Dear Parents,

We welcome Annie to Broughton who will initially be available to assist in all our groups and we take this opportunity to welcome Poppy, Lottie and Arabella to our Oaks 1 and Oaks 2 groups and Stanley to Seedlings; we hope they will all be very happy with us.

Oaks 1:

Oaks 1 have continued to think about the transition to ‘big school’ and enjoyed talking about their uniforms. Our display board is now full of photographs of the children dressed smartly in their outfits ready for their reception year – thank you to all who sent them in.

We’ve also been taking advantage of the dry spells this week and have spent time focusing on the children’s physical development outside in the garden. On one day, the group decided to gather leaves and other ‘ingredients’ to make mud pies and cakes. Scissors were used to improve the children’s fine motor skills when cutting up the things they’d sourced into small pieces.

Oaks 1 were introduced to the Olympics and loved learning all about the different sports the athletes take part in. The youngsters were lucky enough to watch a couple of the events and were particularly captivated by gymnastics. Thomas attends a club outside of nursery so was keen to show peers the ‘bunny rabbit’ hold. The children were also fascinated by diving – with a few members of the group attempting to replicate the professionals’ poses, in a safe manner of course.

After seeing athletes from around the world take on one another at javelin and archery, the children competed to throw a stick the furthest. They all worked so well as a team and happily cheered their friends on. Next, we designed our own medals and decorated them in a variety of colours. The children all used the tripod and pincer grips well.

Finally, we played a game of I Spy and Add to Ten that saw Oaks 1 tasked with identifying 10 characters or objects and accordingly marking them on clipboards. The class then counted on their fingers to make sure they tallied correctly.

Oaks 1 identifying creatures on their recent walk.    

Forest school participants enjoyed our walk to the lake to ‘fish’ and skim stones; they made their own fishing rods and described the sounds and sights as the stones ‘plopped’, ‘rippled’, ‘plonked’ and shed various patterns across the water. They foraged for suitable materials to fashion crowns and dreamcatchers and marvelled at the beautiful dragon flies. They were also very astute as they spotted giant fungus in a tree using their binoculars.

Star of The Week:

Theo – For having a really good week. His listening has been exceptional too.

Oaks 2:

We were thrilled to welcome back some of our Oaks 2 group this week – those that were off were greatly missed by peers and staff members alike.

Oaks 2 thoroughly enjoyed participating in this week’s Sporty Stars event. This involved the class attempting to throw a ball through a hoop that had been rolled to them by an adult. Anyone who successfully managed this was awarded 100 points. We were sure to incorporate numbers and shapes throughout the game, also challenging the group to count how many balls made it through the hoop and describe the hoop’s shape. This activity supported the children’s physical development.

Collectively, we then came up with the idea of creating different shapes using resources found in the garden such as cars, rackets and building blocks. Oaks 2 had fun throwing bean bags into the shapes before totting up how many had made it in. This task was wonderful for enhancing personal development while fostering independence as it saw the children select which outdoor materials they’d like to use.

We also linked our topic to the Olympics by encouraging Oaks 2 to colour in their own medals. We talked about the different formations that could be seen, with the group pointing out circles and rectangles. When it became apparent that gold, silver and bronze were colours some of the children hadn’t seen before, we enjoyed a discussion about unusual shades.

The practitioners then showed Oaks 2 pyramids, hexagons and pentagons. To enhance their learning while strengthening their understanding of the world, we watched a short YouTube clip about the pyramids in Egypt. Finally, Oaks 2 boosted fine motor skills while fashioning different shapes from lollipop sticks.

Star of The Week:

Arabella and Lottie – both are new to the room and settled in so well. They’ve both already started to interact with the other children too.

Saplings:

The Saplings have been learning all about superheroes this week, prompted by their love of Julia Donaldson’ Super Worm story.

We introduced the children to other books depicting this theme too, with Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet’s Supertato proving to be very popular. The plot follows a supermarket superhero who is always on the lookout for danger. There are lots of different vegetables mentioned, which encourages little ones to talk about healthy foods. To extend this, the practitioners brought in a selection of veggies for the children to examine. Once their textures had been explored, they were used for a printing project with paint. The Saplings loved mixing colours together and were fascinated by the patterns different vegetables make.

The Saplings also enjoyed reading There’s A Superhero In Your Book by McFly star Tom Fletcher. It’s a fun tale that celebrates the power of kindness. This sparked conversations about feelings and emotions. The children then chatted about what people can do to be nice to each another.

Fine motor skills were used to grasp crayons when the children got expressive while decorating superhero masks. Once they’d been coloured in, the Saplings added sequins as a finishing touch. Our busy week ended with a superhero dance that enabled the children to enhance their gross motor movements. Running, flying and stomping were some of the actions involved.

Star of The Week:

Hudson – For his growing confidence and his increased participation during circle times.

Seedlings:

The Seedlings have engaged in plenty of sensory play this week. They independently flicked through different touch and feel books, demonstrating how well they can turn the pages using the pincer grip. To add another educational dimension, the practitioners introduced single descriptive words such as bumpy, soft, rough, hard and smooth.

This gave us an idea for another activity – we asked the class to create their own texture books. The Seedlings were given freedom to choose which materials to use, as well as where to stick them in their book. We then took time to look through each of the finished creations.

Mia and Freddie we so engaged as they took great care building their own sensory herb bags. Freddie expertly picked off leaves of thyme, bringing them up to his nose for a smell before sprinkling them into a small sensory bag. Mia did the same with basil.

All the children enjoyed moulding our scented homemade modelling clay into different structures. We added mint essence to the play dough, as well as a touch of green food colouring.

Star of The Week:

Mia – For settling in so well on her visit and for showing such enthusiasm during our exploration of fresh and dried herbs.

Acorns:

Despite the downpours we’ve had recently, the Acorns’ learning has been centred around the notion of summer holidays.

We created our very own Broughton beach Tuff Tray complete with sand and water. Raul impressed everyone with his amazing sand castle building skills. While outside, the Acorns also adored pouring jugs of water down the gutters attached to our fences.

Inside the classroom, we enjoyed a game in our sand tray that saw the children use their fingers and paintbrushes to dig for shells. Archie showed a lot of patience as he gently blew the sand away while uncovering the shells.

While Ralph and Parker played with our small world dinosaurs, Ophelia demonstrated her very best roar. It was very convincing! After seeing how captivated the children were by the tyrannosaurus rex, diplodocus and pterodactyl as well as other reptiles, we worked together to make a prehistoric Tuff Tray. The Acorns played so beautifully alongside one another. Sebastian used the tray to aid his balance and managed to confidently walk across the courtyard.

Using glue sticks, their fingers and paintbrushes, the class also crafted sand paintings. Some of the sandy marks the children created were beautiful. Ottilia smiled as she touched the glue, evidently enjoying the sensory experience of the different textures.

Star of The Week:

Raul – For his increased communication skills.

Messages:

We’d love to see some photographs of our Acorns on holiday – please may we ask parents to send some in. 

Yours sincerely

The team at Broughton