“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” -from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

A little reminder that our Meet the Teams evening is this Monday, 23rd March, 7-8pm; Annette will be providing some dishes to keep you sustained whilst you are with us.

Thank you to all our mummies and grand mummies who came to celebrate Mother’s Day last week, we were so pleased you could come and share this special day with us.

Seedlings:

This week, the Seedlings have been getting very messy.

We kicked off the week with a Gruffalo hunt in a mixture of oil, flour and cocoa powder which resembled cake batter. Tilly loved this activity and put her whole body into the mixture to explore.

We then turned our attention to a lovely foamy concoction and explored its texture and scent. The Seedlings adored scooping up the foam to see how it held its shape. Arlo giggled as he clapped his hands to make the foam fly into the air.

To commemorate St Patrick’s Day, the children made their very own rainbows using sponges and paint. Ernie worked so hard on his artwork and strived to make his rainbow perfect as he kept going back for more colours.

Towards the end of the week, we started to get into the Easter spirit. The children were tasked with painting some wooden hanging eggs. They worked hard holding the string at the top as they painted, some requiring help but they all gave it a good go and created a masterpiece that will be displayed in the room.

Star Of the Week:

Millie – For being so helpful and really wanting to get involved.

Acorns:

We too have been embracing the great outdoors and spending lots of time in the fresh air, on occasions, enjoying our afternoon tea outdoors. The children are getting stronger on their feet and finding exploring the garden a joy, tipping this here, transporting that there and thoroughly immersing themselves in all we have to offer. They have been expressing their inner artist in areas of creativity, using mediums such as sand, foam, cornflour or paint and demonstrating wonderful mark making along the way.

Stars Of the Week:

All our little Acorns – for demonstrating persistence and joy.

Oaks 1:

Hello, spring! We were pleased to welcome the equinox this week. An equinox happens twice a year—around 20 March (spring) and 22 September (autumn) in the Northern Hemisphere. On these days, the sun crosses the equator, resulting in nearly equal lengths of day and night.

A huge heartfelt thank you to everyone who donated to our Comic Relief effort! We were so thrilled to see the children in red and cycling like crazy. We have been learning about children across the world, and unfortunately locally, who suffer poverty and hardship. We have been teaching the importance of looking after our planet, our resources and not wasting water or food. Very valuable learning for the children to take forward and truly understand how lucky we all are.

In other news, our vegetable patch has been prepped and pea plants are protruding. We have also planted potatoes and carrots, and produced an amazing herb wall. Embracing the warm sun, we ventured outside to cook our meals as much as we could. We are reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle 1 which has expanded our learning on cycles, growing and seasons. We are all growing a sunflower each to see whose grows the tallest – please do send us progress photos!

Stars Of the Week:

Our amazing group for their grit and determination during our charity cycle challenge.

Oaks 2:

Oaks 2 have been enjoying the sunshine this week and have loved making the most of being outside.

We’ve managed to spot quite a few animals and insects in the garden. River and Marco pointed to a spider and both watched with great fascination as it scampered across the climbing frame. As we discussed the spider and counted its limbs, River exclaimed she was going to call him Mr Skinny Legs. Ted then saw a worm on the playground – we were able to rescue it and pop it back in the mud. We also found a bumble bee who was extremely hungry and began eating pollen as soon as we placed her in the hellebores. Finally, we said hello to the magpie as he watched from afar as we ate our tea.

We also set off on an adventure into the fields between the nursery and the North Down. The children loved watching the trains as they sped through the countryside at high speed. Devon was delighted to observe an ‘owl’ in the woodland and told everyone how it had made a nest and was going to fly away. The children thoroughly enjoyed running through the fields. When we returned to Broughton Cottage, we cooked our lunch over the campfire.

Stars Of the Week:

Jaspar – For embracing the outdoors and Devon and River for their wonderful imaginations.

Forest School:

It’s extraordinary how the children’s interests change from week to week, one day, tree climbing is a favourite, whilst the next, den building’s popularity keeps the whole team engaged as we witness some wonderful connections between them all, with displays of help, support and expressive language heard throughout. 

Each action bringing lots of creativity and imagination.

A walk to the stream was fascinating as the children enjoyed their first paddle of the year and whiled away the time skimming stones.

The children demonstrated great critical thinking as they solved a problem: how might we reach the other side where the stony path had disappeared? Collectively, they worked together to rebuild the path gathering rocks and large stones and laid them in order of size with George as acting foreman.

Saplings:

This week in Saplings we have been observing the eruption of greenery emerging all around us so we incorporated this into our activities.

At the start of the week our group helped cut up their own snack. First, we started with some green cucumber, a softer more manageable vegetable and the children were excellent at holding the child friendly knife. Some were determined to do their work without our assistance and did a splendid job too.

As the week progressed, we moved on to apples, a rather more difficult challenge! However, the children remembered how to hold the knife safely. Again, the children got stuck in and the best part of the activity was eating the snack in the afternoon.

With lots of vocal connections around the colour green, the children expressed their artistry in paint, actively mixing their own colours with an emphasis on green. Plenty of different tools were introduced to help create a variety of patterns and effects.

Star Of the Week:

Jackson- for being so helpful whilst tidying up with his friends.

Until next time …….

The Broughton Team.