Category Archives: Digital Technology

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Busy May time in the Garden

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This month we have been super busy in the garden. We have been watching our seeds grow and decided we would need to replant them to help them grow bigger. We discovered some of our plants have lots of roots “it’s like spaghetti “. Our plants and vegetables need to have lots of water to help them grow big.

When we have been digging in the garden we have found lots of insects and bugs. We became explorers using books to identify them and having a closer look with our magnifying pots.

This month was also World  Bee day on the 20th of May. We watched a short film about how bees 🐝 grow and why we need them. We made our own bee hive and added it into our bug hotel. We planted bee friendly flowers for the garden. Then made our own bees to hang on the tree using pine cones.

Bees make honey I like honey . After all our hard work we had a taste of the honey. We worked well together slicing the bread and sharing the “sticky honey”.

There have been so many jobs to do in the garden and the girls and boys have thoroughly embraced each task. They have worked well together, sharing tools taking turns, spotting insects ,looking after the plants in the green house we look forward to June as they begin to flower and we can harvest some of our vegetables 🥕.

Article 31 – I have the right to have fun in the ways I want to.

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts

Creativity in the sewing area 😍 Meet Bob and Mouse 🐻🐭

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Today in the studio we were developing our hand eye coordination finger dexterity and building our self confidence through our love of sewing.

“I want to sew on some buttons “ “Im choosing pink ones and pink material would look nice too” “It’s quite tricky for me to sew, but I can do it”


“I want to sew buttons on to” “I want to sew on four” “I’m choosing blue material, I like it best”

”I want to make a little teddy bear” “ I’m making him yellow” “ I think it would be easiest to draw him out first “ “He has a big head” “I think he looks like a Bob, “Yes Bob bear”

“I would like to make a cuddly mouse” “ I need to see what a mouse looks like first can I look on the I-pad? “ I’m going to copy the mouse from the I-pad” “ I need brownish material “”sewing takes quite a long time but I’m excited to see my finished mouse” “ The stuffing is soft and bouncy” “ I love my mouse he is very squeaky and small”

Well done everyone I can’t wait to see what fab ideas you have for the sewing area tomorrow.

 

 

Digital Technology

Bee-Bots & Colours

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This week we have been exploring the bee bots in our technology area.  We began with  learning how to program the bee bots to go forward.

Our bee bots have very good memories, they remember every button we press. We had to learn how to clear the bee bots memory, so we could program them to do what we want.

We then introduced a colour line and were challenged to direct the beebot to a given colour. This helped us to practise our knowledge of colours as well as practising our beebot skills.

“I got yellow.”

“Can you find something in the room that is yellow?”

”The bee.”

“”Can you count how many squares to the yellow square?”

“1,2.”

“Ok we need to program the bee bot to move forward 2 spaces. Press the button 2 times”

“My top is green”

“How many times do you need to press the forward button to get to green?”

“5.”

Once we  were able to program the bee bots ourselves, we  added further challenge by learning how to direct the beebot left and right to land on the given coloured square.

Article 28

You have the right to education

 

 

Digital Technology, Literacy, Outdoor Learning, Special Event

Big Garden Birdwatch

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This week we have been preparing for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. We discussed why birds might come into the garden. “It’s for seeds, we have some in my garden”. We then decided to to make our own bird feeders and hang them up on a branch.

The birds might need a drink as it’s been very cold and all the puddles are icy, so we made the birds their own drinking bowl “Let’s put sticks near it so they can stand on them”.

We then did some research by looking at some of the information sent to us by the RSPB which showed us lots of pictures of the birds that might visit our garden.  “ I have seen some of these birds, that’s a magpie”.

It was very exciting watching for the birds. Some were far away so we used our binoculars. Then we could see some birds sitting in the trees and on top of the houses. We then thought about where else we could see the birds so we went for a bird watch walk.

We collected our bird watch recording sheet and set off.  I will hide in the trees like a bird watcher and see if the birds come near me we have to be very quiet 🤫. Look I saw a blackbird let’s mark it on the sheet .

We managed to spot magpies, blackbirds, crows and blue tits. We all had a turn of recording the bird we had seen on our RSPB sheet, it was great fun!

The children are continuing to watch for birds in our garden and are independently recording them in our nature corner.
If you would like to join in this weekend the RSPB ask that you record the birds that visit your garden within 1 hour and then you can upload your results at rspb.org.uk/Birdwatch using the code BH35.

Everyone has worked very hard recording the information and have had great fun developing their skills of mark making, data collection, fine motor skills, health and well being and lots more. Happy bird watching everyone!

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Literacy

Legends in the Studio

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As it is Scotland book week we have continued to develop the childrens interest in the studio. We have been doing some research about the Loch Ness monster. We have had a look at some Scottish books and watched a short film.

 

The children discovered that the monster lives in Loch Ness and the water is very deep and dark as the water is full of peat from the surrounding hills. We then decided to recreate our our own Loch Ness monsters using the clay.

Our clay is a great way to strengthen the muscles in our fingers and hands whilst developing our fine motor skills and imagination. The children discussed how they would like their own monsters to look, “mine has flippers”   “mine is going to be so big” some of the children enjoyed using the clay tools to make the eyes and patterns on the skin.

We have loved bringing our legends to life and look forward to our next book.

Digital Technology, Literacy, Technologies

What animals can you hear?

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Today in the noisy quiet room the children took part in a listening activity. Following our current interest of ‘the farm’ we tested our knowledge of what animal sounds we could identify. These included farm animals and other animals in the wider world.   


Using an animal sounds CD and matching picture cards we got to work. First we looked at the animal card and identified the animal. Then together we made the sound we thought it would make. Next we listed to the animal sound on the CD to see if we were correct.  We all used our voices to make some really good animal sounds.

Once we were more familiar with the animal sounds we decided to challenge ourselves a little more.   This time we played the sound first and then selected what animal it was from the cards displayed. We worked together as a team to identify all the animals displayed.

“I think it’s a guinea pig”

“Cow”

“It’s a big rooster”

“That’s a turkey, it’s like a chicken”

Everyone did a fantastic job using their listening and talking skills to develop their knowledge of animal sounds. Well done everyone!

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts

Discovering Maths

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This week the children have been learning about maths and having fun trying out all the different ways this can be done.

The construction block area is always in good use and after we had read a story about 10 little monsters  the children decided to build their own spooky castle 🏰  we have been working out sizes long ones  for this wall and we need shorter ones over here !

We have been counting  12345 as we have posted the counters through the block . We have discovered that some items are too big to fit through the hole.

At the tinker table we have been practising our measuring skills looking at the numbers on the ruler or tape and placing the items in order of size. This one is the” biggest “. We even had a look round the nursery to compare sizes of different resources.
Our loose parts area was full of resources and inspiration . We had a look at a book called Hannah’s Collection and this gave us great ideas. We then made our own designs using loose parts “ I will use the round buttons and make lollipops” and I can use sticks to make a shop.  We had some lovely creations.

As the children also enjoy technology they had turns following the instruction cards to make our “bee bots” move in different directions.  Press this button one time to move forward or this button to go backwards. There is four buttons on mine “look it can go this way “  we learnt that this means it’s moving to the right or to the left.

We have all enjoyed our day in the discovery room. Let’s look out for shapes and sizes on our way home !

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Outdoor Learning

Exploring Wood

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We have been making lots of lovely creations at our woodwork bench which got us wondering, where does the wood come from? We knew the answer would be found online, we asked the question and it took us to a short film we could watch describing how wood comes from the trees.

We had a look round the room to discover what we had that was made from wood.  We found chairs, storage cupboards, construction blocks, a toy toaster from the home corner.
“We have a lot of wood in here”.

We then took our search out doors into the garden which was full of different pieces of wood lots of different sizes, textures and shapes. We have sections of tree trunks in our garden so we could see the whole trunk of the tree. We could see the bit right in the middle, called the pith. Then we could see lots of rings and finally we could see the bark on the outside of the trunk. When you remove the bark, the wood changes colour underneath. “Some of the bark just falls off in the forests 🌳 I see it when I go to the woods”

We then moved back to our woodwork area and chose some materials and fun resources to make a new wooden creation. We all worked together and discussed what we would like to add to our work of art.  The children talked about the sizes and textures of the materials they were using to make their models. These included a cat house, planes, chairs and beds for their dolls. All the while this was helping develop their fine motor skills plus hand and eye co ordination. The children’s skills and imaginations plus creativity are amazing, watching what they create each day is lovely.  We would love to receive any pieces of wood or bark you might find when out and about.

Digital Technology, Expressive Arts, Technologies

Developing our fine motor skills

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Today the children have been developing their fine motor skills in a variety of ways.

Fine motor skills is the coordination of small muscles in movement with the eyes, hands and fingers.


We played a game called ‘Pickle Pop’ where the children had to use their hand muscles by moving the pickle with their finger to pop the bubbles.

“ I have to move it over there to catch the bubble”


We put shaving foam on the light board and used our hands and  fingers to draw shapes and make patterns. This provides children with the opportunity to strengthen their hand muscles and hand eye coordination.

“ The thread goes  up and down ”

“ I made a line through it”

 

We spent some time at the mark making table where the children drew pictures, copied and continued shape and number patterns.