The children had lots of suggestions about things that they would like to create and decorate, Ellie suggested decorating Christmas pictures, Kai wanted to decorate a Christmas tree, Marsaili thought that she’d like to decorate toys and Maia D suggested creating baubles.  So … today the children will be creating  bioplastics and learning about how materials ‘work’ as they make decorations (these can then be decorated or made into a picture!). The children will mix given ingredients in a bowl - talking about what they look like and how they change as they are mixed. Then children will need to discuss and agree on the colouring that they would like to add. Adults will then cook the mixture - we will ask the children what they think will happen when it is cooked. We will show them the end result and encourage them to talk about what they notice. Is it the same or different? The children will then leave the dough to cool for a few seconds before rolling it. They can each select a cutter (a toy, a Christmas tree, a bauble) to cut out their ornament, creating a small hole for drying and leaving it to dry. Again - we will talk and share ideas about what they think will happen as they dry.

Today we have Elfridges Christmas Shop - don’t forget to send a named bag into school.

Fiadh suggested that we could create Christmas snowflakes. We are going to explore a wax resist technique to do this. We will show the children some examples of snowflakes represented in this way and explore drawing them in the air to practise the movements that they will need to use. Then we will explain that first the children need to draw their design onto white paper using a white wax crayon. We will highlight that it can be hard to see what they are drawing. We will have the lights on fully to help them see what they are drawing! We will remind them to press quite hard with the crayon to make a mark. When it is time to reveal the snowflakes they will need to use a thick paintbrush and spread watercolour paint in their chosen cold colour across the paper. When they have finished, on a separate piece of paper the children will be asked to write their name in a cold colour to create a border for their fabulous snowflakes when on display. They will need to use the pinch and flick technique and look closely at each letter on their name card before writing it.

The children suggested that we could make sandwiches in readiness for our party. Lily said that we would need butter. Jamie suggested jam as a filling. Other children suggested ham and cheese. We will begin by watching a video about how to make sandwiches. Then we will talk about hygiene, and will ask the children to remind each other about what they need to do before they are ready to prepare food (wash hands, take off jumpers). We will also remind them about not licking fingers etc whilst they are cooking. We will explain that they are going to use knives to spread the butter and fillings before cutting their sandwich into smaller pieces. We will ask them to act as ‘Danger Detectives’ and to agree how the knives can be used safely. We will explain that we are making sandwiches to eat tomorrow. We will remind the children to spread butter across the bread - making sure it goes right into the corners. Then spread or add their chosen topping. Next they will need to cut their sandwich into pieces before placing it into a labelled bag to be stored ready for tomorrow.

A surprise visitor - ssshh - don’t tell the children!

Today is Party Day and the children can wear their special clothes to school all morning. We hope you were all able to see the party food list that we put outside the classroom last week.

Children can bring in a favourite CD or a link so that we can find music on the internet - we will ask the children why they like their chosen music before we all dance and sing along.

During the party the children will be set some maths challenges, for example, hunting for groups of mince pies or completing Father Christmas exercises - 4 star jumps, three strides, five belly ‘ho-ho-hos’!

Friday

Today we will be tidying and sorting the outdoor area with the children so that it is ready for next term - the children need to wear older clothes and welly boots if they have them. 

We will also revisit the Christmas Story and the children will have the opportunity to share their understanding of the story and features of Christmas celebrations. Additionally the children will have the opportunity to sing favourite songs and join in songs and dances from this term.