Jamie said “I don’t know how snow moves in the clouds.” George asked “How does it snow?” We will begin by talking about how we can find out the answers to this. Then we will look up the information needed. Next we will talk about the snowflakes that fall and how they are all different. We will explain that today we are going to play a game of snowflake snap! We will show the children the snowflakes cards, they will need to use subitising skills to identify how many snowflakes are on each card without counting . Adults will hold up one card and then each child will be given a few cards and will take it in turn to turn over a card - when they spot the same group of snowflakes as the adult’s card (- the groups may not be in the same arrangement) they will need to shout SNAP!. We will repeat this.

Milo asked “Would dinosaurs be OK in the snow?” We will encourage the children to share their thoughts on this. We will highlight that there are lots of different places and environments in which creatures live (including people). We will watch a short video to introduce this. Then we will show the children two pictures of rivers where dinosaur remains have been found. (We will make links to the Chinese New Year story that we shared yesterday as part of RE). We will ask the children to talk about what they notice, what is the same and what is different. We will ask the children if they have been anywhere that looks a bit like the places in the photos. Which of the places would they like to live in … We will repeat this with two more pictures. Finally we will look on a world map to see where these countries and environments are - there have been dinosaur remains found in all of the places.

Today we have our second Balanceability session. The children will be exploring balancing and moving carefully as well as riding the bikes.

Fiadh asked “Could we design a snowy dinosaur to go in the snow?” This led to Lily, Luna, Helen, Maia D and Teddy also making suggestions about what they could make in the snow.  (If there was still snow outside then they would be able to explore their ideas in real snow!)  Today we will remind the children of the ‘lift the flap’ books that we have shared this week - and the ones that will be brought in for ‘show and tell’ tomorrow. We will explain that we are going to create a ‘lift the flap’ book display. We will look again at some examples and how they lift from the page. We will explain that the children are going to be able to draw or paint their chosen snow creatures on their page and these will be hidden behind a flap that they will need to create. Once they have created their snow creature and the covering flap, adults will write / scribe (on the inside of the flap) the children’s comments and ideas about their creation - demonstrating that their ideas are valued. This will be an interactive display in the style of our Knock Knock Book with a similar title. The children will have the opportunity to create their own ‘lift the flap’ pages.

Friday

Today is our Pasta Point treat. The children have worked hard and impressed us in many ways as they have earned their Pasta Points. They have requested to toast marshmallows (recalling how they did this during Forest School session and at our bonfire). We will begin today by watching a video about fire safety. Then the children will create a marshmallow snowman on a stick - carefully poking their stick through each marshmallow. Next we will explain that they are going to each toast their marshmallow over a tea light candle. We will recall the fire safety key facts that we discovered during the video, before adults light the individual tea lights. Throughout adults will stay close to the children and remind them about being careful - we will explain that we can only do this because we know that they will be sensible. Once they have finished toasting they can blow out their candles before counting to ten and eating their marshmallow.