Blog 7 - 27th October

Happy Half Term Apples! 
 
The children have been very tired towards the end of the week and are definitely ready for a restful week off. Whatever you're up to, stay safe, have fun and make some unforgettable memories!

 

Just a quick reminder: this week we've had a real issue with shoes! The problem has occurred when children have change back into their shoes from wearing their wellies and their shoes haven't been named. We have many children in apple class and lots of them do have the same shoes - and even in the same size! Please, over the holidays could you write your child's name in all clothing and shoes! (Thank you and apologies if this doesn't apply to you!)

 

We've been back on the farm this week - this time focusing on the jobs that a farmer has to get on with at harvest time. We watched combine harvesters in action and the children were fascinated by this amazing piece of machinery. We have had so many fabulous discussions about the function of the parts, the size, the colour and the crops that they cut.  Added to this, we continued to think about other pieces of farm equipment - the tractor and the telehandler which are also very busy during the harvest. It would be great if you could spend time at the weekend chatting about how farmers harvest their crops and the job of the combine harvester. The important words we used about the combine were: 
header/reel - the bit at the front that cuts
cab - the bit where the driver sits
tank - the bit where the wheat grains are stored
shoot - the bit that transfers the wheat grains from the tank to the trailer
  

 Back down in our outdoor provision the children again were drawn to making tractors and combine harvesters! They took it in turns becoming the farmer (driving the machine) and picking up more and more passengers on the way. Our conversations were mainly around  'whose turn it was next to become the farmer' - but we did get some purposeful conversations too 'what would make good wheels for our tractor.' From one of the videos we watched at carpet time, it told us that the tractors have 'tracks' in the tyres which helps the tractor from getting stuck in the mud! 

 

Mrs Grimes managed to get a bunch of wheat from a local farm and the children very much enjoyed exploring this, finding the little grains and crushing them with a stone to make flour. 
 
When we come back to Apple Class on Monday 6th of November we'll be diving straight into our new themes "Bonfire night!" Please over the holidays could you start saving and collecting tubes - kitchen roll tubes work the best! Thank you very much! 

 

We wish you all a very happy half term,

Mrs Farrar and all the lovely ladies in Apple!