3 weeks ago
Posted on 10th Mar 2026 by Emma Noden

Inventing our own bird feeders

The Forest Schools Fairies sent us a letter asking us to invent some tasty bird pizzas that they could serve at the new Hungry Beak Café. We learnt about the imperative verbs we would need to include in our instructions and that sometimes we can sound a bit bossy when we are using them (cut, press, spread, tie). As we were inventing we took photos of each stage so that we could write the instructions down later on in the week.

3 weeks ago
Posted on 10th Mar 2026 by Emma Noden

Making Clay birds

We have enjoyed looking at the ceramic bird models which we have had in class. There has been lots of discussion about how they are fragile and can be broken easily. We decided to make our own and started off with some clay, lots of us were shocked to find that it started off soft. The children followed some instructions showing us how to make a clay bird (this linked with our literacy Talk for Writing unit about instruction texts) and made used clay tools to add details to our clay bird models. The children are all now patiently waiting for the clay to harden so we can paint them.

3 weeks ago
Posted on 10th Mar 2026 by Emma Noden

Hungry Beak Café opening soon

Last Thursday, we received a delivery of a newspaper report informing us of a meeting involving some of the most well-known garden birds in the local area. The birds had heard that bird feeders were being made by pupils at Hodnet School and they were keen to know where these feeders might hang, who would discover them first, and, most importantly, what delicious treats they would include.

We were excited to find out that many birds already know what we are learning about this half term so we headed outside to make some predictions. We thought about what might happen when we make and hang our own bird feeder following our designs and even more birds hear of this. We drew a picture and labelled it with what the birds might say on discovering one of our feeders!

3 weeks ago
Posted on 08th Mar 2026 by Emma Noden

Bonkers about birds

Last week we started a new mini project about birds. The fairies had left us the supplies to make bird feeders and also the instructions. We looked at the different instructions and made some of the feeders following the instructions. Some of us worked in the role play bird sanctuary, some of us played a bird beetle drive type game, we made bird jigsaws on the big board, made different types of birds in the creative workshop.

4 weeks ago
Posted on 06th Mar 2026 by Laura Bessant

Hodnet Celebrates World Book Day!

Hodnet kicked off our World Book Day celebrations with a Traitors themed assembly!

We were welcomed into the Great Reading Castle of Hodnet – a place where the Faithful Readers were being thwarted by the Book Traitors. The Faithful Readers love stories, use their imagination and protect books; whereas the Book Traitors try to stop the main character, they try to stop the happy endings and they try to make stories something to dislike.

Four Readers had been chosen at the secret round table and one of those was selected to be the Book Traitor. The Readers were set two challenges to see if the children could work out who was the Book Traitor.

The first challenge asked the Readers to identify the book using picture clues. The children tried to guess which of our Readers was the Traitor!

In the second challenge, our Readers were given a book character and had to deliver two truths and a lie about their book. The children had to see if they could spot the traitor by the way they delivered their lie.

After the two challenges, the children voted for the Reader they thought was the Book Traitor. It was in fact Miss Honey from Matilda!

After successfully finding the Traitor, the children were asked to consider the Oath of the Faithful Reader. Faithful Readers promise to give books a chance; to use their imagination; to try new books and to protect the magic of reading!

It was a great start to our World Book Day celebtrations!

1 month ago
Posted on 01st Mar 2026 by Emma Noden

Making boats in Forest Schools

The fairies wrote to us and asked if we might be able to design them some boats to use as it has rained so much! We tied together sticks and tested them to see if they floated. Some of us assed leaf sails, there was lots of testing and modifying going on!

1 month ago
Posted on 01st Mar 2026 by Emma Noden

Germs are not for sharing

Last week Ziggy asked us why it was important to wash our hands carefully, we read a story about washing hands, listened to a song written by the NHS and then practised washing our hands.

1 month ago
Posted on 01st Mar 2026 by Emma Noden

Humpy Dumpty Science investigation

Last week Ziggy set us an “I wonder….” asking if we could investigate a way to keep “Humpty Dumpty” safe and protect him from cracking. We made predictions about which materials would prevent him from cracking and then all worked together as recorders to record if the egg did or didn’t crack. Some children took on roles in the investigation such as: health and safety officer, fair test checker, observer and measurer.

1 month ago
Posted on 01st Mar 2026 by Emma Noden

Music Time

We had a great music lesson on Wednesday last week, we listened to music and identifying the pulse, either by clapping or tapping. After this warm up and sang Old MacDonald, some of us used claves to play along and identify the tempo of the “Old MacDonald” part and then some us used shakers to play along to the part of the “ee-i-ee-i-o” part.

1 month ago
Posted on 17th Feb 2026 by Emma Noden

Exploring Lunar New Year

Last week we explored some of the traditions of Lunar New year in some cultures. We made red paper lanterns and tried to decorate them, we decorated our home corner and cleaned it read for the New Year. We also made red envelopes with golden coins in and counted the golden coins carefully. We also read several stories with Lunar New Year as a key thread. Some of us made dragon puppets. We also played memory card games to help us remember some of the elements of Lunar New Year, we also wrote wishes for our wish tree and enjoyed scarf dancing.