This week outside we have been working on our gross motor skills by balancing on the wooden boards, we have also been working on our mathematical language. We have been learning positional language in numeracy, we have been speaking about left, right and forwards. We have had the choice to pick which direction we go when walking and balancing on the boards.
Towards the end of the week some of the children went litter picking around the Family Centre.
Overall there was not a huge amount of litter outside the nursery building. In total the children cleared 4lb of litter.
“We might find some cans or tissues. They should go in the bin or bag” BH
“You can’t touch your hand with he rubbish” BH
“Someone might trip on the rubbish and animals might eat it” ML
“I got some here” PW
“It will be 4 now” BH
“Some animals and fishes and whales would eat the litter” AH
“The rubbish goes in the bin” AH
“I found a big bottle and I did find some paper and even glass and a dog poo bag and a squished can” ML
This week, we have developed our knowledge of numbers representing a quantity, whilst using the numicon, pompoms and bees.
Some children explored the concept of addition and subtractions whilst adding/ taking away the numicon and pompoms.
Throughout the activity the children were developing their 1:1 correspondence, touch counting skills and number recognition skills.
This week in the block area, the children have been continuing to design and create castles. We have been exploring various Scottish castles and creating our own using a variety of materials and have also introduced 3D shapes.
BF – “It’s one of my 3D shapes I learnt at group time, it’s a cone”
SW – “It’s got triangles at the top and squares at the windows.”
Some children have continued to explore symmetry, shape and pattern and create their own designs using loose parts.
RL – “They’re both the same!”
RS – “It’s like a pattern”
In the small world area, following on from their interest in dinosaurs, the children have shown an interest in the Jurassic period and volcanos, using their imaginative role play skills.
CG – “It’s hot ash in there, ouch!” “Suzy Sheep is sitting in the volcano.” “That one’s spiky!”
RJ – “It’s a volcano, it’s really hot in there and it’s got lava inside”
We followed a simple recipe to make our own biscuits. The children carefully measured the butter, sugar and flour, taking turns to scoop, pour and level the ingredients. We talked about what might happen when we mixed everything together and the children noticed how the texture changed from crumbly to smooth as we combined it in the bowl.
Once the dough was ready, the children used rolling pins to roll it out on the table. This required concentration, coordination and hand strength. They experimented with how much pressure to apply, adjusting their movements to make the dough flatter and more even.
We then introduced biscuit cutters of different sizes and the children were able to choose which size they would like to use. Some selected the larger cutters, noticing they made “big” biscuits, while others chose the smaller ones, comparing them and commenting on which would make “more.”
The children carefully pressed the cutters into the dough and lifted them independently, demonstrating developing fine motor control.
