What an exciting and imaginative week we have had as we explored The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch by Ronda and David Armitage! Our classroom has been full of creativity, problem-solving and laughter as the children took on the challenge of helping Mrs Grinling deliver lunch safely to Mr Grinling, despite those pesky seagulls causing chaos.

The children became fantastic innovators, thinking of clever and original ways to solve the problem. We had some wonderfully imaginative ideas, including training dinosaurs to guard the lunch basket, inventing ingenious machines and contraptions, designing speedy delivery systems, and even creating clever disguises and decoys to trick the seagulls. The teamwork and enthusiasm on display were brilliant, and the children spoke confidently about their ideas, listening carefully to one another and building on each other’s thinking.

We also brought the story to life through drama, with the children thoroughly enjoying acting out the roles of cheeky seagulls, brave Mrs Grinling, and the ever-hungry Mr Grinling. It was wonderful to see their confidence and expression shine!

In maths, we have been focusing on time, learning to use and understand language such as earlier and later, and comparing events using faster and slower. The children have also been learning to tell the time to o’clock and half past, linking this to familiar daily routines and even thinking about when Mr Grinling would be waiting for his lunch!

Our creativity continued in Art and Design & Technology, where the children designed and created their own moving pictures based on the story. They explored a range of artistic techniques, including collage, sponge painting, and observational drawing to carefully create their scenes. They then worked cleverly to make parts of their pictures move, bringing the story to life in a dynamic and exciting way.

Year 1 The children enjoyed a creative and engaging art project exploring seaside scenes inspired by lighthouse keeper lunches. They created imaginative pictures featuring lunch baskets and dive‑bombing seagulls, bringing movement and storytelling into their work. Using a range of media, including sponge painting for textured skies and sea, collage for layered detail, and observational drawing to capture shape and form of lighthouses, the children developed both their artistic skills and creativity. The final pieces were full of energy and personality, showing great effort and enthusiasm throughout the process.

We are so proud of the children for their creativity, enthusiasm, and willingness to try new ideas this week. They have truly impressed us with their innovative thinking and artistic skills.

You might like to ask your child about their learning at home, how they solved the seagull problem, what they know about telling the time, or how they made their moving picture work!