Pre-Prep Newsletter Article - Friday 23 September 2022
We have had a busy few weeks in the Pre-Prep, settling in, learning new routines and making new friends. Walking from classroom to classroom, it is clear to see how much enthusiasm there is for learning as each class explores their topic. From Nursery children rolling tyres to Reception hunting down a missing egg, to Year 1 searching for a dangerous troll and Year 2 enjoying the delights of Katie Morag on her Scottish Island, the Pre-Prep really has taken the children on some fabulously exotic learning adventures over the last week.
This week the Butterflies and Ladybirds, have been reading a brilliantly funny story called 'The Lion on the Bus’, leading us on many exciting bus adventures. On Tuesday, the children worked together to manoeuvre some real bus tyres to the top of a hill. They then had great fun exploring how to roll them in different ways, chasing them down the hill and then turning them into their own buses to drive. In the Classroom, they have been using their imaginations to travel on the Nursery Safari bus where they have been finding out 'how many passengers are on the bus'. The story has also given us many opportunities to sing 'The wheels on the bus' and to explore some musical instruments, using them to represent each part of the song.
‘Little Lumpty’ has been our focus text this week in Reception and the children have enjoyed all our egg-themed activities. In class, we enjoyed learning how to separate eggs and make meringues and in the woods the children created egg characters from clay. It was wonderful to hear the rich story language they were using when retelling and to see their imaginative houses and story settings. On Thursday, Little Lumpty was up to his old tricks and decided to run away! We followed the clues and finally found him, up high, but not on a wall this time! He led us a merry dance around the grounds before we caught up with him on the top of the fort! It has been an egg-cellent and egg- citing week.
Who’s that trip trapping over the bridge? Well… Year 1 can tell you that it most definitely is not a troll since he has gone missing! We have spent the earlier part of this week designing our own wanted posters to try and track down this gruesome beast! If you see a troll, please do not approach him! It has not been all about trolls and goats, we have enjoyed some maths too! This week’s focus has been on place value, ordering and sequencing numbers and counting in tens. Racing toy cars and looking at ordinal numbers was also a highlight.
Year 2 have enjoyed the autumn sunshine which has warmed us all this week and allowed us to think summer is still here. We have really enjoyed being out in the playground without having to wear coats and wellies. The work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, the Italian painter best known for his creative artwork using fruits, vegetables and flowers was our inspiration to create some amazing edible faces. The children used vegetables to create their own face, a fusion of their portrait work from their art curriculum and healthy eating from their science curriculum. The life of Katie Morag and her Tiresome Teddy (a story from the Katie Morag collection) encouraged us to think about our feelings and how we deal with situations if we are cross or feel jealous.
A gentle reminder that the Pre-prep coffee morning for parents next Thursday 29th has been cancelled.
Have a wonderful exeat weekend.
Mrs Jenkins
