This week our topic was Digiduck’s Big Decision by Lindsay Buck. The book follows the story of Digiduck and his friends and through the story we learn about the importance of internet safety and asking others’ permission to take a picture of them. This was a great topic book to introduce teaching and conversation around feelings, consent and online safety.
During Free Play and our focused activities we expanded our knowledge of how the internet works by introducing the children to coding. In this Maths Focus activity, our aim was to extend the children's language and understanding of directions. We introduced the basic concepts of coding through creating a large grid on the table and encouraged the children to use the arrows to move figurines around the grid. The children had to use ‘up, down, left and right’ instructions to move the figurines as well as deciding how many steps they needed to take. The children also practised using the iPads and asking each other’s permission to take photos of each other.
On Tuesday the Blue Group enjoyed an Outdoor Learning Day where they spent the whole morning on the Common exploring nature. We began our day by recapping our safety rules. We discussed the meaning of staying within the ‘Safety Zone’ and what to do if a dog approaches us.
The children enthusiastically started their first activity; building a bonfire! To start with, the children explored the common collecting different sized sticks to build with. They then returned, and began discussing the different ways they could use their sticks together. The children showed off their brilliant team-working and communication skills to work together to build a pretend bonfire using sticks they had found.
We then led an activity where the children were given the challenge of creating leaf wreaths. The children explored the many types of trees on the Common and busily collected different coloured and various sized leaves for their creations. We finished the day by playing ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’ and enjoyed a picnic. The children had a blast during our Outdoor Learning Day and they are very much looking forward to doing it again after Half Term!
In the Classroom the Role Play area was set up as a Hairdresser’s. This was the children’s chosen activity based on their votes last week. Every week the children have the opportunity to cast their votes to decide which activity they would like to have in the Role Play area. We use a voting system, linked to our learning of British Values, to develop the children’s understanding of Democracy. It was lovely to see the children working together to run the Hairdressers, pretending to wash and dry each other’s hair, as well as using their imagination to create a range of wonderful hairstyles! They also used the mirrors to observe their facial expressions and features.
In our Outdoor Learning Environment, the children were excited to welcome Mr. Freddie for their weekly football sessions in afternoon school. The children warmed up their muscles with different exercises before practising their hand-eye coordination whilst throwing and kicking the balls. They also practised refining their gross motor skills by attempting to control the balls whilst walking. They had to walk very slowly with the balls, trying to keep the balls close by with gentle kicks. At the end of the session the children always enjoy a game of ‘What’s the Time Mr. Wolf’ and a ‘Frozen’ game which Mr. Freddie has created. Our Football session was full of energy and laughter and we can’t wait to welcome the children back after Half Term!
