Year 1 - Hedgehogs

And the winner is...

The children have been writing their own recounts of our trip to Beaulieu. I told them that the best recount would go on the website instead of my recount of the trip. I love the way this writer has used our learning about question marks to make their writing interesting for the reader - what do you think?

So here it is - our winning recount of our trip to Beaulieu by...    Imogen!

Our school trip to Beaulieu

Where did we go on the school trip? We went to Beaulieu and Beaulieu means 'beautiful place'. Did we see Bluebird? Yes the children were very excited to see Bluebird. It was very lucky to see Bluebird. We went on a ride called Wheels and it was very hard to get on and off. There was a car shaped like a orange and it made everyone eat healthy food. Were girls allowed to ride bikes? No girls weren't allowed to show their ankles. Did you know that girls were not allowed to ride scooters? 

The children adored Beaulieu and so did I. 

Wow - we have been busy this week! As part of our new Masterchef topic, we have looked at balanced and healthy diets in class and I've been impressed with the children's understanding of which foods are healthy and unhealthy. Now we are talking about making healthy choices with our diet and balancing the types of food that we eat. With this in mind, the children designed their own pizzas, making healthy choices for their pizza toppings. One of our learning values this term is 'Thinking' and the children certainly got their thinking caps on, using their imaginations to generate some wonderful (and sometimes weird!) ideas, including raspberry and pineapple, broccoli and carrot and blueberry and ham! On Tuesday we had help from some very brave mums who managed to make, bake, cool and package 29 pizzas with 29 children. We couldn't have done it without their help and owe them a very big thank you! The post-pizza evaluation sheets showed that the children enjoyed their pizzas immensely - and if they didn't, they could come up with ideas on how to improve their pizza. The children had a wonderful time and hopefully have a nice recipe that they can use for the rest of their lives!

Hedgehogs at the beach!

What a wonderful day we had at the beach! I'm sure you can see in the photos above how busy and merry the children were, exploring the tide pools and the human and physical features of Lepe Country Park. The weather was a little overcast unfortunately but we were quite comfortable in our wellies and warm clothes. We had a lovely time at low tide looking for and identifying animals and seaweeds in the tide pools. Some very sharp-eyed children spotted tiny, almost translucent shore crabs and most children were able to find top shells and winkles which were very abundant.

Following the seashore safari, we collected items from the beach to create some beach art. Inspired by their surroundings, the children created starfish, lighthouse, mermaid and fish images to name but a few. It was good to see groups working together as a team, sharing ideas and taking inspiration from each other.

In the afternoon, we spent a little time in the playground at Lepe where the children enjoyed the freedom and challenge of the play equipment there. We had a fun and energetic time on the photo orienteering challenge which highlighted both human and physical  features of the cliff-top area at Lepe. I was proud of how the children cheered and clapped each team when the results were announced - a great example of sportsmanship.

We finished off with some bark rubbings, a quick and simple activity that had the children thoroughly absorbed. I love the looks of concentration in the photos above! It seems we'd barely blinked before we were back on the coach, rosy-cheeked from all the fresh air. The children were fantastic - a real credit to the school - and all earned themselves a gold certificate for their excellent behaviour and team spirit! Well done Hedgehogs :-) 

Miss Simkins, Mrs Fairbairn and Mrs Card welcome you to Hedgehogs!

The children are currently writing fact files about seashore creatures, working hard to include those all important full stops, capital letters and finger spaces. We've discovered some interesting starfish facts today - did you know that starfish do not have blood and have "eyes" on the end of each arm? In maths, we're doing a lot of number work and securing counting to 20 (forwards and backwards!) and beyond. The marble monster was in today munching marbles and the children worked with practical objects, pictures and numbers to discover how many marbles the monster had eaten! 

We're off to Lepe Beach on Friday for our first Year 1 trip of the year - keep your fingers crossed for some good weather! Wellies are a must as we'll be down by the beach at low tide exploring the tide pools. 

We're looking forward to a super year in Hedgehogs and hope you are too!