In maths this week, Ash and Saplings have been practising counting on one more with the help of the story, Mr Gumpy’s Outing. They would count how many animals were on Mr Gumpy’s boat as they kept joining his boat ride. The children then re-enacted it using toy animals, thinking carefully about how many animals there would be if we added one more. We even acted it out ourselves, using a box for a boat and the children would join the boat! All the children were able to count on one more from a number.
Next Monday is World Bee Day and we have been learning about how important bees are for the environment and the food we eat. The children were able to share lots of interesting facts about bees, and knew what to do if they saw a sleepy bee. They also drew and painted some wonderful pictures of bees during their choosing time. On Tuesday, the children were very busy making bees during our forest school session, using wool, pine cones and paper wings. The children took great care winding the wool around the pine cone which was a great opportunity to strengthen their fine motor skills.
In Literacy, we are continuing to look at rhyming words, using the book Oi Frog for ideas. The children were able to match animals to rhyming words and say the sentences, for example, bear sits on pears and moths sit on cloths.
Outside, we have planted more herbs for our herb garden, including one that smells like pineapple! The children have enjoyed the sensory aspect of this and adding more scents to their delicious mud kitchen concoctions. They have also enjoyed having pretend picnics in the sandpit, taking it in turns to share out the food and lots of discussions about what they are eating.
In PSHE, we are continuing to think about how we can look after ourselves and this week, the children were thinking about how they make themselves feel happy if they feel sad. They had lots of good ideas about how they can look after their feelings, including telling someone how they feel, having some calm time and also doing something that makes them happy, such as playing with their friends.
Early Years had some special visitors in the week as well, for their jewel in the jar treat. Our school guinea pigs, Cookie and Snowy, came to visit one afternoon and they really enjoyed all the cuddles, strokes and grass the children gave them! Some children read them stories while others drew them pictures.
In Friday’s forest session there was lots of amazing team work going on carrying ‘animal bones’ around. We also could hear the chicks that have hatched in our nest box. We watched the adult blue tits coming and going with food for them and Connor managed to get some photos and videos of them.
