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What a busy time we have been having the past two months! So much learning and so much fun! The days don’t seem to be long enough! We have celebrated Autumn with a beautiful nature walk. The children made ‘nature bags’ to collect all the treasures they found. As we walked around the children observed many kinds of mushrooms growing. This led to a very interesting study of mushrooms back at school. On our nature walk we also had the amazing luck of coming across some beehives. A very friendly beekeeper gave us some explanations about the bees. We even had to keep back a little as we saw the bees exiting and entering their hives. There was one little bee that was very weak, so the children gave him some little flowers to suck out the nectar. What an amazing experience! Our study of nature didn’t end there we also did a special study on the oak tree that grows in our garden at school.
The children have become real ‘food specialists’ after our unit on food. It all began after our lovely entry point – a trip together to a vegetarian restaurant in Ghent. What made it so special was being able to go in the kitchen and choose their own food. Inspired by this we set up a restaurant in our classroom which the children called ‘The Red Moon’. Great place to eat! The children wrote their own menus, learnt how to keep their restaurant tidy and set the tables nicely. They even made a little fireplace where you could melt marshmallows!
The children are now very aware that fruit and vegetables are packed with vitamins and we should eat five portions a day! We made delicious fruit salad together! They learnt that fruit grows on trees and vegetables are different parts of a plant. They were curious to taste cinnamon and to learn it comes from the bark of the tree! They also enjoyed making and tasting ginger tea which comes from the root of the plant! They had to take care of their own plant when they planted cress seeds. The children also learnt about the different food groups. Now when they go for lunch instead of telling what food they have, they say, ‘look Miss Mia I have carbohydrates and protein!’. The children have loved preparing food at school especially squeezing oranges and lemons! During our study on carbohydrates they made ‘Irish bread’. I was so glad they loved it! As part of our study on food we read lots of food related stories. The loved the story of ‘The Enormous Turnip’ and had lots of fun acting it out! The children have also been very artistic, they especially loved making their ‘Arcimboldo’ inspired pictures!
To end a wonderful unit on ‘Food’ we set up a hot dog stand and the children made and ate yummy ‘hot dogs’.
Besides all this work the children have been enjoying their jolly phonics work and learning to read. Exciting times in UPP! We also celebrated Laura’s fifth birthday. Congratulations Laura!
Unfortunately, we had to say good-bye to Ms. Laura this week. We will all miss her very much but wish her lots of happiness in her return to Spain.
Wishing you all very happy holidays with your family and see you in the new year! I hope you like the Christmas surprise your child made for you!
Love Ms. Mia
What a fun time we have been having in upper pre-primary. The days have been filled enjoying our ‘Family and Friends’ unit. The children were so proud of their family photos they brought to school. They each presented them during circle time and gave some information about who was in them. The next big work was drawing and painting their family portraits. As you can see from the display outside the classroom, they look amazing.
The children have been learning about the continents of the world, which continent they come from and of course the famous continents song which you all have heard! The older children have been busy making globes of the world while the younger children coloured maps.
We have been looking at animal families and the names of their babies. The children have enjoyed matching pictures of the animal mothers with their babies. They have been very curious to know more and have been asking the names of many different young animals. Laura was curious to know what a baby mammoth was called and Constantin ‘a baby mouse’! Great learning together!
To end our unit the children had lots of fun preparing for the exit point. First, they had to write the invitation, then make a little present for their Mum, then prepare the yummy snacks to eat. The children were very happy to invite all the Mums to meet our ‘class family’ and share our learning. They decided they wanted to act like real waiters and waitresses and take the drink orders. For this the children had to practice writing the appropriate letter sound for each drink! I think they all did a super job looking after their Mums. They were very proud to sing to them and recite their poems. Well done everyone!
This month the children have also learnt about our second personal goal ‘resilience’. They are indeed showing lots of resilience completing their work. They encourage each other never to give up!
We have had exciting times in UPP. The children are enjoying learning their letter sounds and some have even started reading little words. There is a great buzz of learning and enthusiasm in the air!
This week has been all about Halloween - making Halloween books, colouring pictures, making pumpkins, making bats, making spiders, writing spells, singing songs and learning poems! We ended with a wonderful ‘Halloween Party’. Thank you for all the yummy snacks!
Finally, I would like to congratulate Anan on his fifth birthday.
I wish you all a lovely holiday with your children and look forward to seeing you in November.
Ms. Mia
What a wonderful start to the new school year we have had in upper pre-primary. The children are becoming a real little family! They are enjoying working and playing together and are all eager to learn. During these first few weeks the children have been getting to know their new class and new classroom routines. The children have learnt our first personal value ‘respect’. They are learning to take care of toys and other classroom material and to respect each other and the people around them.
We began the school year by doing some lovely activities with the other upper pre-primary class (Mr. Michael’s class). We played games in the garden and had a fun trip to a playground near the school.
Already this year we have done a small study on owls. The children have learnt facts about owls, made a lovely owl craft, coloured owls, learnt a poem about an owl but the most exciting part of our study was dissecting a real owl pellet. The children were like scientists as they discovered the feathers and bones in the pellet. Don’t forget to ask your child more about this!
Our first IPC unit this year is all about ‘family and friends’. We started with a lovely ‘entry point’. Each child brought something from his own house to create our special classroom home. Thank you everyone for all the items you brought. The children decided where each item should go. In doing so they created a bedroom, a living room and a kitchen. The children are having lots of fun playing together co-operatively in this cosy area. Through playing they think of things they need. They decided to make a television with some remote controls for the living room. Next week the plan is to make a washing machine!
We have already had our first family meal together! The children carefully chopped apples to make delicious apple sauce.
The ‘family and friends’ unit is definitely off to a great start. The children have been painting their flags and discussing where their family comes from. More information about this learning will come in the next blog!
To take care of our classroom each child has a different responsibility each week, for example cleaning the tables, keeping the bookshelf in order, line leader etc. The children are being very responsible and taking their jobs seriously. Well done everybody!
All the children in the class are very interested in learning their letter sounds. The older children have almost completed their first Jolly Phonics book and the younger children are busy making their special sound book.
The children are also busy counting and practising writing numbers. We will be starting our Mathemagic workbooks next week.
As you can see, we are having a great time in upper pre-primary with lots of fun, love and learning!
Finally, congratulations to Marceau whose fifth birthday we celebrated this month at school.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Miss Mia
