Discovering the past
Our Reception children kicked off the New Year with an exciting topic, Long, long ago. This topic weaves traditional tales, such Rapunzel and The Princess and the Pea, into historical learning.
Mrs Rogers said: "We also looked at the wonderful text The Castle the King Built to give context to the traditional tales. This beautifully illustrated book gives us an inside look at the running of a castle and all of the different people that work there."
One of the traditional roles demonstrated in this book is a farrier and so the children were delighted to welcome a real-life farrier, Jamie Henney, who showed us the different skills needed to change a horse's shoes.
Aided by a lovely horse called Tinks, Jamie demonstrated the process, which was fascinating to watch! There were gasps of amazement at the sizzling sound of the new horse shoe being plunged into cold water, as well as relief to hear that the horse couldn't feel the heat of the shoe as Jamie worked carefully outside the 'white line' of the horse's hoof.
Mrs Lewis commented: "After the farrier's visit, the children couldn't wait to take their new-found knowledge into their play as they created a horse from tubes and a forge from an old work bench!"
From tiny seeds
In our topic Roots, shoots and juicy fruits, the children have been learning all about how things grow. This led to a brilliant year group assembly retelling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Of course, this being Reception, it was a retelling of a story like no other! The children learnt catchy songs to help with their storytelling and there was even a beanstalk that actually grew on stage!
Mrs Rogers said: "We are so proud of how well the children rose to the occasion. Every child had a line to say and they showed super Agile and Realising skills to confidently perform to an audience of school friends and proud parents."
