In Nightingale 2 class @FP, the children have been working incredibly hard in their core classes this week. They have been writing some amazing non-fiction texts about their special interests, as well as finding out new information and sharing it with their classes. Together they worked well to sort the books in our book corner into non-fiction and fiction texts. They had to really look at the details of each text carefully as some were trickier than others to work out which area they would fit into.

In the resource base, they worked incredibly well together developing their key communication skills whilst completing puzzles. They had to think about the different shapes, colours and sizes and use their words to describe what pieces they needed. They had to take turns and share whilst also being incredibly patient and wait.

Find out the latest news from FP here:  https://wp.me/peWTXe-47R

This week, Kingfisher class @FP are improving their knowledge and skills in gymnastics. In this week's lesson we were tasked with creating different letters of the alphabet using our bodies and then in groups. 

This week in Reception Ducking Class @FP, we have been diving into the wonderful world of storytelling with the classic tale of The Three Little Pigs! The children have had an exciting time exploring the story, and we are thrilled to share all the fantastic activities and learning they have been involved in.

Storytime Adventures We began the week by reading The Three Little Pigs together. The children were captivated by the big bad wolf and the clever pigs. They enjoyed joining in with the repeated phrases, such as, “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down!” This provided a great opportunity to talk about storytelling techniques, repetition, and building suspense.

Creative Construction Inspired by the pigs’ houses, we explored different materials to build our own models. The children worked in teams to construct houses using:

• Straw
• Sticks
• Lego bricks (to represent bricks)

We then tested how strong each house was by using a hairdryer as our “Big Bad Wolf”. This activity was a fun way to introduce basic science concepts about materials and their properties.

Role Play and Drama The children took turns acting out the story. Some were pigs, some were wolves, and others narrated the events. This role-play activity encouraged creativity, confidence in speaking, and teamwork.

Art and Craft In our creative area, the children made their own pigs and wolf masks, which they used during the drama sessions. They also painted pictures of the houses and created collages using straw, twigs, and paper bricks.

Writing and Literacy We encouraged the children to retell the story in their own words, using drawings and emergent writing. Some children created their own versions of the story, imagining new adventures for the pigs or even giving the wolf a change of heart!

Maths Links The story provided a wonderful context for exploring numbers. We counted pigs, sticks, and bricks, and even measured how “long” our straw and stick houses were.

Key Learning Outcomes Through these activities, the children have:

• Developed listening and comprehension skills.
• Explored the properties of materials.
• Practiced teamwork and problem-solving.
• Expressed themselves creatively through art, drama, and writing.

Extend the Learning at Home Here are some ideas to build on this week’s learning at home:

• Read other versions of The Three Little Pigs or similar tales.
• Encourage your child to build their own houses using blocks or natural materials in the garden.
• Discuss the importance of building strong and stable structures in real life.

Thank you for your continued support in your child’s learning journey. We hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about our week! If you have any questions or would like to contribute to our upcoming activities, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

 Storytime Fun with Dear Zoo!  

This week, our little learners have been diving into the beloved story Dear Zoo! 

 Retelling the Story:
We’ve been using our imagination to retell the tale, bringing the characters to life in our own words! 

 Exploring the Animals:
With our fine motor skills hard at work, we’ve been feeling, sorting, and exploring all the wonderful animals from the story. 

 Where’s the Puppy?
Our positional language skills are growing as we describe where the cheeky little puppy is hiding. Under the table? Next to the box? Behind the chair? 

 Lion Faces:
ROAR! Our creative juices were flowing as we made our very own lion masks. Fierce, fabulous, and full of fun! 

 Building a Zoo:
Tiny architects have been hard at work designing and building their very own zoos. What amazing creations they’ve made! 

 Our Very Own Book:
We’ve even created our own Dear Zoo book with all the children’s wonderful drawings and words. Storytime has never been so much fun! 

We’re so proud of how engaged and creative our little ones have been this week.  What a joy it is to see them learning through play! 

#DearZoo #NurseryAdventures #StorytimeFun #EarlyYearsLearning #FineMotorSkills #CreativeKids #BuildingOurZoo #PositionalLanguage #RoarLikeALion #NurseryLife

This week Year 1/2 Heron class @FP started our myHappymind learning by talking about the brain! We learned about the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the perfrontal cortex, and what they all do. We then gott our myHappymind journals and started filling them in. Finally, we sang a song about having a happy mind – what an amazing introduction to our new learning! Please join us and follow along with the learning by downloading the app. 

We also had gymnastics with our wonderful coaches. They started our new term by doing fun warm-up games and body-control activities. Then we started working in the four stations, rotating around to each one so we could have a go at them all. What fun! 

In Dove class @FP this week, the children have been so excited! Telling each other about their holiday news and what they got up to which was really lovely to see.

In maths the children have been learning all about numbers to 20, what we know about the number 20 and any fact families that we can remember.

The children also worked together to make the longest line of multilink cubes I think I have ever seen! We were estimating how long we thought it might be and how many children long the line is.

As well as all of this maths, our new topic for this half term is “Toys”. We will be looking at old toys and new, comparing and discussing what we know about them. So please feel free to research and talk about the different toys you had when you were growing up as well as asking any other relatives.

Just a reminder that as of next week Dove class will be having PE on Wednesdays so please bring your PE kits back and also, please bring in book bags on and Monday and Tuesday so we can change books.

In Parakeet class @FP, we have been learning about information texts and have begun to plan our own information writing. We talked about what we were ‘experts’ at and began to plan our writing around our topics. We have some experts in Chelsea FC, gymnastics, singing and flags to name just a few. We enjoy writing about topics that are interesting to us and have completed some great writing. A great start to the new year for our writers!

Our class book for our reading lessons is an information text called ‘100 things to know about the Human Body’. We have learnt lots of interesting and unbelievable facts this week! Did you know in a lifetime your nails will grow 2.5m in length? We grow 2metres of hair will grow from our noses!! Ask us some facts we will be able to surprise you!

This week we have begun a new initiative which the children loved. We are learning all about our minds. How to keep our brain and minds healthy and how we can help our brains to grow! We have cool new journals to record our learning and thoughts. We have learnt all about how our brain works. We learnt some new vocabulary. Ask us what our hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex does. We can teach you!

Please read our last newsletter of the year here:

https://wp.me/peWTXe-3ZD

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

 What an Exciting Day at Nursery! 

Our little learners had an unforgettable experience as we continued our exploration of vehicles! The fire engine came to visit, and it was an absolute hit with both the children AND the adults! 

The kids were thrilled to climb aboard the mighty fire engine , explore all its cool features, and even get a chance to try spraying water on the nursery roof!  It was a blast watching them have so much fun while learning about this important emergency vehicle!

Thank you to our amazing firefighters for making this visit possible and giving our nursery class such a hands-on experience! 

#FireEngineFun #NurseryAdventures #LearningThroughPlay #LittleFirefighters #VehicleExploration #HandsOnLearning #CommunityHelpers #SprayTheRoof #FirefighterVisit