This week we have continued our look at farms and focussed on crops and growing plants. We have looked closely at seeds and vegetables and planted some of these in the polytunnel. Fingers crossed we are lucky and they all grow! We will be carefully tending to our plants over the next few months and we will keep you updated on their progress. 

We have also taken delivery of some new toys and outdoor equipment. The climbing frame has been a firm favourite and the children have worked hard on their turn taking skills! 

We have also been lucky enough to take part in science week. We had a go in the planetarium and learned lots about space and astronauts. Laurance the vet from Midsomer Norton Veterinary showed us a model skeleton, bandages and told us what he does.

We have also conducted some of our own experiments such as fizzy oceans, bouncy eggs and magic milk! 

This week we have been exploring farm vehicles. We have used the toy trucks to make marks in sensory trays, paint and in the small world area. This then led on to some of our children making some lovely marks in the tray and writing as well. 

We have explored farm based sensory trays with different textures and smells. 

Our smaller nursery children went on a walk to the local area to complete an outdoor learning activity. They took match boxes and went to find 3 little treasures that fit inside. Some children came back with feathers, leaves, stones and sticks. 

This week we have been focusing on all things books and stories in preperation for World Book day. We have been exploring books in every area of the nursery and even outside in book boats. 

As Tuesday was Pancake day we learned about why we have pancakes and made some ourselves. We tried a sweet topping of sugar and a sour one of lemon juice.

We have also been out and about lots in the sunshine this week. We have looked at some signs of spring out in the fields that surround the school. We found some croakus flowers by the river and some buds on trees. Later on in the week we ventured to the park to use our big movements and have snack in the sunshine. 

This week we have introduced our new topic Farms. We have been exploring animals we would find on a farm and tried our hand at milking a cow! We also explored small world sensory trays. These had different smells and textures. We also visited the school library for new books, and used the large scale construction to build farm houses. 

We managed a lovely walk in the sunshine to the park to practice our gross motor skills climbing, running and jumping. 

Wow we are at the end of yet another term! This week we have been looking at the festival Tu B'shevat and Valentines day. The children have been looking at the trees and plants and we are noticing some very small changes, Spring is on its way. We have been painting our own trees and mixing colours to find out what we can make. 

We have also completed our dance PE sessions and been using our big muscles outside on the bikes. 

The children have been practicing their cutting skills too, cutting flowers to decorate a big heart window display. Using different media such as flowers can help engage children to use tools and gain the fine motor skills. An added benefit is that it opens up discussions about a range of topics and helps the children to engage their senses, they did smell lovely!

This week has been all about our well being. We have been for a walk to the library to find books that make us happy and share new stories and stopped at the pet shop to see the fish - which all the children wanted to do as soon as it came into view!

We have been outside in nature a lot this week as well, we explored the ice and looked closely at it on leaves, grass and furniture. We were lucky enough to have a session with Bath Rugby, we played some games and had a close look at the different shaped ball. we noticed it doesnt roll the same way as our normal ones do. 

This week we have been learning about Chinese new year. We have watched celebration dances and looked closely at the amazing costumes and puppets the people wear and the different sounding music that plays. We havd learnt that the colour red is considered lucky and we noticed lots of red things in the nursery. We also made our own dragon costume and paraded around the nursery to some chinese music. 

We have continued to develop our shadow play. This week we used objects and some puppets we made to tell stories to our friends using shadows. We took it in turns to tell stories, lots of them involved dinosaurs! 

Over the last few weeks we have been exploring our topic and focus books. We have learnt about Lohri and burns night and looked at the differences beween night and day. We have spoken about how we feel in the light and the dark and how we can help ourselves feel better if we are worried in the dark. 

We have also been taking part in the RSPB big bird watch. We made some food balls for the birds and hung them in the wooded area and checked on themeach day this week. We are so grateful to the parents who provided us with some binoculars we were able to see some Robins, Coal tits, black birds and pigeons. 

Welcome back to everyone after the Christmas break, we hope you had a lovely time together and refreshed ready for the spring term. This week the weather has been amazing at introducing our new topics hot and cold. The cold weather opens up an abundance of learning opportunities that the children have relished. The freezing snow on Tuesday morning opened up great opportunities to use describing words, the children used, "white, slippery, crunchy and cold" to describe it. They also commented on the weather and that it now must be winter. We have been experimenting with the torches as well making shadows onto a white sheet to show our friends. 

Please be aware that the children will be able to go out in all weathers and the cold weather is a enriching experience for our little scientists. Please ensure they have a warm coat and hat and we would recommend that children have muntiple pairs of gloves as these can get soggy when outside. Ski gloves are great if they have them as they tend to offer better protection from the melting ice as they explore. 

This week we have started our Christmas stories. The first being the nativity. This has extended our exploration of different families and places, and opened us up to new songs such as " Little Donkey" and " Away in a manger". The children have loved exploring the new costumes and taking on a role in their play. 

We have also been looking at Stick man. This book is great at displaying the seasons and the feelings of missing family. We have been down to the wooded area to make our own stick people using sticks and pipe cleaners. 

This week we have been exploring construction materials. We have been making spaces for our bears to live, we have experimented with loose parts, blocks and building bricks.

We have also looked at the artist Alma Thomas. Alma Thomas used nature to inspire her art work, looking closely at patterns. We have been exploring the wood area for sticks to make marks in the mud making lines and dots and we have explored circles and making patterns with different media. 

We have also been cooking again, this week we have made some tasty pizzas. 

This week we have been looking at families and how we look. We have used mirrors to look at our faces and play dough to make representations of them. We have also shared books such as 'My daddies, We are all welcome and Is that your Mama?'. 

We have been using chalks on the floor to draw around our friends to see the different sizes and positions, this not only shows differences and similarities but it is also a great way to practice our big movements to make make. We also used the chalks to make insect homes, these started as webs but progressed to shapes, houses with windows and even a rocket to the moon!

We have been exploring the patterns in ice we have found around the school grounds. We used sticks to scrape it, our hands to melt it and our eyes to look closely at it. 

This week we have been exploring turn taking. It can be really hard for children to understand the concept of 'sharing' but taking turns is a much easier concept to grasp but it takes a lot of practice to be able to do it. We have been practicing this week by taking turns to mix the bread ingredients, to look closely at the ice and during our sunshine circles. 

We have also been making and tasting our own porridge like the bears but we have been experimenting with flavours. We gave the children a selection of different fruits to try with their porridge and discussed these choices. Some of the children confidently told us that " I not like it!"

The children made their own observations of the ice we had on Wednesday. They used words such as "cold, spiky, long and triangle.  

This week has been all about Goldilocks. We have simplified the role play area so the children can really focus on their understanding of the story with a few key items. We have had real porridge oats available and they have really taken on their roles as one of the bears or Goldilocks. We have also thought about safety and what Goldilocks could have done differently to keep herself safe. Lots of children said to have Mummy or daddy. 

We looked at Remembrance day on Monday, we learnt about the poppy and why we have them. 

We have started our P.E lessons as well this week. This term the pre-school children will be focusing on balls skills along side our physical continuous provision. 

Welcome back after half term we hope you all had a great time with your families. This week we have been exploring fireworks and Diwali. We have made marks in coloured sand and mixed the colours up noticing it changing. We have made patterns with play dough and pumpkin seeds and listened to music that may be played during Diwali. We have also looked at the story of Rama and Sita, some of the children were able to recall the story later on ask your child to see if they can remember what happened. 

We have been making firework pictures using tubes and thinking about the colours and sounds that fireworks make.  

As well as all of this we have begun our story of Goldilocks and the three bears, built structures with loose parts and been down to the woods for some outdoor learning. 

This week we have been exploring ice. We have used the pipettes to practice our fine motor skills and get the autumn treasure free from the ice. We also noticed how the different colours of water mixed together to make new colours. 

We have also been contunied to think about habitats and where animals live, we went on a walk to see if we could find some rabbit burrows. We found some holes but the best part was finding a stream in the field and splashing to our hearts content! We learnt about our own bodies, balance, the effect we can have on the natural environment ( the water turned brown with the mud) and tested out our jumping skills. 

This week we have continued our exploration of space and been exploring rockets. We have made our own rocket using loose parts, we have watched some rocket launches and we been on our own rocket adventure! We have been looking closely at the story Whatever next this week and Jo has gathered up props just like baby bears in the story so we can go to the moon as well. The children have been doing some really lovely role play and their turn taking has been amazing to see. 

We have also continued to look at harvest time and the changes in our environment. We have used herbs to make habitats for our animals and mixed different natural resources in the water play. 

Space week!

This week we have been exploring all things space. We have made planet pictures using balloons, painted our own planets made of ice, used our 2d shapes to make rockets and sang songs about space and zooming to the moon. We have also been sharing some books we borrowed from the library about space both fiction and non fiction, we really enjoyed the book Laura's Star which sparked lots of discussion about the nights sky and the moon. 

We have also been cooking this week. We peeled, cut and stewed some apples and made some yummy crumbles. Along side this we have been exploring some autumn activities from coloured rice to using pipettes of colouring to make our own autumn tree. 

This week we have been able to explore a local park to put or physical skills to the test. We climbed, slid and bounced all around the park on the equipment. We also made a stop in the pet shop to look at the birds and the fish.

We have also been exploring the school environment, we have been down to the wooded area to climb in the trees, run and find some natural objects to take back to the nursery. We have great fun in the school mud kitchen and the big sand pit using the spades to dig. 

Wow what a busy week of learning we have had this week! We have been for lots of walks this week the first to the library where we looked at lots of different books and borrowed some. The children helped to pick which ones they wanted to read and took them to the desk to check them out. 

We have also been out an about on a colour hunt. We found lots of different colours in nature from purple flowers to red leaves, white roses and some tasty blackberries. We collected some of the leaves and took them back to nursery to explore them in play-dough, making imprints, gluing and painting. 

This week we have continued to get to know all of the new children joining our nursery. We have been exploring our story Dear zoo and learning the different actions for the story, our favourite being ' I sent him back'!

We have also been out on a walk to find some animals living near us. We found some sunbathing pigs, Alpacas, dogs and lots of insects.