Learning about our wider local area – taking bus trips
Reception children have taken part in a series of small group trips in the local area, to learn about their community. One group of children wrote a shopping list, so they could buy the ingredients they needed to make their own gingerbread men. Cooking is a life skill that will be revisited annually in the Design technology curriculum, as the children move through school. It was really exciting going on the local bus to Tesco.
Other children went on the bus to Canal Gardens, next to Tropical World, to help the ‘Friends of Roundhay Park’ do some gardening. They got to use their senses in the lovely sensory garden, and they enjoyed weaving their way through the willow tunnel. Undoubtedly, the best part of the trip was seeing the ducks’ bottoms, as they looked for food upside down. The children drew a map of their journey when we got back – as they start to understand the how the local geography is connected.
Yet another group of children went on the bus to ‘The Little Bookshop’ in Chapel Allerton and had a lovely story there. They were able to spend book tokens and choose some books for themselves, which is always a special moment. Others visited Oakwood library, to have a story read to them by the librarian Madeleine. She let Reception borrow five 5 books for the class. Selecting one’s own book is a key way to foster an early love of reading, so it is important to help the children start this early on.
