Week commencing 30 June 2025

The Investigation Hub at Sidney Grove

Characteristics of Effective Learning

Creative and Critical Thinking – Making links

Last week we were kindly donated a globe which has proved to be extremely interesting for the children. We have discussed and pointed at where we live and lots of the children can say that they live in Gateshead or Newcastle. We discussed holidays and travel and the children were enthusiastic to share their knowledge of the world with us:

“I live in Gateshead and I went on an aeroplane to Leeds to visit my friend”

”I’m from Newcastle!”

“When I went on an aeroplane you go to a café! When you take a train you need to go to the beach!”

Next week we will develop this learning using maps of our local area and finding familiar locations together.

Parents as Partners

The children’s fascination with the caterpillars has continued this week! They have observed the changes occurring in great detail as the caterpillars have now formed their cocoons…

”He’s getting white!”

“His skin gets bigger and comes off!”

“Grow bigger and bigger!”

“Caterpillars exercise before they turn into a cocoon!” (Watching the caterpillars wiggling)

‘they hatched out of their eggs… I know that word from Easter eggs’

We focussed more specifically on the sequence of the lifecycle which some of our children have been able to order and describe. The children have worked on focus tasks labelling the lifecycle, drawing caterpillars in detail and printing symmetrical butterflies with paint.

In their Yoga session on Monday the children followed along to the story ‘Yoga Babies’ and practised the poses themselves! It was a particularly warm day and the children focussed on how calm their bodies felt with some slower movement in a quiet space.

Outdoors Learning

This week we have experienced a variety of weather conditions which has provided the opportunity for discussion and new vocabulary. During a downpour on Wednesday the children excitedly watched the water, observing: “it’s a waterfall!” “It’s flooding!” and even observing that the raindrops were creating circles on the ground. We did some problem solving to create dens using tarpaulins and pegs and took the opportunity to sing nursery rhymes whilst listening to the rain.

The children have accessed some maths opportunities this week outside including using 5 frames to be filled with natural objects and adding numbers to label. They also accessed a variety of different sized baskets and were challenged to fill them with natural materials, thus practising our key vocabulary “full” and “empty”. They were offered a creative opportunity to use leaves and flowers to create caterpillars, this was very popular and required concentration and fine motor control.

It’s been another busy week with visits from Reception teachers and some children attending visits at their new schools. We are mindful of supporting all of our children with this transitional time; those who will be leaving us and those staying for another year in the Investigation Hub!

We hope you have a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you next week 🙂