“May the festival of light brighten your life.
Every new day comes with a new spark of happiness.” Mohammed Zaki Ansari, Zaki’s Gift Of Love

Saplings:

This week, the Saplings have enjoyed celebrating Diwali.

They had fun creating candle ‘holders’ using circular card which they worked hard to fold in half for a ‘rocker’ effect.

The children also worked hard to craft tea light holders out of salt dough. The Saplings had to use their muscles to mix the salt dough before using cutters to shape it into circles. Next, the youngsters used different coloured paint to decorate the salt dough shapes. Tea lights were then stuck on top to finish the Saplings’ creations.

Another activity saw the Saplings create stain glass windows by sticking tissue paper onto cardboard picture frames. These have now been hung from the ceiling of our room.

The Saplings have once again been busy in the garden too – the children particularly liked climbing on the frame and riding the trikes around the track. They had so much fun going up and down the slide and making creations in the mud kitchen as well.

Star Of The Week:

Madison – For growing in confidence with her communication skills.

Acorns and Seedlings:

This week in Acorns and Seedlings we have focused on the festival of light, Diwali.

To celebrate we got very creative with our arts and crafts, firstly making salt dough tea light holders. Mixing together flour, salt and water, the children revelled in the sensory experience as they manipulated the concoction using their hands before shaping it with the help of a practitioner.

Once baked, we set out a wide range of different coloured paint for the children to self-select and paint their creations.

We then got sticky as we dipped breadsticks in icing sugar and sprinkles to represent fireworks. This was a lovely little treat for the little ones to snack on.

Expanding on our arts and crafts, we made Diwali diyas – small, traditional oil lamps that are lit during the festival. We fashioned these out of cardboard with the children then completing them with a sprinkling of pom-poms.

Towards the end of the week, a practitioner assisted the children in making lanterns which were colourfully decorated with tissue paper and sequins. After a little more assistance from the practitioner, beautiful lanterns were then revealed.

Stars Of The Week:

Seedlings: Jamie – For becoming more confident with his communication and using his words.

Acorns: Georgia – For having a fantastic week at nursery.

Oaks 2:

A number of our children took part in some problem solving activities.
Ashlynn poured water into a small truck with another peer to see how fast the vehicle would move with the extra weight as opposed to being weightless.
The duo had an idea of putting a stick behind it noting that this then slowed it down.

Edward brought his African snail into nursery to show all his friends. He explained to them that her name was Mimi. A practitioner carefully lifted her out to show the children. Everyone stroked her ever so softly as the practitioner explained that her fragile shell was like a house. It’s safe to say Edward’s pet was a huge hit with us all.

Edward then went on to make a snail with the help of a practitioner, and he was really proud with the finished result.

May we kindly request that parents bring in any scraps of card you may have  that can be used for our mosaic.

Star Of The Week:

Ashlynn – For her participation this week.

 

Forest School

Our intrepid team were set a challenge; they helped gathered fallen tree trunks to make a ladder assault course. They worked together to arrange each one in size order. Much discussion ensued as they figured it all out.

Arthur led the group and instructed everyone that they had to follow the same path to avoid clashes or upset. During all this physical action a few children took a different path and enjoyed lounging or swinging in hammocks, working in pairs.

We took a stroll to the stream, and the children questioned why the tunnel had been closed off with boarding allowing a mere trickle of water through. They soon concluded that it was to protect the sheep who were grazing nearby ensuring they couldn’t get stuck or be injured.

The children have really shown empathy and kindness to both nature and each other as they continually offered help and support. 

                                                           

  Oaks 1:

Another fantastic week here in Oaks 1 as we embraced the new dark winter nights. If the children have any torches or lights that they would like to bring in they’re welcome to do so! The children were extremely excited to celebrate Halloween on Friday. Annette arranged a special barbecue for us in the playground and we had a monster fashion show, with each child taking turns to walk up and down the runway showing off their outfits and trying to scare the other children with their monster impressions.

We continued with our weekly walks, this time walking behind the Nursery and up the hill as we attempted to fly some kites…..” let’s go fly a kite, up to the highest heights, let’s go fly, fly a kite” 

We spotted dogs, joggers, horses and took refuge under some trees as we hid from the elements for a picnic! Thank you so much to the families who lent theirs, we will try again as soon as we get a windy day.

The children have been showing their wonderful imaginations as they build lengthy and complex role-plays together in our classroom. They work together as groups as they assign different roles and characters. Loose parts such as the tent, logs, random bottles and pots, seashells and more allow the children to create endless storylines using these open-ended resources. This week we have seen BBQs, hospitals, families and camping trips!

Continuing with our phonics we have been learning about how many syllables are in our names and the letter e!

Star of the week:

GG – for all her help when flying the kite.

Yours sincerely

The Broughton team