We have been revisiting halving groups of objects and sharing into two equal groups. Some of us have been sharing into groups of three and seeing if this could be done equally.

Here are some photos of us!

In Literacy we described different types of fruit from Handa's Surprise and came up with a list of adjectives. One of the fruit that we explored was a pineapple. We described how it looked and how it felt when we touched it.

During snack time we asked if we could taste the pineapple. Some of us were really brave and hadn't tried pineapple before and gave it a go! We talked about eating the flesh inside the pineapple but not the rough skin.

There was a variety of snack today which was left over from previous days so the children asked of they could be healthy and eat that too! Today's snack was sugar snap peas which are not always a favourite! Many of the children had enjoyed the pineapple, as well as trying something new, and asked if they could try the peas too! We looked at the different parts of it and could identify the pod on the outside and the peas on the inside. We talked about how frozen peas in packets that you have for tea are from pea pods too. The children wondered if they could eat the pod too and some even tried it.

Here are some photos of us trying new things and being healthy.

Our topic this week has been about Africa. We learnt that Africa is a continent and is made up of lots of different countries. We looked at Africa on a globe and noticed that it was a very large continent and was made up of different colours. We learnt this is because there are different habitats throughout Africa that range across different countries, including rainforests, deserts and the savannah. We also learnt some of the different animals that live in Africa including cheetahs, lions, elephants, gazelle and chameleons. We learnt the word "camouflage" and know that it means blending in with the surroundings to keep it safe from predators. We learnt there are also very tall mountains (Mount Kilimanjaro) and very tall waterfalls (Victoria Falls.) One of our activities this week was mixing a range of different sunset colours and shades with powder paint to make a shadow picture of an African animal. We also learnt the word "extinct" and know that Nature Reserves in Africa help protect animals.

Our story focus has been "Handa's Surprise." We have been describing different fruit that was mentioned in the story and learnt some new names because some of the fruit was unfamiliar to us. We learnt "guava" and "passion fruit." We really enjoyed learning about Handa's Surprise so next week we will read the story Handa's Hen!

Over the past few months The Rainbows have been taing part in handwriting lessons everyday to support their pencil grip, pencil control, pressure on the page and letter formation. Some children are tracing and copying patterns and making different movements, some children are taking part in gross and fine motor skills activities such as dancing and physical activities to support their motor skills and some are focusing on correct letter formation.

We follow the Read Write Inc. handwriting sessions which not only mean follow a specific sequence of movements to form the letters but also have the handwriting phrase to accompany it.

We also know that we sit with our back to the very back of the chair, the chair is pulled into the table and our feet are flat on the floor. We have been using handwriting books to help us write the letters in between lines which helps us form tall letters (ascenders) and descenders (parts of the letter that extend below the baseline of it).

​Here is some of our hard work!

We have been consolidating our knowledge of sharing items and splitting them into equal groups this week. We used counters to help us work out if numbers could be split into groups that had the same amount of objects in. We could use the word "equal" to say if they were the same.

We have also been identifying odd and even numbers, and have been using number blocks to help us. We remembered that if the number blocks are "flat" that means they are even numbers as all the blocks have a partner. If they are not flat, that must be an odd number because one of the blocks does not have a partner and is lonely.

By the end of the session we could confidently identify if numbers were odd or even!

Today for Feel Good Friday we took part in two activities.

Firstly we practised long distance running and ran around the field. We learnt the word "circuit" and know this means running alongside the outside of the field without cutting the corners! Today was our first day trying this so we ran one circuit. Next time we will challenge ourselves by running two! After we finished running we felt our heart and noticed that it was beating faster so oxygen can pump around our body quicker. We could say we were out of breath and some rainbows said that running had made them feel sweaty.

Our second Feel Good Friday activity was taking part in Super Yoga by Cosmic Yoga. We practised stretching our bodies and copying the poses.

We have been working hard to learn our brand new poem from the Poetry Basket. We talked about using facial expressions to enhance our performance of the poem.

​We hope you like it!

Our mystery object this week from the past iiiiiis.....a teapot! We revisited our learning and discussed what "in the past" means. The rainbows were very good at answering the question and said it means something that has already happened, and that it can be a long time ago. We talked about things being very recently in the past, such as phonics this morning, then yesterday, last week, last year in Nursery, before they were born, before mums and dads were born, and before people when there were dinosaurs.

We guessed what the teapot was and most children guessed correctly. Some children thought it might be a magic genie lamp. Everybody had the opportunity to hold and explore the teapot, and to describe what they could see or feel.

We spoke about archaeology after one of the Rainbows said that sometimes you can dig up things from the past from the ground. Some of the children were very excited about finding things underground!

We also learnt about schools in the past and how they were different from now. The Rainbows were amazed that classroom had a fire inside and thought it was very dangerous. They thought it might be very boring sitting at a desk all day and not getting busy with different activities, such as in our creative area. They were very concerned about consequences that teachers put in place, especially if children were late to school. One of the Rainbows noticed that at the end of dinner time we have a school bell like the ones that schools had a long time ago. We brought it to the classroom to have a further look.

The children were motivated to "Ask Google" about life in the past. Here are some of their questions;
​
Why were teachers not nice in the past?
What were consequences at school in the past?
Did they make tea in teapots?
Did they bring packed lunches to school a long time ago?
What did they make teapots out of?
What are bricks made out of?
Why do horses click when they walk?
How did they hide things underground? (archaeology)

Our topic this week has been about trains and we have taken part in lots of different activities. One of our activities was in our outdoor construction area. We created a train using different construction resources and focused on team work to create the engine and carriages. We knew that we had to listen to each other carefully and share our ideas, then work together to create it successfully.

We chose to make the engine from black milk crates and add a chimney where the steam comes out. We also added a whistle, just like a Whistle Stop Valley, to help keep people ahead of the train safe. We made the carriages from large crates and used blocks to add seats inside.

We decided what our train should be called and created a banner for the station. We wrote our own tickets and bought them from the ticket office. We also made some posters to stick at the station to advertise different journeys and ticket prices. We all tried so hard with our writing. We listened to announcements from the guards to tell us what train was leaving the platform and the ticket inspector checked our tickets. 

When we were all aboard and settled in the driver let us know he was ready to set off and we began our journey!

Look at our fantastic teamwork skills!

Rainbows were so excited to visit Whistle Stop Valley this week as part of our Places and Transport topic. Some children had not travelled on a coach before so it was a very fun experience. We sung lots of songs until we arrived! It was a very wet day but we had a great day anyway! There was so much to see and do. We were able to travel on the mini train and looked for the fairies in their houses around the track. We listened to a talk about "Fox" the narrow gauge steam engine and learnt that they need coal to work. The lady showed us how the steam travels through the engine to make the wheel turn and we were all able to look inside and see what all the gauges and levers were for. We travelled on a diesel train called "Jay" to the station at the end of the line. It was a very misty day but we tried to see what we could spot through the windows. The highlight had to be travelling through the tunnel because it was so dark, but there were lots of lights in the carriages so we were able to see. We were very brave! When we got off the train we were excited to have lunch, something we had talked about all morning! After lunch we were able to watch the engine turn around on the turn table before it took us back again. We boarded the train for the return journey and then got on the coach to return to school.
We had such a lovely day and the rain didn't dampen our spirits. In fact we were still talking about our trip at the end of the week!

Here is a selection of photos from our trip.