It has been a pleasure to welcome Transition back to Russell House after the half term. It was lovely to listen to the children talk all about their adventure-filled holidays. We’ve certainly been very busy!

When we arrived at school on Monday morning, something very peculiar had happened across the Pre-Prep. Our class dinosaurs were sitting outside under the blankets, toasting marshmallows around a campfire! The children loved exploring the scene and they had some very interesting ideas about what we should do. We found the bag of marshmallows they were eating and we decided to hide them in the classroom for the dinosaurs to find, hopefully that would keep them busy and stop them from getting up to any mischief! But before we’d finished, we received an important phone call from Mrs Cooper and Miss Leagas, asking us to come over to investigate in the Nursery. We were very shocked to find that all of the dinosaurs in Pre-Prep were toasting marshmallows, and they’d left us a special story to read.

Once we got back to the classroom, we had another look at our campfire, and we wondered if the dinosaurs were celebrating Bonfire Night. The children loved listening to the story of Guy Fawkes and they were all very excited to share their own favorite firework experiences. We discussed the different colours they had seen, sounds they had heard, and some of the places they had been to see the fireworks as well as the different things we can celebrate. We then decided it wasn’t safe to keep the bonfire unattended, so we put the fire out and decided what to do about those dinosaurs. The children came up with some fantastic ideas, then worked together to trap them under a blanket and rocks in the water tray. Some of the children then enjoyed creating some super firework paintings, complete with plenty of glitter, and we had lots of fun using the chalks to create a firework night sky and some collage campfires.

When we arrived at school on Tuesday we were sure the dinosaurs couldn’t have escaped, but when we checked, the water tray was empty! We found the dinosaurs sitting on the carpet, reading books and drawing self-portraits. This inspired the children to design their own dinosaurs and they drew some fantastic pictures thinking carefully about the shapes and colours they used. 

The following day, there was a horrible smell around the Transition classroom, as during the night, the cheeky dinosaurs had had a feast, and pooed all over our table! What a mess! The children loved poking the dinosaur poo and they spotted lots of different colours and textures. They decided we could not leave such a mess in the classroom so they worked together to give the dinosaurs a bath and clean up our table. What great team work. Once it was all clean, we re-investigated the poo to work out what the dinosaur had been eating. The children spotted some poo was quite red, and others had twigs and leaves in it. Being animal experts, Transition were quick to tell me that different dinosaurs eat different things, and they explained to me the meaning of the words carnivore, omnivore and herbivore. We then each had a go at choosing an animal and sorting it into the correct tray. 

In maths this week, we worked on our careful counting and our numeral recognition. We found a group of mummy and daddy dinosaurs on the carpet but they’d lost their eggs! Transitions were so kind and helpful, carefully matching the numbers on the dinosaurs to the number of spots on the eggs which were hidden around the classroom, helping the dinosaurs to find their babies. Some of the bigger numbers were a bit tricky for us to count and we really focused, trying to touch each spot as we counted it. Mrs Nelson and I were also very impressed by the children using our numberline to help them to work out what the bigger numbers were that they didn’t recognise. What great problem solving. 

When we arrived at school on Thursday morning, it was the final straw! The dinosaurs had used up all of our toothpaste and made such a mess by the sink! The children decided that was enough and we needed to stop those cheeky dinosaurs for good! We worked together to come up with lots of different ideas about how to stop the dinosaurs and we spent the morning creating a trap. We first used a great big box and added lots of fantastic warning signs and symbols to warn any visitors what was inside. The children then had the fantastic idea that we needed to add some food inside our trap to lure the dinosaurs. Whilst some children got busy mixing the ingredients to make some delicious food, the others continued to write signs and add lots of thoughtful features to our trap including a camera and a swinging trap door! I loved the creativity and imagination the children showed, choosing to try lots of different materials and techniques. Now we’ve caught those cheeky dinosaurs, hopefully they won’t escape tomorrow…