Welcome to Hedgehog Class Blog
This is the page that you can visit to keep updated on the children's learning. Make sure you come back each week to see the learning opportunities that the children have been taking part in.
Sports Day Fun!
Friday morning was our fantastic Sports Day event. I'm sure you’ll agree that the children were amazing — they showed such enthusiasm, teamwork, and determination in each race. I have to say, they are the most natural group I've ever taught to use a hockey stick! I was incredibly proud of their resilience and the way they gave their best, even in the warm weather
Curling
This week we took part in a Curling Workshop! Most of the children had never heard of curling but were very keen to 'throw stones at houses' which is what it is called when you push the curling stone towards the target (house). They were very excited but mostly listened well when it came to collecting their stone at the end of each round. They loved the competition at the end of the session and all tried hard to win the points for their team.
Planter Update
I am pleased to announce that our planter tops have arrived in school. The children will now be able to safely care for all the vegetables that they have planted, and I am sure that the plants will flourish as they will get more sunlight and rain. A big THANK YOU to Parker's family for making and delivering these for us.
Giant beanstalks!
The children were amazed at how much their beans had grown this week, so they put their maths skills to the test and measured them to find out whose beanstalk was the tallest. They used unifix cubes to make towers the same height as their beanstalk and then recorded how many cubes they had used. It was really interesting to see that most of them were between 20 and 30 bricks tall. Xander's bean was the tallest at a whopping 36 cubes. We have planted them out with supports to ensure that we can enjoy a great harvest before the end of term.
Let it Grow!
This week we read the story 'Jasper's Beanstalk' and talked about all of the things that jasper did to help his plant to grow. The children were really good at reasoning why Jasper chose to do the different things and could say why some things were not such a good idea. They also learnt some new words such as hoe, rake and germinate. Each child then planted their own bean seed which we have put in the poly-greenhouse to germinate. We also watched a time lapse film of a beanstalk growing so that they could see what was happening to their beans under the soil. This led to some great diagrams of plants with labels to show the important parts.
Count it out
In Maths this week, the children have been practising counting beyond 10. On Friday, they were challenged to make their own collection of 20 objects. They chose their own resources and checked that they had 20 by using the counting strategies that they have learn either lining up the objects, moving them as they counted or putting them into smaller groups e.g 10 and 10. They said each number name carefully when they reached the 'teens' numbers as they had practiced. They added to their collections if they needed to and rechecked.
Easter Nest Cakes
The children have been very busy this week making Easter Nest cakes. They followed the recipe and worked together; counting the seconds as they melted the chocolate in the microwave, adding the correct amount of rice crispies, mixing the ingredients together and then spooning it into the cake cases and popping a chocolate egg on the top. We hope they taste as delicious as they look.
We all said a fond farewell to Mrs Dew this week. Mrs Dew has been at Roseacres since the beginning, and has taught all of the Reception classes. She brought fun, music, great story-telling and often drama (through acting out stories) to the classroom and is much loved by the children. We wish her well in her future endeavours and hope that she pops in for a visit now and again.
In maths, the children have continued to develop their sorting skills, using small groups of objects. They are beginning to look beyond the obvious sorting criteria of size or colour, and find other similarities. This led to some great sorting of collections of bugs, dinosaurs, animals and vehicles. For example, tails and no tails, things that fly and things that don’t fly and big ears and not big ears!
Easter
This week we have been learning about the Christian festival of Easter. The children shared what they knew about Easter and learnt why it is celebrated by Christians all over the world. The listened carefully to the Easter story and made links to what they had heard before either at home or in church. On Thursday they took part in a pattern matching egg hunt in the garden.
The children were invited to watch an Owl display with the rest of the school on Monday and felt the breeze as the owls all flew so low over their heads.
The children have enjoyed using more of our new resources this week and explored how to transport water using the guttering and new stands.
Spring Forest School
This week the children took part in their first Forest School session. The focus this week was on signs of Spring. They looked out for buds, blossom, flowers and insects both on the journey and in the forest. They drew what they saw before exploring the area; climbing trees, digging for worms, making stick houses and mini-dens, and generally having fun!
Circus Skills
Today the children took part in a circus skills workshop. They learnt how to balance a peacock feather on their hand, finger tip, chin and nose! They also learnt how to spin a toothbrush on their finger and make patterns and circles with a Chinese ribbon. They had a great time and were very excited by the challenges. Thank you to the Friends of Roseacres School for organising this session for us.
World Book Day
This week, in preparation for World Book Day, we read the story 'The Day The Crayons Quit'. The children thought about why the crayons had quit and used their voices to add expression to simple sentences that the crayons may have said. They were surprised to find that on Wednesday, the magnet shapes in class had quit! The magnets had left a message to say why they were so upset; They didn't like always being built into flat models, being kicked off the carpet, and being dropped. The children wrote some sorry messages and luckily, the magnets decided to give them a second chance.
The children all enjoyed dressing up on World Book Day and swapping a book at the 'Great Book Swap'.
We have also made some changes in class to foster independence. The first change was the removal of the large number rug. The children have taken well to this change and can now take a spot and visualise where their number should be to sit sensibly on the floor for whole class learning. We have also moved to a 'rolling' snack routine where snack is available from 8:45 'til 11am for the children to self serve. We have also introduced a 'Calm Corner' for the children to use when they need to deal with 'big emotions' or 'strong feelings'. It is a safe, quiet space with sensory resources to explore.
They have also become more independent outside; getting quicker at putting on their waterproof trousers, inventing new games to play, and even collecting more sand to refill the sand pit.
An Undersea Adventure
This week the children were excited to join in an Undersea Adventure with Marissa. They used their imaginations to search for the missing pearl, avoid the sea monster and take on the character of their very own undersea creature. They had a great time.
They also continued to explore the new resources outside: reading new signs, mark-making, developing their strength, taking turns and making up new games to play with their friends.
They continued to develop their pattern making skills inside and played an under the sea subitising and counting game.
Pattern making continued in music as the children composed their own musical patterns to play with their friends, using picture cards and symbols.
Tyre Towers
The children have been challenging themselves to build towers with the tyres this week. The tiny tyres were easier to move and stack but it took a little team work to move the larger ones.
They have been busy making Numberblock towers too and matching them to their Number blobs.
They continued to paint the birds that we saw during our birdwatching session last week too.
Birds, birds, birds!
This week Reception took part in the RSPB Big Schools' Bird Watch. They shared their own knowledge of birds and then found out about the birds in the local area, including how to identify them, what they like to eat and how they behave.
The children enjoyed going outside to count the birds that landed on the playground and field. Sometimes they had to wait quite a while for the birds to visit but they did their best to sit still and quiet so not to disturb them when they did.
The children also created birds using collage materials and paint.
We made bird cake to attract more birds to our gardens at home by mixing fat, cheese, raisins and bird seed and placing it in a small pot.
They have also enjoyed some more new resources both inside...
and out!
Lunar New Year
This week the children have been learning about the festival of Lunar New Year. They have enjoyed many themed activities and watched a short film in which they saw a family preparing for and celebrating the new year. They thought about how this was the same or different from the celebrations they have experienced such as birthdays and Christmas.
The children enjoyed making lanterns...
and acting out the story of the Chinese zodiac...
They have also been practising putting on and taking off their new waterproof trousers which have enabled them to explore outside and stay dry and clean!
Lucky, lucky Hedgehogs!
We have been very lucky to receive some funding to upgrade our resources, particularly in the outdoor area, in Reception. The first of the deliveries came last week and the children have been very excited to use them. So far we have received some new wheelbarrows, small pull along carts, and this week, a class set of waterproof dungarees which will keep the children dry when outside - definitely a good idea as they are very enthusiastic when it comes to using water!
We have also had some generous donations of resources from Roseacres families... an enormous garage, giant dinosaurs, wooden bricks and several games and puzzles. A big thank you to those who have passed things on to us. Anything we cannot used is shared wider with a local nursery or charity shop.
The local tyre garage, Centre Tyres, have also donated some clean, used tyres to us to use in the outside area.
A great big THANK YOU to all of the people who are improving the learning and skills of our youngest children.
Lost and Found
This week in Drawing Club, we read the story Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. The children enjoyed drawing the boy and, in Adventure Time, created their own malevolent creatures that lived beneath the waves. The children also used collage materials to recreate a scene from the story. Later in the week ,the children also learnt how to program a robot to follow the map of the story.
In Maths, the children focused on understanding the purpose of counting, emphasizing the numerosity of sets, and revisiting cardinality. They also worked on the stable order principle, rehearsing the order of the first 5 numbers, and understanding that each number has a value of 1 more than the previous number. Activities included naming objects being counted, discovering consecutive number values, and using blocks and squares to order quantities from 1 to 5.
An Icy Start to the Year
The children were keen to explore the icy conditions outside when we returned to school this week. They were keen to find as much ice as they could and thought about how they could either melt it or keep it frozen.
We read the story 'One Snowy Night' by Nick Butterworth. The children recalled the events and used puppets to act out parts of the story. They also wrote some fantastic sentences about what they could see in the 'I Spy' picture at the back of the book. Some children also used the Duplo to create homes for the animals, or vehicles for them to ride in!
It's Christmas!
This week the children have been enjoying lots of Christmas themed activities.
They also went to sing the Christmas songs to the Takeley Park residents and saw a very important visitor!
And if that wasn't enough, they have also created the most amazing Snowman greeting cards.
Christmas is coming...
This week we invited some grandparents in to school to help us make some Christmas Decorations. The children had a great morning and made some lovely decorations which they will take home next week. A big THANK YOU to all of the lovely grandparents who volunteered for the morning.
There were other Christmassy activities on offer this week including a very popular jigsaw. The children also practised their writing by labelling some Christmas pictures.
The Gingerbread Man
This week the children watched the Musical Story of the Gingerbread Man featuring musicians from the BBC Philharmonic. They loved the mix of oral storytelling, animation, music and songs. They joined in with actions and the songs and were keen to take on the challenges inspired by the gingerbread man this week.
The children also enjoyed some threading and pattern making challenges this week.
Parts and wholes
This week in maths the children have been exploring how wholes are made of smaller parts. They used lots of different resources to investigate this including their bodies, familiar toys and pattern blocks.
A visit from Jack Frost
Today the children were excited to find so much frost and ice in the garden. The 'stage' pallet had magically become an ice rink which the children were keen to explore. They were keen to tell me that I would only find ice in the dark shady places as the sun had not melted it yet. They were very excited and searched the garden for the iciest places and the frostiest leaves.
Wibble Wobble...
This week the children were excited to find a new resource in the garden...A balance board! They took turns to see if they could balance on top and make the board level. Quite a challenge as the slightest move too far makes the board tip the other way!
Firework Fun
This week, the children learnt why Bonfire Night is celebrated in England and recounted their own experiences of watching firework displays. They created firework pictures of their own by drawing with chalk and printing with paint.
Our Portrait Gallery
The children finished their painted self-portraits this week. They chose and mixed all the colours for themselves and looked in the mirror to ensure they remembered all of their important features.
Self Portraits
After creating self portraits for the Reception Tea Towel Fundraiser, the children began painting self portraits and learnt how to mix the paint to create their skin tone. They added small amounts of paint at a time and mixed to make the colour they required, checking against their arms.
Anyone for bowling?
A few of the children made a bowling alley this week and challenged each other to knock down as many foam bricks as they could. This led to some problem solving too as the balls kept rolling under the gate. An extra brick in the wall soon solved this problem. Well done to the children for working together on this fabulous game.
Autumn Leaves are falling down...
The children began to bring in leaves of different colours this week, after talking about the autumnal changes. We displayed some of them in the class and some of the children made leaf creatures with the others.
Yo Ho Ho!
In Drawing Club this week we read 'The Night Pirates' by Peter Harris. The children took on challenges to draw the pirates and invent a new boat for them to sail the seven seas. The children also enjoyed exploring the pirate themed provision and making hats, telescopes and treasure maps. They took on roles as pirates and built pirate ships together outside, as well as telling stories with the pirate small world figures and the pirate ship.
One...two...three!
In maths this week the children have been exploring how numbers can be composed of ones and investigating the composition of three and four. They happily took on the challenge to make their own collections of three objects and share them with their friends.
Scrub-a-dub-dub
The children really enjoyed giving the outside area a good scrub this week in the rain. They loved making bubbles and creating different pathways with the brushes. What they didn't know was that they were also developing their muscles in their shoulders and arms which will help them develop better fine motor skills such as using scissors and having a secure pencil grip.
Master Builders
This week the children have continued to learn the rules and routines of the class. They have been sharing and taking turns by showing off their building skills as they constructed lots of models and vehicles with the different construction sets available both inside and outside. They have also enjoyed painting, learning to wipe the brush on the pot so that the paint doesn't drip and to hang up their apron after for someone else to use.
The Colour Monster
This week the children have been exploring different feelings through the story 'The Colour Monster' by Anna Llenas. We talked about how the colour monster was feeling in the story and the children used their faces to show me lots of different feelings!
They designed a colour monster of their own using collage materials and talked about how their monster was feeling.
The children have also enjoyed painting, lacing Colour Monster cards and pictures, exploring the music station in the garden and much more!
Wonderful Week 2
This week the children have been becoming more familiar with the daily routines in school. Staying all day was quite a challenge for some and it was clear to see on Friday just how tired they all were.
Settling In
This week the children have been getting to know each other, the classroom, the garden and the routines of the school day. They have made a brilliant start to the year and we are very proud of them all.
