Portway Infant School
Today we were lucky enough to be joined by some Portway parents and grandparents for our Christmas assembly in the hall. The grown ups impressed us with their musical talent and we could name many different instruments. What a lovely way to come together and sing some well known Christmas carols. Thank you to our wonderful performers for joining us.
This week we have been learning all about birthdays and how we celebrate the day we were born! We looked at our baby photos and discussed how we had changed.
We then read the story 'Ruff' where Ruff the dog has never had a birthday. This made us think of a bear we know, who was once lost and will have never had a birthday before... Bedtime Bear!!!
We got to work and planned a surprise party for him. We made birthday cards, birthday banners, party hats and even drew him some presents. We then threw his party, he was very surprised! We got to play musical statues, musical chairs and even had some cake!
Bedtime Bear had the best day ever!
We have been learning all about the change in season and what happens in Autumn. Then we went out to find signs of Autumn and to collect things to make our very own Autumn Crowns. We then had lots of fun playing in the Autumn leaves.
Today we were super excited to go on our very own Bear Hunt! We matched our learning by using the same story language as the original story but we went to new places on our hunt. Our journey went like this.....
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared…
Uh-oh a gate! A grey, shiny gate, we can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to go through it!
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared...
Uh-Oh steps! Tall, black steps we can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to go through it!
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared…
Uh-Oh puddles. Wet, splashy puddles. We can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to go through it
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared…
Uh-Oh Grass! Wet, slippery grass. we can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to go through it
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared…
Uh-Oh a forest! A dark, drippy forest. We can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to go through it!
One shiny wet nose, two soft ears, and two goggly eyes! We found a Bear!!! It was Bedtime bears that were looking for a home and we all got to take one each! We decided we would want to go on a bear hunt again!!!
We then spent the rest of the day enjoying our favourite special time activities.
We went on a visit to our school Library today with Mrs Doney.
Mrs Doney showed us some of the books that we might like to borrow and how to find any non-fiction books if we have any particular interests that we like to learn about. She also showed us our library tickets.
We are looking forward to taking books home to share with our adults. Our Library Day is going to be Tuesdays so watch out for a new book coming home to share for a whole week!
We have been learning all about Diwali at school. We started with a 'Far Away Day' to India and found out all about how people celebrate Diwali and the different things that they do.
We were also lucky enough to have a Diwali Dance Workshop and made up a dance to match the story of Rama and Sita.
We even used all of our new learning to celebrate Diwali in our 'Family House'!
We have been learning about Harvest this week and how the wheat from the fields goes to the flour mill and then to the Bakery to make bread. We decided that we would pretend that our classroom was Burbidges Bakery and practise our spreading and cutting skills by making sandwiches to take home for our tea. We had a choice of bread and fillings and learnt how to use a bridge cut to cut the sandwich into pieces to share with our family at home.
We have been to Forest School today and found out all about how to keep ourselves safe. We put out hazard flags wherever we saw something that might be a danger or hurt us and then played a game to stop us getting lost called '1, 2, 3 where are you?'
Then we went digging, bug hunting, cooking lunch in the Mud Kitchen and making marble runs..... it was lots of fun.
In the afternoon, Miss Birmingham taught us how to make dens and then we practised making dens of our own before tidying the forest and getting ready for home. It was a very busy day and we can't wait until our next visit!!
We have been learning all about the artist Pablo Picasso. We found out that he liked to make colourful faces with bits facing forwards and sideways.
We used photographs of our faces to make our own artwork in the style of Pablo and practised our scissor skills to cut out our features to stick down. We had lots of fun and laughed a lot!!
We have been learning that we all have different families and do different things at home. Today we went to our role play house and discovered quite how many jobs there are to do! We have been busy cooking dinner, doing the washing, looking after the baby and dog and relaxing with a book or infront of the televsion. We are quite worn out!!!
For P.E. this week we got to have our first turn on the bikes and trikes! We had so much fun using our gross-motor skills and trying new equipment!
We have had such a busy first week at school. We have been making friends and finding out about all of the different places we have inside our classroom. Come and see what we have been up to .......
We have absolutely loved learning about the artist Vincent Van Gogh this week and looking at some of his pictures. We used lots of the different art skills that we have learnt during the year to make our own version of his pictures, including collage, oil pastels and even Lego!
We have been out in Forest School today learning all about different habitats. We then used our knowledge of the forest animals to build our own habitats for them and tried to find woodlice and ants to live in their new homes.
We enjoyed looking for animals at Forest School and thought that we would use paper sculpture to create 3D insects and bugs in the classroom. We thought very carefully about the shapes, colours and details that we needed for the features.....
We had our first Sports Day today at school. It was so lovely to see everyone back together for a whole school event. Thank you for coming to support us and the children, we so enjoyed sharing it with you!
Congratulations Red Team......
Congratulations Yellow Team
Congratulations Blue Team....
This week we have been learning all about her majesty Queen Elizabeth II. we have had so much fun taking part in lots of different activities including biscuit decorating and creating bunting, to celebrate her 70 years on the throne. Have a look at what we got up to!
We finished our celebrations by having a whole school street party, we got to eat yummy food, sing, dance and finished with some cake! It was so much fun!!
We have been out in the forest looking for animals in our woodland environment. We have found woodlice, snails, slugs, spiders and some enormous centipedes under logs!
We looked carefully at their different features and identified them before drawing them to remember what we had found.
You might have heard that we had a very special visitor in school the last two days. The author and illustrator, Petr Horacek came to Portway to tell us all about his wonderful books and what it is like being an artist!
He taught us lots of skills and tricks to make our pictures and bright and beautiful as possible. We were lucky enough to have a go at drawing a picture just like Petr.
All of our pictures were then put together to make one big picture and the end result was magical, just take a look for yourselves!
After our very successful egg hatching, we now have 5 baby Runner Ducks...... Bob, Beth, Betty, Bart and Benjamin. They have been exploring our outside enclosure for the first time today and enjoying the sunshine!!
We also have caterpillars and will be watching carefully as they change and grow. Do you know what will happen next in their life cycle?
Today we visited Longdown Activity Farm. We learnt how to be farmers and looked after lots of different animals. We got to feed calves, kids and goats. We got to hold chicks and stroke baby guinea pigs (pups!). We even saw pigs, horses, ducks and chickens and were lucky enough to find some eggs and take them to the farm shop ready to be sold! After all our hard work, we were rewarded with a super fun, bumpy tractor ride! It was so bumpy we could not stop laughing! We then finished the day with some yummy lunch before returning to our coach where some of us had a snooze on the way home! We loved the farm.
We have had such a busy week learning about 'New Life' and Spring. We have been out looking for signs of Spring in our outside environment, learning about the flowers we can see and then drawing them, and we have even seen some tadpoles!
We then decorated our classroom, made cards, went on an Easter Egg Hunt and made some yummy chocolate nests that we enjoyed during our Easter Celebration.
Yesterday we put our six Runner Duck eggs into the incubator. We are hoping to get Runner Ducklings in 28 days time!!!
Our Forest School this time was all about Fires to match our learning of real life superheroes such as Firefighters! Miss Birmingham taught us how to stay safe when lighting fires during Forest School and all the different parts you need to build a fire e.g. tinder, kindling and sticks. We learnt that some sticks are too bendy and wet as they have only just fallen from trees so we practised finding sticks that 'snapped' and which meant they were dry and good to use.
Once Miss Birmingham showed us how to build a fire we then had a go at making our own!! After learning how to build a fire Miss Birmingham then showed us how to light a fire and we got to sing songs around the camp fire. We learnt how to put out a fire safely and we chose to use water.
After an exciting morning we then got to enjoy some 'Special Time' activities.
We had some very exciting visitors today! We got to meet two real life Police Officers. They came to school to tell us what it was like being a Police Officer and all the different ways they help us and our community!
They showed us all the equipment they use to keep themselves and others safe and even let us try on their hats!! We then got to go and visit a real life Police car. We saw how the lights flash and listened to the very loud siren (We loved this part the most!!). After that PC Luke showed us all the items in the back of the Police car and what they might be used for! We had such a lovely time, we asked lots of questions and learnt lots of new things!!
We were so lucky to have a visit from Nurse Lizze and Stanley this week. She helped us to learn about the special clothes that she wears, the gadgets that she uses and how she helps us to stay safe. We are also bone experts now too!
We have been busy using this information to be in role as doctors and nurses ourselves in our role play Hospital and matching our learning to Hospitals too. We have been writing Patient Forms, measuring and weighing, creating moving split pin characters and using the small world.
We have also been in role as Firefighters and Police Officers ready to answer any 999 call!!
We have been learning all about Plastic in the Ocean and how it can harm the animals. We created our own posters to share our messages to other people.
Today we celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as some of our favourite book characters..... I wonder if you can recognise any of them?
We have been sharing lots of books this week all about fishes and under the sea. We loved the gift that we got and shared 'The Whale Who Wanted More' over half term ready for our learning. We have been playing in the small world, researching fish illustrators and even did some fish illustrations ourselves using collage, drawing and pebbles...... all matching our favourite illustrations. We have absolutely loved every moment!
We finished our Fairy Tale topic with a Cinderella Ball today. We have been practising some dances ready and then dressed up in our finest clothes after receiving invitations earlier in the week.
We had fun dancing with our partners and then stopped for juice and canapes!
Today we have been to Forest School and we have been linking it to our learning about Fairy Tales. We used clay to make faces on the trees and made a magical forest. We used things that we could find in Forest School to make the face features.
Come and meet our new friends....
We then got to enjoy having fun in the Forest doing some of our favourite activities!!
To celebrate Chinese New Year we decided to have a Far Away trip to China! We learnt lots about the country some of which include they have a red and yellow flag, to say hello you say Ni hao, it is the most populated country and they have mountains and deserts.
We also learnt that during their New Year celebrations it is important to clean your home to clean away bad luck and get ready for good luck. It is a 15 day celebration and is ended with a lantern festival.
When we arrived in China we enjoyed making flags of China, lanterns, lucky dragon masks and even practised writing a number line in Chinese symbols! Later on we enjoyed a Chinese themed lunch and then we tried some noodles and had a go at using chopsticks to eat them! We were amazing at this!!
The next day we were super excited as we got to learn some traditional Chinese dancing. We learnt the 'Lion' dance, the 'Fan' dance and finally got to end with a 'Dragon' dance.
We had the best time learning all about China, just look at the photos below to see how much fun we had!!
This week we have been busy learning how to collage with different materials and glue. We decided to use our collaging skills to make the different characters from all the Fairy Tales we have learnt about. We then created a beautiful class display to show all the different stories.
Can you spot all the different Fairy Tales?
This week we have been having lots of fun in P.E. learning different Gymnastic shapes. We learnt that gymnasts are always strong and create straight lines using there arms and legs. We worked really hard to make the 5 shapes: Straight shape, Star shape, Tuck shape, Pike shape and Straddle shape. Have a look at the photos below to see what amazing gymnasts we are.
We had a visit from the Fairy Godmother who has left a poster because things have been going missing in Fairy Tale Land. So far we have found a bundle of sticks from the story of the '3 Little Pigs', a little girl with a red cape on and today we even found some peas from the story of 'The Princess and the Pea'.
We have been very busy matching our learning to different Fairy Tales and sending cards from the 'Far Far Away Post Office'.
This week we have been learning about the artist Wassily Kandinsky and how he was born in Russia. We decided we needed to take a trip to find out more about the largest country in the world! We boarded our plan at the Portway Airport and off we went.
We learnt that to say hello you say 'Privyet' and to say goodbye you say ' Da svidania'. We also learnt that the capital city of Russia is Moscow which is where Kandinsky was born and that's where we decided to fly to! The North of Russia is very cold so we all had to make sure we wrapped up warm!! We also learnt about the Russian celebration of Novy-god. This is a celebration of the 'old' New Year and is a very special time where they meet family, have presents and even a tree! Just like we do at Christmas. We also found out that Russia was the first country to launch someone to space, the man was called Yuri Gagarin.
When we arrived in Moscow we got stuck into lots of fun Russian activities. We got to make the Russian flag, build rockets to fly to space, create our own traditional Russian instruments called Balalaika's, make 'Novy-god' decorations for the 'Novy-god' tree and we even got to make our own 'Olivier' salad which is a traditional salad Russians eat during the 'Novy-god' celebrations.
Before we flew home we got to enjoy our salads and even try some balini's which are a type of pancake. We all did really well at trying new things but especially loved the pancakes!!
After all that fun we were ready to head back to England! Look at the pictures below to see us enjoying our time in Russia!
With the weather getting colder we noticed lots of frost around our school grounds. We decided to run a small science experiment to see what would happen to water when left over a chilly night.
We worked in pairs to collect lots of natural things that we found outside and put them into a plate. We then added some water and popped in some string. We discussed and made predictions of what we thought might happen when we returned to school the next morning.
We were super excited to discover the water had frozen and we had created some beautiful ice decorations! We watched them slowly melt throughout the day as the weather got warmer.
We all enjoyed Christmas Dinner today! We ate our lunch altogether in the beautifully decorated Hall! And even got a table present, aren't we lucky!! Here we are enjoying our meals!
We have been learning about birthdays and we gave Hubble his very first birthday party. We made hats, cards and decorations and then celebrated with Hubble. We played musical chairs, sang him 'Happy Birthday' and had a cake. We had lots of fun!!
A huge well done to all of the children for their fabulous performance of Santa's Hat. They were so excited to share their hard work with you and enjoyed every moment. Well done to everybody!
We used collage to make the different places in the Bear Hunt story.
Can you see us hiding in the pictures?
Today we were super excited to go on our very own Bear Hunt! We matched our learning by using the same story language as the original story but we went to new places on our hunt. Our journey went like this.....
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared…
Uh-oh a gate! A grey shiny gate, we can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to go through it!
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared...
Uh-Oh steps! Tall black steps we can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to go through it!
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared…
Uh-Oh a Playground! A big hard playground. We can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to go through it
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared…
Uh-Oh Grass! Short, wet grass. we can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to go through it
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going to catch a big one, what a beautiful day! We're not scared…
Uh-Oh a pit! A warm, cosy fire pit. We can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no! We have to sit around it
One shiny wet nose, two soft ears, and two goggly eyes! We found a Bear!!! It was Hubble and Hubble came with a message that he had lots of bed time bears that were looking for a home and we all got to take one each! We decided we would want to go on a bear hunt again!!!
After our bear hunt we then go to explore the forest and enjoy some of our favourite activities. The most exciting job was to create our own camouflage crowns to wear on our bear hunts so we don’t get caught by any bears! Have a look at the photos below to see how much fun we had!
Today we learnt about the Hindu Festival Diwali. We learnt the story of Rama and Sita and why Diwali is important to Hindu's. We then found out the different ways of celebrating during Diwali such as dancing, eating sweet foods, lighting candles, watching fireworks and creating Rangoli patterns and compared these to the ways we celebrate our important festival such as Christmas.
We then decided to go on a visit to India where we would have our own Diwali day. We boarded our plane at Portway airlines and off we went. When we arrived in India we started our visit with the most amazing Indian dance workshop where we learnt to tell the story of Diwali through dance.
When we came back from our dance workshop we got to have a go at creating some decorations for our classroom, making our own jewellery, creating firework pictures which we stuck on the windows to look like they were in the sky and had a go at making the Taj Mahal out of construction which we learnt is a famous landmark in India.
We had the best day ever and we were all very tired on our flight back to England.
Today is the 11th day of the 11th month and we have been remembering the soldiers and learning about why we wear poppies.
At 11 o'clock we all stopped and joined in with the 2 minute silence. Then we made our own poppy pebble to remember and say thank you to soldiers for keeping us safe.
I see a.........
...Looking at me!!
We have been busy creating new characters for the Brown Bear Story. We designed our animal first and then used collage to create a paper plate mask. Here are all of our masks for you to use to retell the Cygnet Brown Bear story. Can you use the repeated story language that Bill Martin Jr used when he wrote it?
We have noticed that the big oak tree outside our classroom has got some brown leaves on which are beginning to drop now that it is Autumn. We have also been talking about how the days are getting longer and the weather is changing so we all went outside and had lots of fun at school exploring the autumn leaves in the wind yesterday.
If you get time, why not get your wellies on and go out and kick though the leaves yourselves in your garden or out on a walk over half term!
Watch out for seasonal changes as we move towards winter!
For one of our P.E. sessions last week, we had our first turn on the bikes and trikes! It was such a fun way to develop our gross motor skills! We had a go at new trikes that we had never seen before and learnt how to stay safe by wearing helmets and not going too fast. We cannot wait to have another turn.
Have a look at the photos below to see just how much fun we had!
We have had an exciting visit to our Portway Library to see all of the different books that are there. We found some fiction story books and some information non-fiction books.
We were able to look for some of our favourite stories and share them with a friend. If there is something that you want to learn about, you can find those books too. What sort of book do you like reading?
Have you been to the Library in Andover? You might want to go for a visit over half term if you have got time. How is it the same and different to our Portway Library?
After half term we will be able to start visiting our Portway Library to bring a book home to share so watch out for it in your bookbag.
At Portway, we learn to read for finding out and for fun!!
We have been learning all about Harvest this week and about our food and where it comes from. Andover has it's very own flour mill near our train station and we have Burbidges Bakery near our school, so today we went in role as bakers and made our own sandwiches to take home for our tea. We could choose from brown or white bread and a sweet or savoury filling of jam or cheese spread. We then practised our spreading and cutting skills with knives...... it is not always as easy as it looks!
We had the best time at Forest School on Monday!
We started our session with a safety talk from Miss Birmingham who explained how we need to stay safe in the forest. We then learnt all about hazards and what hazards there are in the forest. To keep ourselves safe we marked all the hazards we could find with Hazard Flags. We chose to put them by brambles and roots on the ground as well as holly and red berries.
We also learnt how to stay safe if we are feeling a bit lost in the forest. We learnt a new game called 1,2,3 where are you and took it in turns to find each other.
After the safety talk was done we then learnt how to make easy dens by using tarpaulin, clips and mallets. Once all the teaching was done we then got to explore the forest and had lots of fun bug hunting, den building, collecting soil for the trees and playing in the mud kitchen.
We have been practising our pencil grip and strengthening our core muscles using WriteDance at school in readiness for writing. We used big movements to draw circles and eights in the air with rainbow scarves, matching them to the music, before drawing them down on paper.
If you would like to help at home you could strengthen hand muscles by squeezing sponges at bath time, watering the garden with spray bottles or screwing up old newspaper into tiny balls – don’t forget to use both hands!
All of our hand control activities help to develop a good pencil grip.
We are very lucky at Portway to have lots of different vegetable patches. The children love to look after them and make sure they are watered everyday. Once the plants and vegetables are ready the children love harvesting them to see what has grown. The children all have a chance to harvest and even get to try they vegetables they have grown.
In the pictures below you can see some children picking carrots, collecting sunflower seeds and taking the left overs down to the compost in our Forest School!
Hola everyone. We have been to Spain on a plane today because that is where Pablo Picasso was born.
We all had our own passports and set up our classroom as an aeroplane.
When we got to Spain, we did some flamenco dancing, made some Spanish flags and our own fan by decorating and folding some card and cutting a doily to add decorative lace. You might want to make some fans at home and have a ‘Family Flamenco Evening’!
We have been learning about the artist Pablo Picasso. He likes to make pictures of faces looking forwards and sideways. We cut up photographs of our own faces to make a picture in the style of Pablo Picasso. This is how we look now…..
Today we dressed up in colours and patterns to celebrate Elmer Parade Day. Watch out for Elmer - he is just wearing grey colours!!!
Did you spot Emer?
The kitchen at Portway made us elephant biscuits to decorate.
Here are our finished biscuits....don't they look colourful and ready for an Elmer Parade!
Wow, we cannot believe we have already finished our first week at Portway! We have been busy making new friends, making sandcastles, building in the ‘Builder’s Yard’ and cooking in the Mud Kitchen!
We have loved exploring our inside and outside classrooms, just look at the photos below to see how much fun we have had!
