What's Been Happening in Monkey Class

 Dear Monkey Class Families

Thank you again for your time and insightful conversations during our recent Parent Teacher Conferences. I truly value the home-school partnership we share and appreciate your commitment to your child's learning. As always, I'm available via email throughout the year, so please don't hesitate to reach out anytime.

Now, let's peek into the exciting happenings in our classroom! These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of learning and exploration as we've launched our new unit of inquiry, "How the World Works." Our focus is on the fascinating world of science, guided by the line of inquiry: "By observing and investigating, we actively construct new understandings of our world."

How the World Works

Dragon Tales: Problem-Solving in Action

We've kicked things off with some engaging activities. Our wingless dragon, who couldn't swim, presented a fun challenge! The children brainstormed creative solutions to help the dragon cross the water while the tiger swam by. It was fantastic to witness their problem-solving skills and the lively discussions that ensued. I've included a visual below capturing some of their ideas and the challenges they encountered, straight from their own voices. 

Ramp It Up! Investigating Motion

Another highlight was our exploration of ramps focusing on force and motion. We observed how different objects move in various ways. The children then chose an object, made predictions about its movement, and put their theories to the test. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they compared their predictions with the actual results, sometimes agreeing and sometimes respectfully disagreeing with their friends. We've documented their findings, and while some have already begun forming hypotheses, we'll delve deeper into this in the coming weeks, looking for common trends.

Science Experiments

We've also embarked on some exciting science experiments and will continue to provide opportunities for the children to "do science" as a whole class and in small groups. Get ready for more images of these experiments in the coming weeks! I encourage you to try some of these at home with your child as well.

Magic Milk Experiment: Last week, we conducted the "Magic Milk Experiment" using cotton squares and rounds, allowing each child to experience every step and observe the fascinating reaction. This experiment has sparked a curiosity about colour mixing, so we've added a variety of colour mixing tools and blocks to our classroom, which the children are constantly exploring and discussing. We even introduced two new songs about primary colours! One of them isn't available on Spotify, but you can find it here.


Skittle Science: On Friday, we had fun with the Skittle experiment! It was fascinating to hear the children's predictions before observing what happened. We've started to explore the "why" behind the results, a question we'll continue to investigate in the coming weeks.

Social Skills: Classroom Creations & Collaborations

Our classroom environment is designed to spark curiosity and encourage exploration. While tidying up is still a work in progress (ahem!), the children's creative play, exploration, and collaboration have been a joy to witness. Of course, this also brings opportunities to learn about conflict resolution and problem-solving when sharing toys and navigating different play styles. I've captured some of these moments in the collage below. 

Literacy Development

The children have shown a real interest in finding their friends' name badges and exploring the letters of the alphabet, both in their own names and their friends' names, especially after we decorated our own names. Each child has now completed their name artwork (I hope they all made it home last week!), which also supported their fine motor development and precision in art and craft activities. Seeing all the decorated names was delightful and a true reflection of the children's personalities and interests. I couldn't resist creating a little collage to share a few of them with you.

As I wrap up this blog post, I realise there is still so much more to share—like the wonderful Rise Wise dog visit and the children's confident holiday sharing during circle time. So I encourage you to explore the class Google photo albums with your child, as they might have different highlights than mine, and sharing those memories together is a wonderful way to connect with their school experiences. As always, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about anything you see in the Google albums.

Have a lovely week and I look forward to seeing you at our Sports day on Friday!
Don't forget to come dressed in Purple :)

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