This week in baking, we have been making hot cross buns! This is a tricky process and we are still experimenting with the best way to make our buns. Although they tasted super yummy, they looked a little more like hot cross biscuits, so it is back to the drawing board next week to perfect the proving of the bread. This is a great lesson for the children (and Miss Burns) that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. The children enjoyed measuring the different ingredients and reading big numbers on the scales, as well as mixing and kneading the dough. It was lovely to see some new friendships starting and listening to the conversations going on when we were baking.

“They smell delicious” – AA 

“Hot cross buns, Hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny hot cross buns” – SS 

“Wow, it smells fantastic” – GG

In the sewing area we have been investigating and creating flags, using our observation skills to copy the colours, textures and layout. We have also been designing our own and carefully referring to our plans throughout. After realising that the Welsh flag has a dragon some children chose to create mythical creatures including unicorns, dragons and mermaids!

The block area was inspired after reading the book Race to the moon and back and discussed the idea of creating a space rocket with the blocks. The children discussed if they thought they needed the wooden or soft bricks and how tall it would be. JF said it had to fit each person so she would build a rocket follwed by R. JL spoke of the planets she would see on her journey.

Leading on from last week have been continuing to discuss the change of season in the art area. Some children decided to make their own Spring pictures using a variety of materials, and we spoke about the changes in the weather, plants growing and the different animals we might see. There was lots of interest in bees so we decided to do some research using the laptop to learn more about them. We learnt how they make honey and what a honeycomb looks like. The children then created their own artwork and could recall some key information from our research. We found it very interesting that the honeycombs are a hexagon shape! The children used their problem solving skills to replicate this and discussed their artwork with each other. There was lots of discussion of likes and dislikes, and personal experiences.

FC – “I like honey on my toast”

EC – “Do the bees eat the honey?”

RA – “6 sides and 6 corners”, “they collect nectar and bring it back to the hive to make honey”

NM – “I have honey in my overnight oats, it’s yummy”

MW – “honey isn’t healthy, it has sugar in it, but it’s healthy for the bees”

To celebrate world book day the children have enjoyed listening to and reading a variety of different texts by different authors. The children have enjoyed retelling familiar tales and creating their own stories using visuals to prompt their ideas and develop their imagination. Waterstones at the Avenue invited us up to exchange our book tokens for a free book which we will hopefully get out to everyone over the course of the next few days. Some of the children had the chance to explore the books in the store and share their favourites before helping to carry them back for their friends. We couldn’t resist a little visit to the library on the way back to read a wee story together.

Stick Man, oh Stick Man, beware of the …

To celebrate world book day we have been reading one of our favourite stories. “I like it when the dog catches him” GA “it’s funny when he turns into a pooh  stick” AMS.

The children have been designing and making their own stick characters using lots of creativity and imagination. We’ve had pom poms for eyes, straw for hair and lots of colourful material to bring our stick characters to life. “This is mine, it’s a stick child because it’s only a small stick” AC

The sand pit was also inspired by one of our favourite stories ‘Ten Little Pirates’. The children combined role play with fancy dress to reinact walking the plank and reinforcing numbers to ten in the process.

The sun broke through this week and the children embraced the good weather and headed outside to the garden. They couldn’t believe their eyes when a frog appeared out from the tyres. It sparked lots of discussion and a walk to the forest was soon planned to return it to the water.

We were fortunate to have another football taster session from Active Schools to allow all of the children the opportunity to have a go at developing the skills involved in football from kicking, to changing direction to using the space and having fun in sport. The children had a ball and we will welcome Stephen back next week for others to have their go.

We were so impressed with the stories children were recreating in the literacy area this week, linking reading to writing. The children were encouraged to select a story from the library and choose their favourite parts to recreate through drawings in their own mini books.

Have a lovely weekend! See you all next week!