This week our topic book was Wombat Divine by Mem Fox, which is a story about a wombat who is extremely excited about Christmas and is hoping to have a part in his school Nativity play! Unfortunately the wombat is unsuccessful in the school auditions and starts to get sad and disheartened until the teacher suggests that he could be the baby Jesus! The children loved this story and enjoyed relating to the Nativity characters in the story, pointing out who is who in our own Nativity show at school.
In Art we have been working hard on adding the finishing touches to our beautiful Christmas cards and made lovely Reindeer gift tags to go on the presents for our Mummies and Daddies.
In Cookery everyone was extremely excited to have the opportunity to bake muffins in preparation for our adventure on the common on Friday. We worked together, helping each other to measure out the correct amounts as well as tasting all the different ingredients. We used a range of dried fruits to sweeten our muffins and they tasted delicious with hot chocolate the following day on the common.
The highlight of our week however was our Science lesson which was all about fire and fire safety. We learnt that a fire needs heat, oxygen and fuel to ignite and we watched Miss Katka use fire steel to create a spark which was the heat. We went on to test a range of fuels, including dry wood, leaves and twigs and observed how they differed. We also tested the need for oxygen and noticed that when we cover the fire it dies out. However, we also noticed that we were able to revive it by blowing on it. We discussed why this was and came to the conclusion that it was because our breath contained oxygen!
Once we had made our fire we used it to boil some water inside a Kelly Kettle. The children all had a turn, adding fuel to the fire to keep it going to boil the water inside the kettle. Our focus was on the safety aspects of fires and the children were very aware that they can't attempt to make fires without an adult and they understood the impacts that fires are dangerous and can burn us. We had a big container of water ready for emergencies in case the fire got too big and everyone knew that water puts the fire out. The children were fascinated and listened attentively to our lesson and were very good at following all the safety instructions. Well done Blue Fledglings, we are so impressed by how mature and engaged you were!
During our trip the common we were excited to be joined by Mr Pedro and we loved doing our Sports session in the big open space! On Thursday, we chatted about Thanksgiving and learned about the different ways people celebrate this. We went on to discuss the things we are thankful for and it was lovely to watch the confidence in the Fledglings sharing the things they were thankful for with the rest of the class. We adored listening to their answers which included chocolate, a warm car, being dropped off by Mummy, and their packed lunch!
We love the way the children’s communication abilities are developing and how much they enjoy doing their Weekend News every week. They recall the events in detail and are able to confidently share these with others. Some of the children are also now copying the letters and their illustrations are starting to include lots of detail.