There was lots of excitement when the children discovered some mysterious clues in Forest School. The children were fantastic detectives and were quick to identify who they belonged to (even though the adults kept it a surprise for a few days). It was of course the Gruffalo!!!

When we got back to class the children drew pictures of who they thought it might be, whilst making sure that they had all of his key features; orange eyes, purple prickles etc. We carried on using our drawing skills to create a story map to who help us to retell the story to others. We drew all of the animals that the mouse met on the way to discovering that the Gruffalo was in fact real!!!!! The children continued to use their skills of map making to draw a map of Studley and the local features that they could spot. Some of the children chose to use binoculars to incorporate things further a field. The children loved and got to know the story that well that they were able to re-tell the story to their grown-ups at our book event. They even made Gruffalo puppets and went on a scavenger hunt around the classroom based on the story.

In continuous provision the children made habitats for the animals from the story and used the creative station to make props to support their role play in becoming the different animals. They continued to use the environment and what they had learnt to make lost posters of things that had mysteriously gone missing.  They also looked at different ways to compose the number 4 and showed their understanding using a variety of media.

They also loved finding out about animals that lived in a rainforest compared with animals that live in the woods. They created pictures of the animals using a variety of media and were able to sort them into different habitats.

This half term we have observed the children busily putting their reading and writing skills into practice in our environment. We are all so very proud of them and their ‘can do’ attitude to learning.

Finally, we ended the half term learning all about Chinese New Year and how it was the year of the dragon. We tasted noodles, sauces and prawn crackers, made dragons and wrote Chinese numbers in glitter and with chalk.

It has been a very busy and lovely half term. We are all very excited about Spring 2 and all the fun and continued love of learning it will bring!!!!