Week commencing Monday 31st March 2025
The Investigation Hub at Sidney Grove
Parents as Partners
It was so interesting learning about Eid, with help from Sara and Sakar. They both shared their special Eid outfits and told the children how they had celebrated on Sunday. The children were fascinated, especially with the beautiful clothing! We shared a non-fiction book about Eid and made decorations in the model making area.
We shared Handa’s Surprise as a core text this week. We had lots of discussions around the different types of fruit in the story and the animals who come along and steal it. For a maths focus we voted on our favourite fruit and counted which was the most popular. We also placed the fruit on the number line and pretended to be the animals, taking away a piece each time and checking which number was next. On Friday we investigated some of the fruit from the story using all of our senses…
”Pineapple! It’s so heavy!”
”What’s inside?”
”I wanna cook it up!”
”It might be seeds inside”
”It’s spiky”
”It’s hard like an apple”
”I never seen one!” (Mango)
We then chopped up the fruit and enjoyed it for our Friday snack.
Characteristics of Effective Learning
The children are always keen to make play-dough with a grown-up. Following on from their learning about Eid, they decided to make celebration play-dough. They helped to add the ingredients, mix and then knead the warm dough. They then sang songs together while manipulating the play-dough. While using play-dough we often focus on movements such as pinching, squashing, tapping and rolling which help to develop fine motor skills.
The children were delighted to share this experience and called it their “party play-dough”
Outside Learning
Sharing stories in the sunshine!
It’s been lovely to experience some warmer weather this week! The children have enjoyed a range of experiences in the outdoor space. One interest this week has been sharing stories in the sunshine. One of our non-fiction books asks the question, where would you like to live in the world? The children began sharing their amazing knowledge and understanding of the world…
”I went to Dubai, I saw all the animals, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, zebra, tiger and lion”
”I went to Spain in a taxi and aeroplane and saw a pirate ship in the sea”
”That’s New York with short and big buildings. My Mam and Dad told me. They went on a big bike in Central Park”
