Greystoke Primary School

We love to learn in Mrs Willis's Class! Our children are very creative! They like to make and do, build and create. They also love to explore, to find out new information and to solve puzzles. Of course, there is a time for more formal learning, but where possible we like to do this as actively as possible.

Have a look at some of the things we have been up to in class.

EYFS have been reading the story of 'The Colour Monster' by Anna Llenas, exploring the intriguing world of emotions and how they can sometimes become mixed up. Our discussions have sparked fascinating conversations, allowing the children to express their own feelings and experiences. Today was particularly exciting as we transformed our learning into a delicious activity—making mixed-up Colour Monster toast! The children were captivated as they listened attentively to a demonstration on how to safely light a fire. Many bravely seized the opportunity to try using the fire steels, showcasing their growing confidence and understanding. In addition to this, the children freely shared their own experiences with fire, emphasising the critical importance of safety and the need to never light fires without supervision. The colourful toast looked fantastic, and it was a joy to see the children relishing it during their afternoon snack. What a delightful and educational week it has been!

Physical Development/PE

In PE we have been learning how to play Unihoc and developing our spatial awareness dribbling and shooting skills, as learning how to hold the Unihoc stick correctly and developing an understanding of the rules of a team game.

Enjoying the snowy weather!

The whole school had ‘snow much fun’ playing and learning in a winter wonderland during break times today. It has been lovely to see the children having fun exploring whilst consolidating their science work as they investigated the ice and snow. It was also wonderful to see the children getting creative and communicating with their peers as they competed in house groups to build the best snowman! In addition, the children used their imaginations as they constructed a range of snowy creations including snowdogs, a snow turtle and even a model of Greystoke Castle. ⛄️❄️

Physical Development - Football

In our football sessions, the children have been working on building up speed and changing direction before shooting the ball. It is lots of fun with added excitement of shooting against our friends. We have also been enjoying playing mini matches!

Literacy Development - Traditional Tales

We have been learning all about Traditional Tales in our English work. We have been listening to different versions of the same tale and have explored 'Little Red Riding Hood' and 'Hansel and Gretel'. Through this topic, we enjoyed creating painted scenes, making forest scenes with natural materials, learned all about speech bubbles to show that a character is talking and we enjoyed a visit to Upfront Gallery to watch a puppet version of Hansel and Gretel.

Understanding the World - Finding out about people who help us

We have all enjoyed finding out about people who help us. We started off by looking at the people in our homes help us and how we can help them. Following this, we looked around our school to identify people who help us here. We have also been finding out how people in our community can help us - including the emergency services. We enjoyed visits from a PCSO, paramedics and we visited the library and the fire station.

Mathematical Development

We have been focusing on addition and subtraction this half term. We have used a range of methods to practise these skills and have been learning how to write simple number sentences. We have also been exploring shape and pattern in our wider maths work.

Physical Development

We always enjoying getting outside and using our outdoor area to practise our balancing, skipping, bike riding and scootering skills.

Music

In class we have been following 'Charanga - Big Bear Funk' unit. We have appraised a range of songs from James Brown, Incognito and Earth, Wind and Fire, taken time to explore and create music using our own voices and percussion instruments as well as learning new songs which we have then performed.