Activities galore

Each day at school gets better and better. We were so happy to welcome Eva and Oliver back to school today. They have grown so much and look healthy and tanned from the warm sunshine in the US and Singapore. We have two children whose names sound the same in the class downstairs, even though they are spelt differently; Eva and Ava. In fact now our teachers have to address them differently so that they don’t get confused.

Our morning activity upstairs was called “marbling”. We filled a huge trough with water and then selected two colours of the marbling ink that we wanted to use. We put three drops of each colour into the water and then used a straw to mix the colours around. We chose a friend to help us drop the paper onto the surface of the water and then lifted the paper up at the corners. They all look so beautiful and not one of them looks the same. They are true originals. We are using them to cover our Workbooks/Portfolios which we will once again fill with special work during the year.

 Upstairs during library time, we read the book “Five little monkeys”. Darren asked us whether we thought the monkeys were friends or family. Some of us thought that they were friends and some of us thought that they could be brothers or sisters. In the afternoon, we played a game with letters of the alphabet. We had all the upper and lower case letters placed on the floor. We chose the letters that correspond with the initial sound in our names e.g. Jamie and Jennifer both chose “Jj” while Margo chose “Mm”. When we had all chosen our letters, Darren showed us cards with pictures on them. He asked us what we thought the pictures were and then we had to work out which picture corresponded with the initial sound in our names e.g.  has the same initial sound as Beckett;   has the same initial sound as Oliver etc. We had so much fun playing this game and we all knew what sound and letter to choose for our names. We sang the days of the week song and then focused on the two sounds c/k which have the same sound in many words in English. We are also learning that English is really complicated and somethings which may seem obvious are not correct. We learnt that c/k make a “kugh” sound however “c” can also make a “s” sound.

Downstairs we had fun with our yellow play dough once again. We also have a table with coloured cups and colourful tops from old markers. We enjoy putting them into the cups and then taking them out again; sometimes we sort them into the correct colours. We did some puzzles at the table later in the day when some of our friends were still resting. The one puzzle which we find quite challenging but fascinating at the same time, is the one with the girl showing her body in different ways. The first one is her skeleton; the next one is her organs; the next one is her muscles; then her skin and then she is dressed in clothes.

 When we arrived at school this morning we saw that there was a yellow “washing line” hanging up. We wondered why there was a “washing line” in our classroom. Then we saw that it was a special line with mittens and socks hanging from it. Our task today was to hang the socks and mittens on the washing line. Our teachers were only interested in us learning how to use the pegs; how to squeeze them so that they opened and closed. They are quite strong so we have to use both hands to squeeze them. As always, we helped our friends who were not able to do the activity so easily.

At the other activity tables, we drew with markers and learnt how to pull the lids off and put them back on again. We are also trying to focus on how we hold the markers. Shelley showed us how to pinch them which is why she put the peg activity out for us to do. She feels that it is important to teach through “scaffolding” which is where we build on our strengths just like real scaffolding. With real scaffolding, the level underneath has to be strong enough to hold all of the levels that are on top of it! This is the same when we learn.

Outside when we go to the park, we have these fan/spray bottles filled with water. When you push a button, they spray cool water on you as the fan spins round and round. It makes us feel refreshed when we are outside in the hot summer sunshine.

Love always Shelley, Darren, Christine, Nanako and Ayaka.