First, we would like to welcome Jaime and Maia who joined the Broughton family this week and are settling in very well. A huge congratulations to Alf upon becoming a big brother! We see how excited you are and know that you will be the best big brother. We would also like to wish Hugo, who turned four on Thursday, a very happy birthday from us all here at Broughton!
This week, the Oaks have been broadening their horizons through the introduction of new languages. To extend their current learning of Spanish and French, the children have also begun learning German and Cantonese. Reeve was very brave and stood up in front of his whole class and taught us all how to count from 1-10 in Cantonese. The children all repeated the numbers one by one and Reeve kindly told us when we were pronouncing the words wrongly, stating “there’s no silent t”. From this, Jaime and Yannick were keen to show that they also know a different language, German. Yannick was a little shy to stand in front of his peers but Jaime confidently stood up and clearly spoke every number, again, like Reeve, explaining how to pronounce many of the words. Please see the end of the newsletter if you wish to support this learning at home.
Chinese New Year is soon approaching, it falls on the 12th February and 2021 is the Year of the Ox. Whilst testing their understanding of the subject, Chinese dragons were popularly answered and so the children have begun creating their own dragon. Using recycled materials, some of the children used their fine motor skills to paint boxes in vibrant reds and oranges – both colours having been chosen as the most appropriate for a Chinese Dragon. The Oaks decided that the dragon needed scales, a nose, and a “giant mouth for breathing fire”. Over the course of next week, the children will continue to use their creativity to progress our dragon into something magnificent. They will also come together to form their own human dragon as often seen in celebration.
As the weather was particularly cold at the beginning of the week, the children decided it was the perfect opportunity to experiment by leaving water in pots overnight and investigate just what might occur when they returned the next morning. They actually attempted this two weeks ago but the weather had warmed sufficiently that the water failed to freeze. As a result of this, the children determined that we needed colder weather. Using a number of different sized pots, the Oaks went foraging for various natural materials, many of the children found brown leaves or the odd piece of fern, however Thomas found some petals that had dropped from a flower and Imogen and Hugo were able to find some green leaves with a very distinct pattern. Putting these items in the containers, we waited until the following day to see whether (or not) the water had in fact frozen. This led to discussions surrounding how solids become liquid and vice versa; they were all ecstatic to see the results of their hard work and now ask every day if it is cold enough to repeat this process.
On one particularly cold morning the children marvelled at the icicles hanging from the canopy, they described them as ‘glass’ and saw how their hand was magnified against the backdrop.
This week in the Saplings room we have been reading a range of stories with ‘How Does a Dinosaur Say Goodnight?’ as firm favourite. The children listened intently as the story was read, joining in with vocalisations and anticipating the next ‘exciting’ part particularly when the dinosaur roars! This has prompted us to talk about ‘loud’ and ‘quiet’ with the children again demonstrating good listening whilst playing their instruments, anxiously awaiting their cue for the correct commands of loud and quiet, fast and slow. To further enhance their listening skills, we took the children outside to listen to the variety of sounds that can be heard. A group of children stood on some ice crunching it underfoot with Theo telling us it was ‘noisy and crunchy’, Joshua and Hassan both listened hard to an aeroplane in the distance and said it was quiet then as it appeared closer Hassan said it got louder. They heard some motorbikes roar past and covered their ears saying it was too loud! They got creative with pots and pans in the mud kitchen, banging them with a variety of tools using gross motor movements to make some very loud noises but also realising that by turning certain pots upside down they could actually achieve quieter sounds.
Whilst in the garden they all enjoyed playing on the bikes, with some encouragement needed to remind them about turn taking and sharing! They also enjoyed playing in the construction area with Rafe testing out his balance and coordination whilst walking along the wooden beams and Felix pretending to be ‘Bob the Builder’ highly engrossed in his play of placing wooden blocks and planks in a particular way whilst singing along to Bob the Builder. The other children couldn’t resist joining in too with even the shyest contributing.
Meanwhile indoors the Saplings have been getting creative using straws to move paint with their breath, watching as it gathered momentum across the paper. Some chose to use the straw as a tool, splattering the paint instead. Another favourite ‘messy’ activity has been gloop which the children loved. It tested their gross motor skills as they used spoons to attempt to lift and draw up the gloop which was very stiff.
Some of the children demonstrated good pencil control whilst delicately tracing over lines and around circles whilst they matched animals to their homes. Finally, the children were challenged with a colour block matching activity whereby they had to place coloured blocks into the corresponding-coloured compartment of an egg box. This tested their matching, sorting and classification skills as well as introducing them to repeated patterns and colour recognition.
This week in Seedlings, we have been continuing our ‘growing’ theme. The children have planted their own radishes and broad beans and have ensured they are watered daily to sustain them. The Seedlings have so far enjoyed watching the progression of their plants, squealing with excitement at the emerging viola flowers. As a continuation of this, the children have created salt dough flowers, moulding and shaping the dough in their hands. The Seedlings then had fun mixing colours together to paint the petals. Using primary colours, the children investigated how these could be changed to make greens, purples and oranges.
The Seedlings have also been enjoying sand play this week. Using tools and animals to make marks within the sand, the children have considered whether these marks are large or small and how they could make different marks with the use of other utensils. As well as this, using the schema of transporting (back and forth,) the Seedlings have been moving sand from one container to another, showing real determination not to spill a single grain. Roman was fascinated by the action of sand falling through a sieve and soon realised that shaking the sieve made the sand run through faster.
This week in Acorns, the children have been investigating colours and shapes. Using simple shapes such as circles, squares and diamonds, the children were able to create their own collages, placing the shapes onto coloured card. This has enabled the children to develop their understanding of shape, space and measure as well as their physical development through the use of glue spreaders held in a palmar grasp. To extend this, the children have been seeking out other objects of varying colours, for example, shape sorters, sensory bottles and animals.
Using tin foil and cotton wool balls, we created a snowy scene. We added shaving foam to create the snow and the Acorns enjoyed getting messy and making marks on the tin foil. Some of the children enjoyed the texture of the cotton wool and the ripping of the tin foil. To express their interest the Acorns pulled surprised faces and vocalised their delight. The children enjoyed moving the animals across the shaving foam re-enacting their image of paw/hoofprints in actual snow.
Whilst in the room, we have been enjoying the colourful ‘soft play’. Showing a can-do attitude and sheer determination whilst climbing the steps, the Acorns used their balancing skills to climb up and then slide down on their bottoms. ‘’Wheeeeeeee!’’ was a popular sound to be heard on the descent.
We had two new friends join the room in the form of sock puppets. Whilst singing, the puppets have animatedly accompanied the children which fascinated the Acorns and helped to encourage them to join in with the actions of the nursery rhymes, our favourite this week, ‘The Wheels on the Bus.’
In the garden we have enjoyed making things look bigger by using a magnifying glass. Some of the Acorns held them up to their faces to make their faces seem bigger. This made them giggle and show high levels of energy and fascination watching their friends peer through the glasses. Also in the garden, we have been enjoying rolling hula-hoops. Using pointing to share an interest, the Acorns enjoyed watching the hoops roll around the garden. When the hoops fells down a few of the children would giggle to their friends. Using a pipe propped against the fence, the children have enjoyed rolling toy cars down the slope. Once the car reached the bottom, the children would clap and then continue the process over and over again. We opened up the mud kitchen for the Acorns which they found really exciting as it had previously been raining so there was an incredible amount of wet, sticky mud! Some decided to taste the mud whilst most used pots and pans to create their own delectable mud meals. Using metal spoons the children enjoyed stirring the pots and using their schema of transporting to move mud from one pan to another. Needless to say, most of the children had to have a change of clothes when we returned to their room but they expressed their delight with lots of smiles.
Messages:
Once again, you are reminded not to allow your children to bring food into nursery. We have had several cases of children arriving with cheese, egg and even pastry or bread crumbs on their clothes and due to severe allergies to all these foodstuffs it is of the upmost importance that we do not allow food into the nursery.
The Saplings ask parents for feedback on their weekend so that the children can share this with their friends during circle time.
Star of the Week:
Oaks – All our Oaks – for being brave enough and confident enough to learn not only one new language but four and for persevering.
Saplings – Thomas – for settling into the Saplings room so well and for having the confidence to join in with our circle time singing.
Seedlings – Roman – for his concentration and attention to detail during sand play.
Acorns – Henry for joining in with all the arts and crafts activities showing a can-do attitude and being very smiley when joining in.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
From us all at Broughton