This week the children have been really busy finding out lots of information about penguins.

The children have asked lots of questions and we have found out lots of facts by using information books and the internet. We then made our very own information books and also carried out some very important experiments to find out how penguins stay warm and dry. 

From our research and experiments, we found that penguins keep warm because they have blubber (a thick layer of fat) under their overlapping feathers to keep the heat inside their bodies and they also huddle in a large group with other penguins. We made a blubber glove and put it in cold water and compared it by having one hand with no blubber glove in cold water. The children then tested their own ideas of how to keep warm using different material gloves. 

We then talked about how penguins stay dry and compared it to how we do to stay dry. We found out that penguins have a waxy layer on their feathers produced by a very special oil gland that they have. We then used wax crayons to make our very own penguins and sprayed them with water, the children were amazed to see what happened - The water stayed on top of the wax! 

We were so excited when we got to school on Monday and saw that our outdoor area had a blanket of untouched snow! We couldn't wait to get our wetsuits and wellies on and get out to explore. We enjoyed feeling how cold it was and the texture of it. Some of us made a snowman, which we then turned into a snow witch called Mr Blowy Snow. Others enjoyed exploring the ice, transporting the snow and making pictures and patterns in it. When we came out in it the afternoon we noticed it was starting to melt and the ice in our tray was turning to water. This led to lots of discussion and changes of state. 

As you all know by now we are having some work done in our EYFS building so we are temporarily moving to the hall. The staff have been really busy setting up all of the areas that we normally have in our own classroom so that our learning can continue while we are over there. We will be following our normal timetable so that there is not too much change. All of you will come in through the side hall door this can be seen on the pictures below (don't worry if you aren't sure where this is, there will be staff there to direct you) . Miss Reynolds' children will leave through this door too, Miss Pell's children will leave through the side door next to the car park (this part of the car park will be shut off to cars for the children's safety.) Take a look at these pictures below so you can see what our temporary classroom looks like. 

November 5th, better known as Bonfire Night, was certainly a day we will all remember this year! Lots of us were talking about bonfires and making pretend campfires outside so we decided to have our own bonfire/campfire! Mrs Lees is forest school trained so she was in charge of our fire. We talked about how to keep safe around a fire before going outside to look for dry sticks to make our fire with, we know they are dry if they snap! Once we had enough sticks we put up tape at a safe distance away from our fire, we all knew that we could not go any nearer than that and stayed behind it. Mrs Lees showed us her fire lighting kit, it had special wood, kindling and cotton wool in to get the fire going. We were all really excited when the fire was lit and we talked about what we could see and smell, and why Mrs Lees had to wear special fire gloves when she was adding sticks to the fire. We all learned the song "Campfires Burning" and sang it together. Mrs Sanderson visited our fire and we told her how we had collected dry sticks to make it and what we had learned about staying safe near a fire. When we went back inside we put apples on sticks and dipped them in chocolate and sprinkles. In the afternoon we talked about our own experiences of campfires, bonfires and fireworks. We enjoyed watching a firework display on the board and ate our chocolate apples, they were delicious! 

We have been having lots of fun with pumpkins this week. We have loved working on our coordination and fine motor skills by hammering golf tees into pumpkins. We also loved cutting them open and exploring the insides as we scooped them out, it was really slimy! Last year some children planted some pumpkin seeds in our garden and we decided to pick them this week. Some were still green so we are going to leave these near the window to see if they turn orange. One of them was orange so we cut it up and roasted it, some of us didn't like it but some of us loved it and had another piece! We saved some seeds from it and have planted these in our garden in hope that they will grow next year! 

After reading the story Potion Commotion we have been interested in witches and spells. We changed our home corner into a witch's kitchen and we have loved making up our own potions. Some of us were able to draw and write recipes telling others how to make the same spell. We also enjoyed exploring some slime and adding spooky ingredients into this too. 

Thank you to all of the parents who bought a ticket for our Halloween Hamper Raffle, we raised an amazing £91! We will be using this to buy some new resources for our Foundation Stage. Miss Nock, our student from Barnsley College, pulled out a ticket and the lucky winner in FS1 was thrilled with his prize! 

We noticed the apples on our apple tree were ripe so we decided to pick them. We collected them in a big basket and sorted them into good and bad apples, we had lots of good ones. Some of us tried some, they were very juicy! Some of us worked together with Mrs Grange to follow instructions to make apple pie. We all sat down to taste it, it was yummy! 
If your child didn't bake this time they will get the opportunity to do so at another point this year. 

In FS2 we know that learning can take place everywhere and that our outdoor classroom is just as important as our indoor classroom. We spend time learning outside every day whatever the weather! Take a look at some of the things we have been doing outside so far.

 We have had a very busy start to our year in FS2. We have been exploring and learning how to use the different areas of our classroom, making new friends and learning the routine of our day. Take a look at these pictures the grown ups took to see just how busy we have been, and how much fun we have had learning in our provision!