Autumn 2

What a lovely half term we have had...
 
To start we heard lots about all the celebrations the children had been getting up to from the 5th of November. It was very special to listen to the children and talk about their memories and special times with family and friends and talk about them so fondly.
In keeping with the theme the children could express their own experiences by making their very own bonfire and firework picture (they are looking fabulous around their classroom). This was based around lots of pre scissor skills and expressing their artistic side using glue, tissue paper and glitter and as well as using key language like bang, pop and boom. There were lots of talk about what colour and shapes the children observed in the night sky while watching the fireworks with their families.
We then moved on to make our very own fruit rockets, the children were supported by an adult to help cut up some fruit to make their very own rockets using the fruit. We had pictures to help us with a basic shape of a rocket we had to remember our rocket needed a point. The children we so careful using the knife to cut up the fruit. Well done guys.
We then got busy with all the junk modelling bits and bobs and made our very own rockets to take home! 
 
 
We then moved on and introduced our new core story The Gingerbread Man, the children got to grasps with the story very quickly and would often here the children repeating phrases from the story or the new songs we had learned surrounding the story, this was great language and sentence building for the children.
The children played so beautifully making there very own gingerbread men on the play dough table and transporting them to the home area where the children were able to cook, mix and share their fabulous biscuits with peers.
We thought it would be a great idea to pop to the shops with the children to collect the ingredients to make our very own real gingerbread men. As you can imagine this was very exciting for the children to take part in. Before popping to the shops Cherry Class helped make their very own shopping list so we knew what we needed when we went shopping, the children helped cut, stick and glue the ingredients on some paper and then using the dots wrote what we needed. Once we were organised and we knew what to get we set off...
Cherry Class were amazing at walking to the shops and listening to very important instructions to keep us safe when walking on the path and crossing the road. Each of us had a partners hand to hold. Mr Fordham-Scott joined us on our travels and helped carry the shopping we brought back. Once we had all the indigents the children got down to making their gingerbread men, again the children took part in measuring the ingredients, scooping motions, balancing when we had to measure the correct amount, mixing and lastly cooking (we had to be so careful the mischievous gingerbread men did not escape our oven).
Everyday was different sometimes the gingerbread men were to hard sometimes they were just right and other times they were slightly burnt. It was great to listen to the children reactions and give their evaluation on their own produce. A huge thank you to parents who took the topic on board and enhanced their experiences and learning at home. 
 
Lastly we then moved on to our last core story The Christmas Story. We joined Apple Class to learn songs and key characters of the story. It was great to see current Cherries who will be joining Apple Class in the New Year to have small transitions supported by their key person and Cherry friends they sat so beautifully and listened to their new teachers very well. Once the children had learnt all the key songs we invited the parents to come into school to join us to sing around our fabulous Christmas tree. 
Thank you to the parents who joined us for the story and songs around the Christmas tree. The children enjoyed listening to the story and being very enthusiastic about the baby who was born called Jesus. The children extended their language using stable and a manger. Through the story the children were able to learn songs about the angels, shepherds and Bethlehem.
 
Thank you to everyone who joined us it was so fabulous to have such special times in school with our amazing Swansfield children.
 
We hope everyone has a magical holiday, from all the Cherry team we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :-)