As part of our healthy lives work we have been supporting children with healthy eating, planting and growing and physical skills: such as climbing, balancing, jumping from height, dancing, stretching, cycling, walking and running.
We are also asking families to help us keep the road outside clear and safe for our children.

• Please walk to school.
• Please cycle to school.
• Please scoot to school.
• If you have to drive, please park AWAY from the front of our school and walk.

 

• Do not stop in the road and block it.
• Do not park on the zig zags.
• Do not park on the pavement.
• Do not reverse outside our school or turn in the road.
• We have witnessed our own families speeding along our road and THIS HAS TO STOP!

Some children have talked about this, sharing their ideas.
They also made posters, drawing and writing some words to help us all remember. 
Please help keep everyone safe and care for our world.

Children at Children's House are encouraged to develop skills and confidence in building and making every day.
They have opportunities to build, design and create in the construction area in class and the garden as well as using recycled modelling materials in class each day. Children are supported to use one handed tools such as scissors, mark marking equipment, sellotape, glue and masking tape to join recyclable materials.

Recently there has been much interest in our neighbours McAleer-Rushe at the construction site and children were encouraged to observe the vehicles we could see next door. We also used books and photographs from our visitors to look at different vehicles.
Children learned new vocabulary such as 'palette jack', 'bulldozer', and 'excavator' as they looked at the photographs.
Children spent sustained periods building with intention, returning to and playing with their models over time. 
It engaged large groups of children and motivated some to build creatively.

As you pass the construction site, look in through the gate and say "Hello" to the workers and look at the progress they are making. 

Children were supported in further developing understanding of counting with one to one correspondence, mark making their numbers and comparing them.
Firstly, children helped to create a bowling alley in the garden: problem solving collaboratively with the blocks. They also created skittles using large plastic blocks. They took it in turns to bowl the ball and knock over skittles. Children worked together (excitedly) to count the skittles and mark make how many they had knocked down.
They were introduced to tallying numbers as they counted. Children were so motivated to have a go and showed real joy in their achievements. Some children were able to write the numeral to match the tally, others needed a little help.

Another group created their own pouches to go gathering in the garden. 
They problem solved how to create their pouch and then used number cards to pick how many objects they were going to gather. Sticks, stones, feathers and other small items were gathered and then counted and compared to the numerals. 

This learning will continue next week to consolidate the learning with some calculation for children who are ready: comparing and combining groups of number.