“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” — Dr. Seuss, The Cat in The Hat
Reminder of dates for your diary
Upper and Lower Oaks – Father’s Day celebration Friday 13th June 2.30pm-4pm. Fathers – please can you upload a photograph of yourself and your child on Babysdays as soon as possible, thank you.
Sports Day – School Leavers from Upper and Lower Oaks groups – 2.45pm-4pm. You are welcome to stay for coffee and cake afterwards.
School Leaver’s Party – Saturday 12th July 10am-12pm.Families are welcome to come back and join us for a BBQ from 11am
Seedlings:
This week, our focus has been on Michael Rosen’s book We’re Going on A Bear Hunt.
Our week started with a bear hunt in the forest area of our garden, and the children loved searching for their teddies.
Another activity saw the Seedlings make bear-shaped Cornflake cakes – what a fun way to improve hand-eye coordination while also presenting a chance to work on pouring skills. Harvey demonstrated brilliant control as he carefully spooned the mixture into cupcake cases. We then challenged the children with moulding their remaining Cornflakes into bears.
Towards the end of the week, we made a sensory map to explore different things referenced in the book. The Seedlings particularly liked feeling the squelchy mud and opening the cave to reveal the bear inside. Axel sweetly said ‘hello’ to the bear.
River impressed practitioners by finishing sentences each time the story was read alloud.
Star of the Week:
Leo – For being so amazing at puzzles and really concentrating on tasks.
Saplings:
This week, the Saplings have enjoyed taking part in a range of engaging activities.
They took their time to plant sunflower seeds into their own individual pots. The week has also seen the children paint flowers using czrdboard tubes. Edward wowed the practitioners with his enthusiasm.
During another arty activity, Devon did a brilliant job of copying shapes that had been drawn by an adult. While expressing herself with colouring pencils, Robin proudly told her friends she had sketched her mummy.
On Thursday afternoon, the Saplings had a blast at our dance party where Alba showed off her excellent singing skills whilst Cornelius treated everyone to a showcase of the most impressive moves.
In the garden, the children rose to the challenge of walking along our balance beams and clambering up the climbing frame. Marco and Clemence showed true determination as they climbed higher and higher.
Star Of The Week:
Robin – For being very helpful and kind to all her friends.
Acorns:
We’ve been focussing on self-care in Acorns.
The hand-washing Tuff Tray was hugely popular. The children diligently scrubbed paint off rubber gloves using soapy water. We also set up a Tuff Tray where the Acorns could bathe baby dolls. The children were ever so gentle as they gave their babies a splishy sploshy bath.
We spent lots of time in the courtyard too, with the sandpit, a big hit. We built sandcastles together and dug for treasure. The Acorns splashed with ducks as we sang “5 little ducks went swimming one day” and had lots of fun in the ball pit.
Our older Acorns ventured into the big garden to extend their play in the mud kitchen and helped build a bus in the construction area with the aid of the older children, instructing them along the way.
The children are being encouraged to wipe their own hands and faces after mealtimes with practitioner support and are taking themselves over to the hydration station where they can independently take their own beakers.
Star of the Week:
Arthur – For starting to walk independently.
Upper Oaks:
What a fantastic week we’ve had reminding ourselves, exploring wildlife and nature.
We began the week with a local trip to the park, starting with a very important activity: litter picking. This helped remind us of all about how vital it is to look after our environment and protect the wildlife that lives in it. The children did an amazing job collecting litter and showed great care and responsibility. As a well-deserved reward, we enjoyed a delicious homemade pizza picnic in the park, lovingly prepared and kindly delivered by Annette—thank you, Annette! After our treat, the children had a wonderful time playing together in the park.
Wednesday morning brought one of our favourite outdoor treats—pancake making! We cooked pancakes outside over our portable camping stove for breakfast, and they were a big hit, especially with Imogen who took great joy in helping to cook and slice up the strawberries, alongside her friends. It was a lovely way to start the day together.
We had a truly special visit from Alan the Bird Man, who amazed the children with his incredible birds of prey. He brought along an eagle, a falcon and an owl,
and the children were captivated as they learned all about where these magnificent creatures live and what makes them birds of prey. The children showed excellent behaviour throughout the visit, demonstrating real curiosity and respect—a proud moment for us all.
Forest School:
The children are extremely knowledgeable about how to build and sustain a fire and are gradually building strength in their fingers to fire strike in order to make the initial spark. We cook our meals over fire every week and ask the children what they would like to prepare the following week. As the horses had decided not to deign us with their presence and accept their gifts from us, it was decided that baked stuffed apples would be delicious cooked over a roaring fire. The children soon got to work nimbly cutting the apples, removing their cores and stuffing the middles with raisins, it was tricky to dig out the centres but they did not waiver from the task and were very satisfied with the result. It was the perfect time to recap on our knowledge of fractions as we cut some additional apples into halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths. Well done team for your participation.
Lower Oaks:
Happy meteorological summer!
We’ve been embracing summer in Lower Oaks by spending plenty of time in our wonderful garden.
The children have enjoyed prepping snacks in the sun and scouring for minibeasts. This week, we spotted lots of caterpillars which led to a conversation about their life cycle.
We are hoping our caterpillars will arrive next week so we can show the children how they change into a cocoon.
The children all loved preparing cress for our fairy garden. The children offered up some very sweet suggestions when we asked them what we should give the fairies to keep them happy.
We have a newly decorated quiet corner in our classroom – we believe that it’s very important for the children to have access to downtime, peace and rest at all times.
We always share a number of books with the children throughout each day and love to give the youngsters the freedom to choose which ones they want practitioners to read aloud. Please encourage your child to tell us what their favourite story is.
Your sunflowers must be starting to grow tall now! We were delighted to see the progress that Annabelle’s sunflower has made and await for others so that we can start a height chart.
Star of the Week:
Theo – For his amazing focus in construction.
Yours sincerely
The Broughton Team