This week our learning has been about VE Day, which is the end of the war in Europe. We know this is not the end of WW2 and that is in August as the war was still continuing in the Far East.

We listened to some air raid sirens and discussed what it was like to live in the war. We know that cities and some towns weren't safe to live in in case aeroplanes dropped bombs on the houses so children had to be evacuated to the countryside. Rainbows said they would miss their parents and were shocked when they learnt that they probably couldn't speak to them on a phone and would have to write them a letter. They were also shocked to learn that food had to be rationed and sweets weren't available like they are today. They learnt that clothes had to be mended when they had holes and were not thrown away like they are today. They looked at photos of Anderson and Morrison shelters and talked about what they thought it would be like to go through experiences like they did in the 1940's.

They very much enjoyed the whole school celebration on the field with biscuits and juice and took part in duck duck goose with their friends.
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Here are some of the activities about VE Day, and chicks, that the Rainbows completed this week.

Each day the Rainbows have milk and snack halfway through the morning. Today we had a brand new snack; peppers! Some Rainbows hadn't tried peppers before so we talked about how important it is to try new food, especially healthy foods like fruit and vegetables. We know they help our body to keep healthy and grow and that we should eat them every day.

We had some very brave Rainbows who tried a pepper for the first time, and loved it! Well done, it isn't always easy to try new foods!

In Literacy the Rainbows progressed onto reading sentences. We spoke about how important it is for sentences to be correct so we can understand them. We used our phonic knowledge to "Fred Talk" each word in the sentence then tried to spot some clues about where the words go. We know that a sentence begins with a capital letter and finishes with a full stop. Rainbows discussed with their partner where they thought the words should go and we read the sentence together as a class. We moved them around until they made sense and we could understand them.

This week in maths the Rainbows learnt about odd and even numbers. They used Numberblocks to help them understand.

In the activity below you can see each Rainbow made a Numberblock. They discussed with their partner if they were flat on top or odd and sorted them into the correct group. They know flat means they are an even number, and that they are an odd number if they aren't flat on top.

As part of their VE Day learning, the Rainbows listened to music from the wartime era. They listened to some songs by Vera Lynn and Glenn Miller.

They discussed how it was different to what they listen to now and identified some of the different instruments they could see or hear that the band played.

​They also learnt that Vera Lynn used to sing songs for our troops to keep their morale up.

This week the Rainbows have been guessing what the mystery object from the past is! They were shown a shoe last and first had to discuss what material it was made out of. They correctly guessed metal and said that metal is strong. They then discussed the shapes they could see and what it reminded them off. They spoke with their partner about what they thought it could be used for and Jasper and George H correctly guessed it was for making shoes!

Rainbows talked about how life in the past was different and that there weren't always the same materials that we have now and that there were not factories with machines in the past  like there are now. They know that instead of throwing something away and replacing it, a long time ago most people used to fix what they had.

​They know that show lasts are used now by cobblers but not as often as they were in the past.

Today we have welcomed some chicks/eggs into school! They are in an incubator that has water underneath and is nice and warm. We have been carefully watching the eggs and observed some of them with tiny holes that kept getting bigger and bigger! This was the chick trying to hatch out using its egg tooth to peck the shell. Some of the chicks hatched today and came out very sticky and wet. They were very wobbly too and it took a while for them to move around properly because they were so tired after all the hard work breaking the shell apart. They have to be kept in the incubator for 24 hours without food and then can be placed into a special box where food and water will be provided for them. They began to cheep as soon as they were hatched! We have loved seeing new lives beginning!

After all of the chicks hatched we were able to hold them! They were so cute and fluffy! We had to hold on to them carefully so they felt safe and make sure their legs and tiny wings were tucked into our hands. We are so lucky to be able to observe how they are changing and growing!

Rainbows have been having brain breaks as we know that we need to care for our brain just as we care for our body when we feel ill. As part of this "in the moment" to help ourselves we took part in some relaxing yoga activities.

Check out our moves!

As our story has been Superworm this week, we created our own wormery! We collected sand and soil and placed them in the wormery in layers. We sprinkled a layer of leaves on top so the worms have something to eat. Then we hunted for worms and added them. Over the next few days we will watch what the worms do!

This week our topic has been minibeasts and the story we have been reading is Superworm. We are already familiar with the story and have loved learning about it this week. We have taken part in several different provision activities including  making worms and measuring and decorating them in the dough area, writing about familiar minibeasts, completing minibeast puzzles and jigsaws and learning about lifecycles. Here we are having lots of fun!