This week we have found even more ways to tell stories. We enjoyed sharing a video, from the National Literacy Trust, called ‘Rhythm and wriggles singalong’ with a poet called Simon Mole and his musician friend Gecko. We used body percussion to encourage some ‘magic’ worms to appear on the screen and worked hard to keep a beat. Simon and Gecko used their imaginations to create a story about a worm. In PE on Wednesday we moved around the hall like wriggly worms. On Friday we had fun creating our own stories about worms during our ‘story squiggle’ session!

We have had fun learning all about birds during our ‘Bird Watching’ week. The children have been getting creative making lots of bird pictures and learning how to draw them. They have had fun in our bird small world area and also looking for real birds in our outdoor area. We really appreciated some Year 5 children, who have their own bird watching group, coming down and sharing their knowledge with the Reception children. They worked really hard on their presentation and made it really interactive!

The children were very excited this week when they spotted a fire engine in the car park. We decided to go out and get a closer look! Firefighter Dan talked to the children about the job of a firefighter and showed us lots of the different equipment that is stored in the fire engine. He explained the importance of tidying up and putting things away in their correct places so they are always ready to go to an emergency when needed!

The children were very excited by the arrival of a police van on our playground on Wednesday! Thank you so much to community support officers Sarah and Paul for sharing their knowledge with the children and answering their many questions! For the children the highlights included trying on the uniform, seeing the flashing lights, listening to the sirens and climbing into the back of the van to try out the cell!

This week in Reception we have had a focus on active listening. We have discussed how looking at the person who is talking and managing our distractions help us with this. The children have enjoyed using our listening tent to practise this skill. During our weekly story squiggle session the children were encouraged to listen to their friend and share what they knew about their story.

Today the children have been learning about what a Christingle represents to Christians. The children enjoyed making their own ready for our Christingle services in school.

This week RBD did a fantastic job singing, learning words, dancing and acting in our Nativity performance! Well done everyone. We have also been learning about the Christmas story and using small world resources to tell the story. We have also added a Christmas tree to the classroom which the children can decorate. We have talked about this been an important Christian tradition with the children. They have loved deciding where to put the baubles and tinsel!

In RBD we have been learning about what Advent means to Christians. We have found out that it is an important time for Christians as it is a time to remember and prepare to celebrate. We have also found out that it is a time of waiting and have made links to lots of things that we have to wait for in real life!

Thank you for the books that have been sent in for our Advent calendar of stories. The children have enjoyed listening to the ones we have unwrapped so far at story time. There is still time to send yours in if you haven’t already.

Thank you to our Year 6 buddies for sharing this special event with us! The children enjoyed coming back to school in the dark, wearing their pyjamas. They shared stories with each other, made book marks, created book covers, had hot chocolate and biscuits! For those children who couldn’t make it the Year 6 buddies joined us today to gift the children their books.

We were very excited by the snow and frosty mornings this week. We became detectives in the outdoor area and spotted ice in our water tray and frost on some of our plants. The children enjoyed listening to some stories linked to snow!