Term 6- Week 1
As we entered the first week of the final term, we could hardly believe where the time had gone.
Time most certainly flies when you're having fun!
Despite the sun not continuing to shine as much as we would have hoped, Monday's Forest school was full of adventure and with wellies and waterproofs on, Robins were ready to go.........
"Can we go in the mud?"
"Are we allowed in the pond?"
"I hope I don't get stuck today!"
Mhairi started our Forest school adventure this week with an invertebrate hunt...not a real one to begin with but a toy one, which was quite tricky as a lot of them camouflagued into the environment! We had 6 to find and it didn't take long before we had found them all!
Once we'd found all the invertebrates it was time to explore the rest of Forest school! Off we go........
At the beginning there were small sticks and big sticks but then suddenly these were transformed into fishing rods, how many fish could we catch today? You'd be surprised!
"This one is a big one Mrs Brown!"
Whilst some were busy fishing, others were busy searching for invertebrates, from beetles to ladybird larvae and even a snail, Robins became fantastic nature explorers, showing care and consideration to nature and asking lots of questions about what they had found, even if some of the invertebrates were quite tricky to find at times!
"Ladybug Larvae!"
This week we also made our very own invertebrates out of wood, continuing to practice our sawing skills with Mhairi first and then putting our very own finishing touches to them by adding legs and adding eyes, a mouth, nose etc!
When we weren't busy 'fishing' in the pond, hunting for invertebrates or making our very own invertebrates, there was always something else to do in Forest school, whether this be cooking up a storm in the outdoor kitchen or 'hanging around' in the hammock.....
Or climbing the trees, who can you spot?
There's always so much to do!
In Maths this week Robins loved learning a new number rhyme, focusing on the composition of 5, recalling the parts of 5 using the rhyme and their fingers to support.
"5 is made of 3 and 2"
"2 and 3 make 5"
Why not have a go at using your fingers at home to represent 5 in different way?
5 is made of ___ and ___
___ and ___ make 5
Robins even had a go at representing it themselves using equipment and then used the stem sentences to say how 5 was being made.
In Talk for Writing we have started a new story this term, The Enormous Turnip and Robins loved putting actions to the story! As they became increasingly confident with learning the story we began mapping out the story, drawing pictures to represent each part!
Robins loved taking about their learning of the story and during their free flow some chose to draw pictures of the sequence of events, including who pulled who!
On Friday, we were introduced to Greig who works for the charity 52Lives, he led our Kindness worship. I wish I could tell you every single word that was said in the worship but I simply would be typing forever - our children, not just in Robins, but throughout the whole school raised the kindness bar by a mile and more. Their words were powerful and their kindness off the scale.
These are just some of the reasons why Friday morning was so speacial.
Why is teaching kindness important?
• It helps to improve children's relationships with their friends and classmates
• It equips children with a simple tool to improve their mental and physical health.
• It helps children to develop empathy and tolerance.
• It improves self-awareness.
• It encourages more self-kindness
• It helps to create a kinder classroom, kinder school, kinder community and kinder world
• It empowers children to create the kind of world they want to live in
Following the worship, we headed off into classrooms in our Houses and spent a good hour or so making a kindness gift - I am sure most of you have received a card or a poster or a gift (possibly covered in glitter - the whole school has had a good dusting of glitter today -- everything including the children were sparkling).
....and if they come home covered in chalk.....this will be why.......
Before we sign off for the week, you will have noticed that your child is now reading a 'yellow' book. These books are quite challenging and have a few more pages than the previous 'red' books, graudually building up their reading resilience. We are so delighted with the progress that all the Robins have made with their reading and we want their enthusiasm for reading to continue. Therefore, if you could support at home with going over the Phase 3 sounds, every evening if possible - on the yellow keyring and the Phase 4 words - green words, this would be an enormous help so that when the children spot the sounds in their reading books they know how to apply the sound to their reading of whole words.
Thank you as always for your support.
Have a great weekend and see you all on Monday