week 1-
This week we have been reading "Dinosaur Roar" story book, this prompted the children to spend lots of time discussing the features of different dinosaurs, talking lots about their spikes, long necks, tails, horns and wings.
We made dinosaur masks using paper plates and paint, and of course we included some glitter too! In our water tray we enjoyed cleaning some dinosaurs in warm bubbly water and in our construction area we created different dinosaurs using stickle bricks.
We had been practicing some dinosaurs songs to sing during rhyme time with our parents too!
Week 2-
We have still been reading "Dinosaur roar" this week and talking lots about different dinosaurs and their features. We used our art easel to design our own Dinosaur and we included features such as frills, spikes, horns, wings, crests, beaks and much more.
We created our own Dinosaur hats and walked around "Stomping like Dinosaurs", we all had so much fun!
Different Dinosaur pictures were stuck around the classroom and we played a game of who can find the Dinosaur with horns, or who can find the brachiosaurus. The children loved trying to work out which Dinosaur I was talking about.
Week 3-
This week we have been reading "Dinosaurs Love Underpants" and have been learning that Dinosaurs lived in the past, but are no longer alive.
We have had fun grouping different animals together into ones that are alive now, and ones that were alive in the past, supporting the children's understanding of the past.
This week we have been creative and decorated dinosaur footprints using any materials the children desired. Some chose paint, some picked feathers, glitter or sequins to decorate their footprint, supporting their creativity and their fine motor skills.
Outside we have been mimicking the dinosaurs movements, running like a T-rex, Stomping like a stegosaurus and stretching like a brachiosaurus, supporting physical development.
This week we invited parents to join us with our rhyme time session, singing songs such as "See the Baby Dinosaur", " once their was a Dinosaur", "I hear thunder" and "5 Little Dinosaurs"
Week 4-
We have continued with our "Dinosaurs love underpants" book, Discussing the different features of the Dinosaurs as we read through.
Within our provision we have been playing in a Dinosaur swamp, and rescuing the dinosaurs from the straw with tweezers, supporting our sensory needs and finger strength.
Throughout the week we have had lots of conversations about the fact that we don't see Dinosaurs today, and that is because they are from the past.
On Friday we had our theme day, the children came in wearing underpants over their trousers and we spent the day creating dinosaur masks, spikes and tails, turning ourselves in to Dinosaurs that love underpants, the children thoroughly enjoyed this.
Week 5-
This week we have been reading "Dinosaurs in my school" and the children have enjoyed searching the pages to find the hidden Dinosaurs.
We have been using the Dinosaurs around our class room to imprint their shapes into salt-dough, in order to create our very own fossils.
Within our classroom we have created a dig site for our palaeontologists to discover Dinosaur fossils, they have been gently sweeping away the sand, to reveal Dinosaurs.
The children have been taking it in turns to wear a Dinosaur skeleton costume around the classroom, and one child excitedly to us that "the Dinosaur cant stand up, its only bones".
On Friday we welcomed parents to join us in our rhyme time session, singing songs and sharing our story together.
Week 6-
This week we have continued reading "Dinosaurs in my school" and the children have enjoyed looking for the dinosaurs in our classroom.
We have been getting messy with valentine oobleck. We have used spoons to scoop the mixture into cupcake cases, and to create marks within the mixture itself.
We have spoken about what Love means to the children and how they show Love, with lots of them saying its giving a hug or drawing a picture.
We have also been learning about Chinese new year, and used our hands to create pictures of the dragon.
On Friday we took part in the schools pancake flip, enjoying counting how many times we could flip the pancake in 1 minute.
Spring term 2- Week 1
This week we have been reading The run away pancake and the children have enjoyed reading the repetitive phrase "No no no, I'm too fast for you!" each time that it comes up in the story.
Our topic this week was to understand that plants need water and sunlight to grow, we achieved this with lots of conversations, exploring seeds and weeding and replanting our flower bed. The children wanted to see the difference between a seed that is planted and kept in the dark, and one that is in the sunlight, so next week we will begin the experiment.
The weather was good this week so we managed to have lots of time exploring and playing outside, using the bikes and creating pancakes in the nature kitchen.
Week 2-
This week we have been reading "The very hungry caterpillar" and the children have been discussing the different fruits that the caterpillar was eating, and using their fingers to represent the amount of each fruit that was eaten. The children have also had fun exploring in our sensory tray of green rice, toy food, caterpillars, butterflies, logs and magnifying glasses.
This week our topic time supported the children's understanding of the key features of a plants life cycle. They were able to put pictures of the plants life cycle in the correct sequence and discuss what they saw in the pictures.
We observed some Daffodils go from buds, to flowers by putting them in water and sunlight. The children were able to correctly place them within the sequence previously used to discuss a plants life cycle.
World book day celebrations began on Wednesday when we watched Squirrel Storytime fun with Kael Tudor, and carried on into Thursday with us dressing up as our favourite book characters. We saw some great costumes from Dinosaurs, to Matilda to Woody, and mermaid costumes.
Week 3-
This week we have continued to read "The very hungry caterpillar" with the children repeating the repetitive phrase "but he was still hungry". This enhances their engagement throughout the story, supporting their concentration, listening skills and their speech, language and communication too.
While reading this week we have been discussing the different parts of a book, and the way in which we read. The children are learning that the parts of a book are the front cover, the back cover, the spine and that the pages are called the body of the book. They are beginning to understand that we read from the top left, we have been reading some very funny sentences the wrong way to enhance this understanding.
This week our topic time supported the children's understanding of the key features of the life cycle of a butterfly. The children are able to correctly identify and sequence each stage of the life cycle and use the correct vocabulary to describe them.
In class We are observing 5 caterpillars through their life cycle and this week have seen them grow from tiny caterpillars to big caterpillars, and have discussed as a class what might happen next. The children are expecting that next week we will see the caterpillars in their chrysalis stage.
Outside this week we have been creating different obstacle courses and creating lots of different recipe's in our nature kitchen.
Inside this week we have been creating our spring cards, exploring mini beasts in our sand tray and using our playdough to create butterflies.
Week 4-
This week we have been reading "Handa's surprise" the children have been excited to tell me that the animals in the story are taking the fruit from Handa's basket. They decided that the animals must be taking it to eat because they are hungry.
On Wednesday afternoon we provided a real life experience where we looked at, touched, smelt and tasted various fruits. The children passed around a mango, a pineapple, an avocado, a banana and a satsuma while talking about what they could see, smell and feel. Some of the children said "Ewww" at the feel of the pineapple because it was wet and sticky, but over all they liked the smell.
We then tasted the fruits while discussing what sort of country they might be grown in, we decided that England is too cold to grow these fruits and they need to grow in a country that is hotter, such as Africa.
We noticed that in Handa's surprise Handa is carrying the fruit basket on her head, so we attempted to try and carry a basket of fruit on our heads across the carpet giving us a slight experience of other cultures.
This week our topic was to understand that different plants grown in different countries, and understanding that an orange and banana tree are grown in hot countries like Africa. The children were able to identify what climate these fruits needed to grow, and said that England is too cold for them.
With the weather picking up this week the children enjoyed lots of outside fun, choosing to use the bikes and cars which have been strengthening their co ordination and gross motor skills. They have also enjoyed creating their own recopies in the nature kitchen using food that we can grow in England, such as Carrots, Potatoes and sprouts.
I would like to thank those of you that came to our rhyme time session on Friday to enjoy our singing and to share a story with us!
