Our little acorns
In our Small World area the children were learning about numbers 0-6 using our tuff tray with a chalk road and parking the cars into different numbered spaces.
The children were continuing to develop their mark making skills using porridge oats and glitter. This activity also allowed the children to develop their fine motor skills by scooping the oats using measuring spoons and and mini ladle.
A few children chose to engage in multiple mark making experiences and were able to mark a few simple shapes, patterns and numbers.
This week in the courtyard, our little acorns have been very busy exploring some shapes! We have used 3D shapes to match up to our 2D shapes. This then took an interesting turn to some pizzas. We cut out some smaller shapes to make our very own pizzas. At the end of the week, the children had the opportunity to bake their own bagel pizzas. Using our culinary skills we created some fantastic and tasty pizzas 🍕!
On Friday we took part in some ‘pudsey’ activities to celebrate children in need.
Discovery Area!
On Monday we focused on road safety using the Ziggy books!.. We discussed the importance of thinking, looking and listening before crossing the road and holding a grown ups hand!🚦We talked about how good walking is for our health🙌
We also thought about counting back! A concept that can be a tricky business!😀We used the dolls to demonstrate the song.. ‘There were 5 in the bed….’This was a fun and engaging way of learning to count back 5,4,3,2,1,0 !🙌🤩It’s healthy to give our brains a good number workout😍
On Tuesday we explored feelings and expressing our emotions and why this is so important for our mental health❤️❤️❤️We created a friendship and feelings wigwam and ‘Flora the feelings’ puppet paid us a visit to help us talk about how we felt!😀😍☺️We also made an interactive feelings board, inspired by the ‘Colour Monster’ book😀
On Thursday we made our own zebra crossing!🚦Collaborative working, team building and road safety awareness! The children did an amazing job!🙌🤩The sellotape proved to be a tricky business!😍I was very impressed by the children’s traffic light knowledge!🚦
On Friday it was all about moving our body to music! Dancing can help us to keep fit and makes us feel good too!🙌🙌🙌What a terrific healthy week we’ve had!❤️🤩❤️
We also added environmental print to our mark making area and updated our learning wall! Thank you to the children who helped with this! FANTASTIC!❤️🙌👏
In the stem area this week we have been learning about shapes and matching them on the mat. We have been talking about their names and how many sides they have.
We have also been talking about the weather a lot so we have decided to start a weather wall to record the weather. The boys and girls have been helping with some writing and creating pictures of different types of weather so when it’s finished we can point an arrow corresponding to what it’s like outside that day ☀️🌧⛈❄️
Expressive area!
This week we been talking about Pudsey bear 🐻 and what he represents. The children made Pudsey bear faces and added pom-poms as the spots on his eye patch. This supported the children’s numeracy skills as they counted out the spots.
Following on from the children’s interest of dinosaurs, we made a dinosaur stomp race track. 🦕The children used paint to stomp the dinosaurs to the finish line, racing each other. The children also used the footprints to play a dinosaur bingo game. We would call out a number and the children would stomp the painted dinosaur on to the correct number. 🦕We also made a muddy swamp for the dinosaurs to splash about in. 🦖
Literacy area
Our rhyme for the last fortnight has been Incy Wincy Spider 🕷. The children have been enjoying singing the rhyme with actions and we made an Incy Wincy song sheet for the cosy corner. The children have been moving the spider up and down the numbered drainpipe as they sing 🎶 the song and adding raindrops 💦and sun ☀️ at the correct points in the rhyme.
Outdoors
This week outdoors we have been focusing on shape. The children were using our new jigsaw stones to complete the shape puzzle. What shapes could we make by matching up the lines?
From this we decided to use a range of loose parts to make our own shapes. “I’ve made a circle” – EC.
We then used shape view finders to see what we could find in the garden that matched each shape. We talked about how many sides each shape had.
“This tyre is a circle” – SS
Construction
In the construction area I set up a small world provocation with many different constructing opportunities. The. Children helped to connect the train tracks together, built and constructed bridges, buildings and learned about road safety through signs, road markings and ziggy!
The children have also been engaging in some role play through the use of block play cementing their own bricks using tools and shaving foam to build their own towers, buildings and houses! 🏠 🧱
We have also been learning about recycling and how it helps our environment by sorting and recycling the correct materials into their own groups. ♻️ 🗑
Courtyard experiences
This week the children have been continuing to explore some stories by our author of the month, Julia Donaldson. We read the story A Squash and A Squeeze, where an old lady asks for help with her small house. The children used the building blocks to build their own small house. They used problem solving, and teamwork to put it together in a way that the blocks would stay standing. 👏
We celebrated Children in Need by making our own Pudsey faces with transient art. The children used their fine motor skills to position the items to make up the face ☺️ We spoke about Children in Need as a charity, and how they help children all over the country to stay safe, healthy and happy!
The courtyard kitchen
We have been developing the courtyard home corner this week, the children have had lots of great ideas. We made the area more open and put up some lovely lighting to make this area more cosy now the darker mornings and nights have come!❤️
