Well as much as much as we would love to continue learning about Autumn, as snow has fallen in much of the country, there is no denying that winter has arrived and with it, Christmas is on its way. 
The children were learning the Nativity story this week using our new set of "Story Spoons" to help them act out each of the characters. They are very excited and already taking on their roles for the Nativity which we will be starting to film in the coming week. 

We've also started practising our songs for the Nativity (I apologise in advance for the constant refrains of "Little Donkey" that I am sure you are experiencing at home right now). They've also been practising rhythms and patterns with Miss Boyce in music.

The children helped me to build our new drying rack for our paintings this week. They are becoming much more confident using tools and really love helping to develop our classroom as more brilliant new things are arriving. ​

Many of the children moved up a group in phonics this week. We are incredibly impressed with the progress they are making in their reading and writing. Thank you all for your help with reading and practising sounds at home - it really makes a huge difference and is paying dividends in class. As the weeks go on, you may notice that your child's books may change as they begin moving up through the levels. I am sure you will be glad too as they learn to read more words and have different stories to read to you each night. 
Next week, Christmas begins in earnest in Oak class. We will be decorating our tree on Wednesday and I am certain that Elfina is going to be up to her old tricks... be sure to ask the children what she's been up to each day. 
We have our Christmas Post Box set up now so if you want to start Christmas cards, feel free to post them into the box when you come to school in the morning. 
Thank you to everyone who has sent in material to make costumes with - I am going to be very busy at the sewing machine this week I think!
Hope you have all had a lovely weekend and are refreshed and ready for the coming run up to Christmas!
From Miss Prince and the Team. 

This week Autumn fell in Oak class. We started our week with an Autumn walk and found lots of evidence that autumn had arrived: from the fallen leaves to the weather and mushrooms to evidence of small animals looking for acorns (the seeds not the children(!) of course)
Then, after reading a wonderful story "Don't Hog the Hedge!", the children made their own pictures of hibernating animals and then sorted animals by whether or not they hibernate- we were all very impressed with the children's knowledge about different animals and why they hibernate. 

We were very lucky to have lots of exciting deliveries this week too - thanks again to FONTS for their hard work raising money that has allowed us to make such an exciting new environment for the children to learn in. Be sure to ask the children what new things they have been learning with. A particular favourite this week, and perfectly timed, has been the natural wood building blocks materials. They have been everything from gardens and palaces to furniture and roads. The children have been amazing with them!

Our other focus this week has been... you guessed it... Christmas is coming so the nativity is hot off the press. We've been learning all about why Christmas is special to Christians and learning the story of Jesus' birth. Very soon, children will be finding out who or what they are going to be in the Nativity- keep your eyes peeled for updates on how it will be released this year. And be sure to keep a clean tea towel handy for the costume appeals!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
​From Miss Prince and the team. 

Welcome to Autumn 2 every body- always my favourite term with so many exciting events to work with! 

This week has been so busy! 
We have been learning about and celebrating Diwali and Fireworks Night this week! 
We learned the story of Diwali and all about Rama and Sita and why Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and even some Buddhists! Then we made our own diva lamps from clay and painted them too. We decorate Mendhi Hands and also made our own fireworks pictures. 
On Friday, we even had a Diwali feast where the children (and Miss Penny and our special visitor the Executive Principal Mr Whitley) got to try some traditional Diwali celebration food- Pakoras, Bhajis and Samosas. 
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Its been a week for making things too- with the builders busy making our new Outdoor space, the children have been making diggers and cranes. We also worked together to put up our new storage centre for outside - the children used hand drills and screw drivers to put it up!

I am incredibly proud of the class too for their Phonics work this week- we have started 3 different Phonics groups now and every child has risen to the challenge. We even had a visitor on Thursday in to watch our amazing class in Phonics who was blown away by how hard they are working and how well they have engaged with the Read Write Inc Phonics scheme. Thank you all for your hard work at home too!

Hope you all have a lovely, safe weekend this fireworks night. 
From Kaydee and the Team

A favourite saying of every Forest Schooler is “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing” and this week I would say oak class well and truly proved this as we embraced the rain and hit the mud with wellies and waterproofs galore. Seeing the children flying on the zip line and sliding in the mud made the weather worthwhile and it’s perfect for helping our new willow tunnel to grow. 
In maths this week, the children have been sorting things by whether they are the same or different in as many ways as they could. I was very impressed with their shape knowledge when we got our brand new box out. 
In phonics, we introduced our “green words” this week and began decoding words using the sounds we know already. I’ll be sending out a set of green decodable words and red tricky words in the next week or so to give you plenty of time to practise them with your children and see how they are progressing within the Read Write Inc Programme. 
Please don’t forget to send all books back on a Tuesday and Friday so we can change them and make sure the children get a good variety of books to read at home- if they don't come back, we can’t send them home with someone new. 

Next week, we are going to be looking at houses and where people live, we are hoping to make our own box model town so any boxes etc will be greatly appreciated. 

We are starting to get our deliveries of our new exciting resources now so the children are getting to play and learn with new equipment almost every day at the moment. Be sure to ask them about their day and find out what exciting things they have been doing.

This week I am going to send out a form to update photo consents and permissions, please return it as quickly as you can so I can post more wonderful pictures of the children’s learning here and on dojo.
From this week Sam Kelley and Abbie Luxton, both of whom worked with your children last year, will be joining us in Oak class to further enhance the learning opportunities and support all the children. 
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Hope you are embracing the wet weather and having some fun this weekend,

Miss Prince

Another wonderful week in Oak class!
The children have had a great time this week learning about our feelings and how all our differences make us unique. Learning across both the Acorn and Oak classes, the children have been engaging with so many different activities, from making faces from playdough and box modelling to making music with Mrs Boyce and in the classroom. 

We went on a sound hunt in the forest looking for natural musical instruments - turns out there's a whole orchestra out there from "stone clackers" to scrapers with the rough bark we found in the log pile. 
We also made Smelly Playdough together after someone realised the playdough smelled like flour and we wondered if we could make it smell nicer - turns out that pink raspberry scented playdough is amazing! 
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In phonics this week, we started to learn the next 5 sounds with i, n, p, g and o. We explored lots of different words and used our Magic Fingers to write them in the air. We also started playing our brilliant game "Teach Your Monster To Read" which the children have been accessing independently on Tablets in our new Information Station in Oak class. 

At Forest School this week we were inspired by Andy Goldsworthy to create our own natural art which we are going to showcase on here and in the classroom so that everyone can see our wonderful creations. 

Next week, we are going to be starting an exciting STEAM project. Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics combining together to give us a range of challenges and problems to solve. We are starting with making and testing spinning tops so if you have any old CDs or DVDs you no longer need, feel free to send them in! 
In Forest School next week (weather permitting) we are going to be tying and trying our own zipline for the children to fly through the air on - we will ensure many photos are taken. 

Have a lovely weekend, 
Kaydee

Welcome to a wonderful year for our brand new Oak Class. It has been an amazing start to the year and it is wonderful to see all the children playing together in our amazing new environment. 
This week, we have been settling in and getting to know each other and our new space. While we have still got many new exciting additions to the building to come, including our covered veranda and new equipment, the children have enjoyed being able to play and learn in both the Acorn and Oak learning spaces and choosing their own learning during independent choosing time. We have also been able to spend so much time outside in our woodland space and also visiting the "Blue Area" as well as playing on the "Big Play ground" with the year 1s and 2s at Lunch Time- seeing the children able to play and learn together after a strange and difficult start to school with all the changes they have seen has been magical and they have certainly been enjoying the novelty and freedom they now have!

We started our Read Write Inc phonics this week in Oak class and have been refreshing our memories on all the sounds and beginning to blend some sounds together to make words. The children have all got their first reading book, picture book and sound blending books to practise at home and next week we will be sending home a set of sound cards for each child too. 

In maths, we have been learning about the numbers 1-5 and working on counting and Number Formation. Next week we will be continuing with these numbers and thinking about which numbers are bigger and smaller, thinking about "1 more" and "1 less" than them and counting things in our environment. 

While we have been outside a lot this week, next week we will officially be starting Forest School. Please make sure children have clothes and shoes in school that you are happy to get muddy and messy and also have long arms and legs to protect them from any bramble scratches. The children don't know this yet, but in our first week of Forest School, we will be starting with den building to make our own shelters in the outdoors (and maybe even making some mini dens for the creatures that share our forest space too). 

If you have any boxes/bottles/tubes etc., we are hoping to develop our making corner so that we can create lots of things with box models this term so please feel free to send the children in with anything you think is useful!

I think that's everything for now but watch this space (and Dojo) for lots more updates and pictures of our adventures in Oak Class. You should be very proud of the start the children have made and how beautifully they have settled in- I know Mrs Grant and I certainly are. 

Have a lovely weekend,

​Miss Prince

Hello everyone- my sincere apologies for the long gap- it appears that when I have been adding to the blog on my Tablet it has not been posting it! So - a whistle stop tour of the past few weeks and what's coming up next. 

After half term, we started our Hot and Cold topic, thinking about how these things impact our lives and make differences in the world. We went on holiday to hot and cold places and tried to work out what we need to take with us to be safe there. We even made some artwork with ice paint. 
After that, we have been learning about the Olympics and all the sports that are involved in the competition. The children decorated their own "Olympic Hotel" and have been acting out the competition in our role play area. They have also designed and made their own medals from clay- we will be painting these this week and the children will soon be bringing them home to show you!
I have been incredibly impressed with the children at Forest School this term - they are really embracing the adventurous play and have become so confident on the rope course etc. Children have made Mayan God's Eyes from sticks and wool, Magic Memory Wands as well as Mini dens and helping me tie a tyre swing (Photo's of the tyre swing will follow- they are on Mrs Day's iPad!)
Also - the peas we planted and grew up our classroom window have flowered! We are hoping for pea pods very soon. 

This week, across the school, it is Assessment week, so alongside our continuous provision within the classroom, Mrs Day, Mrs Grant and I will be working with children individually to see exactly how much progress they have made this year. If the weather improves this week, we will also be holding a "mini olympics" with some of the sports the children have picked to have our own little competition and be at our best. 

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Well we've been busy exploring again this week- we headed to 2 New places this week, the polar regions and the desert too! All week we've been thinking about what we would need to explore I  these places safely. The children made collages of the clothes they would need and then in our independent writing, wrote a list of ten things they would take if they went on an expedition.

In maths this week, we have been working hard on our counting to 20 accurately and understanding those numbers so we can add and subtract. The children worked so hard and have really cracked it now!

We made some art work to go with our desert and ice theme with a picture that is half hot colours and half cold. I was really impressed with how hard they thought about choosing the right colours.

Next week, well it's over to you for half term! I hope you all have lots of fun experiences experiences look forward to hearing all about them when the children come back on Monday the 7th of June for the last big push for the year. 

Have a lovely weekend and break

Miss Prince 

​Lambs, Zip wires and Den building... Well it’s been another busy week for our lovely Oak children. Thank you to all the parents I have already spoken to this week on the phone or Google Meet and to those I have already booked appointments with. If you still want an appointment slot, I have some still available on Monday and Tuesday or can arrange another time that suits better if needed. Its been really great getting to meet you all and discussing the great work your little ones have been doing.