Run, Run as Fast as you can….

This week Nursery have began case study two of our expedition “ Who is hiding in the pages of this book?” We have been immersed in our new text The Gingerbread Man. To hook the children into their learning they were detectives on a hunt for character body parts in our outdoor area. When they found all of the characters parts the children put them back together again revealing what our key text of the week would be. They were very excited for it to be The Gingerbread Man!

We modelled role play of the Baker and the Gingerbread Man to the children. The Gingerbread Man was apologising for running away and asked if he could help to make more Gingerbread to show how sorry he was. But how would he do this? The children hot seated the Baker and were encouraged to think about the ingredients that the Gingerbread Man may need. The Baker explained that they would need follow a recipe and a method, showing this to the children.

The children have had lots of fun role playing with the masks themselves in provision.

We then of course baked Gingerbread Men, following the Bakers recipe and instructions. The children were encouraged to think about first, next and then sequencing whilst they were baking. They also learned about different forces which they were using to make the gingerbread men as they mixed, rolled and pulled the rolling pin through the dough or pressed their Gingerbread Man shapes out with the cutter. These are pushes and pulls!

Luckily none of our gingerbread men tried to make a run for it! Great work Nursery.

Who’s that Trip, trapping over my bridge?

Last week Nursery continued to be geographers as they explored the final part of our first case study “Where in the world will this story take us?” The children explored rivers, comparing our local river in Norton; the River Went to the River Congo in Africa.

To hook the children into their learning and help them explore their local area they observed the “Adventures of our Everywhere Bear”, as he sent them a special dojo message with photos of his trek to the River Went, through the magical forest. They loved to see their special class mascot out on his own adventuring and exploring around our village. Many of the children recognising key landmarks on his journey.

The Everywhere Bears adventures led us to our key text of The Three Billy Goats Gruff as we immersed ourselves into the story, due to it being set over a river. The children enjoyed learning about the characters in the story and identified that the Big Billy Goat Gruff was a hero and the wicked troll a villain. They were delighted when the troll was tossed into the river! Here are a few of our representations of the Troll and the Billy Goats Gruff from our maths learning this week focusing on triangles and rectangles.

This got us thinking about how deep the river might be? We then compared the River Went to a much deeper and wider river – the River Congo. The children took a gallery walk of photos of the river, noting differences and similarities between the Congo and the River Went.

We then boarded our imaginary canoes in groups of three, dressed with our binoculars and went on a virtual tour of the River Congo. Thinking about and imagining what we would be able to see, hear, smell and feel. We were very surprised when we were chased by crocodiles and sea snakes! We had to paddle fast! It was very scary and exciting. Not something you’d usually see or encounter at the River Went, thankfully.

The children had so much fun and used the imaginary experience to talk about what they may sense by a river. Beautiful work Nursery and something which you may get to experience for real sooner than you know as part of our fieldwork – shhh!!

Getting Smart in Class 1

This week in maths the children have been working together to order towers of cubes from 1 – 10 on a number track. They worked collaboratively and accurately placed the towers into a staircase pattern. What a great job!

The children have worked as teamwork tigers in our construction area and continue to make models on a larger scale that are very impressive. All the little extra details always make me smile. This house has solar panels, a lift and a garden for the dinosaurs!

We have been getting creative and have been adding some extra details to our under the sea paintings. The children are really brining their pictures to life…

When the children lead their own learning in the classroom, our areas are always so purposeful. Children choose to read stories, write labels for their models and even practice their number formation. They really are showing me that they are ready for Year One! Well done superstars!

Run run as fast as you can…

This week, we have been immersed in our new text, ‘The Gingerbread Man’. We have followed a recipe to make our very own gingerbread men. The children enjoyed decorating them with icing, chocolate chips and smarties. I think you will all agree that they look delicious! We are pleased to report that we had no runaway gingerbread men! Instead the children took them home and enjoyed a tasty treat 🙂

A super week of learning in EYFS

Wow……Nursery and Reception had so many postcard winners in our community meeting this week. Lots of kindness being shown by the youngest children in our school and some great examples of working hard and getting smart. Keep up the super work everyone.

Sharing our Stories: 16/05/2025

Beautiful Work This Week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust from this week. To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Block Volcano Art @ Green Top

Innovating the Gingerbread Man @ Plover

Identifying features of a map @ Carcroft School

Activism in action – the second annual public health conference @ XP Gateshead

Seascapes @ Norton Infants

Fully immersed in Wordsworth @ XP

Arts Festival 2025

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] –  we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

We’re Hiring: Join the Green Top Crew!

We’re looking for two incredible Learning Coaches to join the team at Green Top School!

This is an opportunity to be part of a school where relationships come first, learning is purposeful, and every child is known, supported, and challenged.

You’ll work side by side with teachers to help deliver beautiful, meaningful learning experiences as part of our expeditionary learning curriculum. From Early Years to Key Stage 2, you’ll support children to grow academically, socially and emotionally – helping them become thoughtful, capable, and kind individuals.

Find out more about the roles here: xptrust.org/vacancies

Class 1’s Seascapes…

Last week, our story ‘The Little Mermaid’ took us under the sea. We decided to create some beautiful paintings of the sea. We used powder paints and took our time to mix different shades of blue. The children enjoyed completing this task and they worked conscientiously, taking their time, which resulted in work to be proud of!

Mindful Monday

Today in our “Mindful Monday” Crew the children checked in with their zones of regulation to see how everyone was feeling, using our monsters to identify and name their emotions. We then took turns with a partner to draw something which happened during their weekend on whiteboards. I was amazed by some of the beautiful drawings in our crew circles, with the majority of children now using lines and circles with a clearer vision of their representations.

The children then took turns to talk about what they had been doing during the weekend with their partner and then recall this to other Crew members. The drawings really helped to bring their recounts to life and both Crews were very respectful of each other whilst they shared their stories. Well Done Crew Winkley and Crew Mortimer!