Dear Parents,

Despite the weather this week, the Oaks and the Saplings have continued to spend the majority of their time outside. We have been continuing our theme of growth, decay and the environment, investigating how the rain has changed the garden and the animals that inhabit it. We took our magnifying glasses and went in search of tiny creatures and bugs. After some exploration, the children found a number of different bugs hiding under logs; centipedes, worms, millipedes, woodlice and ants. The children were particularly fascinated with the worms. They each took a turn to hold one and examine it with a magnifying glass. For those who weren’t quite brave enough to hold one, Alf stepped forward, with hand outstretched demonstrated that it really wasn’t so bad – and even though they still didn’t want to touch it, Alf held it long enough for them to use their magnifying glasses to investigate closely. To further extend their learning, the children collected various natural objects such as; bark; leaves; sticks; and flowers, which were then used to create a nature collage. Nova and Humphrey used their fine motor skills to control the glue spreaders and were very particular as to where they wanted to affix certain items. We planted some new bulbs; using a number of elements that the children identified as essential products for a plant to grow, the children will monitor their growth. Reece watched very carefully at the steps Karen took to plant a bulb and later copied her actions in the order he thought was best. He was very proud of his achievement and wanted to show everyone.

The Oaks and the Saplings have also been taking part in circle time, practising lots of ring games as well as those which require that they take turns. Belle is now confident to stand up in front of all of her friends when singing ‘Sandy Girl’ and dance with her new friend Evie. Using a cube marked with different instructions on each face, the children waited patiently for their turn to throw the cube – the rest of the group then had to use their listening and concentration skills to complete the task. The Acorns and Seedlings put their listening skills to the test too by correctly following commands such as ‘stop’, ‘go’, ‘jump’, ‘clap’ when instructed. James responded very well and Joshua, on occasion was able to understand the instructions.

The Acorns and the Seedlings have continued the topic of colours. James, Hassan and Joshua have been investigating different coloured treasure baskets. Each basket contained a number of matching coloured objects, blue, yellow and red. They then tried more difficult colours such as green, orange and purple. As a result of this activity, Joshua is beginning to use 2-word sentences and is becoming more familiar with more varied colours. This week, children were particularly interested in the ‘Dear Zoo’ book. Reproducing the animal noises which feature in the text, they were able to mimic “snap snap” for a crocodile and “roar” for a lion. To further extend this, we will be using zoo animals to create our own zoo and painting our own interpretation of the animals that reside there.

They have also been exploring their senses. Using the sense of touch, they painted their own sunflowers; their handprints used to create the petals. Some of the children used paintbrushes, and others used their hands, Lorelei got stuck in and was covered in green paint by the end of it! The children also explored the sense of sound by developing their own Broughton Orchestra utilising pots and pans as musical instruments, listening intrigued to the sounds they made as the tone changed, which depended on the size and type of material struck. Sofia was particularly interested in this and was very excited to hit the pots with wooden spoons.

The children have also enjoyed a walk down to Riverhead, looking at their surroundings, and pointing out the colours of the cars, the different dogs and birds they see; Joshua’s favourites were the aeroplanes and shouted “plane” every time he saw one.

We would like to welcome back the children and parents who returned this week. We are delighted at how well the children have settled; it was so evident how excited they were to see their friends again. We would also like to welcome, Sofia, Evie, Ava and George who all joined our Nursery family this week, they have already made new friends and are enjoying their time exploring their new surroundings.

Spare clothing MUST be named as we are finding it difficult to marry items with their owners as many children share the same fashion! As previously mentioned, a simple biro is sufficient and a quick fix!

With such changeable weather conditions and particularly in very wet weather it is also necessary to provide wellington boots and waterproofs to prevent the children from getting cold whilst for hot weather, sunhats and cooler clothing are necessary. All will protect them from the elements.

As always, have a great weekend and stay safe.

The Team at Broughton.