All posts by Miss Keith

Literacy, Snack, Special Event

Pancake đŸ„ž Day

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Today is pancake day and the children were very excited to make pancakes for snack. We had a look at our recipe and gathered together our ingredients. The children had a look at the numbers on the scales and jug to make sure we measured the correct quantities.  We then added everything together and used the whisk to blend it into a smooth, runny consistency ready for cooking.

We had some fun tossing our pancakes in the air and catching them in our pan.  This helped develop their hand and eye coordination skills and also  their balance.  We also enjoyed our Bookbug session with stories and a few renditions of “pop a little pancake into the pan”.

At snack time the children chose what they would like to have on their pancakes. We had bananas, strawberries, raspberries or lemon juice.  “This was a great snack”. There was lots off discussion amongst the children about who had pancakes for breakfast today . This social time helps the children with language and taking turns during the conversation. “Hope my mummy makes pancakes tonight “ .

The children asked if they could make more pancakes in the afternoon. It had been such a long time since we had cooked pancakes on the fire we asked Val and Fiona if they would light the fire. It was a big yes so we spent the afternoon in the sun, around the fire pit having… MORE PANCAKES!

The children watched as the pancakes turned from a liquid into a solid and commented on the bubbles!

‘We can see bubbles! That means they’re ready to turn!’

Literacy

How measurement can help us !

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Today in our baking area we decided to investigate how measurement helps us with our recipes. We had a look at our measuring cups . They were all different sizes so firstly we put them in a line biggest to smallest. We discovered that the biggest cup can hold lots of smaller ones.
We counted as we filled up the bowls with water. “Oh this is getting heavy” . “This bowl is full now” . “We cannot pour it back into a smaller bowl now as it will spill”. “I think it sounds like a waterfall when it goes over the sides “.

We then has a look at our scales and how we use them. We filled different sizes of cups and put them on the scales. We discovered the bigger the cup the higher number on the scale.

“Look mine is lots of numbers !”  We had a look at our recipes and matched the cups to the quantity we would require.

We had lots of fun with the flour creating shapes using the cups and bowls. The girls and boys were very creative making hand prints and creating shapes.

“ look I made a diamond”

We made different size spheres using the measuring cups. We enjoyed a little bit of a “snow storm”  and then a bit of clearing up, which all the boys and girls helped with.

Well done everyone!

Literacy

Let’s make Scones

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Today in the Home Room we had a look at some recipes and chose to make scones. We gathered up the ingredients, some were in the cupboards and some in the fridge.

We then washed our hands and put our aprons on.

We carefully measured out the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. We checked the numbers on the scales to see when the spoonfuls of flour reached 300g . We talked about the different sizes of spoons as we needed  2 tablespoons of sugar, but only one teaspoon of baking powder. Then we added the oat milk .

Today we added cherries to our scones.  We discussed our safety rules when using a knife and then carefully cut up lots of cherries to add to our mixture.

We developed our fine motor skills by using the rolling pins and cutters to make the scones. We counted out the number of scones we had each made and put them on the oven tray ready to bake.

We took the scones to the oven.  We discussed the oven being very hot and this part has to be done by a adult. Our scones need to be in the  oven for 15 minutes, so let’s check the clock!⏰ Our scones are ready and they look very tasty.

Now it’s tidy up time! We worked together to put our ingredients back in the cupboards and fridge, swept the floor and wiped the table.
We are looking forward to trying out our scone recipe again!

Expressive Arts

Let’s Sew đŸ§”

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Recently we have had a sewing table added to our room, The Studio. This has sparked the children’s interest and they have begun to show great creativity whilst using a needle and thread.

The children have being learning the names of all the equipment we use to sew.  A needle (this can be jaggy) some thread and scissors (watch out they can be sharp !). The children have been developing their fine motor skills along with their hand and eye coordination when practising using the needle and thread on our sewing table.

As the children’s skills have improved we thought we could try to sew on a button .  First we chose our button and reminded ourselves about the jaggy needle. We then tried to thread our needle – this was quite tricky and sometimes we needed a little bit of help. Some of the children chose more than one button and used their creative skills to make a pattern with the buttons. We then sewed on the button and cut the thread off at the end.
The children worked carefully and took time to make sure the needle went in the correct place.  Concentration skills were very well used today and the children were very pleased with their buttons.  The material and buttons were then used as placemats, parachutes and purses. Great imagination and hard work .

What will we sew next time ?

Expressive Arts, Literacy, Special Event

Exploring Tartan

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With St Andrew’s day this week, the children have been discussing all things Scottish. We decided to have a look at tartan fabric. First, we did some research on how tartan was made. The coloured threads are made from wool and you usually need between two and six colours to make the pattern on the fabric. A machine called a loom is threaded up and it moves forwards and backwards, weaving the threads together to make the design. We discovered that you need over 7 metres of material to make one kilt!!

We also had fun looking for our own family tartans. One child found out that theirs has some red in it red. Some of us could not find our tartan so we decided to make our own Cart Mill family tartans. The children were very creative using cars, wooden blocks and cotton reels rolled in paint before moving them across the paper to create a chequered, tartan design. The children also chose some tartan strips of paper to cut and glue onto their kilts. Cutting helps develop a child’s fine motor skills by encouraging independent movement of each finger, it also promotes hand/eye coordination.
We then decorated our room with our lovely new tartans. Why don’t you have a look and find out if you have a family tartan, if not, you could make one too!

We look forward to learning more about Scotland and its heritage this week.

Expressive Arts, Special Event

Music and Rythmn

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Today was very exciting, we had a music teacher visit us.  We had our listening ears on!! . We sang some new songs and followed the actions to warm ourselves up.

We all got to choose a musical instrument and learnt their names, we played them very loudly and really quietly. We moved the instruments around high and low then left  and right to the beat and count of 1234.

Our teacher, a lovely lady called Lyndsey, then played a ukulele which is like a small guitar. We sang If You’re Happy and You Know It and then Sleeping Bunnies. As we all listened, and joined in, we got a sticker at the end. We are looking forward to next week to see what we will learn. Â đŸŽ¶.

Expressive Arts

Creating Silhouettes

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Today the children are  having fun learning about silhouettes “a shape or outline in a block colour with no detail but you can still recognise what it is”. The children had a look at some silhouettes on the board and then we were ready to create our own.
We chose one of the children to draw around . “Look how big I am”.  The children were very careful using the scissors to cut around our silhouette.  Some of the children wanted to draw around their own hands to make silhouettes. We then used black paint to cover our silhouette. The children worked very well together choosing different parts of the body to paint and sharing  the brushes and paint.

We then played a great guessing game using animal silhouettes . What do you think it is? “ a snake.” We learned new words today and had great conversations about body parts, animals and silhouettes. We are going to continue looking at silhouettes – look out for our silhouette creations!

Expressive Arts

Pumpkin Seeds

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Today we reminded ourselves of our story. Pumpkin Jack. It was time to open our pumpkin and see what was inside ?.  “Its seeds”

The children enjoyed scooping the seeds out the pumpkins. They had great conversations about how slippy and slimy the whole process was. We gathered lots of seeds to make pictures.

The children were very create designing their own styles of pictures. We all picked our own paper, glue, pens and pencils . Using these resources helps the children develop their fine motor skills. “ I am making a big pumpkin “ and “ mine will have lots of seeds inside it”. We have some lovely pictures to take home , we hope you enjoy them as much as we did creating them.

 

Expressive Arts

Pumpkin 🎃 Fun

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The children are very excited as it’s nearly Halloween đŸ‘». Today we listened to a story about Pumpkin Jack, a boy who had a Halloween pumpkin. After Halloween he put the pumpkin in the garden and over time the pumpkin began to rot away into the ground. The following year he watched a stalk grow from the ground and the leaves got bigger and bigger and a new pumpkin grew and was ready to use again for another Halloween.

The children had a look at our own pumpkins. We had different sizes, shapes and colours. We discussed how some were heavier than others, the smaller ones were bumpy and rough and the bigger ones were smooth and soft. The pumpkins felt cold and smelled like “pumpkins and witches“.

The children then designed their own pumpkin pictures This helped develop their creativity and fine motor skills using our art resources. They were able to choose their own art materials to create great pumpkin pictures. Well done.

Next week we are going to open the pumpkins and look inside!!!!. What do you think we will discover?

Expressive Arts

It’s Autumn !!!

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The children in the studio are noticing the change in the weather. “There are lots of leaves on the ground”. We decided to look at some leaves and see if we could find them on our leaf ID Dial. The children pointed out the different sizes, colours and shapes of the leaves. This helps us discover the name of the tree that  the leaf came from. We then read a story about autumn time and the change this makes to our trees. “We like to kick the leaves in the park”

We then had some fun drawing and tracing the leaves some of the leaves were “bumpy” to draw over. The children chose autumn colours of pencils and crayons to make their 🍁 look real.  The children decided to hang the leaves from the white board so they could copy and draw round the shape of the leaf.

We have enjoyed learning about leaves today and, if you are out and about during autumn, we would welcome any leaves, pine cones and conkers that you find so we can use them for art work in our studio. Thank you.