‘January brings the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow…’ Sara Coleridge – The Months

Staffing news – we are pleased that Amelie will be returning full time from February as Room Lead for Saplings whilst Jackie will be taking the Room Lead position in Oaks 2

Oaks 1:

Hello from Oaks 1! The classroom continued to be a paper factory this week and we are so thrilled to say that each child has now made their own unique piece. There are so many steps to recycling paper. The children ripped up paper, soaked it in water, blended it with a handheld whisk, strained and sieved it through nets, rolled it flat and then air dried it. It was incredibly messy and a lot of fun!

The complex social role-plays continue in our room. This type of social, dramatic play creates so much learning from negotiating their own place and role in the play, to using open-ended props creatively to support the play, to huge amounts of language. The children have recreated everything from swimming lessons, trips to the hairdressers and cinema outings this week. To honour this play we had our very own cinema day. We created ticket Stubs, made our own healthy biscuits, used our phonics skills to spell out different movies and then wrote our names under the choices to take a class vote. We used real money and created a box office desk to enter the cinema, stamp tickets and buy our snacks. We used blankets and blinds to turn the carpet into a cinema theatre. And then of course we watched a wonderful short film by Julia Donaldson, The Scarecrow’s Wedding. We were so impressed by the children’s desire to try writing different numbers and their names throughout the process.

Toileting has been another huge part of our learning this week. The children decorated the outside loo with homemade bunting and we had many conversations about the importance of timing our trips to the loo appropriately and looking to adults as and when they need some help. There is a delicate balance between giving the children the space to master these skills independently whilst also making sure they stay clean and dry. Thank you, parents, for your continued support as we work together to help the children in this important and often tricky area of independence.

Forest School:

Your wonderful children are so resilient, despite frightful 

weather they were not perturbed and demonstrated great support of others, even if at times they might flag a little themselves. 

We kept warm by setting an assault course, rolling logs into zig zag positions and using tree branches laid in a ladder like fashion. We wove in and out, up and over, mimicking in many ways a favourite tale, ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ which kept everyone entertained and siting (in unison) the well-rehearsed lines … we can’t go over it, we can’t go under it, uh oh, we’ll have to go through it!!

The following week we had to abandon our usual woodland trip, instead taking a stroll to the local nature reserve and marvelling at all that nature offers. We learnt that some of the terrain we walked through was once a railway line and had lots of fun ‘echoing’ through the tunnel. Alaire spotted another yellow country marker and made the connection with similar ones dotted around our Forest School trips whilst Willow and Genevieve studied the map guidance and noted that red marked a pathway for those on horseback, whilst white and yellow were markers for pedestrians and kept to the allotted route, well done team.

We then returned to nursery and cooked our lunch over our firepit. 

Oaks 2:

This week, Oaks 2 have been interested in worms and how they burrow underground.

Inspired by this, we decided to look at our pouring skills and discover what happens to water when it’s poured into the soil. This added the word ‘absorb’ into the children’s vocabularies. The children were ever so fascinated to see the water being absorbed into the soil. We also discussed a decaying apple and spoke about how the nutrients dissolve into the ground as food for the worms.

Oaks 2 asked if they could collect more worms to add to our wormery so we decided to go on a bug hunt.

Julia Donaldson’s story ‘Super Worm’ was the perfect book to complement our interest. Once we’d read it, we took the opportunity to discuss the different elements that make up a book including the author and illustrator. The children loved this book and were able to fill in the gaps to the story.

We also looked at simple maths this week while playing with Play-Doh. The children loved having the chance to boost their cutting skills while using one-handed tools. Oaks 2 rolled the modelling clay into balls before cutting in half, quarters, eighths etc. prompting discussions of fractions.

Star Of the Week:

Edward – For really getting involved in our activities and taking part so willingly.

Saplings:

This week in Saplings, we had a colourful and engaging time exploring colours through play-based learning activities.

The children were excited to learn about identifying, matching and sorting colours using fun and creative materials.

The children participated in a hands-on activity using cardboard rolls wrapped in different shades of tissue paper. The tissue rolls were securely stuck onto cardboard to create a colourful matching board. Each roll represented a different colour, and the children were tasked with placing the corresponding pom-pom inside. The activity helped the children practice colour recognition, strengthen fine motor skills by picking and dropping pom-poms while also giving them the chance to work on their sorting and matching skills. We observed patience and critical thinking throughout.

Star Of the Week:

All of our Saplings – For enthusiastically engaging in each of our activities.

Seedlings and Acorns:

This week, the Seedlings have focused on all things orange and yellow while the Acorns have been learning all about themselves.

We started the week with a pond-inspired Tuff Tray filled with yellow ducks and tools to scoop and rescue them from the water (should they need rescuing!). This was a fantastic activity for testing hand-eye coordination, and the children loved “saving” the ducks.

Acorns had a Tuff Tray filled with oats, spoons and bowls. The children were all supported to scoop the oats into each bowl, which will help foster mealtime independence.

Another water-themed Tuff Tray filled with lemons and oranges was a real hit. Arlo and Millie absolutely loved this activity as we chatted about all the different elements we could see or feel such as the combination of colour, shade and aroma. The children were engrossed all morning.

Acorns learnt about their faces with Play-Doh ‘self portraits,’ while using mirrors to ‘copy’ their look. They then moulded their features into the modelling clay which provided a fantastic opportunity to discuss how unique we all are.

We enjoyed lots of messy play too. The children had so much fun with our ‘hay’ Tuff Tray complete with yellow and orange trucks. This activity was perfect for mark-making and role play. Our gloop Tuff Tray was a firm favourite among all and was wonderful for colour recognition and texture comparison.

Acorns finished the week learning how to wash their hands as they made a family tree. The children scrubbed clean rubber gloves that had been covered in paint with soap and water. We chatted about why it’s important to keep our hands free from germs.

To make the family tree, the youngsters painted cardboard green and brown before making leaves to add to it. Handprints were then painted on before family photos were added to the backdrop.

Our Seedlings ended their week adding orange and yellow to our rainbow collage. Different materials were used including pipe cleaners, feathers, paint, shapes and tissue paper.

Stars Of the Week:

Acorns: April – For settling in so well.

Seedlings: Ernest – For starting to take a few steps on his own.

The Broughton team