This term's theme is 'Changes'

During this term we give the children the opportunity to talk about growing and how we, and other living things, change over time as we grow. To further the children's understanding we give them first hand experience of the life cycle of the frog, the chicken and the butterfly. Our tadpoles are developing very well this year. They went for a holiday back to the school pond over Easter, and then we collected them up again so the children could continue to watch the changes in them. They have started from frog spawn, and I spotted one today with 4 legs! They'll soon be hopping all over the place, to the delight of Mrs Winstanley!

Our chicks have been successful this year too. Out of 12 eggs we have 10 healthy chicks. Nearly all the children managed to see a hatching and some of the chicks have wing feathers already.

It's all excitement as the chicks start to peck their way out

Hello World! That was hard work.

We're soon dry and fluffy.

Our brooder has a glass side so the children can watch whenever they like.

This afternoon they were strong enough to come out for a play. If the weather warms up we will be able to take them out onto the grass outside.

LOOK OUT FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR JUBILEE TODDLE AND STREET PARTY !

Mrs Moo's Ice Cream Parlour

We have a student teacher, Miss Eleanor Stokes, teaching in our classroom at the moment. As part of her teaching practice she has set up this fabulous ice cream parlour in the role play area. There is so much to do in there the children absolutely love it! They can buy and serve ice creams, use and talk about money, write orders and 'customer feedback' and have a great time whilst they learn. She is also organising other learning activities for the classroom, doing what every good early years teacher does well. That is giving the children lots of exciting experiences and the opportunity to talk about what they are doing to interested adults.

These are some of the other activities that Ms Stokes has been organising.

Discussing what happens to bubbles in the wind

Making Glitter shakers

That's a glittery one!

The 'Vet' is now open for business!

We have changed our role play area into a Vet's. This term we are exploring 'Comparisons' and the vet's allows us to talk about different animals and similarities and differences. The children can be the vet, the vet's nurse or an anxious pet owner. There are lots of opportunities to talk and write about what they are doing.

There's a very poorly looking giraffe on the examination table.

Poor rabbit

I hope these animals don't escape from their carriers

This vet thinks there's a problem with his neck

We will be having some visitors to our vets. George the puppy is coming in soon. We also havesome frogspawn that is developing nicely. We'll look after that carefully and return the froglets to the pond once they have developed. After the Easter holiday we will be hatching chicks, which should be a fantastic experience for all the children.

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN ICT WEEK

We've been busy this week exploring some of the ICT resources that we have in our FS 1 classroom.



The interactive whiteboard is a favourite with all the children in the classroom. We use it to support literacy, maths and other subjects.



It takes some practise to become adept at using the mouse effectively. Remember it's left button click only !



Remote controls are also part of the ICT curriculum. The children had lots of fun trying to knock skittles over with this car remotely.



It also gave us lots of opportunity to use positional language such as forwards, backwards, turn left, turn right.
Great fun was had by all !

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR FAMILIES

A very HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our families. All our staff would like to thank you for all your well wishes for the Christmas period, we all had so many gorgeous cards and gifts, we are very grateful to you all.
It's been a windy start to the New Year but this hasn't stopped the children from starting their work. This week we have been doing observational paintings of a daffodil. This gives us the opportunity to talk about the parts of the plant, such as stem, petals and trumpet. Ask your children how their painting went. There will be a display of their work on the wall shortly, any paintings that aren't on the wall will be in their profiles.
This week's WOW word is 'describe' which went very well with the activity as the children had to describe the daffodil in their conversation with us before they started painting.
Yesterday we had invited all the children who are due to start school shortly for a visit in the afternoon. It was a lovely afternoon, with lots of adults and children to meet for the first time. The children had a wonderful time not knowing what to play with next! We can't wait until you all start school and we can get to know each other properly.

BETHLEHEM COMES TO FIELDHEAD CARR

We've changed our construction area into Bethlehem. There is a stable, a star and all the costumes and props that the children need to role play the nativity. This is the best way for the children to understand the Christmas story and it prepares them for our Christmas play. This year we are doing 'Whoops-a-Daisy Angel'. It's the story of a very special angel and the very first Christmas.

The three kings visit the new baby

Just checking the story in the book!

This stable's cosy.

The Christmas star shows everyone the way.

The shepherds followed the star

This is the Twigs Christmas party.

Some children had Christmas dinner from Ursula.

Everyone had a lovely time with extra nibbles after.

CHRISTMAS IN FS 1

The Post Office is a fantastic role play area at Christmas. We use it for writing letters to Santa, posting Parcels and lots more !

Finding out why letters need stamps

Recognising numbers on doors and addresses on envelopes. Just like a real postie.

Weighing parcels and talking about weight.

Using money and starting to think about the different coin shapes.