compared who rolled the most balls into a hoop. They've competed to see who could thread the largest amount of bobbins in a minute. And sorted bobbins into colours and compared the amounts.