26th May 2022

Today we spent a very interesting afternoon with Farmer Steve (Poppy's Dad) who came into school and told us about the different work he does on farms.  The children were able to see short films of different tractors and machinery he drives and ask questions too.  It was also super exciting to go outside and see the massive tractor which he drove to school in and all the children were able to sit in the cab and take in the view.  Thank you so much Farmer Steve for coming in to see us, and thank you also to Poppy's mum for arranging all of this.

Many of the plants that the children have been planting have grown considerably so today the children used bricks to measure them so that they can check after half-term to see if they have grown.  While they were measuring the flowers, everyone decided to measure their legs to their knees too and recorded how many bricks high their legs were.

We have been looking after our tadpoles for quite a few weeks now and this week we saw a huge decrease in numbers from very many to 5 and then 3.  We therefore decided to release the last 3 into our pond in the hope that they will go on to survive and turn into frogs.  It has been very interesting watching them change from tiny tadpoles, to larger tadpoles, to tadpoles with legs and then froglets with front and back legs and tails.  Unfortunately the caterpillars we got on the first day of term are still chrysalides and have not changed into butterflies yet.  Mrs Harmer is going to take them home and film them when they change.

11th May 2022

We had a great school visit to Longdown Dairy Farm today, despite the rain.  Farmer Brian took us around the farm to meet different animals and shared some information about them, and the children were able to feed goats, kids and calves, and also held chicks, guinea pigs and rabbits.  They also collected some eggs and had a bumpy tractor ride too which was so much fun. Ask your children to tell you all about the day.  We will use this visit as a springboard for learning more about how farms produce animals and crops for food and how to care for animals.  The children were all impeccably behaved, really curious and inquisitive and a credit to the school.

There has also been great excitement in class as the first of the tadpoles has grown some back legs and the caterpillars have puffed up considerably in the last few days.