“‘One must always be careful of books,’ said Tessa, ‘and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.” ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel

We’d like to remind you that our Mother’s Day afternoon tea will take place on 13th March from 2-4pm. Oaks 1, 2 and Saplings- We are intending to be outside so please bring a picnic blanket it you have one. We are extending this celebration to all our lovely mummies although our youngest groups (Acorns and Seedlings) will join our teams indoors.

Seedlings and Acorns:

To commemorate World Book Day, the Seedlings and Acorns have taken part in numerous engaging activities linked to some of their favourite stories.

Eric Carle’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar was the focus of our first activity and the children loved posting different kinds of food into its mouth. We chatted about the taste, smell and colour of each item. The Seedlings and Acorns loved their busy board themed around the book too – Lettie was brilliant at mimicking the caterpillar eating fruit by carefully pushing one of the tasty props through a hole.

Next, the children had so much fun in our activity inspired by Michael Rosen’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. The Seedlings and Acorns walked through clear trays that had been filled with grass, water and sticks, as well as gloop and cotton wool to represent the mud and snow. The children loved feeling all the different textures. Olivia was very proud to show her friends her new walking skills.

Next up, the children stomped their feet in brown paint before walking along paper to create Gruffalo footprints. We then went on a hunt in a thin layer of mud, which had all the characters hidden beneath the surface. The children diligently searched for the creatures using paint brushes.

To finish our week, the children crafted a colourful Elmer the elephant from tissue paper and card. This gave the youngsters the chance to demonstrate their colour recognition skills while also working on their fine motor ones.

Stars Of the Week:

Seedlings:

Oscar – For starting to put lots of words together and forming small sentences.

Acorns:

Thea – For doing so well trying to communicate.

Oaks 2:

David McKee’s book Elmer has been the focus of the Lower Oaks this week.

The children adored making their own patchwork elephants from milk cartons and tissue paper. This activity provided an opportunity to boost fine motor skills as the children had to paste glue over the cartons before decorating them further with colourful tissue paper to reflect his glorious coat.

Inspired by the plot, we spent time chatting about the visual differences that can be seen between people, touching on hair and eye colour. Cornelius sweetly told his friends that his hair was yellow.

We have of course spent lots of time in the garden enjoying the sun and feeling its warmth on our faces. While outside, we made our own play dough and collected various natural objects such as sticks and stones to place onto their modelling clay thereby creating all sorts of strange creatures.

Star Of the Week:

All Oaks 2 – For embracing all things messy.

Oaks 1:

What a busy and enriching few weeks our Oaks have had. We’ve especially enjoyed spending time outside in the sun – what a tonic for the children and staff alike!

Once a week, we’ve made a trip to Dene Park to forage and talk about the changes in the season as new life appears. Allium, crocus and apple blossom plants were spotted, and we have already pressed the flowers for an exciting future project.

This week we have been looking at literature and embracing the wonder and beauty of books. All the children loved our Alice In Wonderland-inspired tea party and costume parade. We love to take a quiet moment looking at books to reinforce language and communication.

We are continuing to work our way through our phonic sounds, and the children are now forming words and reading their first words. We have been totally blown away with Oaks’ hunger to learn and the amazing progress they are all making.

Star Of the Week:

Robin – for such an adventurous World Book Day costume, celebrating the character of Max from Where the Wild Things Are.

           Forest School:

The children are a pretty resilient group but how we cheered to see such incredibly sunny, warm days return.

The children love their woodworking sessions and continue in this vein as they used their tools to ‘fix’ the tractor declaring, after a suitable interval that it was “all better now”. Using ropes they practised their tying skills – in time this will progress to attachment (to various items) as they learn to transport from on place to another. For now, they twist and curve the thick chord, as they strap the rope to trees. 

As a team, they foraged for fallen branches to build a superb den, completed with a discarded hammock which gave their ‘home’ some shelter. 

Whilst out for our walk the children collected plenty of rocks to make into pet rocks, decoration takes place next time.

Incredibly busy and productive sessions all round.

Saplings:

This week our Saplings have been celebrating all the beautiful colours emerging around them.

At the start of the week we participated in a colour sorting activity with coloured bowls and pom poms. The children carefully sorted the correct colours into the corresponding bowls; some children using spoons whilst others, their pincer grip. Some children counted as they sorted while others correctly called out each shade in turn.

We then turned to our some colour themed treasures baskets (Blue, red, and green) this created lots of conversation between the children. Axel brought his Lego tower to the baskets and commented on how some parts matched. Others in the group made similar connections with Arlo pointing to his yellow top.

The children then competed a mark making activity with paint and pom poms chatting away as they worked. Arthur said he was creating a cat, while Polly stated that hers was for mummy.

Star of the Week:

Maddison, for learning to use the potty.

Yours sincerely

The Broughton Team