This week the boys and girls have been exploring the change of season and the arrival of Autumn.

The leaves have certainly changed fast and are all falling to the ground.

We have been learning about the harvest this week, and have been doing lots of exciting activities. Some of you may have spotted our scarecrow!

There is a donation box for the Trussel Trust this Harvest, and any donations are greatly appreciated.

Here is one of our nursery AM boys making his donations (thank you)

We have also been making some Autumn harvest soup to keep our tummy nice and warm.

We have been learning to chop safely, and make our own food from scratch

(HWB 0-16a 0-29a)

All the boys and girls enjoying their soup!

In case your form has had an accident….

Here is the toyshop form!

Apologies for such a long time between blogs, but our systems were being re-booted and posting was not a possibility.

But here we are…in an all new glow blog (that looks just the same!)  🙂

So what have we been up to?

In the nursery, we took our hot air balloon all the way to Africa, to explore who lived there.

We learnt all about the animals, and the people who lived in Africa. We have fun listening and dancing to music that came from the Serengeti, and watching the animals jump high into the air.

A firm favourite of all the children was a clip from ‘BBC’s’ Africa that was aired last year.

BBC Africa

Mrs Chalmers did some excellent face painting to round off our learning. The whole class were turned into some very scary lions and tigers! (oh my!)

Our next adventure is going to take place in a toyshop, and all of you should have had home a form in order for your child to design their own toy, which hopefully they will all be able to make in class next week. Next week is also money week, so we will be exploring different coins and uses for money.

Last week the AM, nursery alongside Mrs Peden, Miss Mitchell and Mrs Chalmers, helped to give the nursery garden an excellent clean. We weeded out all the pots and planters, scrubbed to toys and power washed the safety surface.

However…Miss Mitchell has great plans for the Nursery garden.

Her first projects is going to be the construction of a ‘Bug Hotel’ to help the bugs get ready for winter. This project is to support the local eco system.

So, I hear you ask, how do you build a bug hotel.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening/uploads/documents/making_a_bug_hotel_770.pdf

http://www.rspb.org.uk/makeahomeforwildlife/advice/gardening/insects/wildlifestack.aspx

Any help that you could give us to source the following…

What you need-

Palates or strips of wood

Roof tiles

Plastic and ceramic pipes of various sizes

Deadwood – sticks and logs of all sizes up to half a

metre long

Logs drilled with various sized holes

Hollow bamboo canes

Bricks and concrete blocks (preferably with holes)

Plastic and ceramic pipes of various sizes

Cardboard tubes and corrugated card (keep them

dry!)

Roofing felt

Stones

Crushed brick and concrete rubble

Straw

Hay

Dry leaf litter

Sand

Plastic bottles

Pen casings and drinking straws

Plant pots

Pinecones

If you can help us out with building this just let us know! Thanks to all the parents who have got on board already!

The boys and girls in both sessions have had a wonderful time exploring Australia. Learning all about its most famous animals….the Koala and the Kangeroo.

I’m sure that you all enjoyed learning the Kangaroo song with your children, and you will be singing it at work for weeks.

We welcomed parents this week to the nursery for the first of our ‘Smart starts’, where the children were able to tell you all about what they have been learning. Having our lovely parents available to chat was great for Miss Mitchell too, as she was looking for parents to help her out with some fundraising!

We are going to end our week with some Aboriginal art, before jetting off in our hot air balloon to South Africa and learning about its wonderful animals, and their excellent music!

Here are some Koalas who are a little bit closer to home…