This term we have been working on the theme of ‘Are all stories true?’ We started by looking at a book all about King Charles III and learnt lots about him and his mum, Queen Elizabeth II. We are trying to find out if all or some stories are true, some partly true and some that couldn’t possibly be true. This theme will run through this term and Term 4.

We visited a real-life castle – Leeds castle, to compare and contrast it with homes now and decided we would much rather live in our warm, comfortable homes now!

On our return, we planned and created our own castle role-play area which has helped us develop imaginative storylines using traditional story language such as ‘once upon a time….’ And expand our vocabulary as well as develop communication and language skills.

Whilst retelling the Gingerbread Man story, we tried to find a solution to save the Gingerbread Man from the fox, asking why he couldn’t swim across the river alone and focussing on ways to try and help him cross independently and therefore safely.

In Global Citizenship week we have been looking at China. We compared and contrasted our two cultures. We were lucky to participate in a dragon, fan and parasol dance workshop to kick the week off. 

We learnt all about the Lunar New Year and what a special celebration it is in China. We learnt about the Lunar new Year and how the years are named after  animals. The story of the River Race explains how the Emperor of China decided who would have a year named after them. We also learnt that we were born in either the year of the rat or the ox. This year it was the Year of the Horse. 

We created lots of different things, including lanterns, banners and lucky packets. We tried using chopsticks, which is very tricky. In computing, we even created our Hong Bao (lucky packets). We even had a visit from Vincent's daddy, who  came in to talk about the Chinese New Year. He bought some very special hand painted banners that Vincent's Granpa had created.

In Expressive Art and Design we created some amazing art in the style of Paul Klee. We learnt what a tint is and how to create them and, using his piece Separation of the Evening, created our own. Then we added prints based on his work Castle under the Sun.

In PE Laura came in to teach us yoga.

In Forest School we made bird feeders to help our birds through the cold winter and hung them up around the forest school area.

In Maths, we are deepening our understanding of numbers within 8 in practical ways. Exploring pairs and doubles, the differences between odd and even numbers, as well as developing our subitising skills.