What a fun two weeks of learning all about dinosaurs! 

Week 1:

What a busy week we’ve had learning about dinosaurs. There are just so many exciting activities to do and fascinating facts to explore. We’re so glad this theme will be continuing into next week. 

Ring time has been an absolute treat. Dinosaurs are such an engaging topic and it’s been wonderful hearing the Crew try to pronounce all the tricky names. We explored a dinosaur for each letter of the alphabet and shared interesting facts about each one. Their curiosity and enthusiasm made every discussion so lively and fun. 

We’ve started reading a lovely little novel called Dino Club. Each day we read a few pages together and the Crew are hooked. The story follows Jamie and Tess, who connect through a tablet app where children around the world chat about dinosaurs. Jamie and Tess then go on a dino adventure together, venturing into a cave where they discover a whole world of dinosaurs hidden below. We will be finishing this story next week and we can’t wait to see how it ends. 

Among the many creative activities this week, we made pinecone dinosaurs. The Crew coloured in pieces of a dinosaur using oil pastels and then attached them to pinecones to create textured 3D dinos. These turned out so beautifully that we’ve decided to keep them for our Art Expo. 

We also had a fun outing-style activity where we created dinosaur skins. Each child had a cut-out brontosaurus and walked around the school to find different backgrounds to place it against. This created the illusion of unique, patterned skins and the final photos were absolutely gorgeous. The Crew loved every second of this exploration. 

This week we also completed a variety of worksheets, including a dinosaur-themed colouring activity and number writing practice from 1 to 10. The Crew have also been busy with concert rehearsals and working hard on drawing their shapes on the whiteboards with Teacher Avril. 

Our Jolly Phonics work has continued as we aim to really cement the letter sounds. The Crew are doing incredibly well with this and many of them can now sing the songs confidently without the help of the video. 

FunFit Sports was a major hit this week. Coach Trevor introduced a new game where the children had to hop into a hula hoop of the colour he called out. There was so much laughter and energy—it was such a joyful session. 

Yoga this week was all about dinosaurs. The Curious Crew marched, stomped and roared like dinosaurs as they moved through their yoga stretches. These included warrior three, plank, snake and tree pose. We also practised different breathing techniques such as butterfly breath, baby dinosaur breath, snake breath and hot chocolate breath. We ended our session by flying like butterflies and having some peaceful quiet time to centre ourselves again. 

The Crew are completely concert-ready, and we are beyond excited to strut our stuff. On Friday we performed for the Primary School, and they did such a brilliant job. We’re so proud of all their hard work and courage. See you all tomorrow morning! 

Next week’s theme: Dinosaurs and Underground. 

 Week 2:

Another fun-filled week of dinosaurs for the Crew. This time we took a closer look at what happens underground and watched an incredible video showing paleontologists digging up dinosaur bones—big and small. Please ask your child who digs up dinosaur bones. They’ve been working so hard to remember that big word and they’re all saying it with such pride. We also explored the different countries where dinosaur fossils have been discovered. Sadly, South Africa didn’t make the list, but that didn’t stop the Crew from wanting to dig up the playground in search of a fossil or two. Their enthusiasm was contagious. 

This week we brought some creativity into the classroom with a little cooking-style fun. The Crew made their very own salt dough fossils. Once they’ve dried out, we’ll be painting them and keeping them safe for our annual Art Expo. These little treasures are going to be such a special part of our collection. 

We completed a perceptual worksheet where the Crew coloured in a dinosaur, cut it into pieces, and then stuck it back together again like a puzzle. It’s amazing to see how far their cutting skills have come and how confident they’re becoming with handling scissors. They really impressed us with this activity. 

In another fun task, the Crew counted dinosaurs on a worksheet and circled the correct number. Their ability to recognise and count from 1 to 10 has become much more solid and consistent. It’s so rewarding to see their progress in numeracy and how comfortably they can now identify these numbers. 

Movement fun this week came in the form of dinosaur dances. These were such a hit and absolutely adorable to watch. If you’re looking for a way to burn off some of that endless energy at home, search for dinosaur dances on YouTube—there are plenty of options and they’re sure to get everyone moving and grooving. 

We also spent some time on letter work with our focus on “d.” The Crew traced the letter, thought of words that begin with it, and coloured in themed pictures. It’s always a joy to watch their ideas come to life on paper and to see how their creativity shines through in even the simplest tasks. 

For a bit of outdoor fun, we went digging for dinosaurs in the sandpit. Each child had a turn uncovering hidden dinos and used paintbrushes to gently dust them off before returning them to their tubs. It was such a lovely hands-on way to reinforce the learning we’ve done around fossils and palaeontology. 

We missed Teacher Yoga this week as she wasn’t feeling well, but the Crew still had a wonderful week full of adventure and learning. They’ve really given it their all and should be so proud of everything they’ve accomplished. 

Just one more week to go before we head off on a well-earned holiday. 

Next week’s theme: Occupations and People Who Help Us. 

Our Crew!