Self-portraits

Mirror, mirror on the wall... who do you see when you look in the mirror? This afternoon we have been exploring mirrors and thinking about what we can see when we look in the mirror. We were looking at our faces really carefully and thinking about the position of our eyes, ears, nose and mouth as well as the colours on our face. Then we drew some self-portraits.

Can you work out who these pictures were drawn by?

Apples, apples, apples!

Today we have been exploring lots of apples! First we talked about the apple in the story Snow White and what happens when Snow White eats it. Then we talked about what we know about apples and if we like them. After that we looked at some different types of apple and talked about their colours, what they looked like, what they felt like and what they smelt like.

The apples all had labels on telling us what they were called, and some also had a British flag on so we know they are grown in the UK. We had a pink lady, a cox, a  royal gala, a granny smith and a jazz. We also had a bramley apple, but we couldn't eat that this morning - why do you think that is?

We talked about the different parts of the apple, like the stalk and the seeds. Matthew said "we need to get the seeds out so we don't eat them" and Maddie said the seeds "are for growing, if you plant them an apple tree will grow. You have to water it."

We cut the pink lady apple first with a knife and looked at what it's like inside. We thought it might be pink, but it wasn't!

Then we cut some of the apples with a special machine with a handle that you had to turn. It took the core out of the apple, took the peel off and cut the apple into a funny shape like a spring!

We used another tool on the other apples - it took the core out and cut the apple into segments!

Then we tasted all the apples! As well as the five fresh eating apples we also had some dried apple to taste. Although it still tasted like apple the texture was very different - instead of being "crunchy" it was "chewy." Some of us liked it, but most people preferred the fresh apples.

"I like the pink lady because it's nice and juicy." (Hope)

"Royal gala is my favourite, it's sweet and juicy." (Lucy)

"Granny smith is really sweet. I like all of them." (Trystan)

"The cox is nice, it's crunchy and juicy." (Lexi)

"I like the jazz, it's nice and sweet." (Grace)

"I love that one [dried apple] it's yummy." (Emily)

We also did some apple printing this morning with some apples and made lovely colourful pictures!

This afternoon we used our bramley apples - can you guess why we couldn't have them this morning? It's because they are cooking apples, not eating apples, so we had to cook them first! We talked about how we could cook them and how we'd know when they were done. We thought they might change colour, and agreed that when the apples were soft they would be ready. When they were cooked we let them cool and ate them with a bit of sugar - they were delicious!

The Seven dwarfs

Today we have been learning about adjectives (describing words). We thought about the dwarfs in the story Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and what their names mean. Some children were given a picture of one of the dwarfs and some were given a finger puppet of one of the dwarfs. Then we had to find the person who had the same dwarf as us. We talked about how we knew which dwarf it was. Matthew recognised Sneezy because of his red nose and Blue could see that Grumpy had a "cross face." We talked about Bashful and what bashful means. We know it means shy, and we talked about why his cheeks are red. Dopey had a funny face with his tongue sticking out!

After that we sat in a circle and took it in turns to pretend to be one of the dwarfs in the middle of the circle. Everyone else had to guess who we were! Doc was tricky because he's a doctor, but the others (Sleepy, Sneezy, Happy, Grumpy, Bashful and Dopey) were a bit easier!

We weren't allowed to speak, but had to use our faces and our bodies to show which dwarf we were. Can you work out from some of these pictures which dwarf we are being?

Snow White

This week we are learning the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Today we read two different versions of the story and this afternoon we acted out the story. We had people being actors who had to play the different roles in the story, someone as a narrator (as Grace said, "a narrator tells the story,") and someone as the director, who "has to tell people what to do." (Lilly).

After that we explored some different Snow White themed activities including playdough mats that asked us to make a picture of the Queen in the magic mirror or a poisoned apple, addition sheets with pictures of characters from the story, story sequencing cards and a matching picture game. We also used the costumes and props to act out parts of the story again.

Exclusive - new dragon encyclopaedia to be published!

It has been revealed today that dragon experts in the Reception class at Great Gaddesden School are responding to demands for more information about various dragon breeds. Following on from the recent published reports on the Gaddesden Ridgeback and the Hemel Horntail, the dragonologists in Reception are busy preparing for publication of a new encyclopaedia, which will contain more information about different dragons than any published before.

They have today been researching and making notes on various breeds of dragon such as the Scottish Blacktail, the Welsh Rainbow Dragon and the African Giant. After drawing diagrams and adding their notes, they presented their oral reports to the rest of their colleagues, who were all impressed with their expert knowledge and good use of language.

Next week these hardworking dragonologists will be using these notes to write up their final reports before the work is combined to form the much-anticipated encyclopeadia.

The Giant's Treasure!

This morning we played a game called The Giant's Treasure based on the story we've been working on this week, Jack and the Beanstalk. We sat in a circle with someone blindfolded in the middle pretending to be the giant. Around the giant we put three things to represent the treasures that Jack steals in the story - a cuddly toy to represent the goose that lay the golden egg, a pouch of coins and a musical instrument to represent the harp. We took it in turns to be Jack, and had to creep quietly into the middle to steal an item of the giant's treasure. The giant had to listen really carefully and point when they heard a noise. When all the treasure had been stolen, the thieves had to put it behind their backs and the giant took their blindfold off and tried to work out who had stolen the treasure!

As well as developing our understanding of the story and its characters, this game is great for developing listening skills, helps us practise sitting quietly and gives us a chance to practise taking turns. It's also great fun!

Planting beans

This week we are learning the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and yesterday we were exploring and looking at some beans. We talked about what the beans looked, smelled and felt like and then we put two beans in a glass jar with a paper towel and some water. We did this with two jars - one we have put somewhere light (we chose the window sill) and one somewhere dark (we chose the cupboard).

We talked about what might happen to the beans in the light and in the dark. Here are some of the things we said:

"It won't grow in the dark because it needs sun and water." (Harry)

"The one in the dark will only grow down." (Jamie)

"It needs water to grow." (Emily)

"Only the bean in the light will grow. It won't grow in the dark." (Olivia)

"It will be too dark in the cupboard for a bean to grow. It needs to be light." (Aaron)

"The bean in the dark won't grow." (Grace)

"They will both grow but not the same because they're in different places." (Lucy)

"The one in the light will grow faster because the light will help it." (Maddie)

"The one in the dark won't grow because it needs water and sun." (Matthew)

Watch this space for updates on what is happening to our beans!