Acorns News

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Reception Topic Letter

Year 1 Topic Letter

Acorns Topic Letter

  In Acorn Class , as part of our work on ‘Day and Night’,  we have been reading some lovely picture books including ‘The Owl who was afraid of the Dark’ by Jill Murphy and ‘The Night Box’ by Louise Greig .
Following this, the children have produced some superb writing about nightfall. Here are a few examples from Year 1:

Day is yawning. The daisies close. Light melts behind the rooftops and the fox uncurls. Two eyes and two ears and two wings are waiting. I snuggle up with Mum and I drink hot chocolate. Then I open the night box and the night can swallow an ocean. The night slips into my bedroom strong and holding my teddy. Night is kind because it holds me in bed.

By Grace

Day is yawning. Yellow is sinking behind the house. I have hot milk at bedtime and I watch a programme and I snuggle on the sofa. I open the night box and then dark swirls into the room. Night is big enough to hold an ocean. Night is kind. It covers me like an umbrella. Night is necessary because it lets you dream.

By Theo

The birds fold their wings . Yellow floats down the houses. Before I go to bed I have my inhaler and we read a story. Dark lands like a soft white feather. A fox uncurls. I open the night box. Dark is mischievous. It chases pink and blue away. Dark stretches up to the stars and it makes them fizz and sparkle and shine.

By Charlotte

This week, our Reception and Year 1 classes both went out to the Orchard and found materials suitable for making natural paintbrushes.  Then, they experimented with the brushes to find which were the most effective.

Back in November we had such a great time living a school day as if it was 100 years ago.  Lots of History was learned as well as maths by rote, copperplate handwriting on slates and reciting of poems. We did morning drill in the playground and at break time we played hopscotch, skipping, hoop rolling and Oranges and Lemons. The children were fascinated and a little worried to hear that teachers  one hundred years ago would have used the cane to maintain discipline and they all played their parts beautifully and were quite relieved when we dropped our stern faces and returned to the happy, friendly teachers of today! In the afternoon we welcomed  lots of Grandfolk to afternoon tea and entertained them with songs and poems of the era.

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This morning, our friends from Open the Book brought the Passada into school and shared the story of the Nativity with the Acorns Class.  We were also joined by some of the Playgroup children who were also able to join in the fun.

Acorns finished off their work about Judaism by celebrating Hannukah.  They took it in turns to play with a dreidel, ate donuts and took part in a quiz.  Mrs Shiels was really proud of how much the children had remembered. 

Acorns and Hawthorn had a fantastic trip to the Synagogue in Cheltenham.  It really brought to life all the things that we have been learning about Judaism in the last few weeks.  The first thing that we spotted was the Mezuzah in the doorway, and then when the door opened there was a Star of David hanging on the wall. We also saw the platform (Bimah)  from which the Torah is read and the Ark where the Torah are kept.  Before we left, we were treated to a lovely story about an apple tree which wanted to grow big enough to reach the stars. The children and staff would really like to thank the worshippers at the Synagogue for welcoming us into their community.

It was very windy day, so we used strands of plastic bags to see which direction the wind was blowing in.  We discovered it was a strong southerly wind. 

We then experimented with tarpaulins and tried to catch the wind, making them in to sails.  Afterwards, we warmed up and made bird feeders to hang in the playground.

Today was windy, so we made the most of it and tried to catch the wind in tarpaulins.

Afterwards, we made bird feeders and hung them on the trees in the quiet area to feed the birds over winter.