Open the door... what do you see?

Today, Reception went on a journey to "Storyland"! After watching a performance of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", the children came together in the immersion room to find a number of mysterious doors...

We thought about what might be behind these doors, and the children came up with lots of different ideas, including a chocolate factory, a wizard's potion room, and even a spider web land! We were so excited to find out what was behind these doors, that we decided to step inside one of them.

As a group, we chanted

"Storyland, Storyland, take me to Storyland!
Turn around, clap, clap and open the door!"

As soon as the we arrived we felt really cold! Our teeth were chattering and our shoulders were shivering. We put on a coat to warm up. Suddenly we heard some howling in the distance; it might have been coming from the cave, so we crept away really quietly. Just then, we noticed a witch sleeping in the middle of the floor! We had to creep back quickly in case she woke up! 

All around the room, we noticed sparkling sticks. Carefully, we picked up one stick each and noticed that they were wiggling in our hands! We practised using these 'magic sticks' and they made Mrs Cantel fly around the room! They also made Miss Clarke and Mrs Erdogan fall asleep! Together with Miss Lawrence, the children thought of rhyming spells to wake up the teachers and to bring Mrs Cantel back down to the ground. Thankfully, our spells rhymed so well that they worked.

All of a sudden, we noticed a loud knocking coming from the large castle door. Quickly all the children crouched down on the ground, which made everyone invisible. Slowly we crept away from the door and joined hands in our "Storyland" circle. We just had to get back quickly in case we fell into any more trouble!

After returning from "Storyland", the children got into their groups and imagined opening a new door. Where would it take them? We took it in turns to act out our reaction to opening our very own mysterious doors. Some of us found treasures, some of us found spiders, and some even found a spinning vortex! Back in class, the children drew a picture of what they had found behind their door.

All of these imaginative ideas came from the children in "Storyland". It was lovely to share and celebrate such creative and exciting stories!

Writing instructions

This week, we have been teaching out class puppet Agent Alfie how to find his way around school! Now that we are almost in Year 1, Agent Alfie thought we were the best people to ask how to get to the hall from the classroom.

Firstly, we helped Alfie by showing him photographs of all the things he will see on his way there. By putting the photos in order, we were able to explain the route clearly.

Next, we wrote our own instructions detailing how to get to the hall. We made sure to use positional and directional language so that our route was clear.

"Go right out of the corridor"

"Go through the big doors"

"Walk beside the sofas"

Finally, we made large posters combining pictures and written instructions, and some of us even drew a map for Alfie!

Life Education Bus

On Tuesday, we went to the life education bus to learn about different ways we can keep healthy. We helped Harold the Giraffe pack his bag for a sleepover with his Grandparents, making sure he packed everything from his toothbrush and toothpaste to soap to wash his hands with.

The children also learnt about keeping their bodies healthy by eating a variety of healthy foods and by doing regular exercise. They were even able to comfort Harold when he felt homesick, and came up with a range of strategies to support his emotional well being. 

Forest

This week in Reception, we were all ready and raring to go on our school trip to Hatfield Forest. However... the winds predicted for the day were so strong that the Forest had to be closed to the public. The children were all so ready for their trip, that we decided to visit another forest... Windhill21's secret indoor forest! 

With our packed lunches, 'raincoats' and 'wellies' in tow, we set of on a new Forest adventure! What we found was magical! The forest was so chilly and windy. There were noises of trees rustling and birds chirping. Animals could be seen all around the room, darting from tree to tree. Minibeasts scuttled around on the forest floor beneath the wet leaves and fallen twigs and branches.

As soon as we arrived, we explored the area, spotting snails, spiders and even the odd snake or two! All this exploring had made us peckish, so we all sat down together and ate our packed lunches on the forest floor.

 

After our picnic, we sang songs around the campfire, including a very silly song called "Ging Gang Gooli"! Miss Lawrence played her guitar and Miss Clarke kept the beat with her djembe drum.

After a few campfire songs, the children retold the story of "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen. You can watch the narrated version below!

In the afternoon, the children were able to venture outside into the rainy playground, geared up in their welly boots and rain coats. We had a lot of fun splashing in puddles and playing circle games. After drying off, we went back to our secret forest and completed observational drawings of the minibeasts that we could find, and ticked off the ones we spotted on our checklists.

Although the day didn't go to plan, the children had an amazing time in the Windhill21 Secret Forest! Nathaniel even commented "I just love our pretend forest so much!"