Note: Endurance and Equality pictures to follow on Friday PM.  

Oh my gosh…you’re not going to believe it: not only have we had snow (yes, snow) this week, but the female munchkins have also laid their eggs around the school field!  Several of the children reported having been woken up in the night by a series of strange grunts – a sure sign of munchkin eggation! 

So…Lower School children scoured the wood and found a letter and set of maps left for us by Flame, king of the munchkins – the letter asked us to collect the eggs in and secure them so the goblins couldn’t get them to eat at their Spring Festival. 

The children followed the map and found ten beautifully spotted eggs – blue and red dots this year.  After finding them, Mrs Hull, a renowned muchkinologist, demoed the laying process and sang us the song the females sing to the eggs in order to initiate embryo development – to Frere Jacques:

‘Little munchkin, little munchkin, please grow well, please grow well, see you when you hatch out, see you when you hatch out, please grow well, please grow well’. 

Following HC and story, the children then decided what they would like to do in reply to Flame’s request; some made protected nests, others made goblin traps and prisons, with a couple making playgrounds for the munchlings to use once they hatch out – exciting times.

Upper School children started their sessions with a rowdy game of Baby Bird – using the sweets parent sent in as their chicks (thanks parents for the sweets) – any ‘chicks’ the magpies were able to steal could be eaten by the magpie – a high stakes game. 

Following their HC and story, we moved onto Maya sword completion (I always write ‘Maya sword’ as I can never remember how to spell macwahwhittle) and a challenge looking at Maya symbology (a DT challenge which supports reading and comprehension). 

In other news, Frog Club have been hopping with excitement this week (see what I’ve done there?) as the tadpoles have all hatched and are corralled together in a corner of the pond – there are an insane number of them – thousands and thousands!  So, during Resilience’s session, a few members of FC went over and dipped a few taddies out to study – the children had an amazing time and found a number of other aquatic critters that they called ‘the exotics’. 

Well done to the boys and girls who received certificates and awards in today's Achievement Assembly.

You have worked hard and shown a positive attiude in school throughout the week, for which we are most proud.

Isla has made her very own percentage poster to help her remember quick ways to find percentages of numbers at home! I love the creativity and I'm sure it will help her with her arithmetic. She's 100% awesome!

This afternoon, Team Equality made the most of the beautiful weather and chose to have our library session in the outdoor library for the first time this year! It was a pleasure as always to see the children sharing books with each other! 

Woooohooooo...basking in 20 degree heat today in TB - glorious!  Lots of trees are starting to unfurl their leaves - the little apple trees, willow and elder seem to be first off the mark; it won't be long before the wood is hidden from the world once more.  

Lower School have started their sessions with a game of Baby Bird.  The boys had to prove they were house proud and then perform a dance to attract a mate...once paired up, off they went to build a nest into which they popped three little chicks.  

Then came the marauding magpies - the little birdies had to collect insects to feed their chicks, while at the same time protect the chicks from the magpies - it was a battle...and it was loud and flappy!  The bird-pair with the most insects collected and chicks still in the nest were crowned the winners!

Following this, and a HC and story, we had the final rotation round the Greta challenges (bird feeders, National Grid, Greta play and animal habitats).  

Upper School have started their sessions by drawing daffodils (thanks Ady for the daffs!).  We looked at examples from two years ago, critically evaluated them and then used a 'cheat sheet' to help us to draw our own.  On completion, we laid our pictures round the fire circle and voted on our favourite (Mrs Hull won the adult competition...which was twoddle as mine was way better - I demand a re-count!).  

Following this, some children explored symbology, before looking at Maya symbols and making collaged versions thereof.  The rest of the children undertook different phases of their Maya sword construction - design completion, filing, sanding, staining, stoning-up and handle binding.  

The swords are very nearly completed and the children seem eager to get them home.