Of course, we couldn’t not sing along to Old MacDonald to begin the week, and the children came up with some interesting ideas about who lived on the farm, including a tickly spider! We also decided to make a lift the flap book based on Old MacDonald. Each child created a page for the book, by writing their farm animal’s name and then illustrating it. Mrs. Nelson and I were so proud of all the children, who took such care with their writing and drawings. We are very excited to produce the book so we can read it in class!

We also read a lovely book called Spring on the Farm. It was really interesting and helped us to understand what happens on a farm, and the different types of farms there are. Afterwards, we took a walk down to the paddock to look at the sheep grazing in the next field. All the children were so considerate, and kept their voices low, so we didn’t worry the sheep. We are excited to see if they have any lambs in the next few weeks and will definitely go back to check on them soon. On the way back to the classroom, we took some time to appreciate all the beautiful flowers that are growing, and spot other signs of spring.

On Wednesday, the children were very excited to be real farmers, and plant some seeds of their own. They really enjoyed studying the different seeds (beetroot, courgette and sunflower) and thought that the beetroot seed felt crunchy like weetabix! We learned about the five things that a plant needs to grow; water, food, sunlight, air and space, then set about planting our seeds. As we are trying to reduce the amount of plastic we use, we made paper pots, with the help of a special machine. First we had to roll the paper, then use all of our strength to twist and push the paper, to create the pot. Next we added soil, then carefully pushed the seed into the earth. We had a discussion about how it would take several weeks for our seeds to sprout so we will have to be very patient. Watch this space for further updates!

The Milkshake Cafe has been very busy, with customers queuing up for their drinks, which came in all sorts of flavours. The milkshake mixers had to work really hard, to squeeze the milk out of the oats, before serving them to their happy customers! The children were so tempted to try the drinks, that on Thursday, we made banana shakes. The children were surprised that you can make milk from oats, but were keen to try it, and the drinks received a thumbs up from the children!

During our Pre-Prep assembly this week, we got to watch the older children performing their gymnastics routine, in preparation for a competition next month. It was amazing to watch their control, strength and flexibility, and the gymnasts inspired us all. We learned that girls ‘present’ with two hands and boys with one hand, and practised this during our gym lesson on Friday. I definitely think we will see some of our children in the gymnastics team in the future!

Our letter sound for this week was v. The children had lots of suggestions for the sound, including volcano, van and vegetables - which tied in perfectly with our farm topic!

I have been very impressed with the children's mathematics this week. We have been practising our counting daily, and looking at doubles to ten. We learned a really catchy song to help us remember them - why not see if they can teach it to you at home?