To Be The Best That We Can Be
Welcome to Sunshines
Gallery 2024-2025
Our First Week in Sunshines
The children have been amazing during our first few weeks in Sunshines! All of the children are trying really hard to learn our rules, routines and expectations. We have been working hard to sit in STAR position, following our whole school behaviour policy. The children have enjoyed exploring our provision and getting to know lots of new faces.
We have been reading the story of The Colour Monster and The Colour Monster goes to School. We have explored our own feelings about starting school and things that make us feel happy, sad, angry and scared. We have enjoyed finding out about each other through our 'All about Me' bags that the children have brought in from home.
Welcome to the Sunshines Gallery
2023-2024
Autumn Classroom Displays
Take a look at the fabulous work our Sunshines children have been doing this half term
PE Week
We had the best time during our Whole School PE week. The children completed lots of exciting activities. We had a gymnastics session, we completed a pentathlon, had a race morning and finished the week off by meeting Joe Ferguson who was a Team GB Athlete.
Under the Sea
We have loved our Under the Sea theme in Sunshines. We have shared the books Somebody Swallowed Stanley, Commotion in the Ocean and Flotsam. We explored sea pollution, found out interesting facts about creatures that live under the sea and we have looked at the Seaside in the past as well as sharing our experiences of the seaside in the present. We have written riddles, descriptions of sea creatures as well as labelling pictures. The staff in Sunshines have been blown away by the amazing writing the children have produced!
Somebody Crunched Colin
We have really enjoyed the story of Somebody Crunched Colin. Our book has prompted some fantastic discussion on litter and recycling and how we can help our planet. We have used junk to create some amazing models, written sentences about our story and designed our own posters encouraging others to pick up litter. We have found out about what happens to our rubbish and explored what recyclable materials could be turned into.
Tadpoles Promise
We have some visitors in Sunshines! Following on from our story, Tadpoles Promise we have looked at at the lifecycle of a Tadpole and a Butterfly. We discussed the changes that take place and compared it to our own changes. We even found some tadpoles in our school orchard pond and have brought some into our classroom to observe!
A Seed in Need
We enjoyed continuing our growing theme. We shared the story of A Seed in Need, looking at the lifecycle of a sunflower. We looked at the famous painting of Sunflowers by Van Gough and enjoyed replicating this in our creative area.
Sponsored Walk
We walked around our school grounds to raise money for our school. We loved looking at the signs of Spring as we walked.
Jack and the Beanstalk
We loved reading the traditional story of Jack and the Beanstalk. We loved joining in with the story, especially as the giant! We planted beans and are now eagerly watching their growth! We painted pictures of the beanstalk, retold the story and used our amazing phonic knowledge to write sentences about the story.
The First Egg Hunt
We enjoyed sharing the story of 'The First Egg Hunt.' We completed lots of lovely Easter activities and loved making Chocolate nests! We talked about the season of Spring and signs that we have spotted around our school and village that show that we are in Spring.
Little Red Riding Hood
We continued our topic theme' Once Upon a Time' with the story of Little Red Riding Hood. We enjoyed retelling the story orally, changing our voices to be the different characters. We drew story maps, made lists of food Little Red might take to Grandma and tried hard to use our phonic knowledge to write sentences.
The Gingerbread Man
This has to be our favourite book yet! We have loved joining in with this fabulous traditional story. We loved creating lots of writing and art work based around this book. one of the most exciting parts of our Gingerbread Man theme has to be when one of our gingerbread men escaped in our classroom! He has since sent us postcards on his adventures. He has visited to Rome, New Zealand and Australia! We can not wait to find where he goes next!
Chinese New Year
We enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year. We found out about why and how the festival is celebrated. We loved listening to the story of The Great Race and finding out which animal represented the year that we were born.
The Smeds and The Smoos
We loved listening to the story of The Smeds and The Smoos. We linked it into a fortnight on space. We learnt all about our wonderful world as well as our Solar System. We loved finding out about the role of an astronaut and listening to real life astronauts share their experiences in space. We took part in lots of creative themed activities.
The Great Explorer
We have loved sharing the story of The Great Explorer. We have enjoyed hearing all about the adventures of Tom and his dad. We also enjoyed learning about a real life explorer, Amelia Earhart. We were fascinated by her determination to fulfil her dream to fly around the world. The weather has also inspired our arctic learning, we have made our own ice and loved finding it around our playground. We have completed lots of fabulous creative and writing activities linked to our story.
Christmas in Sunshines
We had lots of fun celebrating Christmas in Sunshines. We worked hard on our Nativity performance for our families, we made cards, calendars and took part in lots of lovely Christmas activities. We enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch and wore our Christmas jumpers and finally we had our Sunshines Christmas party with a special visit from Santa.
Moo Music
As part of our Early Years Christmas celebrations we had a visit from Moo Music. We had lots of fun playing lots of musical based games with a Christmas theme!
People Who Help Us
We loved learning about all of the different people who help us in Sherburn in Elmet and the wider world. We talked about our own experiences of visiting places such as the dentist, doctors and vets. We read the story 'A Superhero Like You' and enjoyed exploring the idea that real superheroes are everywhere! We had a visit from Tadcaster Fire Service who talked about their role and we got to look inside the fire engine.
Odd Socks Day, Diwali and Children In Need
What a fun and busy week we have had this week. On Monday we came to school wearing odd socks as part of our whole school Anti-Bullying Week. We read the story of Simon Sock and talked about how special, different and unique we all are. We then went on to learn about the Hindu festival of Diwali. We looked at the preparations that take place before the festival and how the 5 day festival is then celebrated. We all made salt dough Diva lamps and read the story of Binny's Diwali. Finally the week ended with us all wearing spotty clothes to raise money for Children in Need. We had a bun sale and took part on lots of Pudsey Bear activities.
Bonfire Night
We enjoyed learning all about how and why we celebrate Bonfire Night. We were fascinated by the story of Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot. We took part in lots of lovely bonfire themed activities.
Outdoor Learning Week
We loved exploring our school orchard during our outdoor learning week. We used dough to make hedgehogs, we wrapped wool around sticks and pine cones, explored the orchard area as well as playing in the mud kitchen. It was a fantastic week!
Autumn
We have enjoyed learning about the season of Autumn. We shared a non-fiction book about Autumn to help us to understand some of the changes and festivals that take place during this time of year. We have explored lots of Autumn themed activities both inside and out.
Little Red Hen
We loved reading the story of The Little Red Hen. We retold the story together using actions and we enjoyed debating whether or not The Little Red Hen should have shared her bread. We tasted a range of different breads, found out about the journey of bread from field to the shops and we did lots of lovely creative activities linked to our story.
Supertato
We have been reading the story of Supertato and Supertato Veggies Assemble as part of our Marvellous Me theme. We discussed our own super power and what makes us unique and special. We also loved discussing the characters and events in the story. We carried out lots of fun activities linked to the story such as printing with potatoes to make our own Supertato characters. We printed with mashers, painted vegetables and painted with carrots! We explored real life veg and found out about the journey of carrots and potatoes from Field to Fork.
Colour Monster
We have been reading the story, The Colour Monster. We enjoyed talking about our feelings and the feelings of each other. We have talked about what makes us happy, sad, angry and scared and ways we can help ourselves when we feel confused. We have been very creative, colour mixing, threading, drawing, chalking and painting an array of colour monsters.
Our First Two Weeks in Sunshines
We have had such a lovely two weeks getting to know each other in Sunshines. We have learnt lots about our friends from the fantastic This is Me bags that the children have brought in to share. We have been learning the rules and routines of our classroom and we have all loved exploring and playing in our classroom.
Please take a look at the exciting learning that is taking place in Sunshines this year!
Welcome to the Sunshines
2022-2023 Gallery
Keep looking out for all of the exciting learning that is taking place in Sunshines this year.
Our Classroom Displays
Please take a look at the fabulous work that the Sunshines children have been doing.
Under the Sea
The children have loved sharing the stories, Commotion in the ocean, Tiddler and Flotsam as part of our underwater theme. The children have learnt lots of amazing facts about various sea creatures and created some exceptional writing about these during adult led and independent times.
Looking After Our Environment
We have shared the stories Somebody Crunched Colin and Somebody Swallowed Stanley. These have been amazing books for provoking our discussion on important environmental issues such as litter and pollution. The children have shared some thoughtful, inspiring ideas on the impact of waste on our planet. We had a great half term project all about reusing and recycling to create fabulous accessories! We were super impressed with the creativity from children and parents!
What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday
As part of our ongoing work about London we read the story, What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday. We talked about the famous London Landmarks that can be seen in our book and learnt some interesting facts about them. The children shared their own experiences of visiting London and we have written sentences about the landmarks. In Maths we have been exploring the positioning of the numbers 1 to 10 on the number line and the reasoning behind their order.
The Kings Pants
We have enjoyed reading the story, The Kings Pants as part of our work on the Kings Coronation. We have learnt about The Royal Family, some facts about the King and Queen Camila and talked about Coronation ceremony's in the past. We looked at the Kings Coronation and the traditions that took place. We created lots of royal art work such as crowns, paintings of the King, collages of the King and enjoyed painting with red, white and blue paint. As part of our whole school celebration of the Coronation we had a picnic in the hall and we all dressed in red, white and blue clothing. In Maths we have been exploring pairs of numbers that make 10.
Tadpoles Promise
This week we have read the story, Tadpoles Promise. We discussed the characters, events and setting within the story and explored the lifecycle of a butterfly and a frog. We have completed lots of lovely activities this week linked to our story. We have observed real life tadpoles collected from our school orchard, we have drawn and painted pictures of frogs and butterflies and we have created collages of them too. In Maths we have practised our counting, subitising and doubling skills. In PE we explored our emotions and moved in different ways to show how we were feeling.
A Seed in Need
We have had a great first week back after the Easter holiday. This week we have been learning all about what a plant needs to grow. We have talked about the different parts of a plant and the functions of each part. We have planted our own seeds and are very excited to see them grow. We have talked about what our seeds will need to grow and learnt all about the lifecycle of a sunflower. In maths this week we have been practising our counting skills, looking at ways to count a group of objects reliably.
The First Egg Hunt
The children enjoyed listening to the story of The First Egg Hunt and completing lots of exciting activities linked to Easter. The children created their own Easter egg designs, used their cutting skills to make Easter baskets and Easter bunny's. We also learnt about how Easter is celebrated in lots of different countries. On the last day of term we enjoyed our very own egg hunt! In Maths we have been learning all about doubles and we are now amazing at recalling double facts to 5.
Ian's Mobile Farm Visit
We had a great time when Ian and his daughter Beth came to visit us with their mobile farm. We got to meet an array of animals including Dotty the pig, Quackers the duck and Barbara the sheep. We learnt lots of interesting facts and got to handle lots of different animals.
Little Red Riding Hood
The children have enjoyed reading the story of Little Red Riding Hood. They have been fantastic at helping to retell the story and have enjoyed lots of activities linked to the story. During our Maths work this week we have been thinking about doubles and have enjoyed exploring equal and unequal groups. We have played a dice game to help us quickly spot doubles.
World Book Day
As part of our world book day theme we all made a book character mask. The masks looked amazing and it was lovely to see how proud the children were to talk about the masks they had made. We also learnt and recorded a poem from the book Rumble in the Jungle. Look out for the whole school video on the school website.
Stay and Play
We really enjoyed our parents coming to visit us in school during our Stay and Play Week. We had a creative theme linked to our work on Traditional Stories. We weaved Little Red's basket, made puppets and created our own gingerbread person. A big thank you to all of the parents who were able to join us.
The Gingerbread Man
We have been looking at the story of The Gingerbread Man. The children have really engaged with this book and have been creating some fantastic writing linked to the story. On Tuesday we carried out an investigation to find out what would happen if the gingerbread man had crossed the river without the fox. We placed one gingerbread man in water and one gingerbread man in a sealed container to notice the differences between them. During the day at some point our gingerbread man escaped! We were then sent a video of the gingerbread man and his friends running through our classroom! This has inspired the children to create wanted posters, drawings and signs which they have placed around our classroom in the hope that we can find him.
Mr Wolf's Pancakes
This week we have been reading the story of Mr Wolf's Pancakes. We enjoyed spotting some of the Traditional story characters in our story and found the ending very funny! We learnt about why Shrove Tuesday is celebrated and had lots of fun taking part in pancake races! In maths we have been looking at the composition of the numbers 6 and 7. In our areas of provision we have been working hard on our skills for this half term.
The Smeds and The Smoo's
We are loving our Space theme this week. The children have listened beautifully to our story of the week and are enjoying discussing the meaning behind the story. We have begun to explore a little bit more about Space and the children have amazed us with their excellent knowledge. We have enjoyed designing our own aliens, colouring mixing to make purple, making Smed and Smoo puppets and using junk to create rockets! We can not wait for our visit next week into the Planetarium. In Maths we have begun to look at the composition of 6 and 7 by placing aliens on a dice frame. The children are becoming more confident in how 6 and 7 can be made in different ways.
Lunar New Year
We have enjoyed learning all about the Lunar New Year. We read the story of The Great Race, we practised our cutting skills to make Chinese lanterns, we copied Chinese writing using black felt tip pen and black paint and made our own dragon puppets. We enjoying learning about some of the traditions and comparing to celebrations we have experienced. In Maths we have been exploring the composition of 5 and we are so pleased at how well the children can explain the different ways to make 5 using a stem sentence.
The Great Explorer and Arts Week
We have loved welcoming the children back after the Christmas holidays with our half term theme 'Our Wonderful World.' The children have shared the story of The Great Explorer and the children have been really engaged and busy in their learning. We have found out all about the Polar Regions, where in the world they are, what the environment is like, what animals might be found there and why. We have made comparisons between Sherburn in Elmet and the Arctic and Antarctic. We have linked our Arctic theme in really well to our Whole School Arts Week mask theme. The children have created their own Arctic/ Antarctic animal masks and worked together to produce papier mache animal masks.
Christmas in Sunshines
We have had a great time celebrating Christmas in Sunshines. We have decorated our classroom and learnt about the importance of the first Christmas and we have retold this story using actions. We have read the story of The Jolly Postman and written our own lists of presents to Santa. We have performed a selection of Christmas songs to our parents, had a fun filled Christmas jumper day and a delicious Christmas dinner.
Stay and Play
We had a great week with our parents visiting for our reading themed Stay and Play sessions. Our adults came to play at the start of the day and we could take part in lots of different reading themed activities. We would like to say a big thank you to all of the parents that were able to attend. We will be holding another Stay and Play session in the Spring Term with a different theme, keep looking out for further information.
The World Cup
We enjoyed learning all about The World Cup and some of the countries involved in the competition. We took part in lots of football themed activities including a Penalty Shoot Out in a whole school competition and Sunset carpet won the tournament as the England team!
People Who Help Us
We loved our recent topic People Who Help Us. We began our theme by sharing the story of 'A Superhero like you.' We explored the roles of all different people who help us in our everyday lives. We were lucky enough to receive visits from the Tadcaster Fire Service and The Police. We learnt lots of interesting facts about people who are key workers and shared our own experiences of visiting places such as the doctors, dentist and library.
Children in Need
We went spotty for Children in Need! We dressed in spotty clothes and had a delicious bun sale. We talked about the importance of Children in Need and how our money helps those less fortunate. We took part in lots of fun Pudsey Bear activities and had a lovely day!
Remembrance Day
We remembered those who served in the war by taking part in a 2 minute silence. We watched the live footage of Big Ben and poppy wreaths being laid at the Cenotaph. We looked at Mrs Allenby's family medals and made our own poppy. We talked about the importance of November 11th and how and why it is still remembered today.
Bonfire Night
We have enjoyed sharing our own experiences of Bonfire Night this week. We have talked about why we celebrate Bonfire Night through the story of The Gunpowder Plot. The children were very interested to find out that Guy Fawkes was from York, a place lots of us have visited before. We have loved making firework pictures with paints, glitter and shapes as well as building bonfires with sticks and blocks outside. In Maths this week we have been exploring pattern. The children have loved continuing, creating and spotting mistakes in repeating patterns.
Diwali
In Sunshines we have enjoyed learning about the Hindu Festival of Diwali. We shared the story of Binny's Diwali and explored how Diwali is celebrated. We enjoyed taking part in lots of Diwali activities. We drew Mehndi patterns on hand templates, we explored Rangoli patterns outside using chalk and used playdough to create diva lamps.
Room on the Broom
We enjoyed reading the story of Room on the Broom. The children loved making their own broomsticks using sticks and string. The children dressed up as characters from the story and painted some fabulous pictures.
Autumn
We have begun learning about the changes that take place in the season of Autumn. We have shared the story Percy the Park Keeper, After the Storm as our introduction into Autumn. We have explored photographs of changes and discussed our own observations of Autumnal changes in our own school and village. We have taken part in lots of exciting Autumn activities.
Little Red Hen
We have loved listening to and retelling the story of The Little Red Hen using actions. We have enjoyed discussing the characters and whether the Little Red Hen should have shared the bread with her friends. We learnt about the process that takes place to make bread and enjoyed tasting lots of different types of bread. We have enjoyed lots of Little Red Hen activities in our classroom.
Supertato
We have enjoyed sharing the book Supertato and Supertato Veggies Assemble. We couldn't believe our eyes when Evil Pea used his evil powers to freeze some of our vegetables! Luckily we used our super brain power to work out how to solve this problem! Through the books, the children have been inspired to mark make, build traps for evil pea, print with potatoes and so much more! We have even explored what our own unique superpowers are and what make us all so special. We enjoyed planting in our tyres outside and are excited to watch our plants grow.
Black History Month
We looked at the life of Alma Thomas and celebrated her amazing art work. We recreated the picture of 'The Eclipse' as part of our Cultural Capital gallery in school.
The Colour Monster
Our first book as part of our Magical Me topic was 'The Colour Monster' and The Colour Monster Goes to School.' Through the book we have explored feelings and friendships. We have created some lovely work for displays around school which we are really proud of. We have now introduced a new feelings station which we take part in each morning.
Special Bags
During the Children's transition visits into Sunshines the children designed a bag to take home as a holiday project! Over the summer the children in Sunshines were asked to fill a bag full of treasures about themselves and their summer. We have loved finding out about all of the children and it has been so lovely that they have had the opportunity to share their special bags with their new friends.
Our First Week in Sunshines
We have had lots of fun exploring our new classroom, making friends and learning the routines and expectations in Sunshines.
The children impressed all of the teachers this week with how well they have settled. They should all feel very proud of themselves.
Sunshines Gallery
2021-2022
Pirates and Dinosaurs!
We have loved reading the stories Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs and The Dinosaur that pooped a pirate. This topic has really excited the children. We have carried out lots of lovely pirate and dinosaur activities and the children have taught all of the staff in Sunshines lots of interesting dinosaur facts!
PE Week
Sunshines have loved taking part in lots of different sporting activities during PE week. We loved our Mini Athletics workshop where we practised running, jumping, throwing and team work skills.
Seaside Past and Present
We have shared the wordless picture book Flotsam and Lucy and Tom at the Seaside. We have discussed seaside holiday's that we have been on and our own experiences and then we have looked at what a seaside holiday in the past was like and discussed the similarities and differences.
Under the Sea
We have enjoyed sharing the stories Somebody Swallowed Stanley and Commotion in the Ocean as part of our under the sea theme. We discussed the issue of pollution and ways we can help our planet. We also learnt lots of facts about under the sea creatures.
The Queen's Jubilee
We had a fantastic time learning all about the Queen and the Royal Family and understanding why the Jubilee is such an important milestone. We celebrated with a picnic lunch and we learnt the National Anthem. We also took part in Dance through the Decades workshop. We learnt to line dance!
Forest School
Sunshines had a fantastic time at Forest School. The children could explore a range of activities within the forest area. The children used tools, explored climbing ropes, created their own stories using wooden fairies, made their own wands and enjoyed making mud pies in the mud kitchen.
Tadpoles
We have enjoyed reading the story 'Tadpoles promise.' We have discussed the events in the story which has led us to learn lots about the lifecycle of a butterfly and a frog. We are especially excited to have real life tadpoles in our classroom that we scooped from our school pond! We are excited to observe the changes over the coming weeks.
Planting
We are taking part in the Sherburn in Bloom project. We have been provided with lots of sunflower seeds and our job is to plant them and take good care of them. We have learnt all about what plants need to grow, so know that our seeds need lots of sunlight, warmth and water. We are excited to see the first shoots appear. We will record our sunflower journey to share with the organisers of the competition. We are hoping for some really tall sunflowers to grow!
Easter and Spring
We had lots of fun taking in part in lots of Easter themed activities. We made chocolate nests, decorated eggs and learnt all about the season of Spring. We painted some fabulous paintings of daffodils and bluebells.
Sponsored Walk
Sunshines were amazing walking around our school grounds on our sponsored walk.
The Gingerbread Man
We have been enjoying reading the story of The Gingerbread Man. We have looked at the characters, events and setting and have loved retelling the story as a class. We have created some amazing collage Gingerbread Men and painted some. We have also loved making Gingerbread Men in the Malleable area with ginger scented playdough. We have iced our own Gingerbread Man but something very unusual happened... One Gingerbread Man ran away! We have tried very hard to find him... no such luck just yet...!
Little Rotters
We were lucky to have a visit from the North Yorkshire Little Rotters team who came into school to talk to us about ways we can use up all of our left over food and waste in lots of different ways. We made fruits smoothies using a bike and we each made our very own wormery. We took a fantastic goodie bag with lots of top tips on how to build a compost bin and ways we can waste less.
World Book Day
We had a fabulous day wearing our Pyjamas and sharing our favourite stories! We talked about all of the amazing stories we love to listen to and took part in lots of super book related activities.
Pancake Day
We had lots of fun learning all about Shrove Tuesday and why it is important to Christians. We tasted pancakes and read the stories Mama Panya's Pancakes and Mr Wolf's Pancakes. We then all a pancake race!
Science Week
We had a great week during Science week learning all about bees. We learnt about the different types of bee and their role in the hive. We made our own bees out of card and wool and we also painted bees. We learnt about their lifecycle and lots of interesting facts. We also took part in lots of different Wow experiments. We watched raisins dancing and saw how magic milk can be!
Tigers
We have been reading the story of 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea.' The tiger came to visit us in our classroom! It was a big surprise. We have painted pictures of tigers, made masks, written shopping lists and made our own teapot designs.
National Storytelling Week
We have taken part in National Story Telling Week. We have all brought in our favourite book from home to share with our friends during our group reading sessions and talked about why we love our book so much.
Chinese New Year 2022
We have enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year. We have found out how people celebrate and shared the Chinese Zodiac story. The children have loved taking part in lots of different activities linked to this in our areas of provision. The children have practised their cutting skills to make lanterns, painted pictures of dragons, listened to the story of 'The Runaway Wok' and had a go at writing in chinese.
Lost and Found
We have enjoyed reading the story Lost and Found. We have painted penguins, decorated penguin biscuits, made a lost poster and labelled a penguin. We have learnt interesting facts about Penguins and the South Pole. We have compared the South Pole and the North Pole.
The Great Explorer
We have enjoyed reading the story of The Great Explorer by Chris Judd. We launched our Winter Wonderland topic with a letter from Tom, who has lost his Dad whilst his Dad was exploring the Arctic. Tom needed our help to track down the items that he needed to take with him. We explored our school grounds to find his belongings. Then we solved a clue which led us to a tent and inside the tent was our story. We loved listening to Tom's adventure. The book has inspired lots of activities such as, ice painting, exploration of ice, floating and sinking experiments, colour mixing with shades of blue to paint hot air balloons and weaving. We have found out about animals that live in the arctic and how they keep themselves warm.
Forest School
Sunshines children had a great time in our school orchard. The children made mud maps using mud paint, whittled wood to make whistles, sat in a hammock, built dens and toasted marshmallows.
Christmas in Sunshines
We have enjoyed taking part in lots of festive activities in December. We have made Christmas Cards, Calendars, decorations, bird feeders and performed a Christmas concert. It has been busy but lots of fun.
Fizzy Finn Finds His Feet
We had the theatre company Riding Lights come to perform a Christmas show for us in our school hall. We all enjoyed it very much and got us into the Christmas spirit.
People Who Help Us
We really enjoyed learning about people who help us in our local community. We read the story A Superhero Like You which inspired our topic. We learnt about people who help us in school and in Sherburn in Elmet. We looked at the role of a vet, police officer, doctor, nurse, firefighter and dentist. We were lucky enough to have a visit from Tadcaster Fire Service. The firefighters talked about their job and how the different parts of the fire engine work.
Children in Need
We had a great time raising money for BBC Children in Need. We had a non-uniform day, took part in lots of fun Pudsey activities including making spotty biscuits, Pudsey themed fine motor activities, making Pudsey and Blush masks and joining in with Joe Wick's workout.
Remembrance Day
On November 11th we remembered the brave soldiers who have fought in wars to help our country. We made poppies and held them during our 2 minute silence at 11am. We watched the Cenotaph live for the silence. We then made poppy biscuits to take home. Mrs Allenby brought some World War 2 medals to share with us and an old ration book.
Diwali
We have enjoyed learning about the Hindu festival of Diwali. We read the story of Binny's Diwali. We made clay Diva Lamps, decorated Mehndi patterns on hands and used powder paints outside to create Rangoli Patterns. Mrs Singh brought her wedding dress in to school to share with us.
Bonfire Night
We have been learning about how people celebrate Bonfire Night and why it is celebrated. We listened to the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, which we found fascinating. We loved exploring lots of Bonfire Night activities.
Pumpkins!
As part of our work on Autumn, Harvest and Halloween we looked at the story of Pumpkin Soup.
Pattern
As part of our Maths work we have been looking at repeating pattern. The children in Sunshines have loved this and had lots of fun creating their own patterns using sticklebricks, cubes, bears, felt tip pens and printing. We have looked at 2 step and 3 step repeating patterns and tried hard to correct mistakes in patterns.
Black History Month
Sunshines looked at the artist Alma Thomas and her picture 'The Eclipse'. We looked at the skill of tearing paper to recreate her famous picture. We learnt about the life of Alma and looked at some of her other work.
Supertato
We had lots of fun reading the story of Supertato! We printed with mashers, used tweezers to pick up the Evil Pea and retold the story using puppets.
The Colour Monster
This week we have been reading the story, The Colour Monster. We have talked about the different feelings that the monster has throughout the story. We have then discussed when we might feel happy, sad, angry, scared and calm. We have enjoyed making our own monsters from playdough, junk modelling and painting. We have explored colour mixing and retold the story with our friends using the Colour Monster story stones and puppets.
Sunshines Classroom
We wanted to share with you some of the lovely displays that we have in our classroom. We are so proud of how hard the children in Sunshines are working.
Never Tickle a Tiger
We have enjoyed read the story, Never Tickle a Tiger. We thought the main character Izzy was very funny. The story inspired some some creative activities.
What The Ladybird Heard
We have loved reading the story 'What the Ladybird Heard'. We have painted pictures of ladybirds, written sentences about the story, looked at the lifecycle of a ladybird and found out lots of interesting facts.
Frogs
We have enjoyed reading the story 'The Frog Prince' and an Aboriginal story called Tiddalick. We explored the lifecycle of a frog and have written sentences, painted pictures and looked at aboriginal art.
Multi Skills PE Sessions
Sunshines loved their first week of Multi Skills with Premier Sport. They learnt lots of new games and had lots of fun in the sunshine. The bean game was a favourite! We enjoyed playing this back in our outdoor area.
Forest School Days- April 2021
We had the best time in our school orchard learning lots of new skills during our forest school days with Sally. We learnt to use a vegetable peeler, tie knots, get in a hammock. We played on the swing, hunted for minibeasts, made our own stick wands and hunted for woollen hats!
Miss O'Neill
We would like to welcome Miss O'Neill to Sunshines. She will be joining us between now and Easter as part of her teaching placement. Miss O'Neill will be posting some learning videos for you to watch at home. Miss O'Neill is very excited to get to know you all.
Sunshines Christmas Sing along 2020
We hope that you enjoy watching a short singing performance from the children in Sunshines. We have chosen a selection of some of our favourite Christmas songs to share with you. The children tried really hard, we were so proud of them all.
Merry Christmas
Christmas Dinner Day!
Sunshines enjoyed their Christmas dinner!
Christmas In Sunshines
We have enjoyed taking part in lots of different Christmas activities.
Elf on the Shelf
We had a surprise visit from two Elves sent from Santa in the North Pole. Our job is to name them and hope that they don't cause too much mischief! We have named one Elf Buddy and one Elf Teeny. They are already being very cheeky!
Purple Party
We finished our Space themed topic with a Purple Party. We helped Janet and Bill (Smed's and Smoo's) celebrate the birth of Baby Smoo-Smed. We made purple alien badges which we cut out to practise our scissor skills and mixed our own red and blue powder paint to make purple. We played games, ate jam sandwiches that we had followed instructions to make and had purple juice! It was lots of fun.
Balance Bikes
Children in Need
Sunshines children went spotty for Children in Need. We had lots of fun wearing our spotty clothes and taking part in lots of different Pudsey bear activities.
Space Landing!
Today we received a letter from two aliens named Janet and Bill. They needed our help. Janet and Bill had crash landed on our playground. We carefully followed a map to find where their spaceship had landed. We looked for clues to determine where the spaceship was and searched hard to find their missing belongings. We found sleeping bags, T shirts, parts of a rocket, slime, bowls and moon rock. We are excited to find out more about Janet and Bill in the coming weeks. It was certainly an eventful start to our week! We are so proud to hear that some of the Sunshines children have continued their space excitement at home!
Diwali and Bonfire Night Celebrations
Sunshines have enjoyed finding out about Diwali and learning all about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot. We have made firework pictures using cotton buds and paint, painted Mendi patterns on hands, created chalk firework patterns outside and retold the story of Rama and Sita using the Diwali puppets.
Orchard Visit
We had a lovely time exploring our school orchard for Autumn treasures!
Funnybones
We have really enjoyed reading the story of Funnybones and The Pet shop. The children have acted out the story, measured skeletons using cubes, labelled the different parts of the body and learnt the song and dance 'Dem Bones'. All of the Sunshines teachers are so proud of their lovely work.
Elmer
We have enjoyed reading lots of different Elmer stories as part of our Magical Me theme. We have talked about similiarties and differences between ourselves and others. We have thought about the reasons we are special and unique. We have enjoyed joining in with lots of different Elmer activities in our provision areas.
Magical Me
We enjoyed using the mirror to look carefully at ourselves before using black pen to draw what we could see!