Pancake Day

This week we have been learning all about Pancake Day or ‘Shrove Tuesday.’ We spent the whole afternoon outside in the forest school, learning about Shrove Tuesday and how in some countries it is referred to as ‘Mardi Gras’ and celebrated with big, colourful festivals and masks. We made our own nature masks using leaves, stones and fallen petals. Then, we made our own pancake mix, following instructions, and realised pancakes are made of three simple ingredients: flour, milk and eggs! Once our batter was mixed, Mrs Woodhouse cooked our pancakes in a pan over the fire and we got to try them with some lemon juice. Some of us described the lemon as ‘delicious’, whilst others felt it was ‘too sour!’ Lastly, we had our own walking pancake race, using pans and felt pancakes. The overall winner of the race for Foundation was Maggie. It was a lot of fun. Over the rest of the week, we watched a BBC Bitesize video and shared several stories about Shrove Tuesday and its religious importance. We learned that Shrove Tuesday falls just before Ash Wednesday, which is when Lent begins. Lent is a time when Christians give up their favourite food or drinks to remember how Jesus didn’t give into temptation. This lasts for 40 days and 40 nights before Easter begins. Traditionally, people wanted to use up the ingredients they would be giving up, so that is why we make pancakes! We discussed again the ingredients we need to make pancake batter and recorded some simple instructions in our English book. We also designed our own perfect pancake, selecting our favourite toppings, such as strawberries or chocolate spread.

Tom and the Dinosaur Egg

This week, we have been reading Tom and the Dinosaur Egg. We had to excavate the dinosaurs out of the ice. We made predictions and then experimented how we could excavate the dinosaur the quickest.

We then had to build a vessel for our brachiosaurus. We had to decide what material to build our vessel out of. We then tested our vessels to see if they sank our if they floated. During forest school, we went on a hunt for food for our brachiosaurus.  During COOL Time, we had a go at collecting food for the dinosaurs, building them a town and washing them so they kept clean.

Wow, what a fabulous week we have had learning all about Lunar New Year! We have shared different fiction stories during our daily assemblies and watched BBC Bitesize videos about the festival and how it is celebrated around the world. Then, we watched a special tutorial on how to draw a baby dragon. We followed the instructions as we went and produced some amazing drawings on red paper. Dragons are a symbol of power and bring good luck, while red is thought to be a lucky colour too!
In PE we learned a dragon dance and then did some Chinese food tasting. We tried noodles, rice, prawn crackers and spring rolls. In our learning about Lunar New Year, we found out different foods mean different things - noodles for long life and spring rolls for wealth! The children have been so engaged and remembered so much about the festival, including its traditions and origin which features the legend of mountain beast, Nian. If you can, we would absolutely encourage you to ask about the festival this weekend, as we think you’ll be very impressed. Well done, Foundation! ☺️