Rainforests

We were keen to find out where toucans live and this topic gave us lots of knowledge, skills and experiences as we found out about tropical rainforests. Our school hall had been transformed over the holidays into a beautiful rainforest with sights, sounds and smells to experience. We found out about the many different animals that live in the rainforest as well as how toucans have adapted to their environment. Our topic ended with a Rainforest Day. We explored the different animals in Tony Mitton's book 'Rainforest Romp'. Our sense of smell was tested as if we were tapirs with a smelling challenge. We moved like sloths, felt 'snakes', created tree frog models, made noises like howler monkeys, designed jaguar biscuits, made rainforest music, ate papaya like toucans and sang an armadillo song! We even had our snacks in the Rainforest Cafe. What a great time we had! 

Animals

Another super topic has come to an end. We found out about the many endangered animals on our planet and what we can do to help them. We had lots of fun dressing up as different animals and creating our own sea turtle collage. Our topic ended with an Animal Day. We had fun exploring the Arctic region and sea creatures through sensory trays and experiencing sea turtle potato printing. We listened carefully to follow instructions for creating a polar bear picture and chose which animal we wanted to have painted on our faces. We then invited our animal cuddly friends to a tea party where we ate toucan biscuits, tiger bloomer bread and animal biscuits. We danced away to animal-themed songs such as Tiger Feet, Crocodile Rock, Baby Shark and Karma Chameleon! Our day ended with a close look at some young stick insects called Holly, Barbie and Doughnut. What a lovely time we had! 

Transport

This topic was another great one! We found out about the names of different vehicles and what they do. We talked about vehicles that transport on the road, across the water or in the air. Our topic ended with a super Transport Day when we were invited to bring our scooters and bikes to school to enjoy riding on the 'big' playground. We listened to Yellow Submarine by The Beatles and ate our snack listening to the song Octopus' Garden! We had a great time dancing to Car Wash by Rose Royce, wearing Mrs Neale's Noddy car and exploring tyre tracks in paint. 

Space 

We had a super time exploring the question 'Is the moon made of cheese?' Our Space Day was great fun and we experienced lots of space-related activities. Mrs Ashwell gave us a password so that we could enter Toucan Space Station where we signed our names in the astronaut log book. We ate astronaut starwberry ice cream, explored the moon rock glove box and had lots of fun experiencing the G-force parachute game. We watched a clip of Wallce and Gromit on the moon in 'A Grand Day Out' and tasted some Wensleydale cheese too! We made moon phases with Oreo biscuits and had fun recreating the Jaffa Cake advert from the 1980s! We enjoyed using the star projector and danced away to Space Cowboy by Jamiroquai. We listened to Mars from The Planet Suite by Holst as well as Walking on the Moon by the rock band The Police. The stomp rocket competition was lots of fun. What a great topic! 

Toys

We had a great time finding out about toys from the past and comparing them to the toys that we have now. We talked about the materials that toys were made from compared to the materials today as well as the sorts of toys that childen in the past enjoyed playing with. The topic fitted in very well with our Christmas preparations as we thought about toys that we would like to receive from Father Christmas. We tried very hard with our letter writing when we wrote to him. What a super topic it was!

How are houses built?

Another exciting topic in Toucans has now finished. Great fun was had when we had the opportunity to be designers and builders. Our task was to build a house for the Three Little Pigs, using any classroom resources or materials, which would keep them safe from the Wolf's huffing and puffing! Mrs Ashwell was impressed with our creativity and problem solving during this challenge. We had five winners who managed to keep the pigs safe! We also found out about the different jobs involved in building a house. In our outdoor area we had a super time using the different types of bricks to build our own houses. We role-played being plumbers, electricians and builders too. 

Where's Wally?

Our Where's Wally topic has now ended. We had a great time finding out if everywhere is just like Tydd St Mary. The topic began with our fabulous whole-school 'Where's Wally Day'. We dressed up and enjoyed a flight around the world, stopping at different countries to create, eat or experience something special.

Our classroom role play area was transformed into an airport and we enjoyed jetting off to different places around the world. We had a great time on an African safari spotting different animals. We loved playing rhythms on the djembe drums and even designed our own flags! We also enjoyed learning a catchy song about the continents in our wonderful planet. It haas been another super topic!

Discovery

Our topic question was 'Were dinosaurs real?' What fun we had within this topic! We found out about when dinosaurs roamed Earth and what might have happened to them. We found out about herbivores, carnivores and ominvores too. Our topic ended with a super visit from Andy who helped us with fossil hunting. We even got to meet Terence, a baby T-Rex! 

Farming

We had a super time learning all about what the tractors are busy doing at this time of the year. We enjoyed finding out about autumn too. We ended our topic with a look at a real John Deere tractor. We even got to climb inside the tractor and pretend to drive it! It was so much fun! 

Tydd St Mary

We have really enjoyed this topic. We became astronauts then birds while using Google Earth to zoom down to find out where Tydd is in the world. We identified some of the geographical features of the village and learned the key vocabulary in Makaton too! Our author of the topic was Michael Rosen and we loved sharing his stories and poems.

All About Me

This topic gave us the opportunity to explore what makes us special and unique. We enjoyed exploring our topic box which included x-rays and people puppets. We explored our faces with mirrors and used natural objects to create different facial features in our outdoor Tuff Tray. Our topic-related author was Anthony Browne and we loved sharing his books. We thought about who lives in our house and how our families can be made up of different people. We talked about our likes and dislikes too. 

 Welcome

Toucan class has had a super first day at school! We explored our indoor and outdoor areas with great enthusiasm and have started to make friends already. We had lovely manners and have started to learn about our special school rules and routines that help keep us all safe and able to learn. 

Well done Toucans!! Mrs Ashwell, Miss Brown and Mrs Neale are very proud of you all.