Well, we are now halfway through the summer term—where has the year gone? Let me share what we have been up to so far…
We have been immersing ourselves in the wonderful wordless book by Aaron Becker, titled Journey. It is a beautifully illustrated story brimming with magic and mystery. We have taken the time to closely observe the illustrations while listening to various pieces of music, which has truly enhanced our experience. In our Forest School sessions, we have had rich discussions and used our senses to craft story settings inspired by different parts of the book. The children demonstrated fantastic creativity by developing some brilliant sentence starters and wonder adjectives, showing just how imaginative they can be.

Moreover, we were incredibly fortunate to have The Rainbow Balloon Team visit our school. They brought along their astounding hot air balloon and shared a treasure trove of scientific and historical knowledge about the fascinating world of hot air balloons. This interactive experience not only sparked excitement for learning but also provided a fantastic ‘hook’ into further exploration of this topic.

In math, we have been diving into the concepts of fractions and direction. The children have taken part in numerous practical activities, which have encouraged collaboration and teamwork. I have been so impressed by their ability to listen to one another and engage in problem-solving tasks. They designed routes and clearly directed each other in their explorations. We have also enjoyed using BeeBot, programming it to navigate around the routes they created, all the while consolidating what we have learned in our focused math sessions. Additionally, we have been honing our multiplication and division skills through a range of practical strategies designed to really embed our understanding.

In literacy, our focus has been on building our story writing abilities, starting with creating a detailed story map based on our class book. We have also combined our problem-solving, reading, and design technology skills to create hinged doors inspired by Journey, along with 3D models of hot air balloons.

As part of a whole community church service, we took part in a meaningful service to pay our respects to all those who fought valiantly for our peace and freedom, as part of the nationwide VE Day celebrations.

At Forest School, we utilised part of our transition day to start dyeing materials for a sewing project coming up in September. We played team games and relaxed in hammocks, enjoying a good read and some lovely chats with both new and old friends.
This year, the children have worked incredibly hard and demonstrated an impressive ability to work independently as well as collaboratively. I am immensely proud of everything they have achieved. I am also thrilled to have the opportunity to teach them again next year, so watch this space for exciting new adventures in September!