HANDA'S SURPRISE

This week we have been celebrating "Black History Month". The whole school have been looking at different aspects of this subject. We chose to look at Africa through a story called 'Handa's Surprise', which is about a young girl carrying fruit on her head to visit her friend in the next village. As she walks along, different animals take the fruits from her basket.

With the story as a starting point, the children have looked at the different fruits from the story. Unusual fruit like avacado and passion fruit. They have been able to do observational drawings of the fruit and taste them. They have made animal masks. Dressed up like Handa and practised carrying baskets on their heads. As well as listening to 'Ladysmith Black Mambazo' CD.

This has given us the opportunity to talk about all our similarities as well as our differences, for example we don't see giraffes when we go for a walk! Some of us wish we did! I hope you enjoy talking to your child about this week, and enjoy the photos.

A BIG WELCOME TO ALL OUR FAMILIES, OLD AND NEW !

It's an exciting time of year. We have lots of new children in our classroom who are having a wonderful time with the children who started last year.
There are lots of new things to find out, lots of new people to meet, lots of new equipment to use. Because of this our theme for this term is called 'Back to Basics' For the whole term we concentrate on teaching the children how to use the classroom, area by area. So far we have had foci on how to use the Design Technology, Painting and Printing, Music, Construction areas. By the end of the term the children will know how to use all the room in their play, and by doing this they will be able to learn as much as is possible.
We not only concentrate on what to play with, but also on how to play with friends. We reinforce skills of sharing, turn taking and being polite with each other. How to follow our class rules.
I hope that your children are talking all about what they have done when they come home in the evening. Remember to look at your child's profile with them, there's a comfy sofa for you to sit on and share their achievements with them.
Here are just a few of the things that the children have been doing so far - there's lots more in their profiles.

We hope you enjoy looking at just some of our photographs, there are more to come soon.

Best wishes from your classroom team, Mrs Critchley, Mrs Winstanley, Miss Jones and Miss Johnstone