The children have continued to work on case study one of their expedition “Early years engineers, in a world of possibilities what would you make”.
They have focused in on the three little pigs story and the different materials the three pigs used to build and create their houses.
The children worked together to recreate the three pigs houses using the different materials before looking closely at properties and what made each material the pigs used special and unique.

We found in FS2, the material wood was strong and hard but when compared to bricks, bricks were heavy and difficult to move. Hence why the big bad wolf had trouble blowing the third house down. We all agreed bricks were a great building material.

We used different painting techniques to recreate the three houses and noticed if we used everyday objects to paint with we could create beautiful work in new ways.

During crew sessions we pledged to listen more closely to each other while also thinking about the emotions of the crew. This supported us with our expedition story retelling as we used these discussions to support our acting. We used quiet, shaky voices when pretending to be the three pigs and used gruff angry voices when pretending to be the big bad wolf.

We can’t wait to continue this story next week. 😊🐷

Week 2: Different types of houses including our own home.

The children have really enjoyed their expedition learning this week. They have looked closely at their own houses and then the different types of houses they coulod see in the local community.

They looked at the different materials houses were made of and how each type of house looked different on the outisde. We noticed the bungalows in the community didnt have an upstairs. Presely in FS2 said “this meant they didn’t have stairs inside, which helped old people to move around more easily”.

In the classroom the children used all their new knowledge to build houses in the bricks, print bricks in the paint, build using “cement” in the water tray and create their own dream houses in the workshop.

During Hook Week, the children in EYFS watched how heavy machinery can make building projects easier. Mr Hull is building new path around the school and the excavator could dig a lot faster and deeper than his spade! 

The children discussed the importance of safety around heavy machinery and they wore their visible vests so that the excavator driver could see them! 

The children felt the rubble in their hands and commented on its texture. They were told how it would sit together to make an even and safe path.

As part of Hook Week, the children in EYFS completed a Scrapheap Challenge! They explored a range of resources and materials in the school hall before working collaboratively in small groups to plan and build a simple structure. As part of the Scrapheap Challenge, the children were given a criteria to achieve – their structure needed to remain stable for at least three minutes and it needed to be big enough to house three children inside. 

The children concluded the Scrapheap Challenge by completing a gallery walk and critiquing one another’s structures. 

Henry praised Crew A for making their structure colourful. 

George praised Crew C for building a structure big enough to fit their whole crew in. 

Dominic wondered if Crew B’s structure was strong enough because it was leaning to one side. 

Messiah wondered how all the structures could be made fireproof so that the crews could camp and cook inside them.