Saturday 27 April 2013

Toothy jaws and dinosaurs





My teeth are sharp
And I can bite.
You'll find my bones,
On the Isle of Wight!

What on earth could Mrs Crayon be referring to in this daft ditty of hers?
The answer is of course, dinosaurs!! (More about dinosaurs and the Isle of Wight in a minute.)

At the beginning of the week the Reception team of Sunnyside School, asked the little learners to think about how they would like the role play area to be set up, now that the subject of space has been completely exhausted and the team have wiped out all the supermarkets of their large boxes/space rockets.

The little learners didn't need long to think about their role play preference because the immediate answer that came back was unanimous and resounding. "Dinosaurs!!!"  

Following a bit of constructive chit chat, it was decided to transform the area into a dinosaur museum, "The Sunnyside Dinosaur Museum" to be precise. 
Mrs Jolly headed straight off to the back of beyond, otherwise known as the art cupboard and returned a little later with a box full of replica dinosaur fossils. Just like that!

The fossils were made a few years ago by the Sunnyside learners of the day and the very clever people of ecclestongeorge public artists. Following Mrs Jolly's brilliant dinosaur discovery, Mrs Crayon ventured off to the back of beyond and scrabbled around for a bit before coming out for some air!!! Her return trip in, yielded some large sheets of craft foam on which she thought the little learners could paint some colourful dinosaurs.

In no time at all "The Sunnyside Dinosaur Museum" was off to a flying start.

And now, at the end of the week the museum is all but complete, with it's display of dinosaur fossils (and magnifying glasses through which to study them) it's hand painted and all the colours of the rainbow Sunnysideosaur hanging from the ceiling, it's arrangement of fascinating dinosaur fact books and leaflets, a multitude of dinosaur stories and a mini dinosaur dig area.

THE SUNNYSIDE DINOSAUR MUSEUM is now well and truly open for business!!!! 

The little learners choice of role play, is quite by coincidence, extremely timely as The Isle of Wight has just been crowned the dinosaur capital of the UK by the Natural History Museum. Not only that, the island is preparing to go Walking With Dinosaurs as it is partnering with BBC Earth Films and Twentieth Century Fox, to bring Walking With Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie, to the island this summer.

To mark this major event the island will be featuring hundreds of dinosaur events throughout the year. It's all terribly exciting!!! It seems that quite by chance the little learners have set the dinosaur ball rolling right in the middle of their classroom by deciding to go all dinosaury .

The team is wondering whether the new dinosaur movie will feature the rather rare (if not hardly ever heard of)  Spottystripysplodgysaur of Whippy Cove. 
Probably not!!! 

Live dinosaurs are rare
You'll be lucky if you see 'em,
So we've made one of or own
For our dinosaur museum!




To find out more about Walking With Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie, visit isle of wight walking with dinosaurs

Friday 19 April 2013

Cozy fish and tricky slugs


Something happened yesterday afternoon that made Mrs Crayon cry. When Mrs Very Jolly heard about what it was that made Mrs Crayon cry, she cried too! 

The tears were of course tears of laughter, so Mrs Crayon and Mrs Very Jolly would like to share with you all what it was that made them cry and subsequently made their afternoon!

It all began when a little learner sidled up to Mrs Crayon (who was busy firing staples into a display board at the time) and said the three little words the Reception team hear so often during the school day. "Do you know?" 

Mrs Crayon immediately downed her staple gun when she heard these words, for she new something entertaining was about to be imparted to her.

"Do you know?" Said the little learner in question. "My Mummy is really clever, she can crochet."
"Wow!" replied Mrs Crayon pulling up a chair to sit down for a minute. "What's crochet?" 
"You don't use a pin." Said the little learner confidently. "You use a stick!"
"A stick?" Questioned Mrs Crayon. "So how do you actually crochet with a stick?" 

There followed a long and thoughtful pause from the little learner, giving Mrs Crayon enough time to seek out a post-it pad and pen to note down what she believed would be a detailed account (from this particular little learner) of how to crochet. After tapping his chin for what seemed an age, the little learner drew breath and said. "Well........you cro...... and then you chet!"

And that was when Mrs Crayon cried!!!

The little learner went on to tell Mrs Crayon that his Mummy had crocheted a warm sleeping bag for his fish. Just as Mrs Crayon was contemplating how much a sleeping bag would hinder a fish's mobility, the little learner clarified that it was actually a toy fish. He also told her that his Mummy was "really good at crocheting snails", but that she was still learning how to crochet slugs! Slugs are more tricky apparently!

So this morning, Mrs Crayon and Mrs Very Jolly were thrilled when upon his arrival into the classroom, the little learner proudly presented them with his fish, complete with it's brightly coloured and beautifully crocheted sleeping bag. 

Mrs Crayon and Mrs Very Jolly await (with great excitement) the arrival of some crocheted slugs and snails into the classroom!!! 



    

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Treasure trails and pirate ships


WELCOME BACK EVERYONE to the little school called Sunnyside,  where for the last seven months we have been following all the daily goings on of the Sunnyside little learners in the Reception Class.

As another new term begins, it's astonishing to think that the littlest learners attending Sunnyside School, have just one term left in the Reception class, before they move on to year one to begin the next chapter in their school life journey. 


The team are so very proud of each and every one of them for the tremendous progress they have made so far, in all areas of their development and learning. 

However, before the team can even think about waving farewell to this particular group of cheery little learners, they have heaps more fun and learning opportunities planned for them to experience and enjoy.


The topic for the first half of the summer term is all about the place in which the little learners live. Now, for anyone who regularly visits Sunnysiders 2012, they will already know that Sunnyside School is set in the heart of the little seaside town of Whippy Cove. What they may not be aware of is that Whippy Cove can be found on the south-eastern side of the beautiful Isle of Wight.

Over the coming weeks the little learners will be looking in detail at all aspects of the island and to start the topic off, Mrs Very Jolly was keen to find out what the little learners already know about the island and if they have any understanding of what an island is.

On the smart board she showed the little learners a map of the island. She then asked them to name the places they know, or places they have visited so that she could find them on the map. The activity took far longer than Mrs Very Jolly anticipated, as each little learner was very keen to point out where their nanny lives. As a result, it appeared initially that the only places on the island were Sunnyside School and lots and lots of nanny houses!!!

Eventually after careful rephrasing of questions and the odd bit of steering in the right direction, it turned out that the little learners had a very sound understanding of their island home. Following on from the discussions, they went on to produce their own amazingly detailed island maps, complete with nanny houses, pirate ships, treasure trails and treasure chests.    

Well after all, as anyone who lives in the Isle of Wight knows, you only have to walk a few steps in any direction and you'll find yourself tripping over a treasure chest!!!!

Well done little learners for some brilliant maps and well done for a brilliant first day back!!!


WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL.........

.......ISLE OF NANNIES

Wednesday 10 April 2013

"DO YOU KNOW?" Number 3


As per usual, this "do you know" came completely out of the blue. In fact the little learner who imparted this bit of information, took the trouble to step out of the dinner queue for a minute to tell it to Mrs Crayon. Mrs Crayon then immediately took to her heels to find a post-it pad to write it down, before it went out of her head.






 
"Hurrah! We've all been to the dentist!!!"

Friday 5 April 2013

"DO YOU KNOW?" Number 2



This super dooper "do you know?" was told to Miss Kind last week, amid the hustle and bustle of an afternoon of Easter makes.  

Mrs Crayon was delighted with this particular "do you know?" as she'd been looking for an excuse to create a rabbity type image for Easter.

So, whilst it may be a little late for Easter, here is a rabbity "do you know?" and a rabbity drawing to accompany it.




"I always knew I was a girl called Polly!!!"

Tuesday 2 April 2013

"DO YOU KNOW?" Number 1


Despite it being a very busy and hectic week last week, the little learners still found time from all their Eastery activities to share some of their "do you know?" gems with the Sunnyside grown ups.

As we found out recently (in "Funny thoughts and wet toes") whenever a little learner approaches a grown up in the setting with the words, "do you know?", the grown ups will immediately reach for the nearest post-it pad to note down the inevitable gem of information that follows.

As last week was a great week for inevitable gems, Mrs Crayon would like to share them with you all, over the next few days. She hopes you will enjoy them every bit as much as the team did.

So here is today's "Do you know?" little learner gem. Enjoy!!!


"Nothing's happening!... I must have got the wrong whistling day!!!"