Happy half-term from Team Goldcrest xxx

Friday 22nd May

Wow! The teddy shelters look amazing! The teddies look as though they will  definitely live healthily and happily. Well done to all of you who had fun making one.

We made them in school as well and had great fun!

Today's the day! My teddy is so excited! He has been waiting all week for his chocolate buttons and his jelly. I know Ed bear and Gogo are also excited!

We have a challenge for you this morning and a song to watch instead of a story. We hope you have a great picnic and we can't wait to see the photos. Have fun with your teddies.

Team Goldcrest

Ed Bear's Picnic

Hi Goldcrest!  I've just seen some of your shelters, they are fantastic and I hope you've had a great picnic with your teddy bears.  GoGo Bear from Firecrest came round this morning and we were both very excited about our picnic but we thought it was bit early to eat so we played lots of games in the garden, GoGo bought a frisbee round to play with so we started with that then we played high jump and limbo, I jumped the highest and GoGo was the best at limbo.  We took it in turns to have a bounce on the trampoline whilst Mrs Fullman filled up the paddling pool.  GoGo thought it would be fun to see who could make the biggest splash, I'm not sure who managed it but Mrs Fullman got soaking wet taking pictures!  Once we'd run around and dried out it was time for our picnic, we let Mrs Fullman join in as she looked a bit like a teddy bear, but her party hat didn't fit over her teddy ears!  We ate sandwiches, carrot sticks, cucumber, tomatoes, crisps, peppers, flapjack, teacakes, rocky road and some sweets - wow our tummies were full and we were so tired we fell asleep.  We've only just woken up so we thought we'd better post some pictures!  Have a happy half term!  Love Ed and GoGo xx

Ed Bear's Diary

I got up early this morning so I could be ready for the picnic and I accidentally woke Mrs Fullman up singing the teddy bear's picnic song.  Once she was awake I persuaded her to go on a early dog walk so I could spot digraphs on road signs, there were a lot! Now I'm off to prepare for the picnic.  Don't forget to have another look at my diary this afternoon as I'll post some photos for you.  Have fun, Ed x

Thursday 21st May

What a beautiful day today and so nice to be outside for some of the time. I hope that you all had time to use your senses and explore with our challenge.

So many colours, sounds and smells . 

We hope you enjoy today's challenge today.You will need to remember all about SWAF and what the teddies need to stay healthy. If you can't remember then watch the Exciting news video again from Monday.

There is a a new story again today and more phonics for you to practice. Have fun preparing for the picnic tomorrow too.

We look forward to seeing your Shelters and habitats.

Team Goldcrest..

Morning Goldcrest!  Did you hear, see and smell lots of things?  I went to school and had a colour hunt round the meadow and forest school wood.  The first thing I saw was how much everything has grown and I found some amazing colours, my favourite was a gorgeous big yellow flower near the pond.  There were lots of plants to smell by the path leading up to the meadow and I liked the lavender as it smells good and looks pretty.  I had a lie down in the meadow and listened to the sounds of nature.  I counted 4 different bird tweets and fell asleep listening to the leaves rustling in the trees.  When I woke up I thought I'd sing the rainbow song and think about everything I'd seen.  I quite liked being noisy so found some of the other school toys and we started up a band, we sang 'A Million Dreams', 'Let it go' and 'Shotgun'.  We then sang some of the Jolly Phonics songs, we sang the 'e', 'b', 'sh', 'w' and 'p' songs, for Ed Bear, Sheep, Wolf and Piggy!  I am off to go and fill in the missing digraphs and I'm very excited about the picnic tomorrow! Bye for now, Ed x

Wednesday 20th May 

 Wow!  What delicious menus your have been planning. They sound yummy! And you have been using your phonics brains to help you to sound out and write the words on your own. We can tell. We're so looking forward to Friday and the picnic.

Today we have a senses challenge for you. Teddies have a great sense of smell and hearing. You are going to use your sense to help you do our hunt.

It's great fun and I think you will need to go outside and enjoy the sunny weather too, so enjoy

Team Goldcrest! 

Ed Bear's Diary

Hello Goldcrest.  I had such a busy day yesterday. I had so many things to do I did my handwriting practise and menu together!  I wrote 10 sandwiches, 10 cakes, 10 tomatoes, 10 carrot sticks, 10 packets of crisps and 10 drinks!  I managed to arrange an online chat with Barney Bear to learn more about SWAF and invited GoGo Bear to join us.  It was great, he explained the 4 secrets of life that enable all animals to survive.  Barney said 'S' was for shelter so we went into the woods and built a den suitable for us and we found that insects use logs and rocks for shelter, birds build nests and we found a hole in the ground which might have been for a rabbit.  'W' is for water which all animals need to drink, I found a pond that was quite muddy but there was some water.  'A' is for air which is what we all need to be able to breathe and is made from plants, we both found lots of them!  'F' is for food, I've made a list of food I'd like to eat at the picnic on Friday but bears and animals in the woods need to find their own food.  GoGo searched in leaves and found bugs and insects, I found some seeds and worms near some bluebells and we found a huge leaf that a very hungry caterpillar might like to munch on.  I hope you've all had a lovely day, I might need a bit of a rest today!  Ed x 

Tuesday 19th May

Well how exciting it has been today! Did you see your teddies with your teachers finding out all about SWAF. Did you know that the teddies need all those things to live happily?

I'm sure we'll be finding out more about this as the week goes on.

I hope you wrote to your teddies. Mine is so excited to be having a Teddy Bear's Picnic on Friday. He squealed when I gave him the invitation. Did yours?

I hope that you can help us today with the second challenge to plan what we will be eating, Good Luck.

We have some handwriting for you to practice today too. We are trying numbers today 0 and 1. Watch carefully to see how the numbers are formed .

Enjoy the Phonics today too and the story time. 

Have fun!

Team Goldcrest.

Ed Bear's Diary

Happy Tuesday!  I have just looked at your Super Veggies they are amazing, I had such fun making mine and I can tell you all enjoyed making them too!  I love the photo gallery, it's great to see you all having so much fun and you've given me some ideas of things to do and I can see I gave some of you ideas too!  I hope your teddies are excited about the picnic on Friday, I've invited GoGo Bear and I hope he can come.  I've invited him at 10.30 in the morning as I'm too excited to wait until the afternoon, I'm not sure I can wait until Friday but there's lots to organise so I'll try!  I also thought if I have the party in the morning I can add my diary photos in the afternoon so you can see them before half term!  I'm thinking up lots of things I'd like to eat at my picnic so I'd better go and write a list and then I'll have time for phonics, handwriting practise and today's story - what a busy day!  Have fun, Ed x

Monday 18th May 

Good morning everyone. We hope you had a great weekend and are ready for lots of fun this week.You are going to be busy planning and making things ready for Friday! Lots of excitement this week so we look forward to sharing it all with you.

We have  story to listen to and also two of your teachers had exciting news in the meadow so make sure you watch their video.

We have some phonics too today to practice as or oi.

Remember to watch Mrs Doodson's assembly too.

Have fun!

Team Goldcrest

Ed Bear's Diary

Hello Goldcrest!  I hope you've had a great weekend.  I helped with the gardening on Saturday and re-planted my sunflowers, they had grown so big they needed to be spread out and put in the garden or bigger pots. If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise!  That's the beginning of the Teddy Bears' Picnic story and song!  I went for a dog walk in the woods on Sunday and found a really interesting tree that had fallen down.  It had been cut so it didn't block the path and you could see a hole up the middle of the trunk and I thought it looked a bit like a funny face!   I also saw a bird box and I hid behind a tree to see if any birds went in or out of it.  I didn't see any but I heard lots of birds tweeting in the trees and saw some blue tits and blackbirds close by.  I must go and write my invitation for the party on Friday and I need to learn some more about SWAF so I think I'll phone Barney Bear and ask him, he's so clever.  Have fun, Ed Bear x

Friday 15th May

What a supertato sort of week we've had! Thank you for sharing all your learning - it is so lovely to hear that you've had fun. The sunshine has been out a bit more today too and hopefully a bit warmer this weekend.

The Evil Pea is back to his usual mischief and this time he has left some take away problems to solve - things might get a bit squashy! 

For phonics, you will be using your diagraphs to cross the swamp. Can you remember them all? 

Our story today is 'How to Hide a Lion'.

Hoping you have a wonderful weekend - what fun things might you get up to? Remember, Family Learning has extra ideas of things to do if you fancy it.

Have fun and take care

Team Goldcrest 

Ed Bear's Diary

Hello everyone!  What an amazing week, I've really enjoyed all the Supertato challenges and thought they were super!  Yesterday we played the phonics game and took it in turns crossing the river with tricky words and then we tried it with some digraphs.  Luckily nobody fell in and got eaten by a crocodile!  I wanted to practise some maths so I looked up the 'maths at home' ideas to help me decide what to do.  I liked the idea of counting up and down the stairs so Mrs Fullman added a bit of a twist.  She numbered all the stairs and then I had climb up to the number she called out, she said 12 and 13 quite a lot - my poor legs!  She then mixed up all the numbers to see if I could get them in the correct order and I did!  I've already finished the maths challenge today, it's quite tricky but good fun and we were able re use the numbers from yesterday and luckily the peas I used weren't evil!  I'm going to listen to today's story now.  Have a great weekend, Ed Bear x

Thursday 14th May

Good morning! How did you get on with planning and making your own super veggie yesterday?

We hope you had fun. Mrs Berry would love to see your creations and make a special banner with them. (Please email her - thanks!)

Today we have a Veggie challenge. Can you create your own super veggie and write what they are like. Will you choose a super carrot, a super broccoli or maybe a super bean?! Have fun!

We are revising our diagraphs in phonics today - can you remember them? 
We also have a story - The Tiger Who came to Tea.

Have you seen what Ed Bear has been up to? Have a look below - what a busy bear! 

Have a great day.

Super Ed's Diary

All was quiet in the kitchen, or was it? Some fruit is frozen for a reason, the same reason as some veg is frozen ... we've all heard about the Evil Pea and the things he gets up to!  Rotten Raspberry was rattling around in the freezer disturbing all the fruit and vegetables who were trying to sleep.  Rotten Raspberry escaped and began jumping around the kitchen.  He bounced on the bananas, pounced on the pears, barged the blueberries, somersaulted over strawberries and catapaulted over carrots.  When he'd jumped over all the fruit and veg and reached the radio, he turned it on and sang at the top of his voice, VERY badly!  Ed Bear couldn't sleep and was worried he'd be too tired for his challenges the next day so he asked Supertato for help.  Super Ed, Supertato and the Superveg made a cunning plan.  They realised Rotten Raspberry was defrosting and becoming squishy so they organised a dance competition.  Super Ed and Supertato were fantastic dancers but Rotten Raspberry thought he was better. He danced and he danced and became hotter and hotter as he danced, he was defrosting fast!  Eventually he back flipped and went SPLAT and that was the end of Rotten Raspberry, or was it?  Super Ed and Supertato had one more great idea ... raspberry jam on toast for breakfast - yummy!  Have a SUPER day and I hope you like my story! Super Ed Bear x

Wednesday 13th May

Good Morning Goldcrest! How are you feeling this morning? Ready for another Supertato challenge?

We hope you were able to stop the Evil Pea with his maths problems yesterday  - I'm sure Supertato is very grateful.

Today we have a creative task where you can make your own super veggie. What will you choose? We look forward to seeing pictures of them.

For phonics there is a tricky word challenge - and even a swamp and crocodile included! Good luck.

If you liked Aunty Mabel there is one you can watch about potatoes and the story today is Alexander's Outing - enjoy.

Have a great day everyone.

Ed Bear's Diary

Morning Goldcrest.  Did you enjoy the maths challenge yesterday?  Evil Pea didn't catch me out, I know that 6 isn't bigger than 8, cheeky pea!  I enjoyed the handwriting and did lots of loopy squiggles in a fluffy cloud shape, I'm hoping to see some of your shapes and mark making on the website soon.  Yesterday afternoon I went out to water my sunflowers and was super excited to see they're starting to grow.  If you look carefully at the photos you can see them beginning to sprout and on one you can see the black shell still hasn't quite fallen off.  Mrs Fullman put some seeds in wet kitchen roll in a clear pot on a window sill so I could see clearly how the roots and stem grow from the seed.  I'm off to have a super day making a super veggie!  Have fun, Ed x

Tuesday 12th May

Morning everyone! How did you get on with your Supertato challenges yesterday? Did you write some fun things in your speech bubbles?

And did you enjoy the game NSEW in phonics - did any of the words trick you? I hope you had a great day. 

Today there is a maths challenge. The Evil Pea has written some maths problems and is trying to trick all the other vegetables. Supertato needs your help!

For handwriting we are looking at cutting and mark making. Mrs McGuire is on the video and a photo of the mark making sheet is included that you need.

For phonics today we have some more digraph spotting and a separate sheet is included for you to use on the computer screen, or ask a parent to write it out or print. Good Luck

We have a story too - The Bear Who Stared 

Have a great day.

Ed Bear's Diary

Hi Goldcrest.  I loved the Supertato story and I thought Evil Pea was a bit of a naughty pea!  I saw some of your speech bubbles and thought you had great ideas for what Supertato might say.  The first thing I did yesterday was play the digraph game with Mrs Fullman, we took it in turns to calling out words and then running to the correct digraph, we thought it was a brilliant game!  I think there's another digraph spotting game today and I can't wait.  I popped into school yesterday afternoon to see what was going on.  I played in the meadow and rolled around so much in the red cone my tummy felt a bit funny, so I did some deer spotting and counted 7.  I saw Bullet and gave him a stroke while he was lying on a radiator. I then built a slide in Goldcrest with the big wooden blocks and played with one of the Nursery bears.  Have a super day, Ed x

Monday 11th May

What a beautiful weekend! We really hope you enjoyed the celebrations on Friday and it was filled with fun, sunshine and plenty of cake. Please do send any pictures - we love to see them.

This week we have the story - Supertato by Sue Hendra.

Meet Supertato! He's always there for you when the chips are down. He's the superhero with eyes everywhere - but now there's a pea on the loose. A very, very naughty pea. Has Supertato finally met his match?

We have the story for you and a writing challenge. 

This week in phonics we are revisiting and revising our sounds.

Have a great day!

Ed Bear's Diary

Hello Goldcrest. I hope you had a lovely long weekend.  I made my wormery and found some worms to put in it and I remembered to take some photos for you, I can't wait to see what happens. It was VE day on Friday so I helped make a carrot cake and in the afternoon there was a special party and some neighbours came out with cake and a drink and stood in their front gardens having a chat.  The cake was delicious and it was nice to talk to everyone, even though it was at a distance. On Saturday I was very excited as I got a special letter in the post with some seeds so I spent the day planting them, I think they are sunflower seeds.  On Sunday it was very cold and windy so after a long dog walk we built a den and watched Madagascar whilst eating popcorn.  It's a really funny film and Melman makes me laugh so much.  Bye for now, Ed x

Thursday 7th May

Morning everyone. I have been keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine today as it is Forest School. Today we have a Forest School lesson for you, a tricky words phonic lesson and a new story time.  Have fun everyone, and we will be back again on Monday.

Ed Bear's Diary

Hi Goldcrest.  Did you have a fun Wednesday?  I really enjoyed looking at the pictures of the amazing worms you made, thanks for sending them.  I made some shortbread worms and measured them but I forgot to take pictures for you, they did taste nice, yum, yum!  I've got my bottle ready to make a wormery today and I've written a note and put it next to the bottle so I definitely won't forget to take some pictures.  I was busy yesterday afternoon helping Mrs Fullman with some jobs but we did have time to have a few games of bowling in the garden and I even got a strike (that's when you knock all the pins over).  Don't forget at 4 o'clock this afternoon, if you're not too busy, Julia Donaldson will be reading a story or singing a song, I wonder what it will be today? Have fun!  Ed x

You will need a plastic bottle (or similar) for Forest School this week! Thank you =)

Rosie and Poppy have made a rainbow  trail in the woods near school - you might like to follow the trail on one of  your walks. You need to start in the woods by the school entrance , have fun!

Recommendation from Joe:

Join Julia Donaldson and Friends every Thursday at 4pm while she shares a song, story or poems, joined by a selection of guest illustrators.

https://www.gruffalo.com/what-s-happening/events/julia-donaldson-and-friends-every-thursday-at-4pm

Hello Goldcrest,

Thank you for sending your teddy pictures. The team flag is on its way!

Here is a little video featuring 'Big Monkey and Unicorn'.

Made by one of your Goldcrest friends. It will make you smile! Thank you x

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xyhk4xsuiqship2/unicornv2.M4V?dl=0

Wednesday 6th May

Good Morning. Did you enjoy Superworm yesterday? We have loved seeing some of your writing and pictures of your very own superworms. We have also had a preview of some of your bunting - Berkhamsted will certainly look great on Friday when it is all displayed. Today we have some Superworm maths for you, along with a phonics lesson and a new story time.

Ed Bear's Diary

Hello Goldcrest.  I enjoyed listening to 'Superworm' yesterday and when I was completing the writing challenge I thought it fitted in really well with phonics as there's the 'er' digraph in 'super' and I'd not noticed before.  Mrs Fullman went to school yesterday so I had all day to myself.  I played in the garden with her dog and then decided to make myself a playhouse.  It was really hard work cutting out the door and window and painting it, but it was worth the effort.  I was really pleased with my red door and even gave the house a number, do you like it?  I planted some flowers in a window box to make it look special.  When I'd finished I was quite tired so had a little nap and when I woke up I decided to make a picnic tea as a surprise for Mrs Fullman when she came home.  She was amazed at my house and very happy with the picnic and we had a lovely chat with our sandwiches.  Have a great day, Ed x

Tuesday 5th May

Good morning.

Did you have a go at Mrs. Lee's challenge yesterday? I thought some of those moves were pretty tough!

Today we have got a story to start you off - It's Superworm by Julia Donaldson. Then there is writing challenge, some phonics and a handwriting lesson for you do at some point this week. I hope you all have a great day.

Ed Bear's Diary

Oh what a busy day I had yesterday!  All the new ideas listed on the website were so much fun!  I love phonics and thought that Geraldine Giraffe was really funny, she gave me an idea of a word game to play with one of my friends.  I really like playing games and I tried the 'squares' game which was an idea on home learning, have you tried it?  I'd never played it before but it was good fun and I won!  I tried Mrs Lee's challenge and found some of the exercises hard work and my legs ache a little bit this morning but I felt good when I'd finished the exercises so I think I'll try it again.  Today I'm definitely going to listen to 'Superworm' it's one of my favourite stories and I think I'll try the writing challenge - this week's going to be so exciting!  Have fun with the challenges.  Bye for now, Ed x

Monday 4th May

Welcome back, I do hope you all had a lovely weekend, it was certainly good to see the sunshine again on Saturday. We have something a little different for you today. A couple of challenges have been set for the whole school this week, so today we still have a phonics lesson for you and a new story time, plus the whole school challenges. There is a VE day making task and an exercise challenge from Mrs. Lee. You will need the Bridgewater Exercise Alphabet  and the youtube clip to do  Mrs. Lee's challenge, and The Great British Bunting is for the VE day challenge. We hope you enjoy them, and look forward to hearing how you got on.

Ed Bear's Diary

Morning everyone!  I hope you had a fantastic weekend.  I was busy again having great fun in the garden. I went on a bug hunt and found lots mini beasts my favourites were a tiny slug, a bee sitting on a leaf and a centipede.  It was the first centipede I'd ever found which is why I was so excited, I found it under a big rock with some woodlice, centipedes wiggle and move very fast.  Mrs Fullman had bee and butterfly house that needed to be put up and I helped her collect leaves and twigs to put in the top bit for the butterflies.  We did a lot of weeding in the garden before we planted the special seeds she'd ordered.  The special seeds grow into wild flowers and attract bees - they come in big pellets that have to be spaced out around the garden.  Digging up weeds took a long time and in the middle of it we decided to play hide and seek, can you see Mrs Fullman?  I've got my bottle ready for Forest School and I'm looking forward to all the new things on the website, I wonder what you'll get up to?  I'm off to spell out 'wellbeing', one of our whole school challenges.  Have fun, Ed x

Friday 1st May

Good Morning everyone and welcome to another Friday! Is it really the 1st May?

Did anyone do Joe Wicks this morning? What did you dress up as? I wonder what Mrs Beaumont dressed up as this week. She does have some funny costumes doesn't she? Have you enjoyed our snails and slugs challenges this week? We have loved all your spiral writing and snail art. Did you find any snails or slugs out in the garden in the rain? We hope you enjoy watching the short snail film today and Mrs Berry has a Forest school challenge for you to end the week with. Have fun today and enjoy the weekend. Don't forget out Friday assembly on the website.Well done to you all for lots of good learning this week. We miss you but it's lovely to hear from you all. Stay safe and keep smiling. See you again Monday.

Team Goldcrest.

What a lovely email request......... All done :-)

Ed Bear's Diary

I can't believe it's Friday again, I hope you've all had a great week, I've been super busy doing all the challenges.  I've seen some of your snail art and was so impressed I thought I'd give it a go. I decided to make a really big and very colourful snail, it's much bigger than me, I hope you like it.  Yesterday it rained on and off all day and when the sun came out I ran around looking out of the windows trying to find a rainbow, luckily I found one and could see the whole rainbow in the sky. I'm excited about the Forest School challenges today and I think I'm going to go on a bug hunt when it's dry and try some of the home learning games when it's not - or shall I just go and jump in puddles?  What do you think?  Oh I don't know!  I'm off to have a think, have a great weekend!  Ed Bear x