“Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Seedlings:

This week, the Seedlings’ theme has incorporated anything to do with bubbles.

Thanks to the amazing weather we’ve been spoilt with, the children had a blast playing with Tuff Trays set up outside. The Seedlings beamed as they blew giant bubbles with our special wand too. Our balance bikes and beams have been a hit with all our children as well.

We’ve continued to look at the new season of spring too. We worked on the children’s fine motor skills as they scooped up flowers petals with spoons before placing them into bowls. We were impressed with the Seedlings’ focus and determination.

Star Of the Week:

Hope – For demonstrating excellent table manners.

Saplings:

This week, our Saplings made a start on their Easter crafts.

The first activity saw the children decorate egg shapes with paint sticks. Doing this helped to enhance the youngsters’ gross motor skills.

Next, the Saplings created wonderful works of art by carefully dipping rabbit, chicken and egg shape cutters into paint before pressing them down gently on paper.

The Saplings worked as a team to make a batch of salt dough too. They carefully combined all of the ingredients together before using cutters on the dough. Once their Easter creations had been cooked and cooled, the Saplings got to work painting them.

Of course we’ve spent plenty of time in the garden too, enjoying the feel of sunshine on our faces. On the warmer days, we’ve treated the children to breakfast and lunch outside.

Star Of the Week:

Jacob – For settling so well while transitioning to his new room.

Acorns:

The Acorns’ week has featured lots of exciting Easter-themed activities.

Firstly, the children made cards featuring a hand-printed rabbit adorned with eyes, a nose and whiskers to give to their families. All the children loved the cool feeling of paint on their fingers and palms. They giggled at the squelching noise it made too.

During another painting activity, the Acorns dipped cardboard tubes into paint and spent time rolling, twisting and dabbing. The children loved having the chance to express themselves creativity and use their independence to choose which colours to work with.

Our busy week at Broughton Cottage ended with a spot of baking. The children expertly mixed flour with sugar and butter to form a dough. Once this had been rolled out, the youngsters got to work shaping it with various cookie cutters.

While playing outside, the Acorns were brilliant at taking turns to have their suncream applied. They also wowed us with their skills on the balance beam. Now that we are able to spend lots more time in the garden, may we kindly ask parents to send in extra sets of clothes for water play as well as a sun hat.

Star Of the Week:

James – For being so kind to his friends and giving them cuddles when he noticed they were feeling sad.

Forest School:

A resounding ‘yes’ to a long walk in the beautiful sunshine was the rallying cry and off we set through barren fields, stopping for a swing in the familiar and ancient Oak tree. Heer showed great agility as she used her core strength and lift herself to the upper branches. The children enjoyed a quiet time of reflection as they looked out at the rolling hills, and beautiful Kentish countryside whilst enjoying a snack and discussed how far their vision reached as they pointed out landmarks from our journey before having a ‘rolling down the hill’ competition. Well done Ada, Alice and Emma for their tenacity in not stopping until they reached the bottom.

We encountered a friendly farmer as we set back as he spun slurry upon the bare fields, whilst rather unpleasant smelling the children discussed it’s purpose and all suggested it would help the crops grow better.

Upper Oaks:

Upper Oaks proved themselves to be budding scientists this week as they took part in a number of exciting experiments.

We learnt about chemical reactions when placing eggs into water before adding in a sprinkle of salt. A number of the group pointed out the the eggshells were changing. The children were also fascinated to discover that the eggs started to float when the water became salty.

And while spotting that salt dissolves when it’s added to water, the children had an interesting discussion about how different substances can cause things to react and change.

During our preschool Spanish lessons Christina taught the children a host of new phrases this week. They learnt to say “¿cómo estás?” (how are you?) and “estoy bien” (I’m good) as a response.

Star Of the Week:

Peggy – For recognising rhyming book stories when a practitioner was reading them. She did a fantastic job connecting the words.

Lower Oaks:

This week we introduced Tizzy and Jake to the Lower Oaks class.

Early Talk Boost is a well-documented intervention advised by Kent to support communication and language development. The children have really engaged with the Jake and Tizzy books and activities. The message ‘Good sitting, good looking, good listening’ is so beneficial for honing vital skills the children will need as a they progress towards school.

If you have any questions about this initiative, please do not hesitate to get in contact. We’d be delighted to answer any queries.

Lower Oaks have worked hard tending our vegetable patch this week too. The children ensured that everything was watered before they got to work planting peas, beans and cucumbers. The youngsters discussed what else they’d like to grow.

Next week, we’ll be sending home a growing pack that includes sunflower seeds. We can’t wait to hear about the flowers’ progress. There will be a prize for the tallest sunflower!

Inside the classroom we’ve continued to watch for life in our recycled propagators, and we talked about the 5 a day aim as well.

Maths has been central to our week too. Lower Oaks have boosted their counting and ability to write numerals. Please count everything with your child at home to reinforce our learning!

Star Of the Week:

Lyra – For showing such great engagement during our number games. She is always such a happy and smiling friend in our class.

Yours sincerely

The Broughton Team