In Class One we are listening and retelling the stories of Satchkin Patchkin for our Stories and Fairytales main lesson.  The children have been enjoying the rhyme and alliteration used in the telling of Satchkin Patchkin - the little green magic man, who lives like a leaf, in an apple tree.  The funny ways in which Satchkin Patchkin uses his magic to provide an abundance of milk, eggs and fruit for the kindly Mrs. Farthing yet creates chaos and upheaval for her lean, mean landlord appeals to the children's sense of righteousness and has provoked some interesting discussions about kindness, generosity, honesty and greed. 

With a focus on writing in this main lesson, the children are learning some high frequency words and practicing their phonics skills.  To put all of this knowledge into practice, the children have been composing their own writing in their kid writing books.  I use the term "kid writing" to emphasise to the children - and adults! - that this is their writing - they are doing it all themselves, from the composing of what they want to say, to inventing the spelling to writing the letters down on paper.  I am working to create an environment in which the children are relaxed to have a go at their own writing, rather than being worried about "getting it right"!  We celebrate making lots of glorious "mistakes" in the process because this is how we learn and have begun to puzzle over the many inconsistencies in written English - such as why do we say "was" but it looks like "wass"?!  Kid writing helps children master key literacy skills and is in alignment with Waldorf practices.

In craft, our Class One children have been completing their recorder bags.  They are very proud of their work and we look forward to being able to use our recorder bags for future recorder practice and performances!  We have also been working on a wet felting project and the children will be completing their felted bookmarks this week to celebrate Book Week. 

The children are very excited about Book Week, and we have had some wonderful books brought from home to share with the class.  We look forward to more wonderful books to share during the week.