Saturday 27 July 2013

Last days and absent friends



This is it!!! The little learners' journey through the Reception year is almost at an end. 

With just a few days left in school before they break for the summer holidays, the cheery little Sunnysiders burst through the doors this morning in their usual blustery way, full of enthusiasm and eager to share their news. 

The main topics of conversation this morning were; the two birthday parties they'd all attended over the weekend, and the multiple sightings of Spike, the caterpillar/Cabbage White Butterfly at various locations around the Isle of Wight.

The whole sad and sorry tale of Spike the caterpillar and his disastrous scooter ride of last week, (see previous post) inspired some wonderful little learner initiated writing. So, continuing with their fascination for this new elusive friend of theirs, the little learners decided they would construct a hide from sheets and blankets in the garden and become wildlife photographers for the afternoon. Their hope was that Spike would pass through the garden and obligingly pose for a photo or two before heading off to who knows where yet again. 

Armed with real cameras as well as several ingenious home made versions, (which the little learners had cobbled together from pieces of Lego, Stickle bricks and the odd bit of Popoid), they then retreated to their hide where they waited, and waited, and........ waited. When eventually Spike did make an appearance in the garden, the little wildlife cameramen completely missed their opportunity to photograph him, due to the fact they were too busy leaping around in excitement shouting "Spike alert" through a hole in the top of the hide!!! They did however manage to get a blurred snap of the terrified pigeon that shot out of the cherry tree in response to their enthusiastic din.

Never mind little learners. It's an acquired skill learning to use your indoor voices out of doors....... Just ask Mrs Very Jolly.......she's still practicing!!!  



"shhh everyone!........... I'm sure Spike will be back in a minute!!!"

Saturday 20 July 2013

Disco moves and prickly pets



Picture this if you will. Sixty little learners, one hundred and twenty waving arms, the same amount of stomping feet, and YMCA by the Village People blaring out of the hall at nine o'clock in the morning!

It's not normal for the little learners of Sunnyside School, to begin their day by frantically jigging around to a 1970s American disco group. But needs must when there is a very important school musical event approaching, and it requires a whole lot of practice. 

Despite the fact that Whippy Cove is still experiencing a proper summer with proper summer temperatures, the Sunnysiders powered through the heat until something that resembled a dance routine finally began to emerge. However, at one point during rehearsals, a line of little learners appeared on a bench at the rear of the hall, demanding sick buckets and ice packs because they were "too poorly to carry on". As soon as rehearsals finished though, something magical happened, they all suddenly got better, and they were the first ones out the door when it was time to play in the sunshine.

When all the little learners returned to the classroom following their play outside, something happened that left Mrs Very Jolly and Mrs Crayon in tears. As always, they were tears of laughter!

A particular little learner wanted to address his classmates (whilst they were all sat on the carpet), to put out an urgent plea for help. The plea for help involved searching for the caterpillar, he'd brought into school that morning in a little white pot filled with a mound of fresh green leaves. He explained to his friends that his caterpillar was last seen on a scooter outside before he crashed it and fell off. When Mrs Very Jolly and Mrs Crayon had recovered from an uncontrollable fit of the giggles, Mrs Very Jolly asked if the caterpillar was wearing a cycle helmet or not. "Not!" Said the little learner. "And he wasn't wearing knee pads either!"  
"Does he have a name at all poppet?" Asked Mrs Crayon dabbing the tears in her eyes. "Yes!" Replied the little learner very definitely. "He's called Spike!" After some clarification, it turned out that the caterpillar wasn't actually riding the scooter by himself, rather he was in the white pot which was in the little learner's hand until he crashed the scooter, sending the pot skyward along with all the leaves and Spike himself. 

"If you call him," suggested one little learner from the carpet, "he'll recognise your voice and come to you." The group thought this was a marvelous idea, so when they all ventured outside again, the garden area was filled with little learners shouting for Spike at the top of their lungs. Incredibly and as if by magic, within seconds a Cabbage White Butterfly flew down into the garden and very briefly flew among the little learners before disappearing over the garden fence. Squeals, or rather screams of excitement and delight echoed around the garden and beyond, because as far as the little learners were concerned, Spike the caterpillar was now Spike the butterfly! 

What followed next is the kind of little learner initiated activity that always gets the team buzzing with excitement....... Independent writing. 

Whole groups of little learners suddenly took it upon themselves to write 'wanted posters' to alert everyone of Spike's disappearance. And, as soon as they'd finished their posters the little learners sourced blobs of Blu tack (the team are not sure from where exactly) and used them to attach their posters to the garden shed.  So, by the end of the afternoon, the garden shed was swamped with posters (all flapping in the breeze) calling for Spike's return. Sadly, he didn't reappear by home time, and to cap it all the little learner in question also mislaid the white pot that served as Spike's cosy home.  So unfortunately he went home potless, caterpillarless and butterflyless!  

However, the little learners of Sunnyside School have vowed to resume their search for Spike when they return to school tomorrow.

And to anybody living close to Sunnyside School who should happen upon Spike either flapping or scooting around the Whippy Cove area, could they please direct him back to Sunnyside School ASAP. The little learners won't actually have a moment free to search for him tomorrow as they'll be too busy practicing YMCA.........again and again probably!

The team will have ice packs and sick buckets at the ready!!!!!!!!!! 



Saturday 13 July 2013

Sun hats and coconuts


Phew!!! Whippy Cove is in the midst of a heat wave. It's scorchio on the Isle of Wight!!! 

The Sunnyside team are on sun hat and sun cream alert, making sure both are applied to each little learner before they set foot outside. The air around Sunnyside School is filled with the smell of coconut oil, and inside the floors of Sunnyside School are strewn with discarded sun hats.

This afternoon a small number of little learners chose to stay out of the sun and remain in the classroom with Mrs Crayon. Some elected to paint pictures inspired by the Russian artist/painter Wassily Kandinsky no less, whilst others chose to look at books in the reading area, or play "Mums and kittens" in the home corner.

After a short while, a certain little learner wandered into the classroom. Red faced and with his hair stuck to his forehead, he sat himself down at Mrs Crayon's table.
"Hello poppit!" Said Mrs Crayon. "You look very hot! Are you wearing sun cream?"
This particular little learner, is a little learner that Mrs Crayon has had many, many, fascinating (and truly memorable) chats with, since he joined the Reception Class way back in September of last year. So when he drew breath and thoughtfully looked to the ceiling for a moment before saying, "Well........." Mrs Crayon immediately cut in and said. "Hang on poppit." For she knew this was her cue to fetch a piece of paper and a pen in order to note down the gem of information he was about to impart to her. 

She was right to fetch the piece of paper and pen, and here's why.... word for word.   

 "Are you wearing sun cream?"

"Well...........I put m' pants on, then I put m' sun cream on, then I put the rest of m'clothes on. Then I went downstairs and put m' shoes on.......all on me own! Then I walked down the road and it's always a panic because m' Mum has to put m' baby sisters shoes on, then her shoes fall off, then she has to put her reins on. When m' baby sister does a poo, I have to run away from her because it smells really bad and then I have to put m' fan on and it blows it out the window and into Mrs Cooks garden. She's 1 and still wears a nappy.....m' baby sister not Mrs Cook. I've lost m' tooth and I swallowed it because I thought it was a Coco Pop. I had a happy dream where I smiled and the tooth fairy saw the gap in m' mouth and she came and gave me two pounds! But I still have pocket money problems!!!! 

As smoke billowed from the end of her pen while she scribbled away at ninety miles an hour, Mrs Crayon couldn't help wishing she'd taken up shorthand back in the days of yore. But as she scribbled away, an idea for an accompanying doodle to this marvellous narrative came into her head.


"DEARIE ME!... HOW CAN SHE POSSIBLY SMELL WORSE THAN I DO?" 

Saturday 6 July 2013

Missiles and steaming feet


Plimsolls!!!! It's hard to imagine a world without them....but let's try all the same just for a minute. 

If there were no plimsolls in the world, then what took place a few days ago during a practice for sports day, would never have happened. 

After the little learners had wrestled with their plimsolls and changed into their PE kits, they all ventured out on to the grass which lays at the front of Sunnyside School. It was here that they were going to practice running along the freshly painted lines, in readiness for their up and coming Sports Day.

All was well until the little learners started to run. As soon as they did so, plimsolls began to fly everywhere, to the extent where the team felt they needed to dive for cover, to prevent themselves from being struck by one of them! 

Not to be deterred by this potentially off putting occurrence, those clever and quick thinking little learners, calmly retrieved their annoying footwear and continued to run with them tucked under their arms!

So it begs the question (in fact it begs more than one), who invented plimsolls? what kinds of feet were they invented for? and how is it that even the grown ups in the setting have on occasion found it impossible to determine a left plimsoll from a right! This infuriating plimsoll ambiguity, has led to some poor little learners either wearing plimsolls on the wrong feet during a PE session, or worse..... two of the same!!! 
In all their dealings with plimsolls (and there have been ever so many over the years) the team have hardly ever come across a pair that fit well, and will consequently stay on for an entire PE session. 

So, the fed up little learners of Sunnyside School would like to get something off their chest and have a right o'l rhyming rant about their experiences and very definite opinions on the subject of the school plimsoll.








One man's banished plimsoll, is another man's cosy ear warmers!