The children have been enjoying lots of different activities linked to supporting our mental health and wellbeing this week! We focused our attention on the theme ‘Know yourself, Grow yourself’, as we thought about what we could do already, and what we’d like to learn how to do. We thought about the power of the word ‘yet’ and positive self-talk… instead of saying “I can’t do” something, we changed it to “I can’t do it… yet”!
We also imagined a tree in growth. We reflected on the roots of our identity, what is important to us, and what helps us grow. Lots of the children thought about their families and friends, their own likes and dislikes and their characteristics such as ‘being a good listener’ and ‘being kind’. We then thought about what is growing from these roots. The children loved thinking about how they are growing, and what they would like to learn in the future. Many children chose to add flowers and fruits onto their trees to symbolise learning something that they’ve worked really hard on to achieve!
In maths, the children have been finding out more about themselves and their peers. We used our mini mes to vote on different categories, such as favourite weather and activities. We then used our knowledge of counting principles to gather the data and interpret it using comparative language. Ash class then delved deeper, looking at different ways of representing this information in tallies and pictograms. As a whole class, the children really loved voting on their favourite counting songs using bricks to help them visualise and compare different amounts. The children chose “Five Cheeky Monkeys” which we then sang as part of our music lesson later that day!
As part of our wellbeing week and knowing ourselves better, we’ve been exploring our family trees and the people that make up our families. We discussed how each family is different and how special they are to us. The children were then given the opportunity to draw their own family trees, reflecting on who is part of their family.
Early Years have also been thinking about what we can do to care for our world, and the children created some wonderful bird feeders. We talked about how cold it is at the moment, meaning there are fewer berries on the trees for the birds, and how they would really appreciate some extra food. The children carefully threaded string through a cored apple, then made wonderful seed patterns by pressing them into the fruit. This activity was an excellent opportunity for them to enhance their fine motor skills. The children then carefully hung them on the tree outside and enjoyed looking out for birds with Ms Connolly from inside the warm classroom!
