1st - 19th July 2019 - Westmeston

We had a wonderful last few weeks of term, full of activities, exploring and friendships.

During our maths focus week, we used lots of different resources to explore numbers, counting and ordering.

Our new friend 'Woofy' learnt how to count with us. He kept missing out numbers when he counted, but we made sure to help him remember the ones he had forgotten. He is also a great reading companion.

One tasty way of practising counting was by shelling the peas that Mrs Tubb had brought in from her garden. Opening the pods and taking the peas out was great for our fine motor skills and then we counted them into our bowl. Some of us had a sneaky taste as well!

Later in the week, we planted some peas in soil to take home and grow our own pea plants. We had to listen carefully to instructions as we planted them and we used our counting skills again to make sure we all had the same amount of peas.

We're very lucky to have our own delicious raspberries growing at Westmeston. With the help of the teachers, we picked our first bowlful of the summer which we enjoyed after lunch.

With the sun shining, we have been able to do lots of outside playing and exploring. The water pipes and mud kitchen are always popular on warm days and when the weather gets too hot, we are lucky to have lots of shady spots to play in.

The sun shone for Sports Day as well and it was lovely to see so many families enjoying their picnics at Westmeston. During the week, we had a go at different activities as part of our Physical Development focus. We practised some of the Sports Day races and made up an obstacle course which involved jumping, weaving, balancing and finished with a slide!

As always, riding on our bikes and scooters has been a popular activity. When one of our bikes needed some fixing, it inspired us to set up a bike repair shop. This led to lots of wonderful questions and investigations about how pedals and brakes work and what happens to the wheels when you spin the pedals round.

On our walks out and about, we are always on the lookout for interesting things in the environment around us. The butterflies loved this bush that we passed on one of our Friday walks. We counted at least four different types of butterfly.

We also said hello to the friendly horses that live near Acorns. They are always so interested in us and we find it hard to say goodbye.

Our longer walks are a chance for us to really enjoy our surroundings and take note of the interesting things that we see. So often we notice things that the teachers haven't (maybe they are too busy keeping their eyes on us!) One of us spotted this amazing caterpillar on the grass. It was much bigger than most caterpillars we have seen and was very active when we moved it to a more protected spot. Mrs Tubb did some research, but we still can't identify it. Can you help?

We love our Friday walks! Particularly when the weather is so fine.

On Fridays. Max has been helping us create some wonderful pieces of art. He showed us how to make leaf prints and small models from clay. The clay was much stickier than the play-doh we are more used to working with. We let the clay dry then painted our creations.

We've been creative in other ways as well. Look at this amazing camp that one of us made completely independently. The rest of the children were so excited to see it and share this special space.

What a lovely end to the year. We would like a say a big goodbye and best wishes to all of our friends that have left us to go to school in September. Make sure you come back and visit us soon. Have a wonderful summer everybody. We'll see you in September.