Dear Parents,

We welcomed Izzy G.  who will be assisting staff in all our groups. We hope she will be very happy at Broughton.

The Oaks have been using their fine motor skills, mathematics and problem-solving skills to copy patterns onto magnetic boards. Some of the children spent a considerable amount of time attempting to copy images such as a trumpet or a cat onto the boards, often asking for help but persisting even when challenges arose. They were very proud to show everyone their achievement. To further this, the children have been looking at adding and subtracting simple numbers using coloured teddy bears. Taking smaller numbers such as 1-5, the children categorised the bears to help visualise sums such as 1+2 or 2+2 etc.

As the weather has been so lovely (even if it was too hot for most of us!), the children have enjoyed lots of water fun and cooling off in the sprinkler. They spent time running around on the grass, feeling the sensation of the water as it trickled through their hands and exclaiming that it was getting their bottoms wet! The children did enjoy cooking sausages on the open fire and eating their lunch as a picnic, many of whom stated how “yummy” their lunch was, whilst the flames sizzled and spat Amir remarked that the smoke was ‘foggy’ and ‘cloudy’. To accompany their sausages and potato wedges, the children were able to try cucumbers that were not only grown by themselves but were also picked by them too. Nova realised immediately when she arrived that day that one cucumber had disappeared so asked that she help pick the next one. Whilst harvesting the vegetables this week with considerable assistance from the children they remarked that some were enormous and therefore probably ready to pick whilst others were still too tiny and very prickly! We took our garden measuring stick and detailed the length of each, noting that the tomatoes were not yet ripe but clearly excited that two carrots were ready to harvest and excited that they formed one of the ingredients in their shepherd’s pie that day. The children were extremely proud of their efforts.

The Saplings have been exploring the subject of ‘under the sea’. Following on from the adventures of ‘The Rainbow Fish’, the children have been creating their own interpretations of different creatures whose habitat is beneath the waves. Using their fine motor skills to tear up tissue paper and spread glue, the children decorated their very own ‘Rainbow Fish’. To follow on from this and further extend their understanding, the children will be making jellyfish, octopuses and crabs. This has all stemmed from conversations with the children questioning which animals inhabit the sea.

The Saplings have also been exploring rice play, dyed in order to resemble a beach. Using different utensils, the children filled various sized pots and emptied them over and over again. Some of the children pointed out that the rice had mixed together yet hadn’t changed colour, leading to thoughts about how liquids mix more easily than thicker materials.

This week, the Seedlings and Acorns have been investigating the weather. They have sung a number of songs about thunder, rain and sunshine, and the children have enjoyed joining in with the actions and using musical instruments to accompany the songs. Some of the children found the lightning and thunder fascinating as they watched from the window, a number were able to jump in the resulting puddles, splashing in the water and loving the sensory experience, finding it all very funny! When the weather improved, the children continued to enjoy spotting planes as they shot past. To extend this, practitioners have involved them in singing some jolly phonics songs which involve making plane noises, in particular the letter ‘N’.

The Seedlings and Acorns have been busy creating rainbows painting directly onto their hands, feeling the squelchy, slippery texture between their fingers and transferring the image onto paper. In order to extend this further, the children took part in mark making activities using numerous different tools including running cars through paint; they soon discovered that thinner tyres created narrower tracks than wider tyres.

Stars of the Week:

Oaks: Florence – Florence very confidently stood up in front of all of her peers, spoke about her holiday and kindly brought in photos of her climbing a mountain and eating a delicious ice cream.

Saplings: Reece – For always being so polite to everyone, he will always say hello and goodbye to anyone he sees and loves engaging and interacting with his friends.

Seedlings: Oscar – Oscar has settled very well into nursery and loves to engage with his friends and makes everyone laugh with his funny noises!

Acorns: Roman – For feeling confident enough to move around the room more and exploring new situations. He is becoming more independent!

Have a fantastic weekend,

The Team at Broughton.