Week beginning 26th January 2026
The Investigation Hub at Sidney Grove
Characteristics of Effective Learning- creative and critical thinking!
We focussed on colour mixing in the painting area, creating pink and grey to paint the pigs and wolves from our core text.
“Put red into white… that’s why it makes pink!” “It needs to be darker…put more red!”
While painting the characters from the Three Little Pigs the children began inventing their own endings to the story…
”the Wolf turned nice at the end! The wolf and the pig are getting married!”
”the Wolf went into space!”
Parents as Partners
We have continued to explore the fairytale “The Three Little Pigs” with some children beginning to retell the story confidently! We continued to explore the materials used to build the pigs’ houses but with more of a mathematical focus this week, exploring the key vocabulary “heavy” and “light”.
“The straw was the lightest…that’s why it blew away!”
“it needs to be strong!”
Our rhyme this week has been “Heads, shoulders, knees and toes prompting lots of excited requests to sing faster and faster each round! We’ve also omitted words (excellent pattern recall) and of course have had lots of active fun while doing the actions!
In fine- motor development this week the children worked on threading beads onto spaghetti strands! This was a challenging activity requiring hand- eye coordination, a steady hand and patience (especially when the spaghetti snaps and it’s time to start again!)
Outdoors Learning
During small-group time, the children took part in cooperative hula-hoop games that encouraged teamwork and active listening. They carefully negotiated shared space, followed instructions, and responded quickly to cues such as “wolf’s coming!” As they ran to find a hoop — and adjusted when one was already full — they focussed on important skills including communication, problem-solving, self-regulation, and spatial awareness, all whilst having so much fun! In their own play during plan-do-review sessions the children showed more interest in using the same hoops for different purposes. Some children have been rolling the hoops down the wall which caused great excitement and lead to lots of opportunities for turn-taking and teamwork. Others preferred to hop and jump along the hoops on the ground. Wonderful physical development skills from our Investigators this week!
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It was a privilege to attend a coffee afternoon at Bensham Grove Community Centre on Thursday. Having the opportunity for a hot drink, biscuit and a lovely chat was such a treat on a rainy afternoon! It was fascinating to learn about the history of the community centre and to find out about some of the amazing work which happens there on a daily basis! We will let you know the next date and warmly welcome you to join us!
Wishing you all a lovely weekend 🙂