We had a very exciting morning today, lots of us have been talking about the bonfires we went to at the weekend so we decided to have our own. Mrs Lee's is Forest School trained so she was the one who made the fire but there was lots we could do to help. First we talked about how to be safe around a fire and the grown ups put up a cordon to make sure we stayed a safe distance away. We then had to find sticks to make the fire with. We had to make sure they were dry by checking if they snapped and also not too big so we used our arms to measure them. When we had enough sticks Mrs Lees used them to make a fire along with some cotton wool and silver birch. She used a fire lighter to make a spark and then Miss Reynolds and Miss Pell brought these round the group so we could see the sparks being made. We learned that first we have to put things like cotton wool and small sticks on the fire as these burn quickly to start it, then bigger sticks can be added. Mrs Lees had to use a special fire glove to add the sticks to the fire. We also learned that a fire needs oxygen to stay lit. We all know that only the grown ups can light a fire and we must never try to do it ourselves. While the fire was lit we learned the song Campfire's Burning and sang it together. When the fire was finished Mrs Lees showed us that is was important that lots of water is put on it to make sure it is fully out. We really enjoyed our little bonfire and Mrs Lees said that the next time she makes one we can cook on it! 

As part of our work on similarities and differences we have been learning about lots of different ways people celebrate. One of the children in our class celebrates Diwali so we decided to find out all about it and hold our own celebration in school. We watched some videos, looked at pictures and also listened to our class member talk and we learned that Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights. During Diwali lots of people decorate their houses, make rangoli patterns, visit the Temple, get together with their families and eat lots of yummy food and share gifts. There are also lots of parades and firework displays going off. We had a go at making our own rangoli patterns, diva lamps and diwali sweets. We then had our own little celebration where we lit our candles, ate our sweets, listened to the story of Rama and Sita and watched some videos of fireworks. We really enjoyed all the activities and it was brilliant to be able to learn about the celebrations of one of our friends. 

The children who attended our Halloween party had a spooktacular time! We did lots of spooky dancing, played some spooky games and enjoyed eating monster fingers (hotdog) with a drink of witches brew (juice). 

We had a great time on Hello Yellow Mental Health Day. We all came dressed in something yellow and had lots of discussions about what makes us happy and what doesn't, that it's okay to feel down sometimes and what to do if we are feeling sad.