In a Nutshell Newsletter 4th December: Festive Greetings

There was a jolly atmosphere in Kindergarten last week.

On Tuesday, together with Willow Class, we made a big star as we practiced singing an advent song, then we counted all the way to 180 for the star to go to sleep. We have been busy rolling beeswax candles, decorating advent calendars and making candle holders using salt dough. There were not enough rolling pins and cookie cutters for everyone, however, this provided wonderful opportunities for children to learn to ask for the tools and to share.

The most wonderful sight of the week must be children building giant buildings together, where everyone in the class has a room to rest. There was even a fireplace to keep us warm. This spirit then spilled into every corner of the classroom with some children running a food delivery service in the kitchen area and pet owners walking their pets around the house…etc. Some children had fun running a hair salon and some were pirates sailing on a big ship. We looked into different 2D shapes and tried to find them in the classroom.

Leaves of the golden tree have all fallen down. As Grace said, “but under the trees they have made a golden carpet!” Children were keen to climb lower trees around this area and excited about Jack Frost’s visit. We greeted the first frost with the vivid impression of the light and warmth that we experienced in our winter garden festival!

It’s been assessment week for the Juniors, which they have taken on in their stride. Alongside these academic tests, there’s been lots of craft activities to breathe out and relax.

Willow Class have been hard at work with their Maths practice in the back garden, tangibly and actively adding and subtracting. They have also combined their learning about healthy eating in Science with their wet-on-wet painting skills in Art, by painting vegetables, painting with vegetables, painting on vegetables!

Birch Class have taken beeswax candle rolling to a whole new level with their intricate designs, a lovely warming and gentle activity at this time of year.

Inspired by Year 9 students from HSW performing a few weeks ago, Chestnut and Oak Classes have been preparing for an assembly on what it means to be a bystander and will share about tricky social situations through role play with the rest of the school.

Willow Class

Although it was chilly, the heavy rain eased off, and we took a light pack, walking along the Wandle and the boardwalk, feeling lucky to see the bulrush seedheads ‘like sausages!’ and big waterbirds close up.*   Stopping on the way back for a game of ‘bat and moth’, it was lovely to see the children laughing so much, and back at the woodland site it was fun too, making sounds and boats with wood while drinking hot chamomile and honey tea.

*Canada geese, Egyptian geese, Little Egret, moorhens and mallards.

Birch Class 

It was a golden afternoon for Birch Class. Crafts included wreaths and decorations, one made to hang over a baby’s cot, as well as inventively designed little creatures. Foraging skills were honed by the team creating a woodland café and pharmacy, which we all visited on our way back to school. Big and inclusive games went on, with the usual winter tea and a skeleton game with flour skeletons discovered all around  – what animal was this? – bird, fish or mammal?

Chestnut and Oak Classes

Again, bright weather, but at 6 degrees, very cold. We saw robins, magpies, parakeets and heard other birds. One pupil spotted a big dragonfly larva, to our delight, in the stream sample we’d collected. Also of course several water shrimps, and little wrigglers. All this gave inspiration for inventing new freshwater invertebrates, printed using fruit and root pieces on paper. It was slightly warmer standing up on logs, so we ended with ‘the Lava game’ along with hot tea.