This week, we have been learning a little about remembrance. We watched a short animation about a little rabbit who had to hide when there was trouble and noise all around. When things became calm again, lots of beautiful flowers began to grow in the field — these were poppies.
We also took a quiet moment to think about people in different countries who are facing difficult times and to reflect on how thankful we are to live in peace.
We participated in several independent activities, some of which are shown in these photos.
Robins Remembrance Day 2025
Forest School - November 2025
This half term, our Forest School sessions have begun with sessions full of discovery, creativity, and sensory exploration!
In one session, the children went on a spider and spiderweb hunt 🕷️🕸️. Mrs Nurcombe showed everyone how to spot the delicate webs and make them easier to see using her special water spray. The webs were stunning — some were enormous! While we didn’t find many spiders, the children were fascinated by the variety and beauty of the webs. To finish the activity, they worked together to create a giant spider from autumn leaves on the school field, and their teamwork produced a truly impressive creation.
In another session, the focus turned to the children’s sense of smell. Mrs Nurcombe demonstrated how to gather different herbs and combine them to make a unique “smelly pot.” The children eagerly collected herbs, using sticks to crush and mix them so the natural scents were released. Adding a little water made the fragrances even stronger, and the children shared imaginative ideas about what the scents reminded them of.
These sessions have been a wonderful way for the children to engage with nature, work together, and explore their senses in a hands-on, creative way.
Robin Class Forest School November
Carnival! - October 2025
Bridgwater Carnival is such a special part of our community, and this year, we brought the celebration into our classroom! The children made carnival shakers that looked like rocket fireworks, filled with pasta to make them rattle, and created their own firework headbands and crowns at home—each one unique and spectacular. Despite the weather, we still had a wonderful carnival celebration of our own. It was everything a carnival should be: bright, colourful, loud, musical, and above all, fun! While we’re sorry parents couldn’t join us this time, we had a fantastic time parading around to Katy Perry’s Firework and cheering on the other classes.
Robin Class Carnival
Repeating patterns - October 2025
We have been busy making AB patterns. Mrs Legg showed us how we could make a unit, for example a red cube and a blue cube. We then helped her to make identical units. We had to use our noticing skills to ensure that they were identical, with the same colour on the bottom and the same colour on the top. Mrs Legg tried to trick us but we are very good at noticing! We were then able to count the units and join them together to make a repeating pattern. We ‘spoke’ the pattern to check it was correct.
Afterwards, we had a go at making our own patterns. We began by copying an AB pattern and extending it. Then we had a go at our own AB pattern with 2 colours of our choice. Once completed, Mrs Legg got us to close our eyes while she put a mistake in our pattern. We had to spot what was wrong, using those careful noticing skills!
Robins AB patterns
Hello Yellow Day! (Mental Health awareness) - October 2025
At the beginning of this week, we listened to the story ‘This is me’ by George Webster. It is a book that celebrates diversity, friendship and self-acceptance, inspired by a poem and sharing the journey that George took as a child with Down syndrome. It emphasizes how his unique traits make him special and we thought about how we are all special in our own way. Friday was mental health awareness day and we were able to wear yellow in support of raising awareness of mental health and reducing the stigma (yellow is a symbol of hope and optimism). We learnt that it is important to keep our brain healthy as well as our body and this is called our mental health. We practised some grounding techniques, using breathing to help calm ourselves and anchor our mind in the present.
We also thought about the different emotions that we might feel and how it is important to ask for help when our feelings are overwhelming and to keep ourselves calm. We listened to the story of ‘The color monster’ by Anna Llenas and then we decorated our own color monster, talking about how it was feeling and why this might be.
As part of a special festive art activity, Children across the school have been designing their own Christmas cards. Our children designed their very own Christmas cards featuring a charming robin created from their handprint. Well, we are 'Robin Class' after all! The children began by mixing a light shade of blue to paint the background, before adding a brown handprint to form the robin’s body. They then carefully painted on an orange beak, a black eye, a bright red tummy, and black legs, finishing their designs with snowflakes and a branch to complete the wintry scene.
This creative project has been organised by our school OSCAR (PTA) as part of a fundraising initiative. The children’s wonderful robin designs will be professionally printed and can also be made into a range of festive items, such as keyrings, gift tags, wrapping paper, and chocolate wrappers. Funds raised from these personalised creations will go directly towards supporting activities and resources that benefit all of our children
Robin's Christmas Cards
Exploring emotions - October 2025
This week, the children used felt pieces to make faces showing different emotions such as happy, sad, angry and surprised. We also looked at photos of facial expressions to help them recognise and name feelings.
The children shared times when they have felt these emotions, supporting their emotional literacy and understanding of others’ feelings, linking closely to Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED).
Robins Emotions
Loose part faces - October 2025
The children independently selected a range of loose parts to create a face. They carefully positioned the pieces to represent the facial features, adjusting and rearranging them until they were satisfied. The children showed curiosity in exploring how different materials could represent facial features and demonstrated a willingness to ‘have a go’.
Robin's loose part faces
Sorting - September/October 2025
We have been learning all about sorting and how things can be sorted into sets. We began by sorting the compare bears. Most of us sorted them by colour. However, we then had a look at how we could sort them according to size! Next we had a go at sorting buttons. There were lots of ways to sort these; shiny or not shiny, holes or shanks, size, colour or by the number of holes! We have been sorting lots of our toys in the continuous provision, particularly at tidy up time....we don't want to put any away in the wrong boxes!
Robin Class sorting
Kandinsky Concentric Circles - October 2025
We have been learning about the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. He lived a long time ago and was believed to be one of the first abstract artists. We learnt that ‘abstract’ art is art that is not made to look like something in particular, such as a person, animal or landscape, and instead focuses more on form, texture and colour. We looked at some works of art by Kandinsky and discussed what we liked about them. We learnt that some works of art are liked by some people but disliked by others, and that art is a personal taste. We looked at Kandinsky’s concentric circles. These are circles that start from the middle and become larger, moving outwards. We then had a go at making our own concentric circles on a paper plate (to try to help us keep the shape). We mixed our own colours, using white and black to make the lighter or darker. Here are a few photos to show you the process.
Robin's Concentric circles
Our first Forest School - September 2025
Today was our first Forest school session with Mrs Nurcombe 🍂🍁🌳We spent time exploring all of our forest school area’s looking at the different plants and wildlife that we could see. The children were very excited and really enjoyed exploring. We went on a ‘treasure hunt’ and found conkers, conker shells, acorns and snail shells. The children were taking in all the information Mrs Nurcombe was sharing about the different types of snails, the. found it particularly amusing that there was such a thing as a Cheese Snail🐌.
The children also got the opportunity to look at all our fruit trees, pick fruit for themselves and even try it which they really liked, We tried pears, apples and cherry plums🍏🍐.
Mrs Nurcombe showed us how to be safe when visiting the school pond and we talked about what we may find once we start pond dipping.
What a fantastic Forest school session, we can't wait for the next one!
Robins first forest school 2025
Self-portraits - September 2025
We learnt that a portrait is a picture of a person and that a self-portrait is a picture of yourself! We had a go at drawing our own face. We looked carefully in a mirror to identify the features, drawing them carefully with pencil. We then used paint, choosing our colours carefully so that they matched our skin, eyes and hair.
Robins self portraits
Welcome Robin Class 2025!
Our new Reception children are already making the most of our beautiful new outdoor area, exploring with curiosity and excitement. Thanks to the hard work of our OSCAR team of parent volunteers, the space has quickly become a place where children can play, discover and learn together.
In their outdoor play, we can see the Characteristics of Effective Learning shining through. Children are exploring and trying out new ideas, staying focused and motivated in their activities, and thinking creatively as they solve problems and invent games. The area is supporting purposeful, joyful learning every day.
Robin Class 2025
Tooth brushing - July 2025
We have been learning how to brush our teeth. We began by recapping what we learnt when Alysha visited. We remembered that we need to brush twice a day for two minutes, and that the special stuff in toothpaste to help our teeth stay strong is called ‘fluoride’. Here are some photos of us in action! It tasted fresh and minty!
Piet Mondrian - July 2025
We have been learning a little about the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. We had a look at some of his art work and how he uses straight lines and primary colours. We had a go at replicating some of his work, using rulers to draw straight lines. We also looked at his early art. Mondrian liked to draw landscapes and incorporated lots of trees into his painting. We had a go at our own tree painting. First we used brusho (powdered ink mixed with water) to create a colourful wash for the background. Then we painted a black tree using poster paint. We watched as the paint and brusho mixed together to form a grainy look.
Robin class Mondrian
Class pets! - July 2025
We have some new class pets…….garden snails! We are learning lots about them by observing them carefully. We are allowed to hold them but we must be gentle (and remember to wash our hands after). Here are a couple photos of us looking at the snails this morning.
Noah's Ark Zoo Farm - July 2025
What an amazing day! We had a fantastic time, exploring the zoo and finding all of the African animals, including elephants, giraffes, rhinos and zebras! We were greeted by the gibbons…..the sign said they like quiet but they were being so loud! After a time exploring we had a workshop where we were able to recall all of the things we had learnt about Africa and the animals that live there. The lady was very impressed! We were able to look at and touch some artefacts and even got to meet a giant African land snail called Sidney 🐌 and a leopard tortoise called Lola 🐢. Did you know that the leopard tortoise is one of the only tortoises that can swim? We stopped for lunch and had a little run around to burn off some steam, before having our last little look around. We found the capybara out in the warm and the tapir having a lie down in the cool. It was a fantastic day and we are hoping we can go back again with our families.
Robin Class Noahs Ark Visit
Sports Day! - June 2025
What a fantastic, albeit a bit of a hot sports day! We began with a circuit of activities including bean bag toss, skipping, javelin and hockey, all excellently led by our Year 6 Sport leaders. We also had a relay obstacle activity, kindly led by SASP and our governor Mr Moore introduced the children to a 'tag rugby' game, a version of stuck in the mud. We then followed up with a series of races, ending with the parents races! Thank you to all of those who helped in some way or came to watch and cheer on the children. I think you will all agree that a lot of fun was had by all!
Robins sports day
Fruit Kebabs - June 2025
This morning we thought a little about healthy eating and how important it is to eat fruit and vegetables. We then made a fruit kebab. However, we were set a challenge! Our kebab had to be a repeating pattern and we were challenged to identify the unit of repeat and to try to spot how many units we had used! Perhaps you could repeat this activity at home to consolidate learning.
Robins Fruit Kebabs
Health and wellbeing - June 2025
Today, we thought about our health and well being and the things that help us to feel calm. We then learnt how to massage our friends hands. We used a small amount of hand cream and gently massaged. It felt good and smelt wonderful. We then massaged their shoulders in small circular motions and their back by moving our thumbs gently down our friends spine. Mrs Legg then used a special tool to massage our heads! It was very tickley!
Robin massage
In my heart - June 2025
We listened to a story called ‘in my heart’ by Jo Witek. It is about all the different feelings we might have and how it makes us feel inside. Today, we thought about how our heart was feeling and created our own paper hearts to show our emotions.
We started the day by playing some parachute games with Mr. Butt. We played a game of ‘Popcorn’ and ‘Sharks’. We then turned the parachute into a giant tent.
Then went to Mrs. Hart and learnt how to use a skipping rope. We all persevered in perfecting the skill of flipping the rope over our heads and stepping over it.
Next, it was yoga in the hall with Mrs. Marriott. We moved our bodies in a range of different poses that followed a story.
After yoga, we learnt the rules of Tag Rugby’ with Mrs. Leach. We learnt how to be defenders and try to get the tags from the opponent.
This afternoon, we worked on some tennis skills by practising throwing and catching and working with a partner to throw and catch.
Our last activity was working in small groups and passing a ball along a line in a variety of different ways.
It has been a great day and we have learnt a number of new skills and games!
Robins Festival of sports
Circus skills! - June 2025
As part of our health, sports and wellbeing week, we had a session learning how to perform some circus skills. We learnt how to walk along the beam, using hoops to balance. We had a go at flower sticks and ribbon dancing. There was also the chance to use the ‘walking steps’ (I’m not sure if that’s what they’re actually called!). They were really tricky.
At the end of the days the parents were invited in to watch us perform!
Robin Class Circus skills
Deciduous and Evergreen Trees - June 2025
We have been learning a little bit about trees. We began by looking at the structure of a tree and noticing how it was similar or different to a plant. We learnt that deciduous trees are seasonal and will lose their leaves at the end of their growing season, but evergreen trees are green all year round. We then sorted some trees into the two types. Can you identify any deciduous or evergreen trees?
Robin deciduous and evergreen trees
Nature walk - June 2025
This afternoon we went for a nature walk, trying to find colours in nature. We found some little bits that we took back to class to make our own journey jar! After that, in small groups we went on a scavenger hunt, looking for the things on our sheet and discussing what we found and what couldn’t be found and why!
Robin's Nature walk
Camouflage - May 2025
We looked at the patterns and colours of animals found in Africa and thought about why they might be those colours. We discovered that animals need to camouflage themselves. This is a way of hiding themselves from predators or making them less visible to their prey. We found out that a tiger, although bright in colour to us, appears a dusty green grey colour to the animals that it hunts. This is due to those animals only having two colour receptors in their eyes (unlike us as we have 3) so they can not see shades of red or orange. We made our own paper plate animals using different materials to add texture and thinking carefully about the patterns on that particular animals skin or fur. Don’t they look amazing!
Robin class camouflage
Mass - May 2025
This week we have been investigating mass. We looked at how a balance works to make comparisons. We used the stem sentences; “the ___ is heavier than the ___” and “the ___ is lighter than the ___”, practicing reciting them all together and using gestures to show heavy and light. We then had to draw something heavy and something light on the correct sides of a balance, and repeated the stem sentences to explain our pictures.
Robin Class mass
Puzzles - May 2025
We have been enjoying playing with jigsaw puzzles. We have had to think carefully, using our spacial reasoning skills to rotate the pieces and find where they fit. Some of the puzzles were particularly tricky but we persevered and were very proud of our achievements!
On Safari! - May 2025
What an exciting day! We went on safari! We had a look around our outside area to see what animals we could spot. We had to be very quiet so we didn’t scare them away! We also saw a safari video, where we spotted lots of African wildlife. We wrote a list of the animals that we spotted. 🦍🐘🐆🦁🦓
Robins on safari
Computing open afternoon - May 2025
This afternoon we held our computing afternoon and welcomed parents in to do some ‘coding’ with us. Coding is about learning how to input instructions to get a desired effect. In school we use Beebots to learn direction and how to set a simple sequence of instructions. Today, we practiced coding with a table top game. We had to work as a group. First we set up some obstacles on a grid. Then we had to draw arrows on post it notes to make a route for our toy, from the start to a designated finishing square.
To support your child with coding at home, you could set up the same sort of game, either on paper or large scale, using chalks outside or even the squares on your patio! Alternatively there is a 'Beebot' app or another coding app called 'coding safari'.
We went on an exciting trip to Africa! When we arrived at school, we had a look in our suitcases and discussed the items we had brought and why, making comparisons with our friends. In the afternoon we arrived at the airport. It was a long wait and we had to be very patient. We looked at some suitcases that passed through the scanner to see if we could guess what was inside of them and discussed that this is done to make sure that nobody is taking anything that they shouldn’t and to keep everyone safe. Eventually we were called to our gate for boarding. Our passports were checked and we placed our baggage under our seats. We then had to watch the inflight safety video before taking off from Bristol airport. The houses looked so small and eventually vanished once we were flying above the clouds. We then had an inflight movie and some snacks were offered by the air stewards. Finally we landed in Africa. We noticed how the landscape looked different, with the ground being much browner. This is because it is hot and dry in Africa so the land is often dusty.
Robin flight to Africa
3D shapes - April 2025
We had great fun this morning, completing Jo Jo Gnome’s maths challenge! We used the play pod ‘treasures’ to make different structures, identifying the shapes used and the properties that made them suitable for the job!
Robin Class JoJo Gnome maths challenge
Easter service and parade - April 2025
Thank you to those of you who joined us for our Easter service and parade. It is always lovely to see so much parental support. Please don’t worry if you were unable to make it, there will be other opportunities during the summer term. Here are some photos for your enjoyment!
Museum of Somerset - March 2025
We have had a wonderful day visiting the museum, as a finale to our dinosaur topic. We found lots of different fossils as well as other artefacts such as old coins, swords, skeletons, stone sculptures from a church, an old fire engine and old bicycles, as well as much more! We also had the opportunity to take part in some workshops where we became palaeontologists, digging for fossils, and painted our own ammonite.
EYFS Museum trip
Easter Gardens - March 2025
This morning we were very busy making our Easter gardens. We started by revisiting the Easter Story and then discussing what we would include in our garden so it would help us retell the story. Lots of us used soil in the base of our trays and then placed plant pots to represent the tomb and pebbles to represent the path leading to the tomb. Some of us placed crosses in our gardens as we knew that this symbolises Jesus, and spring flowers as we have learnt that Spring is a sign that Easter is on its way.
I think you will all agree they all look wonderful and really envelop what we have been learning in R.E.
Robin Class Easter gardens
Maths 'Factual fluency' open afternoon - March 2025
Thank you to those of you who were able to make it to our factual fluency open afternoon and the parent workshop which followed. It was great to see so many parents attending, supporting their children but also us as a school.
Doubles! - March 2025
We have been learning about doubles. A double is ‘two equal parts’. We had to partition our counters to find what had been doubled, and used the stem sentence “_ is made of _ and _ , _ and _ make _” (eg 8 is made of 4 and 4, 4 and 4 make 8).
Robin class doubles
World Book Day - March 2025
For world Book Day this year, all classes created a character description. Then to further develop our oracy skills, EYFS, Y1 and Y2 mixed up to share their descriptions. We had to articulate our ideas clearly so that the other children could guess our character. The classrooms were buzzing with excitement and the impact of our voice 21 oracy journey was clearly evident in the talk tactics that were being used, as well as the confidence of the children.
Robin WBD
Composition of 7 - March 2025
We have been learning about the composition of the number 7 and finding different ways to make 7 using two colours of cubes. We have been using the generalisations that “1 and 6 make 7”, “2 and 5 make 7” and “3 and 4 make 7”. Maybe you could use your toys at home to show different ways of making 7!
Composition of 7
Share a story - February 2025
Thank you to those of you who came to our share a story. It was lovely to see the enjoyment of the children, choosing and sharing a book from our library with the adults.
Robin Share a story
PE Dance - February 2025
This Term our PE unit is dance. We thought about different shapes that we could make with our bodies and how to use our arms and legs to create shapes. We moved both high and low and tried to copy our partners as they ‘struck a pose’! We played a game called ‘stuck in the dance’, where the adults froze us and our friends unfroze us by showing us their best dance moves that we had to then copy.
Robin Class Dance
Beware of the Dinosaurs! - February 2025
🦕 🦖
Oh my goodness! What a mess our classroom was this morning! We think we have been invaded by dinosaurs, although we aren’t sure how they got in because none of the doors are broken. However, there was a trail of evidence left behind, that we have been carefully examining and writing in a list. Let's hope they don't return!
Robin Class - Dinosaur evidence
The Royal Ball! - February 2025
Well, what can I say! We had a marvellous finale to our fairytale topic with a Royal ball in the ‘ballroom’. All of our Princesses looked so beautiful and the Princes were very smart! The children learned some ballroom dances and then had a delicious banquet! Thank you for all your kind donations and a special thank you to Miss Blackmore for preparing a mountain of balloons for each child! Here are some photos for you to enjoy!
We hope you all have a very happy and safe half term Mrs Legg, Mr Butt and the EYFS team 😊
Robin's Royal ball
3D shapes - February 2025
We have been learning about 3 d shapes. These are solid shapes, not flat, and they have different names to our 2d or flat shapes. We are beginning to name cone, cylinder, cube, cuboid, sphere and pyramid. We have been building towers and castles and talking about the properties of the shapes. Some shapes roll as they have curved faces, while others have flat faces and do not roll.
Robins 3D castles
The Gingerbread man - February 2025
After learning the story of The Gingerbread Man, we have made our own Gingerbread man hand puppets. We began by sewing two pieces of felt together using a running stitch. This was quite tricky and we had to think carefully about which hole to put the needle through next. Once it was sewn together, we decorated our puppet, adding two eyes, a mouth and some decorations. They look fantastic and we can't wait for them to dry so that we can use them to re-tell the story in our own words.
Robin Gingerbread men
Science week - Butterflies - February 2025
Today, with a little help from River (she had done this for her science project), we learnt about the amazing transformation of caterpillars. We began by watching a time-lapse video and River explained that the caterpillar was making a cocoon. We watched with fascination as a butterfly emerged. River told us that moths do the same. We learnt that the scientific name for this change is ‘metamorphosis’. We went outside with our own little wool thread caterpillar and hid it carefully. We then had to find a different one. Some were easy to find. These were quite brightly coloured. Others were more tricky as their colour was blended into the environment. This is called ‘camouflage’ and animals use it to protect themselves. We looked at the cocoon/chrysalis and noticed that it was camouflaged with the branch. This is so it isn’t eaten by birds. Next we made our own paper chain butterfly. We used the colours of the rainbow, carefully linking our chains in the correct order. Then we decorated some wings. We tried to make our wings ‘symmetrical’. This means that they are the same on either side. We attached the wings with a paper clip so that they can come off and on. Don’t you think they look beautiful! 🦋
Robin Class butterflies
Science week - Dancing water - February 2025
What an exciting experiment today! Perhaps you can follow the instructions to try this experiment at home:
1. First put some water in a jar 2. Next put some cooking oil in a separate cup 3. Add some drops of food colouring to the oil and give them a stir 4. Poor the oil mixture into the jar and wait for the magic!!!!
Robins Dancing water
Children's mental health week - February 2025
Today we have been thinking a little about our emotions and using our oracy skills to talk about how different emotions make us feel, and what changes our body might show or internalize. We were then able to have a go at various activities;
- Making emotion faces to match the face cards. - using pipettes to carefully place droplets of different colors onto flower or cotton pads, watching what happens when the colours mix - using our finger and thumb to carefully manipulate and make playdough faces - painting the emotion on our friend’s face and then printing it!
Children's mental health week - February 2025
We have been thinking about how different emotions make our body feel and how it might change, for example, having a light fluttery feeling when we are excited or a hot and heavy feeling when we are angry.
We made stress heads today to help us when we are feeling angry. We used different materials for their different properties; a rubbery balloon that can stretch and soft flour that can mould. (linked to science week)
First we put flour in the balloon. We tried to use a funnel but the flour clumped together and would not go through. So Mrs Legg held the balloon open and we carefully scooped it in. Once we had enough flour inside, Mrs Legg knotted the balloon. We then drew a face, choosing what expression we wanted. We squished the balloon/ stress head to see how it felt! They made us smile!
Robin Stress heads
Science Week - Gingerbread Man investigations - February 2025
This afternoon we set up some experiments to investigate why the Gingerbread Man couldn’t cross the river by himself. We knew that if he went into water he would crumble as we had seen this happen when we dip a biscuit in our (or our mummy’s) drink. We called this ‘melting’ but Mrs Legg explained that it doesn’t really melt, it becomes soggy and crumbles or breaks. The first experiment was to see if he could have crossed if the river was made of a different liquid. We tried milk and coke alongside water. Mrs Legg explained a little about fair testing so we made sure that we used the same amount of liquid, measuring carefully, and we counted down from 5 so that all gingerbread men biscuits went into the liquid at the same time and for the same amount of time. We found that we were able to remove the ones in milk and coke but the one in water crumbles and we were unable to remove it. Next we wondered if it would have made a difference if the water was shallow. This time we used water in all three containers but we changed the volume of liquid, using different sized measuring cups. We still ensured they had the same amount of time in the water. We noticed that the one in the most water floated but then sunk to the bottom. When we checked, all of the biscuits had crumbled and couldn’t be removed from the water. For our next experiment we used different types of biscuits. We thought that the jam ring would stay together as jam is sticky, but that the Oreo would fall apart as it has cream in it. However, to our surprise both of these biscuits crumbled and the gingerbread man actually remained firmer. For our final experiment we used three gingerbread men and put them in water, but we changed the length of time. The first one stayed in for one minute, the second for three minutes and the third for five minutes. We were able to remove the first two from the water. The first had softened a little but the second one had softened more after the three minutes. However, when we tried to remove the one that had stayed in for five minutes, it was very squidgy and it fell apart easily.
Maybe you can set up some experiments at home!
Robin Gingerbread man science
Science Week - Reflective clothing - February 2025
We have been investigating reflective materials. We discussed why wearing dark clothing wasn’t safe at night time and then looked at different materials with a torch. We discussed how some things were more reflective and bright against the light and how some materials were very dull.
Robin Reflective materials
Science Week - Rockets - February 2025
This afternoon we went to year 1 to learn about space. We discussed what a planet was and we were able to name some. Then we discussed that we live on planet Earth and the moon was close to Earth. We discussed how we would travel to the moon by rocket. We then had a look at some rockets so that we were able to design and make our own. We tested them to see if we could reach the moon from Earth!
Robin Rockets
Chinese New Year - January 2025
We learned a little about Chinese new year. We looked at some photos from china and spoke about how Chinese new year is celebrated, noticing similarities and differences with how we celebrate new year. We noticed that lots of their decorations are in red or yellow. This is to bring good luck. We heard lots of drums during the celebrations, to ward off bad luck and bring in good luck. Did you know that in china the number 4 is considered unlucky but the number 6 is a lucky number? We made new year cards depicting cherry blossom, paper snakes as it's the year of the snake, and paper lanterns. We also had a go at using chopsticks. It was quite tricky and we had to persevere!
Robin Class Chinese New Year
Length - January 2025
We have been comparing length, using the words ‘long’, ‘short’, ‘longer’ and ‘shorter’. We began by making playdough snakes and talking about their lengths, identifying the longest and shortest snakes. We then measured them using cubes. We noticed how we had to line up the cubes from the end of the snake so that our measuring was accurate.
Robin Length
Safety inside and out - January 2025
This week we have continued our theme of ‘safety’. We have thought about dangers both in our homes and school, and also out and about. We looked for hazards around our classroom and outside area and discussed what we could do to keep safe. We also did some road safety, learning that we must always stay with an adult and hold their hand when we are near the road. We looked at some road signs and learnt what the colours on the traffic lights mean.
Robin Class Road safety
Paper crafting - January 2025
This half term we have been learning different techniques such as folding, rolling and snipping, to craft with paper. We are becoming expert paper crafters! Here are a few photos to show you the kind of things we have been up to. Perhaps you could continue to paper craft at home!
Robin Class paper crafting
Beebot - January 2025
We learnt how to program the beebot to move around a map, and used directional language such as forwards, backwards, right and left, as well as positional language to describe where our beebot had ended up!
Robin Class Beebot
Fire safety at forest school - January 2025
Today we learnt about fire safety. Mrs Nurcombe showed us how to make a fire and lit it. It was lovely and warm. She was even able to toast some bread over it! We then collected little sticks and had a go at stacking them like waffles to build the base of a fire.
Robin Class Forest school fire safety
Numberblocks - January 2025
We have been making our own Numberblocks characters from 1 to 5. We had to carefully count out the correct number of cubes. We then sequenced them and noticed that they looked like a staircase. This is a growing pattern where one more is added each time. We predicted that the next number would be 6!
Robin Class Numberblocks
Robin Class has some visitors! - Wow starter to our Fairy Tale topic - January 2025
We arrived to school to find that we had been visited. Our visitors had left behind some clues. We looked carefully and decided that it must have been some fairy tale characters. We wrote a list of the clues left behind and have been sharing the stories that these characters are in.
Engineering competition - Santa's sleigh
Here are the entries to the engineering competition, to design Santa's sleigh. Well done to all those who took part. I'm sure you'll agree that they look fantastic!
Robin Class Santa's Sleigh
Handprint Robin decoration - December
Today we began a handprint robin decoration. Miss Stacey painted our hand, it tickled! We printed it on a piece of paper and then added a little red glitter to the breast. Once we have added a beak and eye (when the first bit is dry), Mrs Legg will laminate them for us.
We were also in charge of the I-pad today so all the photos are taken by children!
Christmas/Winter celebration cards - December
We have made Christmas/winter cards to give to our family. We began by using Brusho to create a blue/purple was. We then cut out two white circles. Mrs Lego taught us how to follow the line, moving the paper and looking along the scissors. We drew two black eyes and a mouth and added a felt, carrot nose. We then added a felt scarf and three sequin buttons. To finish the picture we added sequin snowflakes and stars.
Finally, we wrote our own message inside.
Robin class Christmas cards
Festival Of Light Day; Diwali - December
On Friday, as a school we celebrated our ‘festival of light’ day. In EYFS we learnt about the Hindu celebration of Diwali. We watched a video of a little girl, explaining how her family prepare for and celebrate Diwali, and some of the children in our class said that they do some of the things with their families, in their homes. We thought about the similarities to our celebration of Christmas; putting up lights, wearing our best clothes and enjoying time and a special meal with our families.
During the day we were able to have a go at various Diwali themed activities, such as making mandala patterns in clay, Rangoli paper patterns and diya lights.
Robin Festival of Light Day
Mapping - December
We drew maps of our journey to the park. We thought about the physical features of our environment, the things that we passed that would not change or disappear. We carefully drew our route and spoke about our journey.
PHSE I'm Special - December
In Robin Class, we are all unique. We have looked at what is the same and what is different about each of us, developing an understanding that it’s the differences that make us unique, and that we need to respect one another’s differences. We looked at ourselves in a mirror and spoke about what makes us special. We then made a jigsaw puzzle from a photo of ourself. We had to carefully cut along the lines, trying to follow them with our scissors. We then rearranged our puzzle to see if we could complete it.
Robin jigsaw puzzles
Our trip to the park - November
This afternoon, we had a trip to the park! We spotted some familiar landmarks such as the zebra crossing, the tall Christmas tree and St Francis Church. Once at the park, we were able to play on the equipment, demonstrating how we could use our gross motor skills to climb, slide and balance. It was a little bit muddy! (apologies for muddy clothes and shoes but we had so much fun!). Here are some photos of us enjoying ourselves.
Robin's Park Trip
Children In Need - November
We enjoyed a morning doing a range of Children in Need activities including colouring and finger painting. A huge thank you for all the donations and the children looked brilliant 😊
Maths Week England - November
Today, as part of Maths Week England and following on from our building site visitors, we were able to participate in a number of activities. Firstly, everyone helped to design a living room plan for the show house, thinking about what furniture it needed and using our spatial reasoning to position things so that people would be able to get through the door and around the room. We also had the opportunity to help Mrs Aston with a problem. The builders were thirsty so Mrs Aston had to take them some lemonade, but she didn’t know which container to use. We tried filling different containers to see which would hold the most. We also had the chance to build houses with LEGO, design an estate with roads and buildings, to fix some ‘photos’ that the builders took, and to check that they had put the house numbers in the correct order! Here are some photos to show us in action! (Wearing our high visibility jackets for safety of course! )
Robin Class Maths Week England
PE - November
This morning, we had our first PE lesson. We began by practicing moving around, finding the space and avoiding bumping into each other. We had to freeze when Mrs Legg blew the whistle. We then pretended to get on our bike, not forgetting to put on our helmet, and rode our bike around the area, with our knees high and stopping on the whistle. After that, we set up a circuit of three activities; moving in the space and jumping on a spot when we heard the ‘stop’ command, walking along a straight line while using our arms to balance, and following a route on our bikes, trying to use high knees. We had lots of fun and were quite good at listening.
Robin PE
Maths Week England - November
To launch Maths Week England, we had some special visitors from Strawberry Grange building site, come into school to talk to us about the maths that the workers on site use to build houses! Our maths champions had visited the site with Mrs Randall and Mrs Warner and were able to share their experiences while on site. They even got to build part of a wall!
St John
and St
Francis Church School 
