Finding out all about flowers that grow throughout the summer! We made our own tree decorations, then collected leaves and petals to make flower crowns.
Collecting leaves and petals to decorate our trees.
One of our finished tree patterns!
We also made leaf and flower crowns.
Week 6
We have really enjoyed learning about the story, The Rainbow Fish! We have been busy innovating the story and have now made our own storybooks inspired by this!
Drawing pictures to show our ideas.
We wrote our innovated version of the Rainbow Fish.
We were so proud of our work!
We had so much fun performing our school show, Pirates of the Curry Bean, at Number 8! We really enjoyed performing our song, Lumbago Lullaby, with Year 1, and Piratical Style with the whole school.
Ready for the show!
We performed our song, Lumbago Lullaby, with Year 1.
Then enjoyed watching the show!
Week 5
We had an amazing time at All Things Wild today! We loved looking at the different animals, finding out all about dinosaurs, and going on an ocean adventure. Working in groups, we also explored the mini beast trail, barefoot walk and the adventure playground!
Exploring the barefoot walk on a sensory trail.
Using the pedal go-karts!
Exploring the dinosaur barn!
We found different animals, including camels.
On a tractor!
We got to hold a real fossil, talking about the texture.
Stroking a woolly mammoth!
At the station, ready to go on the Dino Train!
Eating our lunch in our little log cabin.
Finding out about marine animals on our ocean voyage.
Holding an under the sea creature.
Finding out about pollution, and how we can look after our environment.
On the Jungle Mayhem soft play!
Taking turns on the seesaw.
Pretending to be meerkats!
Being excavators on a dinosaur dig.
Exploring the different planes and machinery.
We all had a wonderful day!
Week 4
Lots of fun throwing bean bags into targets this week in PE! We took turns and matched the bean bags to each colour hoop.
Taking turns.
Throwing objects into a target.
Matching the colours!
Some of our opportunities for learning this week!
Creating under the sea paintings.
Our design for our castle!
Working together to build houses and castles using Lego.
Using chalks to draw our own rainbow animals.
Using play dough to create under the sea inspired stories.
Retelling the Rainbow Fish!
Week 3
Reception loved taking part in their first sports day! We had a go at the running race, sack race, egg and spoon, relay race and even a scarecrow race!
Ready for the races!
Taking part in the relay.
All dressed up for our scarecrow race!
Jumping in the sack race.
In a pirate costume!
Throwing a foam arrow as far as we can.
We really enjoyed exploring the different activities at our Summer Garden Party! Thank you all so much for coming!
So much fun on the bouncy slide!
We enjoyed listening to the ukulele band.
Having ice cream too!
Week 2
We have really enjoyed counting and reading numbers in maths this week! We used Numicon to build a Numicon City, then counted how many we had in total. We also matched numbers to 9 to dots and used cups to create our own Maths Stories!
Reading each number and drawing dots to show the amount.
Building a Numicon City and counting how many we have in total!
Creating Maths Stories and counting how many we have in total!
This week in our outdoor learning, we have been finding out all about clever caterpillars! We talked about how we can look after them, then went on a minibeast hunt. After that, we used sticks and wool to create our own monarch caterpillars!
Using brightly coloured wool to make our own monarch caterpillars!
Caterpillar role play; pretending that the caterpillars are eating the leaves.
On a minibeast hunt, using magnifying glasses to see closer.
Week 1
This week we began learning all about the story, The Rainbow Fish! We have had so much fun sharing the story and retelling it in our storytelling sessions! If you would like to share this story at home, click here.
Sequencing and labelling the story.
Drawing our own rainbow fish.
We loved making collages of the Rainbow Fish!
Some of our opportunities for learning this week...
Ahoy there! Pretending to be pirates on our pirate ship.
Creating different scenes using play dough.
Making our own ice creams - using sand!
Building a city and adding in lots of different people and shapes.
Using instruments to play in time to a song with Pre-School in music.
Painting our ideas!
Summer 1
Week 6
Reception became butterflies! We used chalks to draw patterns onto the wings drawn onto our playground, and then became the butterfly ourselves. We really enjoyed making these and spotted the repeating patterns and talked about symmetry.
We became butterflies!
Choosing different colours to add to each wing.
Exploring symmetry on the butterfly wings.
During our outdoor explorers time, we had so much fun finding out about baby animals that are born in the summer, focusing on woodland animals. We explored our forest area for animal footprints and any signs of animals, such as nests. Then, we worked in small groups to create clay hedgehogs, adding different nature resources we found in the forest!
Searching for natural objects to create clay hedgehogs.
Some of our finished clay hedgehogs!
Exploring our forest area for animal footprints.
More opportunities for learning this week...
Playing parachute games!
Writing descriptions of a minibeast hiding under a plant pot.
Using diggers to transport sand.
We were so excited to find that our butterflies had hatched!
Ordering numbers and sorting them into odds and evens.
Reading numbers and matching the amount.
Week 5
Creating our own beautiful butterflies, just like in the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar! We used cotton wool and pegs to create our own colourful dot paintings. When they had dried, we then cut out the different shapes using scissors and arranged them to create our own butterfly patterns!
Using scissors to cut out our dot paintings.
We displayed our finished butterflies!
Colouring in patterns onto butterfly wings.
Week 4
We have really enjoyed finding out about summer fruits in our outdoor learning this week! We tasted a few different fruits, then explored our forest area, looking at the seasonal changes that have occurred over the past few weeks. In small groups, we also used pots and soil to plant cress seeds, we will watch these grow over the next few weeks.
Adding soil to our pots.
Putting the seeds on top.
All ready, on our planter! We will watch them grow over the next few weeks.
Some more opportunities for learning this week...
Sharing our favourite stories in our reading garden!
Making a train track from Lego!
Using different colours to create minibeast pictures.
Painting blossom using paint sticks.
Exploring our climbing equipment outside.
Creating butterfly gardens using play dough.
Week 3
As part of our celebrations for the King's Coronation, we worked in small groups to create cupcakes! We used red, white and blue cupcake cases to put each mixture in, then baked them in the oven. Finally, we added icing and sprinkles!
Cracking an egg over a bowl, ready to mix.
Our finished coronation cupcakes!
Pouring the mixture into each case.
Completing challenges in teams as part of Commando Jo! We were finding out about Tenesha Teamwork and completed an obstacle course in groups.
Throwing into a target, using small balls.
Working in teams to complete the challenge!
Completing our obstacle course.
Week 2
We have been learning all about the story, the Very Hungry Caterpillar! We have enjoyed sharing the story, sequencing it and retelling it.
Using pictures to retell and label the story.
Sequencing and labelling the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Drawing and labelling our favourite minibeasts.
We have loved preparing for the King's Coronation! We have made nature crowns, ribbon sticks and afternoon tea for the new King using our mud kitchen.
Using petals and leaves to make King's nature crowns!
Using red, white and blue ribbon to make ribbon sticks.
Making afternoon tea for the King in our mud kitchen!
Week 1
Finding out about Earth Day, which takes place on the 22nd of April. We have enjoyed creating our own Earth day pebbles, using chalk pens and paint. Using play ground chalk and pieces of nature, we created our own nature chalk Earth onto the ground. We also used soil and seeds to plant and grow cress in our outdoor area!
Using blue to show the sea and green to show to land.
Using play ground chalk to draw the Earth.
We added pieces of nature to show the different parts of the Earth.
In our outdoor learning, we had so much fun being summer detectives and collecting different nature objects to show the colours of summer. We found lots of pink petals, green leaves, white daisies and yellow daffodils!
Choosing different nature items to collect and match the colours.
Collecting the "colours of summer" in our egg boxes!
We worked with a partner.
Spring 2
Week 5
We had lots of fun making chocolate nests! We melted chocolate and stirred it, then added cornflakes to the mixture. Finally we added it to our cupcake case and added an egg on top!
Stirring the melted chocolate!
Adding cornflakes to make chocolate nests.
We added eggs on top!
We have enjoyed learning all about Easter and in our outdoor exploring session, went on an Easter egg hunt! We used the spring baskets we had made to collect Easter eggs, then used a parachute to catch and bounce special balloon eggs.
Ready for our Easter egg hunt!
We used the spring baskets we had designed to collect eggs.
Using a parachute to catch and bounce "eggs"!
As part of our learning all about Spring, we had so much fun toasting hot cross buns! We talked about the texture and smell of each of the hot cross buns, then chose a topping and spread it. Finally, we tasted it!
Smelling the hot cross buns, fresh out of the toaster!
Choosing a topping and using a butter knife to spread it.
Finally, we tasted them!
Week 4
Finding all about spring, and the different seasonal changes that occur throughout this time of year. We have enjoyed drawing and using watercolours to paint a daffodil, and also used wax crayons and pencils to draw eggs, bunnies and chicks.
Drawing the other half of a daffodil and using watercolours to paint it.
Using wax crayons and pencils to draw and create our own eggs and chicks.
Drawing signs of spring!
We went on a Now Press Play adventure... back in time to see the dinosaurs! We helped a baby dinosaur find it's mummy and had a go at pretending to be the different dinosaurs from the story.
Travelling back to the dinosaur age!
We were searching for a baby dinosaur's mummy.
Caring for and looking after the baby dinosaur.
Week 3
In maths this week we have been exploring length and height! We used cubes and Numicon to build beanstalks, comparing which is shorter and which is taller. In small groups, we have also been ordering beanstalks by height, from shortest to tallest.
Drawing objects that are shorter or taller!
Using cubes and Numicon to create our own beanstalks.
Ordering and colouring beanstalks, from shortest to tallest.
We had so much fun exploring different activities at the Mini Olympics! We enjoyed throwing foam rockets, balancing, jumping, skipping and running. We also took part in the opening and closing ceremonies, waving our Orchard Primary flags!
Balancing a ball using a tennis racquet.
Ready to wave our school flags at our Opening Ceremony!
Having a go at the hurdles.
Week 2
Drawing a dinosaur using 2D shapes! We then used watercolours to paint it, thinking about the different colours we were using.
Drawing a dinosaur using shapes.
Some of our finished pieces of work on display!
Thinking about the colours we could use to paint our dinosaur.
More learning opportunities we have explored in Reception this week...
Writing labels for our dinosaurs.
Exploring cutting and pincing using our spring cutting tray.
Using colours to draw our favourite dinosaurs.
Looking at texture and making a river in our sand pit.
Drawing onto the pavement using our dinosaurs playground chalk!
Using sand for cement to build a house.
Week 1
We really enjoyed coming into school in our pyjamas for World Book Day! During our snack time, we loved reading decodable books as part of our Reading Cafe! We also shared lots of stories throughout the day and really enjoyed retelling our favourite story to a reading buddy from Year 1. Click here to find out a little bit more about World Book Day 2023!
Sharing our favourite stories with a reading buddy from Year 1!
We loved reading phonics books in our Reading Cafe!
Spotting different words in the text and retelling a story from the pictures.
So much fun exploring number and matching numeral to quantity! We have used beads to create different numerals and been practicing writing the numbers 2, 5, 7 and 9 in a range of ways.
Writing numbers into glitter using a paintbrush.
Counting and matching beads to the numeral.
Rainbow writing the numbers 2, 5, 7 and 9!
Exploring changes that occur in nature during spring! We investigated new growth in our outside area. Then, had lots of fun working in small groups, planting seeds that we will observe and look after for the next few months.
Finding signs of new growth and labelling them with arrows.
Planting and watering our seeds.
We labelled our plant pots and will look after them and watch them grow!
Spring 1
Week 7
We loved finding out about Pancake Day and making our own pancakes! We talked about the different ingredients we would need to use, then whisked them in a bowl. After that, we used a frying pan to finish making them!
Using a whisk to stir.
Some of our pancakes!
Adding eggs and milk.
For Valentines Day, we worked together collaboratively to create a piece of outdoor artwork, drawing handprints using play ground chalk. We also enjoyed painting hearts with watercolours and paint sticks, in the style of Kandinsky.
Drawing our own special handprints into our heart.
Painting hearts in the style of Kandinsky.
Using chalk to mark make and colour.
Week 6
In PE this week, we really enjoyed exploring different ways of moving when climbing over, through and jumping along an obstacle course!
Weaving between different hoops, then jumping onto the beam.
Jumping between each spot.
Balancing along the beam.
Exploring our school outdoor area for signs of spring, using our spring view finders. We then worked in small groups to create spring pots, using different nature objects we found on the ground.
Using spring nature finders to search for signs of spring in our outdoor area.
Our finished spring pots!
Using petals and grass to create spring pots in small groups.
Some more opportunities for learning this week...
Using playdough and different tools to retell Jack and the Beanstalk.
Building a house for the giant to live in!
Using tissue paper to make heart suncatchers.
Making salt dough heart biscuits.
Drawing and colouring using different techniques.
Creating love potions in our mud kitchen!
Week 5
We were so excited to find some magic beans in our classroom, and when we came back after the weekend, we found a beanstalk had grown! We have enjoyed drawing, writing and painting our ideas and retelling the story using story props.
We found some magic beans in our classroom!
Using pictures, we have loved putting the story into order and writing about each part.
Sequencing and writing about the story, Jack and the Beanstalk!
In Muddy Monday, we found out all about how minibeasts survive the cold winter months. We explored our outdoor area, searching for different minibeasts and using our magnifying glasses to see them closely. In small groups, we then worked together to make a minibeast mansion.
Looking for different minibeasts!
Using a magnifying glass to search for minibeasts on the ground.
Working together to build a minibeast hotel.
Week 4
In PE, we really enjoyed practicing throwing and catching using balloons! After practicing keeping our balloon up for a while, we then explored different ways of keeping our balloons up; such as with our elbows, our head, or with our shoulders. After that, we worked with a partner to practice rolling a small ball to each other.
Catching our balloon!
Throwing and counting how many claps before we caught it.
Rolling the ball to each other.
Exploring pattern and practicing writing numbers to 8! We worked in small groups to practice writing numbers, wrote the numbers into glitter using a paintbrush. We also used compare bears to create and follow patterns.
Using compare bears to create repeating patterns of colour.
Writing numbers into glitter!
Using different colours to practice writing different numbers.
After finding out about the Big Garden Birdwatch 2023 in Muddy Monday, we had lots of fun working together to make our own orange bird feeders! We used spoons to scoop out the inside of the orange, then sprinkled seeds on top and used string to hang them from the trees in our outdoor area.
Tying string so we can hang them from the trees!
Scooping and adding bird seed to our oranges.
We found the perfect space to store them, ready for the birds!
Week 3
Finding out all about Chinese and Lunar New Year. We used paper, glue and scissors to create our own paper lanterns. After that, we had a go at drawing and making patterns, and also used tissue paper to create lantern collages. Click here to find out a little bit more about Chinese and Lunar New Year!
Using tissue paper to make lantern collages.
Cutting paper to create red paper lanterns.
Drawing patterns using paint sticks.
In Muddy Monday, we worked together to identify some birds that are found in the UK in winter. We also talked about how birds survive the colder months and how to take care of birds in the winter. We found out all about the Big Garden Birdwatch, taking place in January 2023. Click here to find out a little bit more about it! We then made our own pine cone bird feeders, which we will continue to monitor over the next week.
Using binoculars to search for nests in the trees!
We found different places around our forest to put our pine cone bird feeders.
Rolling our pine cones into lard and adding bird seeds to our bird feeders.
Week 2
Drawing and using watercolours to paint one of the three bears. We talked about which colours we were going to use and why. We also had lots of fun drawing and colouring our favourite fairytale characters!
Drawing and painting one of the three bears.
Some of our finished pieces on display!
We also enjoyed drawing and colouring our favourite fairy tales characters using chalk.
In Muddy Monday today, we found out all about mistletoe! We used observational skills to identify any mistletoe growing in our outdoor area. Then, we used sponges to print pictures of mistletoe onto card.
We found pieces of mistletoe on the ground, and used a magnifying glass to view them!
Using binoculars to see mistletoe high in the trees.
Creating mistletoe prints, using sponges and paint.
Some more opportunities for learning this week...
Retelling and labelling the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Working together to make vehicles using Lego!
Using our water wall to measure, full, half full or empty.
Using wooden blocks to create our own maths stories.
Mixing and stirring muddy porridge for the Three Bears in the Mud Kitchen.
Sharing our favourite stories in our storytelling area.
Week 1
Making porridge for the Three Bears! We worked in small groups and talked about hygiene whilst mixing and preparing food. We mixed porridge flakes and milk together and then added our choice of toppings!
Getting ready to heat our porridge!
Stirring milk into the porridge.
Tasting the porridge, we chose to put different toppings on.
Finding out all about 2D shapes! We made puzzles, found and sorted each shape and also drew pictures and matched the 2D shapes by colour.
Sorting and grouping 2D shapes!
Finding and matching 2D shapes in a colouring picture.
Making 2D shape puzzles.
Autumn 2
Week 7
We were so excited to find that there had been snow at school! At lunchtime, we loved going outside and making snowmen and snow angels.
We talked about how to keep ourselves warm in cold temperatures.
Gathering lots of snow!
Making snowballs for a snowman!
Some of our opportunities for learning this week...
Making pinecone Christmas trees using pom poms.
Using tools to dig and explore in the sand.
Writing labels and captions about the story Mog's Christmas.
Using playdough to create a winter scene.
With Year 1 and Year 2, we took part in our Nativity, Whoops-a-Daisy Angel!
Making soup and exploring in our mud kitchen.
Week 6
We have been busy writing Christmas letters! We put them in an envelope and put a stamp on top. Then, we walked to the post box by our school and posted them!
Writing Christmas letters and putting them in an envelope with a stamp.
Walking to the post box to post our Christmas letters!
Posting our letters at the post box!
In Muddy Monday, we learnt about how trees survive during the winter months. We also found out about the different parts of a tree. Then, we used our observation skills to explore winter trees in our outside area.
Using observation skills to explore trees in our outside area.
Creating tree faces using clay and natural items from our forest area.
We were so proud of our finished designs!
Week 5
Lots of fun Christmas tree weaving! We wrapped elastic bands around our tree shapes. Then, we added fallen nature to our designs and weaved them into the elastic bands.
Adding fallen nature finds and weaving them into the elastic bands.
Wrapping elastic bands around our tree shapes.
We talked about the shape and texture of the nature finds.
In maths, we used cups to make maths stories! We also explored shape and found which shape is the odd one out.
Using cups to create maths stories.
Sorting the 2D shapes in our tuff tray!
Naming 2D shapes and spotting the odd one out.
Exploring the changes that occur in the natural world, during winter. We used observational skills to explore the signs of winter in our outdoor area and then created our own ice decorations using nature finds.
Winter detectives, searching for signs of seasonal change.
Collecting natural items from our outdoor area for us to freeze overnight!
Hanging our frozen ice decorations on the trees in our outside area.
Week 4
We went on our first school trip and walked down to the Library for a Christmas visit! We shared a few Christmas stories and then had a go at a few Christmas themed activities. We explored the library on a Christmas scavenger hunt, made Christmas baubles and shared our favourite Christmas stories with a friend. Thank you for having us, Pershore Library!
We walked to the library!
Making our own Christmas baubles.
Sharing Christmas stories with a friend.
Some more of our learning experiences this week...
Writing green words into glitter!
Using pipes and measuring jugs to create waterfalls and measure capacity.
Creating autumn paintings and mixing colours.
Making marks and creating patterns onto autumn leaves.
Taking part in iSing Pop at Pershore Abbey.
Labelling key parts from the story Room on the Broom.
Week 3
Working together in small groups to make iced fairy cakes! We used scales to measure the ingredients and mixed everything together into a bowl. After that, we put the mixture into spotty cupcake cases and put the tray into the oven. When it was ready, we used icing to add colourful, spotty dots to our cupcakes!
Stirring the mixture for our fairy cakes.
Putting the mixture into spotty cupcake cases, ready to bake!
Adding spotty icing to our cakes for Children in Need!
In Muddy Monday, we found out about red and grey squirrels. We learnt about what squirrels eat, where they live and who their predators are. We also talked about how we can care for them.
Working in small groups to build a drey using natural materials from our outdoor area.
One of our finished dreys, which we put onto a tree branch.
Using leaves from our outdoor area to create our own leafy squirrels.
Week 2
We found out all about Remembrance Day. We shared a short clip about why we wear poppies on Remembrance Day and talked about it. Click here to view the clip. We then used loose parts to create our own field of poppies in our tuff tray and also made poppy paintings, by printing.
Using loose parts to make a field of poppies.
Printing and drawing poppies with cotton buds.
Some of our finished fields of poppies on display!
Some more opportunities for learning this week...
Counting using pennies and buying different items from our fruit shop.
Exploring water play and making a tunnel using different materials.
Creating leaf prints using different leaves that have fallen from the trees at school.
Using chalk pens and paint sticks to decorate autumn leaves.
Sequencing and labelling the characters that appear in the story Room on the Broom.
Sharing resources and digging and exploring in our sand pit!
Week 1
Finding out all about Bonfire Night! We shared a short clip from CBeebies, talking about how we can stay safe during Bonfire Night and why we celebrate it, click here to share this at home. We then used cardboard rolls to print firework pictures and drew our own fireworks using wax crayons.
Printing fireworks and adding glitter.
Drawing firework patterns into coloured flour.
Using wax crayons to create firework pictures.
Beginning to use cups to count in maths. We acted the Real Story addition Maths Stories with 1-digit whole numbers by following verbal instructions. We also counted objects up to 8 and matched them to the correct numeral.
Counting the objects and matching the total to the correct number.
Using tweezers to count and move pom poms into the Numicon.
Acting the real story for addition Maths Stories with 1-digit whole numbers.
In Muddy Monday, we found out all about spiders! We learnt what spiders are like, why they make webs and why they are important. In small groups, we went on a spider web hunt, searching our outdoor area for spider webs. Then, we worked together to create clay spiders! We collected 8 sticks and used these for the spiders legs, then attached 2 googly eyes for the spiders eyes.
On a spider web hunt! Exploring our outdoor area for spider webs.
Collecting small sticks to use to create our clay spiders.
We added 8 sticks and 2 googly eyes to modelling clay to make our clay spiders!
Autumn 1
Week 7
Finding out all about Diwali! We watched a few short clips of different families and how they celebrate Diwali. Click here to share this at home! We also had a go at making salt dough Diwa lamps, Rangoli patterns and Mehndi patterns.