Blog 22 - 31st March

Well Apples we've made it to the Easter holidays and the end of our Spring Term! 
It has been a very busy and enjoyable few weeks in Apple class with lots of children very excited with out visitors! We've had so many professions in to chat to the children about their job roles and the children have thoroughly loved this! 
 
Wow! Monday's Tiddy Triathlon was a fantastic success! The children (and staff) absolutely had a ball. From riding bikes, to jumping over hurdles, to splashing in water and the best part was dipping our hands in paint to splat over the sheet! The biggest thank you goes to you all for helping to raise so many funds for our outdoor projects! We couldn't have done it without your generosity! We'll keep you all updated with our plans and our finished results!
 

We began our week learning about Farmers and what they do to help us! We had the great pleasure of inviting Alan, (Mrs Farrar's dad) in, who brought in a Fendt Tractor for the children to enjoy! He talked all about the tractor - what it does, how it works and what it's used for on the farms. The children were able to get in the tractor and see all the components up close! The children left with a great understanding into farm life and the importance of tractors on farms. 

Back in the classroom we started to think more about Dairy Farmers and The Milk Delivery service. The children learnt that milk isn't just made in shops and that's where it comes from. We learnt that actual story of milk and the production that happens before we see it in our cartons at snack time. Some key vocab that you can use within your conversations around this area of learning, over the weekend are: dairy farmers, milking, cows and udders.

Towards the end of the week we turned our learning to the RNLI, lifeboat crew and what they do to help us. On Friday we had the great pleasure of welcoming Richard who is a crew member at the Amble RNLI Lifeboat crew. Richard came and spoke about what they have to do if a 999 emergency call comes through. We learnt what we should do if we were ever in danger near the coast, that they have different boats for different rescue missions and we were even able to try on life jackets and safety helmets! Take a look at the photos. Our new vocab from this was: 

Danger, 

Coastguard, 

Lifeboat,

Rescue.

 

From our visit we started to think about materials and which materials would be most suitable for a coast guard’s jacket. There were a few factors that we had to consider, the most important being whether the material was suitable for the job and being waterproof. So Mrs Farrar set us a challenge - we had to test out different materials to find out which one was waterproof. Our experiment involved squirting water onto the different materials to see which ones stayed dry, didn't tear and didn't absorb all the water.  We quickly realised that paper was no good and definitely not waterproof. The materials that we tested were: felt, netting, card, cotton wool, coloured tissue paper and plastic. We realised that the most suitable material for being waterproof was the plastic. Please encourage your child to talk about this activity at home - we had great fun! 

 
In the rest of our learning this week, we have been thinking about the celebration of Easter. So much of our curriculum involves thinking about things in the context of our own lives and then we begin to look outwards beyond this. We talked about the ways that we enjoy celebrating Easter - we are looking forward to visits from the Easter Bunny, having egg hunts and special time with our families. We found out that Christians celebrate Jesus rising from the dead at Easter and the children listened so well as I told the Easter story. 
 
 
After such a busy week we got our final group down to the Library on Thursday to experience 'Song and rhyme' time! We have so much fun in Apple Class - it really is a happy and busy place to be! 

Over the holidays to follow up on any of our learning this half term, why don't you have a go at testing out some materials to see if they are waterproof or not? Can you make any predictions together? 

Or how about having a conversation around the production of milk and what the dairy farmers need to do to get the milk in the shops on time. I’ve attached a link below to help jog your child’s memory! 

You can upload any learning onto your child's journal.

 
Special mention must go to Jonny who is our Apple Class Gold Certificate winner this term. We only give one of these awards out a term and to get it is a very special thing. Jonny has grown in confidence so much this term and we are very proud of the busy learner he has blossomed into. 
 
We do hope that everyone has a very enjoyable holiday - let's hope for some sunshine and plenty of opportunity to get out and about. 
 
See you on Monday 17th April!
 
Thank you again to all our families and sponsors and your generosity with supporting us by (buying the cream egg chicks!) We really do appreciate your kindness.
 
Very best wishes, 
 
Mrs Farrar, Mrs Grimes and all the Early Years Team