I just want to say a massive thank-you to all the children who have worked incredibly hard this term. Moving to Reception class is an important and big transition for four year olds but your children have done it and made really good progress in their social skills, independence skills, phonics, writing, Mathematical skills and creative skills. Enjoy half-term everyone - it's well deserved!

Here are some photos from children playing this week. When children play they feel more confident to express themselves and try ideas because they are the boss of their own play - there is no right and wrong. In this way, children learn through trial and error and they deepen their thinking skills. In play, children also develop key social skills, such as sharing, turn-taking and conversation - they learn from each other. Our classroom is organised in such a way that children can make decisions and choose what they want to play with; they also know how to put things back and this develops their independence and self-esteem.

We enjoy learning new poems every week in Bear Cubs but this week we did something extra special to celebrate National Poetry Day - we learnt a new poem and performed it to the rest of school. This was a brave thing to do but we all did it and enjoyed the challenge!

We have continued thinking about what helps us to stay healthy so we have been practising washing our hands properly, brushing teeth (we know we should brush them every morning and night), talking about the importance of sleep and thinking which foods we should put in to our bodies.