On Remembrance Day, we thought about what it means to remember. We can recall happy events but it’s also important for us to learn from less happy times. Mrs Thomson encouraged us to think about the people, who protected our freedom in the past. We created hand printed poppy wreaths to lay in the hall and had some valuable thinking time. Above all, we thought about how important kindness and fairness are for maintaining peace.

Odd socks

Indeed, in anti-bullying week, our entire focus has been around choosing kindness. Thank you for sending the children in wearing odd socks on Monday, encouraging us to celebrate our differences. 

We have been talking a lot at school about how to be kind to our friends. We even have a kindness tree in the RBD classroom. In Collective Worship on Wednesday, we considered how we might demonstrate kindness at home. Could the children lay the table? Phone a relative, who might not have spoken to someone today? Draw a picture for someone? Share a toy with a sibling? We have discovered that being kind is infectious: like chickenpox but much nicer!

‘It’s Good to be Me’ workshop

On Thursday, Jenny, a World Friendship Ambassador (from Bigfoot Arts Education), invited RS into a make-believe school. We met Tommy and Sally, two friendly puppet characters, who were sad because they experienced unkindness. Through song, simple role-play, mime and still-image freeze frames, the children practised their own super powers of talking, kindness, calm thinking and bravery to comfort the characters, make friendly choices and learn how to ask for help.

Thank you for your kindness, RS – you really are a lovely bunch!

When we arrived in school in Monday morning, there were BIG footprints in our outdoor area. Who could they belong to? “A dinosaur?” some of us wondered. We followed the footprints into the woods and discovered mouse, fox, owl and snake before…oh help…oh no….a gruffalo!

We shared Julia Donaldson’s ‘The Gruffalo’ in the amphitheatre, joining in with the familiar parts of the story.

Hot chocolate and biscuits were enjoyed by the fire with Mrs Whittaker. We sang our favourite songs as we watched the flames dancing around the burning logs.

Indoors, we have been learning how to use a hole punch and split pins to create our own moving snakes.

We have also been drawing the gruffalo.

Janet welcomed us to Harlow Carr and encouraged us to think about what we notice each season. What happens to the trees? What happens to the weather? How does it affect the clothes that we choose to wear? She introduced us to Terry the Tree and explained that his leaves are falling off because he is deciduous.

Then we went on a hunt for various signs of Autumn: leaves; berries; apples, wellies…what else did we see?

When we entered the greenhouse, our gardening fingers started to wiggle. Everyone filled a small pot with compost and we planted two peas: how long will it take for your pea shoots to come through?

Outside again, we chose and waved our favourite leaf and Janet encouraged us to make leaf shapes with our bodies.

Up popped Susie Squirrel, who asked for our help to collect and hide acorns. She didn’t want the cheeky jays to raid her stash.

The next forest animal to ask for our help was Hedgehog: “A house, where I can hibernate, please?” Leaves, sticks, logs and lots of imagination were used for some creative architecture. Who knew that hedgehogs like to shower?

After our packed lunch in The Lodge, we headed for the Logness Monster playground, where the slide, rope swing and big instruments were a hit.

Well done, children, for your impeccable behaviour and thank you to the family members, who were able to join us.

Learning more about other cultures and religions is always fun in Reception. This week, we have been discovering how and why Diwali is celebrated by Hindu and Sikh families. We discovered that Diwali is the festival of lights and we enjoyed acting out the story of Princess Sita and Warrior King Rama. The children all volunteered for a role in our performance and then we used the photos to create a story map. Can the children tell you what role they played and where they appear in the story?

We bashed and moulded clay to create our own diva lamps like those used to light the path home for Rama and Sita.

We have practised careful colouring of rangoli patterns and created patterns in chalk.

A Diwali dance increased our heart rates as we learnt some very funky moves.

Thank you to Jaskirat’s sister, Manpreet, who shared with us how their family celebrate Diwali. We really enjoyed hearing the story of Guru Hargobind, who adapted his cloak so that all 52 princes could escape. She was kind enough to bring all of the children a Diwali card.

We also thank Mrs Reheel, who came to talk to us about how her family celebrate the festival of lights. As a Sikh, she celebrates Bandi Chhor Divas. She showed us her beautiful new clothes and precious diva lamps. She also encouraged all families to visit the Sikh Temple Gurdwara on Chapeltown Road on Monday 20th October: everyone is welcome.

We are always keen to share in celebrating moments that are culturally important to you at home so please do send in photos that you are happy to share.

Our favourite CBeebies presenters introduced their favourite Black History heroes to us and explained why their impact had been so great. We then learned about some famous inventors: Garett Morgan invented traffic lights; Dr Bath invented a machine for improving sight and Philip B Downing invented the postbox. This inspired us to become inventors ourselves.

We created some traffic lights that tell us whether to sit, jump, twirl or put our arms out wide. Evie invented a “collar” for “scaring away fireworks”. Oscar’s bus took him on an underwater treasure hunt. Our new glasses gave us an orange perspective on the classroom. I wonder what other inventions we can think of?

Todd Parr urges us to appreciate that ‘It’s Okay to be Different’ and we do! We are glad that we are all different as it makes our classroom so much more interesting and fun!

After looking at some beautiful African art and noticing the colours and shapes, we had a go at making a class Ndebele pattern.

To mark the occasion of National Poetry Day, Miss Cooke wrote a poem, which celebrates some of things that are special about our school. The whole poem will be performed by the older children next Monday in their assembly. In Reception, we learnt the final verse.

We have also been singing even more nursery rhymes than normal in Reception, The children decided that their favourite is ‘Five Little Buns in a Baker’s Shop’. Oba loves to dance when we sing.

Little Rabbit Foo Foo

On Monday, we found some objects, which gave us clues to our new Talk for Writing text: ‘Little Rabbit Food Foo’: bunny ears, a mallet, a carrot, some denim, a fairy wand and a fluffy tail.

We have learnt part of the story each day and would like to present our imitation to you.

We really enjoy the story but know that Little Rabbit Foo Foo needs to make better choices! Next week, we will innovate the story.

Congratulations….

….to Isabelle and Arlo, for earning their first certificates on Reading Eggs and Mathseeds respectively. They are so proud.

Thank you so much if you were able to join us for our box exhibition this morning. The children were very excited to share the contents of the boxes with their buddies. It is such a special part of getting to know the children and we really appreciate the effort that went into making them: thank you.

On Monday, we found lots of colourful dots in the classroom and Mrs Shipley was dressed up as an artist. We wondered why?

When Mrs Pridden arrived, Sophie borrowed the art overalls and we heard the story of Vashti: a young girl who, at the start of Peter H Reynolds’ story, lacks the confidence to draw. However, with her teacher’s encouragement, she discovers that she is very capable of producing wonderful art: so much so that Vashti inspires a young boy to pick up his pencil when he sees her paintings at the school art show.

‘The Dot’ is an uplifting tale about having a growth mindset. We have been talking about how it is perfectly normal to have things we can’t do yet. Asking a friend or adult for support or putting lots of effort into practising can really help us to improve. The sense of satisfaction, when we learn new skills, gives us such a buzz.

When you are drawing at home, remember that you can ‘Just make a mark and see where it takes you’…..and don’t forget to sign it!

We all feel very proud looking at the dotty art we are creating this week.

The buddying relationships between our Reception children and their older peers in Year 6 are always precious. The children met on Monday and have had the opportunity to start getting to know one another during lunch time play this week. Reception parents will meet their child’s buddy at the ‘All about Me’ box exhibition on Wednesday 24th September.

Caring for our chicken

We have also had the opportunity to meet our chicken. We talked about how we can keep her healthy – by giving her space to exercise; fresh water; food and a clean straw bed, on which to lay the eggs (which we love to collect and count). Wrapping the eggs carefully is a DT challenge! We would love to see how you eat your eggs. If you have any pets at home, we would enjoy seeing photos and hearing about how you care for them – via Tapestry, please.

This week, we welcomed nearly all of this year’s RS into school. School bears were cuddled, self-portraits were drawn, friends were reunited, new friendships were made, ‘All about Me’ boxes were delved into, delicious lunches were enjoyed in the dinner hall, indoor and outdoor areas were explored, models were created in the workshop, tea parties were held in the home corner, sorting and tidying was practised and we made our first visit to our class tree: a Ribston Pippin. The adults were really impressed by the kindness, good manners and wonderful approach to our early learning on display. Well done, children, and thank you, parents, for your support.

On Monday, one more member of RS will arrive and, in the afternoon, we will meet our wonderful and caring Year 6 buddies: how exciting!