Welcome to the Hedgehog's first term at big school!

The first couple of weeks are very much centred around settling the children in. We will start our first enquiry from week 2 titled 'If it's not a stick then what is it?'

Keep checking in to see what we have been getting up to!

Dora, our dragon, has been trying to sing some nursery rhymes but she keeps saying 'crocodile' instead of the correct words. The children had to listen closely to Dora's singing and then shout 'no Dora!' when they heard her sing the wrong words. They were very good at this and enjoyed being teachers - helping Dora to learn. How caring you are Hedgehogs.

The children have been having lots of fun learning how to safely use our parachute. They enjoyed making the parachute wriggle, wave and then loved running underneath it. Great team work Hedgehogs.

The Hedgehog class have all become authors after being in school for only 2 weeks! After reading the story Not A Stick, we went stick hunting and then used our imaginations to share what we thought our sticks were. We had a super audience for our story - our parents and carers! We invited them into school and read our first book to them.

Amazing job Hedgehogs.

We have had some fantastic leaf investigations happening at home, using our enquiry mat as a starting point. The children have loved sharing these as part of our show and tell sessions. Amazing work, Hedgehogs and Hedgehog families!

Today, for music, we completed a session all about rainbows. We started the session by exploring what a rainbow was—we looked at photographs of rainbows and talked about when they appear. After this, the children listed the colours they could see. We developed our understanding of the words first, next, and last as we did this. Then Dora came along to have a go at singing a modified version of the traditional "I can see a rainbow" song. The children were given the job of spotting when Dora said the colours in the wrong order and correcting her. They did this brilliantly. 
After this, we went outside and used the hose pipe to make some rainbows. We explored the different nozzles on the hose and decided the fine mister made the best rainbow. The children were able to explain why the rainbow disappeared when I turned the water off.

The lovely ladies from the Lincolnshire Smiles team came to visit the children this week to start their tooth brushing sessions. They learned all about looking after their teeth and even got to brush the teeth of a special dinosaur guest (who was a little bit naughty!). The children then brushed their teeth brilliantly and learned how to care for their own toothbrush. 
Brilliant job, Hedgehogs.

We have been learning about Munching Mike in our Letterland sessions. We found out that he likes to eat magnets and metal (as he is a monster). Some of the children were not aware of what a magnet was, so we shared some out and the children spent an enjoyable 10 minutes exploring the room, investigating what the magnets would stick to and what they wouldn't. After this, they joined all of their magnets in a long line, noticing that sometimes the magnets pushed against each other but, when turned around, they would pull towards each other. 
Great investigating hedgehogs.

To support our enquiry this week, to find out about how some of our food gets to our plate, we had a visit from two tractors. The first was a modern "mini-tractor" from our school food provider. Farmer Stuart came along with the tractor and some of his crops to show the children. Many of them tried to guess the names of the crops and then enjoyed exploring them with their fingers. The children loved getting to sit in the mini-tractor and learned about lots of jobs that Stuart uses the tractor for—including catching naughty cows!

The following day, we had a visit from Farmer Bob and his vintage tractor. The children asked Bob lots of great questions about the different levers and pedals that they could see. We then had a really good chat, comparing the old and new tractors to see what was the same and what was different. To finish the session, Bob started the engine at the children's request. They loved the rumbling sound it made.

This week we have been learning about apples. Many of the children in the class were unsure about where apples came from, so we started our explorations by visiting the apple trees we have growing in the grounds and talking about what happened in the past to cause this tree to grow (planting an apple seed). After this, we had a TasteEd session where we explored and tasted 3 different kinds of apples and voted for our favourite. We finished our apple session by watching Come Outside Apples on YouTube and having a chat about what we had learned. 
I was so pleased with the apple craze that this started in the class—children started bringing in different varieties of apples for their snacks and sharing their love (sometimes new found) for apples on Tapestry. 
Well done, Hedgehogs.

This week we have been learning about the story of The Little Red Hen. This story has helped the children to learn about where the ingredients for making bread come from. To bring the story to life, we went outside and did a dramatic re-telling of it. We all joined in with the narrative and enthusiastically shouted the repetitive lines that the characters use, such as "Not I!" and "I'll have to do it myself!". The children loved adding their own actions to the re-telling and had a lively discussion about the best toppings for their bread at the end. 
Great job, hedgehogs.

What an exciting Friday we have had! Today the children made their own bread from scratch. They used measuring cups to measure out the ingredients that were needed, focusing on understanding the mathematical concepts of full and half-full. We looked at the use of recipes and an adult modelled reading one to the class. The children worked in pairs to use their spider fingers to mix the dry ingredients (to avoid the flour jumping up and out of the bowl) and then used their 'big muscles' to knead the dough into a ball. After a long wait for it to rise and then bake, we finally got to try our bread in a TasteEd session. Brilliant teamwork, Hedgehogs.

This week the children listened to the story of Walter's Wonderful Web, where a spider called Walter tries to build all sorts of different shaped webs, but the wind keeps blowing them away. He eventually finds the strongest shape of all and it won't blow away. The children were keen to try to make their own webs, so we provided a selection of shapes for the children to choose from. They used PVA glue to carefully glue along the lines and then sprinkled salt (an eco-friendly alternate to glitter) on them to make them shimmer. The children were able to confidently tell me the names of the shapes: rectangle, square, circle, triangle, and diamond.

In order to build the children's awareness and curiosity about herbs and spices, our TasteEd session this week did not involve eating but smelling! The classroom was set out with a selection of herbs and spices mixed into flour. The children were encouraged to smell the mixes and share if they liked them and what they reminded them of. 
Some common observations from the children: 
Thyme: It smells a bit like roast dinner... I can't smell it very much... It smells a bit like a cup of tea. 
Sage: It's like when we have a roast dinner and you get the stuffing... It makes my nose tingle a bit... It looks like little leaves. 
Cinnamon: I think it smells like custard creams... It smells like a gingerbread man... It smells spicy. 
Nutmeg: It smells like cake...it makes my nose tingle... it's too strong to smell. 
Cumin: It smells like curry... It smells like gravy... I like curry and I like this smell.

In one of our circle times, we created a string web. The key message from this activity was the importance of teamwork and not letting the team down. We found out that if just one person lets go of their part of the web, then it falls apart and is not strong enough to hold our fly (a spikey ball). The children worked brilliantly as a team, holding their part of the web and pulling it tightly to support the fly. Great job, Hedgehogs.

This week, the children have loved exploring the idea that scarecrows might need another job to do over the winter. We started the week with the children making their own sock scarecrow. They had to half fill a sock with straw and then use crafting materials to add features to their scarecrows. After a week's worth of investigations into possible jobs, the children then drew and wrote about what they thought their scarecrow would like to do after the harvest. 
Brilliant job, hedgehogs!

At the beginning of this week, the children shared all of their ideas for jobs and activities that a scarecrow could get up to after the harvest. One of the suggestions was a swimmer. We explored this suggestion in a bit more depth by gathering the children's thoughts about what he would need to be a swimmer. As well as arms and legs, they also suggested that he would need to be able to float. We then went outside to investigate if the filling we had used would float, and if he was stuffed with other materials, would he still float? The children quickly connected the idea that if a filling material sank, then the scarecrow would sink; if the filling floated, then the scarecrow would float and be a good swimmer. Great scientific work, hedgehogs!

At the beginning of this week, the children shared all of their ideas for jobs and activities that a scarecrow could get up to after the harvest. One of the suggestions was a fireman. We explored this suggestion in a bit more depth by gathering the children's thoughts about what he would need to be a fireman. As well as arms and legs, they also suggested that he would need to be able to not set fire. We then went outside to investigate if the filling we had used would set on fire, and if he was stuffed with other materials, would he also set on fire? The children quickly connected the idea that if a filling material burned, then the scarecrow couldn't be a fireman; if the filling didn't burn, then the scarecrow would be able to be a fireman. However, we then tested the sock and found that it burned really quickly. So, sadly, we concluded that our scarecrows would not be suitable as firemen.

At the beginning of this week, the children shared all of their ideas for jobs and activities that a scarecrow could get up to after the harvest. One of the suggestions was to play music. We explored this suggestion in a bit more depth by gathering the children's thoughts about what he would need to be a pianist. We watched some videos of people playing the piano and also had a little play on the school piano. We then shared our ideas about whether our scarecrows would be able to play the piano. Sadly, the children believed they could not as they are too small to reach the pedals and keys and have no fingers to be able to press the keys. Excellent musical exploration Hedgehogs. 

At the beginning of this week, the children shared all of their ideas for jobs and activities that a scarecrow could get up to after the harvest. We had a few suggestions about "other jobs" on the farm that could possibly be done by the scarecrows. We explored these suggestions in a bit more depth by taking part in a whole-class guided reading session. The session started with the children hunting for escaped farm animals and then sorting them into pens. We then read some information about the animals and tried to infer if the scarecrows would be safe looking after the various animals. The children quickly connected the idea that if the animals slept on straw, the scarecrow would not be safe because his stuffing would be pulled out to make their bed. There was only one animal that did not eat or use straw-the ducks. So we concluded that the scarecrow would be safe to care for the ducks. Brilliant inference Hedgehogs

Our enquiry this week has been all about what we can do with a pumpkin. At the beginning of the week, the children knew that you could create faces on pumpkins for Halloween, however not many knew that pumpkins are edible. 

After reading the story of Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper, the children watched a video about how roasted pumpkin soup is made. We explored the ingredients together - pumpkin, onions, and garlic; and tried to predict from the smells of these if we would like the soup. Most children said they would not like the soup because the onions and garlic were too smelly. Next, we tasted some soup that I had prepared earlier. All of the children were brave and tried it, even if they thought they wouldn't like it, and were pleasantly surprised that they loved it! There were only a couple of children who did not like the flavour, but we praised them for being brave and finding out that they didn't like the flavour rather than not trying it at all. 
The children all completed their food tasting certificates to say whether they liked the soup or not. On the reverse of the certificate is the recipe (the title is supposed to say roasted pumpkin soup, not roaster pumpkin soup). 
Well done, Hedgehogs. 

Our enquiry this week has been all about what we can do with a pumpkin. At the beginning of the week, the children knew that you could create faces on pumpkins for Halloween, however not many knew the life cycle of a pumpkin.

To help the children to understand this life cycle we read the story of Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell, which described how a Halloween Jack 'O' Lantern can be placed in the garden and, if there are still some seeds inside of it, will grow again into a new pumpkin plant. The children were keen to try this so we have saved some seeds ready for planting next year.

To give the children a chance at observing this lifecycle for themselves, the Spar shop kindly donated a pumpkin for each child to take home. The children used their developing shape knowledge to decorate their pumpkin with a face made of 2D shapes.

The children used their developing fine motor skills and mathematical knowledge to create 2D shape faces onto some pumpkin cut outs during their choosing time. Great job Hedgehogs.

Pumpkin Explorations

This week, the children have been trying to answer our enquiry question: what can you do with a pumpkin? After reading the story of Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell, we had a look inside of some pumpkins. The children really enjoyed getting their hands into the middle of the pumpkin and we built their vocabulary during these explorations to include words like pulp, seeds, slimy, slippery and firm.

After this the children were encouraged to draw and label their own picture of what they had discovered inside of the pumpkin.