Slade We are active learners
The New Year has begun with purposeful investigations into number, shape, space and measure. Children are finding many different ways to experience these mathematical ideas.
Gaining an understanding of space comes from feeling how it is to be squashed inside with friends inside and from having the vast spaces to roll and stretch your legs. These 'body learning' opportunities have helped us to build the vocabulary needed to explain and understand position. Boxes are ideal for developing spatial awareness.
Outside we have been experiencing new spaces, comparing shadow lengths and heights, noticing how they lengthen and shorten with changes of position. The vocabulary of size and comparison is becoming part of our everyday language.
.
Painting in large scale, there is a new freedom of expression. Using large shoulder movements and elbow pivots help hone the physical skills needed later to control mark-making equipment and tools. 
Soon our garden became an outdoor exhibition of monsters! Some of the monsters were shouting "Go away" in their speech bubbles and gave us a chance to think about how we use language when we ask someone to do something for us.
The monsters turned into a battle between the "T-Rex" and the "Stegosaurus!" Drawings became more frantic and angular as the dinosaurs fought, or calmer and circular when they stopped; using a variety of different representations to explore expressing emotion.
Our recent book focus is the traditional tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We have found diverse ways to share and retell the story with all age groups. The book has proved so popular it is read often, consolidating knowledge of characters, setting and events. Goldilocks is rich in concepts and a good way to explore size relations and comparison as well as different roles.
"Daddy Bear's was the biggest and it was too hot!"
For the younger children, props and puppets support engagement when listening in larger groups and provide ways in which they can retell the story to their friends. We supplied a range of books for the confident talkers that allowed opportunities for thinking critically about story problems and offering solutions.
.
