We have made our own butterfly pictures.

Then we made symmetrical patterns in PE.  We pretended that there was a mirror down the middle of our groups and we had to copy our partner so that we looked identical.

To remind us to wash our hands we have made model germs to keep in our houses.

W tried our hardest to get the balloons to keep their new shape after blowing them up but as soon as we let them go they just flew around the room.

Today we looking at how we could change materials in another way. Instead of just applying physical force or pressure we looked at the effect mixing solids and liquids had and what happened when we heated materials.

Yep, you guessed it! Cakes.

By mixing the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients the consistency was changed and no matter how hard we tried we could not change it back.

We were quite pleased though because we were looking forward to eating the cakes.

They had to prepare all the ingredients themselves. What a lazy teacher they have!

We did a great job. They looked fab so lets hope they taste the same.

Enjoy Year 2! 

To help keep us warm we built dens making sure there were no gaps.

We lit the fire to cook some warm food and boil some water to make a delicious hot chocolate. We have some super helpers in Reception.

The hotdogs and hot chocolate were just what we needed to end a frosty day at Crookhill Forest School.

After we held the snail we were introduced to the cockroaches.

Eileen told us that cockroaches are usually really fast, but hers were not they were very slow and clung to her arms!  After we stroked the cockroaches we met Tara the Tarantula.

Tara was not allowed out of her box because she is covered in special hair.  If she gets scared she releases her spiky hair to scare away the enemy and we didn't want to get any in our eyes or on our skin! After Tara had been put away we were introduced to Mr. Tickle.

He was still asleep so we were very quiet as we didn't want to wake him!

Finally we were shown a hermit crab.  We were not allowed to hold the hermit crab in case he nipped us.

We thought that was the end of our workshop but Eileen had one last surprise for us.  Chorizo...

She really liked us.  Reception were very brave and we loved every second of it.  Thank you Zoo Lab for coming!

Because of our frosty weather we decided to paint them white and make a beautiful winter collage out of our natural materials. Check out our pics below.

These will look beautiful above our Polar Regions display. Keep checking to see what else we have been learning.  

Before we went we read the story Zog which is about dragons in a forest school. We loved the story so much we thought we would go looking for our own dragons. We quickly got ready and set off to hunt for dragons.

However, we got a little distracted and thought we should flatten the mole holes down first. It was lots of fun.

Some of us decided the best way to find a dragon was to catch one. We spent the afternoon building a variety of traps.

We are looking forward to coming back next week to see if we have caught a dragon.

Once the music started there was no stopping us!

We danced...

and danced...

and danced!

Until it was time to play games.  We played Corners.

Musical Bumps.

And Pass the Parcel.

We had lots of delicious party food.

  We just about had time for our traditional Conga around the WHOLE school.

First of all we needed straw.  Without being asked Reception thought it would be best to get in a line and each have a turn of grabbing some straw and sprinkling it on the floor.

While some children sprinkled straw on the floor to make it cosy for the Baby King others decided to put large sticks around the edge so no creepy-crawlies could get to him.

Once we had all decided we were happy enough with the floor we stood back and realised we had missed something.  A roof!  We thought we definately needed a roof to protect Jesus from the wind and rain.  Some of us thought we could use beautiful materials for the roof.  So off we went to find them.  When we found the right materials for the job we got to work again.

We just about managed to get the roof up, with a little help from Mrs. Adams.  Some children found a basket for Baby Jesus to sleep, while others went to find animals for the stable.  While we were building our stable the children found time to practise our Nativity songs.

You can just about make out the animals in this picture.  They blend in very well with the straw!

Well Done Reception.  I am sure Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus would have loved this stable.

We made winter magnets.

We made snowflakes and decorated them with glitter and sequins.

And Reception also helped to rescue animals that had got stuck in some ice!!!  They discovered salt helps to melt ice quickly, so we rescued the animals in no time! 

When we arrived the rain was falling but the children didn't mind as Reception were greeted by a conductor and a very old bus. Year One had a tram waiting for them.

We had an action packed day ahead of us so Year One and Reception both went their seperate ways.

First of all Reception headed to the Pit Cottages, when they got there they participated in a variety of activites. Year One repeated these activities in the afternoon.  They had to bake Cinnamon Christmas Biscuits, make paper chain decorations and play fun, Victorian Christmas games.

First of all Year One explored Beamish town.  They found an old fashioned sweet shop.  The sweets were delicious.  Some children bought some broken biscuits.  The children liked the story of the delivery boy dropping them on his way. After that Year One visited Santa.  Reception visited him in the afternoon.  The children who visited Santa were very excited to see him. 

The children all received a magic gold coin and a small gift.  The children in return promised Santa they would be extra good and leave him and his reindeers little treats on Christmas Eve.

Reception and Year One were very excited to eat their packed lunches.

After we spent all of our pocket money we headed back to school. 

Reception and Year One were so well behaved, we hope there will be lots more trips planned soon.

Photo's will follow tomorrow.

This afternoon at Crookhill all our parents were invited to come and join us in a Twisted Tale activity. Year 2 have been looking closely at LIttle Red Riding Hood and reading lots of different versions. Our favourite is the film Hookwinked.

Our parents helped us create different scenes from the film to match the stories we are writing in Literacy.

We created some fabulous scenes, Take a look below. Do you have a favourite?

The children have been looking at two different versions. The children thought that the Disney princess Cinderella was the one and only but are now enjoying looking at other versions of the story with a little twist.

Yesterday afternoon we decided to add own our little twist to the story. We were given the task of designing Cinderella a new shoe. Everybody knows that Cinderella wore glass slippers to the ball but Class One have some super new ideas for a new twist within a Cinderella story.

Here are some of our designs, we made biscuits to show our designs off. They were scrumptious!!

Emily designed high heels with some beautiful red laces.

Lewis thought Cinderella would love new wellies.

Hannah thought Cinderella would like a pair of trainers so she could run away as fast as she could at midnight.

Miss Welsh thinks Class One are very creative. Do you?

Class 2 were asked to help plant bulbs in the park to help it look beautiful in the spring.

We were very lucky to have some parents come along to help us. They were very green fingered!

Sarah from Ground Works was very grateful for all our hard work and we were very proud of ourselves. A big thank you to all our parents who gave their time this afternoon.

We can't wait to go back in the spring and see all of our hard work blossiming in the Croft park.

Looking pretty normal so far?

We were all very excited to see Buttercup.  She had some super dance moves.  We liked the way she moooooooooooved!

Can you spot what flavour milkshakes were on offer?

It all still looked like the original Jack and the Beanstalk UNTIL...

They climbed the beanstalk and ended up in...

NURSERY RHYME LAND!

Oh no it wasn't just any old Jack and the Beanstalk, it was Jack and the Beanstalk with a twist!  All the nursery rhyme characters came to life! 

Everybody loved it including Miss Welsh and Miss Teasdale who couldn't resisit joining Numpty in a bogey on down with Squire Bogey!

But in true panto style it all had a happy ending.

Please look in the gallery for more pictures and keep checking the website next week for more Twisted Tale fun from Creativity Week.

We decided to decorate candles as Diwali is the Festival of Lights.

Our children at Crookhill are very brave and weren't scared.

The staff at Ryton Towers had kindly prepared some delicious treats for us all.

They were delicious.