The latest news from the rooms….

Oaks 1:

Oaks 1 had a fabulous start to the week. On Monday we celebrated Stanley’s third birthday with a Paw Patrol party in the classroom. And because Autumn is now upon us, we centred learning around the new season.

The children took part in a scavenger hunt that saw them head out into the garden armed with a tick list, clipboard and pen. They searched our on-site forest area for autumnal items that could be used in other activities. George was the fastest at finding everything and kindly helped others complete their lists.The children enjoyed counting and sorting numbered conkers, weighing pine cones and crafting their own stick men from twigs. They also turned apples into stamps and used them to create pretty patterns.

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Oaks 1 got stuck into lots of mark-making too and loved drawing circles and squares in dirt, foam and sand while outside. We extended this activity back in the classroom by asking the group to draw different shapes. By the end of the week, we worked on letter writing. Some of the children were able to write their own names using chunky pencils. To facilitate the children’s increased interest in writing and recognising their names, we also challenged the class to match their moniker to their photograph.

While cautiously picking up ‘ladybirds’ with tweezers in a bug-themed task, Killian proved to be ever so patient. This kind of activity is a great way of improving fine motor skills and will in turn help the children to control and grip pencils when writing.

During our forest school day on Friday, Oaks 1 took part in a variety of outdoor pursuits. They built dens and helped the practitioners cook a tasty spaghetti bolognese on an open fire. Nova and Ottilie planned the menu, before helping put together a shopping list to ensure we had all of the necessary ingredients.

After seeing how much the children loved preparing the Italian pasta dish, they tried their hand at baking seeded bread buns to be enjoyed at tea. It was wonderful to see Oaks 1 improve their fine motor skills as they kneaded the dough.

Star of The Week:

Alf and Oliver – For writing their names beautifully.

Oaks 2:

During circle time this week, the children discussed what their main interests were. Oaks 2 told us that they love Peppa Pig, cars and babies so we came up with a series of activities to support this.

The children retained focus as they dipped cars in paint before driving them across paper to see the marks the wheels had made. To bring in the concept of opposites, we talked about big and small vehicles plus long and short tracks.

Oaks 2 also thoroughly enjoyed looking at different Peppa Pig books. The whole group concentrated well as a practitioner read out the stories. To extend this, the children made masks and talked about which animals they like. We gave them freedom to choose which resources to use and the favourites included paint, colouring pencils, glitter and googly eyes.

Everyone worked together brilliantly to create a creature-themed Tuff Tray, complete with natural objects they’d found in the garden.

The children had so much fun as they engaged in a spot of role-play with dolls in our miniature kitchen. They pretended to feed them and had a go at dressing them, carefully doing up the buttons on their outfits. We used a wide range of vocabulary whilst talking about the babies, especially when naming their body parts and facial features.

Star of The Week:

Alexandre – His speech has come on so brilliantly this week.

Saplings:

Our sensory topic is now well underway and the Saplings have participated in plenty of wonderful activities over the past week.

The staff presented the class with a vase of fresh pink roses and instructed the children to take in the flowers’ scent and appearance. We then asked them to paint their own interpretation of the blooms to boost their creativity skills. A number of the children were able to correctly identify the colours green and pink. The Saplings all smiled as they made decisive strokes with their brushes while working on their paintings.

Next, we got busy baking apricot cereal bars. This was an excellent opportunity to encourage the children’s independence as they carried out tasks such as mixing and pouring the ingredients. This was a great way of boosting physical development too as the Saplings were required to use their palmar grasp. Once cool, the bars were tucked into as an afternoon snack. The children really relished tasting something new.

Sand and water play have also been a key part of the week, and the children got experimental with Play-Doh too. Arabella got stuck in with the water play, giggling as she used her hands to splash. She loved pouring water out of and in to various containers.

Star of The Week:

Arabella – For growing in independence.

Seedings:

The Seedlings have continued with their animal theme this week.

We’ve also worked on the children’s pincer grips during messy play and other crafty activities – one of which saw the Seedlings use cotton wool to create their own interpretations of sheep.

To help strengthen the group’s hand/eye co-ordination, we tasked the youngsters with threading spaghetti through the holes of a colander. Margot exercised great precision and determination throughout.

Alfie, Theo, Sebbie, Ralph and Raul have impressed the practitioners this week too. They’re all starting to spot their own photos when finding their beakers or when looking at the Who’s in Today recognition board.

The whole class have wowed us with their confidence when saying new single words. These have included ‘bird’, ‘car’, ‘toast’ and ‘no’.

Finally, the Seedlings have explored blue sand and used spoons and cups to scoop up and drop different objects. Out in the garden, we made some natural scented water with herbs including mint and basil. Theo, Sebbie and Alfie helpfully offered to water our tomatoes and flowers. This is a wonderful way for the children to appreciate where are food comes from and how we can care and nurture our own crops.

Star of The Week:

Thomas – For settling back into nursery so well after his holiday. He’s also growing in confidence when playing alongside his peers.

Acorns:

The Acorns have spent their week learning about sounds.

While in the courtyard, we listened out for birds as well as traffic driving on the road outside the nursery. The children were very excited to hear police sirens and large lorries. The Acorns were equally happy when the tractor from the farm next door noisily chugged by. Planes were something else we all listen out for, with the children enthralled by the sound of whirring engines. The Acorns sweetly waved to a Chinook as it whizzed through the air.

Ottilie and Sebastian beamed as they heard the sound of water splashing in the tray. The duo went on to practice their pouring skills.

The ‘That’s Not My…’ series of books were a hit with Oscar W.R. this week. He was thrilled to learn that scratching and stroking the textures on the pages would create different sounds.

Star of The Week:

Oscar W.R. – For feeding himself so well and always arriving with a wonderful smile upon his face.  

Have a lovely weekend.

The team at Broughton