Oaks 1:

Last week we marked St George’s Day with a flourish of flag making and waving and learning about St George’s adventures – the children were particularly fascinated to learn that according to legend, George was a soldier in the Roman army who killed a dragon and saved a princess!

This week the children have continued to look at construction, using fine motor skills to draw interpretations of their homes.

Many took into account the colour of the bricks and the texture of the roof, while some also added members of their family to their pictures. Others commented on the inside layout of their houses too. To extend this, the group discussed which materials could be used to create models of their drawings. It was determined that wooden blocks, Duplo, sticks, mud and even biscuits were suitable for the task. Taking this into account, the group also used tree trunks and various sized twigs to build bridges in the garden. Reeve and Thomas explained that one sloped more than the other, while another became the ladder for pedestrians to climb on. Cindy continued the theme outdoors as the children attentively added various items to their bridge to test it’s rigidity.

The children have spent plenty of time in the garden soaking up the glorious weather. Everyone enjoyed setting up lunch tables in the forest, working together to ensure each child had cutlery, a plate and a cup with water in.

Oaks 1 also took part in lots of sporting games – two particular favourites were ‘banana split’ and something the children named ‘the ball game’. Banana split involved the children racing around, negotiating spaces and adjusting their speed in order avoid getting ‘stuck’ by their peers. While playing the latter, the children had to keep their eye on the ball, watching to see if it touched the ground. As soon as it did, Oaks 1 had to sit on the floor. This enabled the children to enhance their physical development in addition to their listening and concentration skills.

Back inside, Oaks 1 made dough twists from flour and water, utilising fine motor skills to knead the mixture. The children used cups to measure the quantities of flour and water needed to create the correct consistency, adding more liquid if too dry or more flour if too sticky. The dough was then twisted on to canes. The children carefully held them over a fire and watched as the dough changed texture and colour. Once cooked, Oaks 1 sampled their bakes. The children opted to add a little honey for sweetness.

Star of the Week:

Theo – For excellent listening and showing good sportsmanship during the outside games.

Messages:

Please may all parents provide a picture of the outside of their house as the children will be creating their own junk modelling interpretations next week.

Oaks 2:

‘All about me’ has remained the focus of Oaks 2 this week and we started off with an activity centred around emotions.

We created a Tuff Tray complete with faces sporting happy, worried, sad and excited expressions and asked the class to point to the emotion they were currently experiencing. Next, the children picked up pens and drew their feelings on to a paper face. This task taught Oaks 2 how to recognise different emotions while helping foster an understanding of why people may feel a certain way. It also enhanced the children’s concept of shapes and size as they had to draw a circle to represent the face.

To boost the confidence of the quieter members of the room, we decided to have a show-and-tell using objects from home. These included books, Pluto and his dog food plus the Gruffalo and his lunch box. The children had a great time and loved showing peers their favourite possessions.

Oaks 2 also got creative making mirrors using foil, pens, scissors and glue. To open up a discussion about reflections, we asked the children to tell us what they could see when they looked into the shiny surface. Another activity adored by the class this week was baking and decorating biscuits. The children loved squeezing out the icing to create different faces before adorning their sweet treats with sprinkles. Oaks 2 relished having the freedom to choose which colour icing to use. 

Next week, we’ll be learning about mini beasts because the children seem so interested in animals.

Star of The Week:

Killian – For settling in so well and already forming friendships.

Saplings:

Sticking with our new spring theme, the Saplings started the week with a spot of gardening.

After using fine motor skills to pick up seeds and plant them in soil, we talked about how sunlight and water will help the flowers grow. The children have been so excited to come out into the garden to see their potted plants and are ever so eager to help a practitioner water them.

We’ve continued to work on turn-taking and sharing too by playing different games that encourage this, including rolling a ball to one another. While doing this, Oscar called out Ava’s name. This activity was also wonderful for honing fine motor skills. A second game that allowed the Saplings to develop these skills further involved finding objects to match different coloured hoops. All children exercised patience as they waited for their turn, while Rory sweetly offered to help a friend struggling to find something red.

This week has also seen the Saplings practice their hand/eye coordination. They also showed such focus as they threaded pasta on to straws and used scissors to cut out paper pizza toppings aided by an adult. It’s fair to say their finished pizza looked good enough to eat.

Star of The Week:

Sophia – For being a caring friend to her peers.

Seedlings:

Seedlings have been exploring small world animals this week.

We had fun with a variety of sensory Tuff Trays, including ones featuring sand, porridge oats, shaving foam, leaves and logs. While playing with these to explore different textures, the children were able to work on their pincer grip by using their thumbs and forefingers to pick up the sand and porridge oats. The Seedlings also enjoyed using brushes and lollipop sticks – as well as their fingers – to create a range of marks in Play-Doh. And by using colouring pens to decorate animal masks, the children had the chance to practice both their palmar grasp and three-finger tripod grip.

During small group time, the Seedlings were full of energy while copying Makaton animal signs and loved singing along to songs about creatures complete with actions.

Star of The Week:

Flynn – For growing in confidence with his communication when talking to his peers.

Acorns:

We’d like to wish Ralph a very happy first birthday – we hope he had a wonderful time celebrating.

The Acorns have had a busy week themed around Rod Campbell’s Dear Zoo book. As well as learning the names of the animals featured and the noises they make, the children were thrilled to get messy while finger-painting the different creatures. We’re sure you will have clocked their paint-splattered hands when they came home! Once they’d finished crafting their colourful critters, Freddie and Adrian were put in charge of making a box to pop the animals in. Alfie said he was painting a ‘big elephant’ on the box, while Mia drew a ‘scary snake’. Archie, George and Raul teamed up to create a beautiful travel map using their fingertips, animals and paint.

Ophelia was enthralled by small world play this week. She was keen to include the Happyland animals in a game so everyone got involved cleaning the figurines in the garden. They were very sandy having been used in a previous activity.

The Acorns have also been looking after the flowers they recently planted, taking it in turns to water them. Sebastian was amazed by the cool temperature of the water and loved seeing it splash. Finally, we’ve spent time exploring different textures using our wood, metal and natural materials sensory baskets.

Star of The Week:

Adrian – For using his fabulous social skills to encourage others to join in with small world play.

Have a wonderful weekend.

The Broughton team