WHEN IS IT GOING TO BE MIDNIGHT!?

Welcome back to the butterfly classroom! We hope that you've all had a lovely holiday and a very Merry Christmas! 

We had a lot of good ideas over the holiday, and so it's been a fantastic week, learning all about Cinderella. 

We heard the story on Monday, learning the story and talking about the events. The teachers made sure to ask the children a lot of questions about the story to make sure that the children were taking in the information, and not just listening and looking. 

Then it was time to get busy! Just like Cinderella, the butterflies had to scrub all of the pots.

We have been working hard to make phonics extra fun to get the children excited about writing. Mrs Chandarana even gave her group some cake to help them learn "m"! 

                                      

We made up an elaborate game to get the children using their phonic knowledge to write words. First, they made magic wands, and wrote their own fairy spells. Then they had to cast the spell on a play dough pumpkin to see what it changed into...

... and Miss Whitelock gave us a secret mission to make a name card. She wouldn't tell us what they were for, it was going to be a surprise!

The children were making beautiful ball jewellery out of the linking shapes, but soon realised they could use them to measure all kinds of things, like themselves!

We couldn't learn about Cinderella without our very own castle! With Mrs Chandarana'a help, the children built a castle out of things they found in the classroom. It was all their own ideas, and they decorated it themselves.

                                    

                                    

                                                               It looks beautiful!

                                     

The next day there was a special letter waiting for us wrapped in golden paper...

                                              

It was from Prince charming, inviting us to a ball! He said that we all had to make a beautiful outfit, a masquerade mask, and learn to ball dance! The children knew there was a lot of work to do, and the grown ups expected them to most of it by themselves!

The children started by saying it was too tricky and that they really needed a grown up, but with encouragement they got busy all by themselves!

                                   

Well done!

There was even more writing to be done, because we wouldn't get into the ball without an invitation. Everyone had to write an invitation to give to a friend.

The butterflies found it quite hard, but everyone had a try! Well done! You can see the fantastic results in their learning journeys.

We've been making sure that there are busy jobs outside every day. The children made baskets so they could collect wood for the castle's fireplace. Even though it's cold, it's important to get outside as much as possible! 

On Thursday, it was finally time to learn to dance! The children were super at dancing! Ask your butterflies to show you their ball dancing, it was such a nice experience for us all!

There was one more thing to do before the butterflies could get in the ball, they had the outfits, they had the moves, they just needed a mask! The children had a look at some real masks from Venice and Paris, and used what they had learnt to make their very own.

Finally, it was time for the ball! The butterflies had to ask someone from the other class to dance with them, and give them their invitation. They lined up outside the ball room, and then Miss Whitelock announced them as Princes and Princesses as they entered the ball.

The butterflies loved their outfits, and really used what they had learnt in dance class!

We did a lot of dancing and had a lot of fun! The Prince Charming elect declared Mrs Worrall as the most beautiful girl at the dance, and therefore Cinderella! As the clock struck 12, Cinderella rushed out, leaving her slipper, and the magic faded away! The ball disappeared and everyone changed back to a normal butterfly.

It was a little bit exciting.

This has been my favourite week so far! The children have all been super and have had their brain boxes switched on to make some fantastic work. Do check their learning journeys to see their progress, it's got to that wonderful point in the year where they are absorbing a lot and storming along.

If you haven't bought your PE kit back, please bring it on Monday. We're going to be doing a lot of PE next week and the children feel so left out if they can't get changed.

Also, please send reading books everyday. We are so busy that we have to use any moment we can to go through our readers, and it might be a whole week before we get another chance. If children don't have their book, they will miss out!

Thank you again for your support at home, that's all for now. Goodbye and toodle-oo!