Autumn
Week Commencing 1st December:
It’s been a magical start to the festive season in Elephant Class! Our classroom has transformed into a winter wonderland, complete with a Christmas Café, an Elf Workshop, and a cosy Chillaxing Grotto for the children to enjoy.
We have begun our Christmas sensory story, The Grinch’s Christmas Colour, which the children are already loving. Our main class read this half-term is the heartwarming I Love You More Than Christmas!
The children have been busy creating all sorts of wonderful Christmas crafts and took part in a colour walk, searching for all things green— including spotting some evergreen trees! We also had a lovely little trip to Lidl, which the children thoroughly enjoyed.
During sensory play this week, we’ve been exploring numbers through hands-on, messy fun… who knew number work could be so exciting?
The children have had a fantastic time and we can’t wait for even more festive learning ahead!
Week Commencing 24th November:
This week the children have been full of energy as they explored a range of activities inspired by “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”. We revisited our story of the week and the children enjoyed creating their very own Brown Bear collage, using different textures and materials. Outside, they explored our themed tuff trays, carefully walking through “Coco Pops footsteps” as part of a sensory Brown Bear adventure. We even had a tasty treat! The children tried some delicious Brown Bear snacks including chocolate and biscuits.
In cookery, they made their own little chocolate Brown Bears, melting chocolate, mixing in cornflakes and finishing them off with chocolate buttons for eyes. They were very proud of their creations! In rebound this week, they worked hard on developing their gross motor skills—jumping, balancing and building confidence with every bounce. They also had plenty of fun in the soft play area, moving and climbing with their friends.
Week Commencing 17th November:
We have had a wonderful and busy week full of learning, exploring and creativity! Our focus story this week has been “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?”. The children have really enjoyed joining in with the story and exploring the different animals from the book. In art, they created their own bears using paint and different materials, there was lots of sticking, painting and getting messy! Our colour of the week has been blue. We explored a variety of blue objects in the classroom and even went on a local walk to find blue things in our environment. We looked at the blue sky, blue cars and even a blue house! We were extremely lucky to experience snow this week! The children loved watching the snow fall and had so much fun playing in it. In cookery, we made “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” pancakes with chocolate. They were delicious! The children explored the ingredients, flour eggs and milk, the children helped with mixing and pouring. Across the classroom, we have also been very busy exploring different cause-and-effect toys. The children enjoyed turning the toys on and off, pressing buttons and watching what happened next. There was lots of sharing and excitement as they explored how things worked.
Week Commencing 10th November:
This week we celebrated odd socks day! The children had lots of fun designing their own odd socks using paint, creating bright and colourful patterns. In cookery, we made “odd sock” cakes using different coloured cupcake cases. The children explored all the ingredients (flour, butter, sugar) and even got a little messy along the way! This week, we took a trip on the bus to explore the town centre. We were excited to see the beautiful Christmas decorations and lights, as well as a very big Christmas tree. We also visited the war memorial during our outing. All the children enjoyed an outdoor assembly where we joined our friends from across the school for lots of fun with bubbles, parachutes and the outdoor equipment. The children tried really hard this week in their rebound session, practising their gross motor skills, look at them smiles! What a wonderful busy week we’ve had.
Week Commencing 3rd November:
This week we have been busy celebrating Bonfire Night! The children explored lots of exciting, messy tuff-tray activities, including creating their own bonfires with spaghetti and making colourful “fireworks.” We also enjoyed some yummy hot dogs and even made our own s’mores! The children loved exploring different types of lanterns and had great fun designing and making their own. We also had a special visit from the Handwashing Team, who read us a story about the importance of washing our hands. All the children practised washing their hands and used a special lamp to see just how clean they were. Hope everyone has a safe and exciting bonfire night x
Week Commencing 20th October:
This week, we explored and celebrated Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light! The children enjoyed exploring bright colours and lights in our sensory room and even got to taste some delicious foods — curry, rice, poppadoms, and onion bhajis.
We also had lots of Halloween fun! The children loved our very own Halloween party, getting wonderfully messy with different sensory tuff trays and activities. It’s been a fantastic week full of colour, light, and spooky fun!
Week commencing 13th October:
We’ve had lots more Halloween fun in Elephant class this week! The children enjoyed a range of sensory exploration activities, our autumn themed sensory story, and lots of creative Halloween activities. We also went on a colour hunt to find the colour yellow. To finish the week, we made our very own pumpkin pizzas and they were delicious!
Week Commencing 6th October:
What a busy and exciting week it’s been for Elephants as we embraced all things Halloween! The children have thoroughly enjoyed our Halloween sensory story, listening carefully and engaging with all the spooky fun. We ventured into our very own pumpkin patch and explored a variety of Halloween-themed tuff trays. One tray invited the children to press and roll different materials into play dough, while another was filled with sensory and edible items like pumpkin, spaghetti and crisps. The children enjoyed making witches’ potions—watching the bubbles fizz and pop in our cauldrons! We ended the week with a calm and relaxing swimming session.
Week Commencing 29th September:
This week, Elephants have been busy exploring the colour yellow! We looked through our yellow window and discovered lots of different yellow objects around the classroom. In Rebound, the children worked really hard on their gross motor skills, showing great progress and confidence on the trampoline. To finish the week, we enjoyed a lovely trip out into the community, visiting Seaton Arcades and Larry Lanes where we treated ourselves to some yummy cake. We also had a special celebration on Friday for one of our Elephants' birthdays, enjoying some delicious chocolate cake.
Week Commencing 22nd September:
Our Colour of the Week was orange, and our story focus was Colour. The children had so much fun exploring colours through all of their senses. We enjoyed a bus trip to Tees Bay, where we began preparing for the spooky season ahead! There was also lots of fun in the pool and on sensory walks... We even spotted a hedgehog during our sensory walk, which we were all very excited about!
Week Commencing 15th September:
Our Colour of the Week was orange, and our story was Wow! Said the Owl. The children have had a fantastic week full of exploring and learning. We enjoyed our sensory story outdoors, took part in another sensory assembly, and even went on a bus trip to Morrisons! The highlight was visiting the café, where we got to try some freshly baked treats. To finish the week we celebrated Macmillan coffee morning and ate some amazing cakes.
Week commencing the 8th September:
Our Colour of the Week was red, and we had lots of fun exploring it! We listened to the story of Elmer and enjoyed a sensory story all about colours. The children loved getting messy, using their senses, and spotting red all around us. On our trip to Lidl, we looked for red items and found strawberries—some of us even had a taste! We also enjoyed Attention Time, moving from stage one and starting to explore stage two together.
Week Commencing 1st September:
What a wonderful first week back we’ve had in Elephant Class! The children have settled in beautifully and are already enjoying our new sensory story. We’ve had lots of fun with painting, sensory play, swimming, and exploring our brand-new classroom spaces. It’s been a fantastic start to the term, and we can’t wait for all the adventures ahead!
