Ourselves and Our Community

The children have all settled in well and have had great fun exploring and investigating all of the areas within Year R. In the children’s first week, they particularly enjoyed going on a tour of the school where they waved and said “hello” to the other children and staff members. They have also shown an interest into this half-terms topic ‘Ourselves and Our Community’, where the children learnt about families, the 5 senses, toys and people who help us.
 
*Ourselves and Our Families – The children used paint and a mirror to create a self portrait, which are on display in the classroom. They also enjoyed talking about their home lives and their families and began to notice and comment on similarities and differences. 
 
*Senses – Learning about the 5 senses was interesting. We used our sense of sight to create an observational drawing. We had to look very carefully at any shapes and colours that we could see. To explore the sense of touch we felt and described a variety of objects in a feely bag. Some things were rough, smooth, bumpy and spiky. For the sense of hearing we had to listen carefully to the sound of an instrument. We then had to try and make a different sound, by scraping, tapping, banging and rubbing.
 
*Toys – We enjoyed learning about old and new toys and observing how they have changed overtime. We read the story Kipper’s Toy Box and liked sharing our favourite toys with each other, taking turns and sharing fairly.
 
*People Who Help Us – Throughout this week, we have been talking about our community and learning about the people who help us in our village. We particularly enjoyed learning about the role of police officers. We were extremely lucky, as PC Roland came to visit us. He was wearing his uniform and told us about the different jobs that he does in the community and how he helps to keep us all safe. We got to have a sneaky look in his police van and even got to listen to the sirens. They were so loud we had to put our fingers in our ears! Towards the end of the half term,  we all walked to Chalfont St Peter Library. We were all very excited and saw lots of things on the way. The librarians were very friendly and welcoming. They read us a few stories and taught us some songs. Afterwards we were able to choose a book to look at. We had a lovely time.  
 
We are all looking forward to learning and exploring a new topic after half-term.