Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade visit and a busy afternoon

We had a great time today visiting the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade. There were lots of models, pictures and memorabilia to look at going right back to 1864, when the Brigade was formed. We had a really engaging member of the Brigade talk to us about the shipwreck that led to the formation of the Brigade. He also showed us lots of the equipment they use - pulley system with a breeches buoy, throw ropes and vacuum splints. The children got to take part in this and they all really enjoyed it. We also went up to the watch tower to see the search light. 

Peter to the rescue! He wore this cliff rescue hat the whole time.

We brought home some activity booklets, which Harry and Peter started this afternoon. We had a nice peaceful afternoon and also did jigsaws, Hama beads and played the Lego magazine version of snakes and ladders. Peter finished his first Hama bead design with the maxi beads - he likes doing them but has never had the concentration span to finish one before.

Harry has been doing some old Reading Eggs worksheets this afternoon too. We used Reading Eggs for 2 years as his first reading teaching resource and it was great for him. I am planning to re-subscribe soon for Harry and also next year for Peter. The worksheets cover each lesson in the programme and are a good resource to use alongside for revising the reading skills and for writing too. 

Harry is finishing off this maths workbook this week (I am trying to use up all my resources that are sitting unfinished - can you tell!?) and today he did number bonds to 10 and adding/subtracting 10. These are all topics he is comfortable with so they are good revision and practise and he calls it 'fun maths', because he gets stickers! 

He also practised cello then we sat down together to watch Hero Squad on CBBC. It was really nice cuddled up on the sofa as the freezing rain battered the window! The topic of the programme today was water rescue and Harry was really excited that they were using the same throw rope equipment we had used at the Life Brigade.