Oaks had a great time being Victorian children on Tuesday. They experienced copperplate handwriting, writing on slates (black paper with chalk), using ink pens, making models with peas and sticks, a drill (P.E), Victorian playtime with marbles and skipping ropes and hopscotch, gardening and an object lesson (similar to art). I enjoyed the role-play with the cane and the dunces hat! The children looked great.

In Chestnuts we have continued to explore and understand our local area – a class trip to Arlington Reservoir helped us to understand how water in our area is managed, as well as allowing us to see the types of wildflowers, trees and birds that make the area their home. Chestnuts did very well on the walk, as it is a long one!

We have also been working very hard in our lessons with Year 1 really focused on their phonics, and the Year 2 cohort trying incredibly hard on their KS1 SATS this week.

Well done Chestnuts!

In Oaks, we are bringing to a close our Shang Dynasty topic. We had a wonderful time last week when a Kung Fu instructor came in and shared the history of Kung Fu and put the children through their paces in a training session. At the end, he finished the session with a chance to look at the Lion and try to use it to dance with. It was wonderful.

The children had a visit from the local Sussex Police this week. They had lots of questions to ask which Louise and David answered. They talked about what number to dial in case of an emergency and which emergency services you would ask for.

They discussed the clothes that they were wearing and the children got to try on a variety of different Police uniforms.

They then went outside to explore the Police car. They heard the siren and saw the lights flashing. Inside the back they saw a first aid kit, a roll of police tap and road markers. Finally they got to sit inside the Police car.

Willows had a really exciting morning at the fire station; the fire crew even got called out on an emergency… which ended up being some burnt toast!

We kicked off our Meerkat Mail topic with a class trip to Drusillas – thanks to all parents and carers who helped to make the trip a success! The children had a great time exploring the zoo (and the rides!) and we were lucky enough to have a hands on experience learning about some of the animals that they keep there.

In English the children have been looking at story mapping and using the new vocabulary they have gained through the Meerkat Mail text.
Whilst in art we have started to explore the technique of collage – if you have any scrap paper, string, old stamps, brown packaging, please do feel free to send it in with your children as we will be turning it in to something wonderful in the next few weeks!