Good Morning Everyone … I hope you are all smiling…..

It might be inside weather today listening to the weather forecast….Lets hope we can still enjoy our gardens and our one walk a day…even in the rain!! where you can continue to discover insects and new flowers. I found a centipede in my garden yesterday. He scurried away rather quickly as I disturbed his home. I also found a new wild flower (new to me!) on my daily walk. I will have to take my wild flower book with me next time, so that I can learn its name.   

This is a picture drawn by my nephew and sent to me..  He is 2 years old next month.

I love to watch how drawings develop when we give children  plain paper,  without any outlines,  and a range of mark making tools, alongside of course our time and attention. As children explore the media, they learn the movements they can coordinate and slowly learn to describe the meaning behind these physical marks. 

I wonder what picture you can create today?  Fast circular marks, dots, lines, dashes or  imaginative imagery …maybe dragon’s, superhero’s princesses….etc 

You might even create a ‘story’  from your image or marks?  Or you might cut or ask you mum or dad to cut out your image so that you can use it within your imaginative play… Using block, bricks etc  

Yesterday your challenge was to find 10 items and explore different ways of making 10. Thank you for the photos of your 10 items and lines. I thought the items you could find at home would be much more exciting than the things in my house!

We can use the items that you found and sorted in your house yesterday in today’s challenge.  I wonder if today you can use 10 items IN  YOUR PLAYDOUGH!! creating your own stories and explorations. The animals, paw patrol, cars, buttons can be added into the playdough to develop your explorations and your story telling. ( A playdough recipe is available on a previous blog page if you need it. Just scroll down the first page under FS base 1. ) 

I know some children do not like the texture of playdough on their hands but you can create small world imaginary areas from just setting out bricks  a range of boxes, tubs and old rolls of wallpaper. Rolls of wallpaper always make great roads and allows a large drawing space. 

Story Telling is SO important, for memory development , oral language, sequencing, imagination, self confidence etc.  Being able to retell a whole story in the correct sequence involves a lot of skills. We can allow the children time to explore these skills through the use of small world items in playdough or by building  mini worlds and through drawing. We also develop sequential story telling by learning a story off by heart. Repeating the same story again and again and again and again!!!!  If I asked you to retell the story of The Three Bears you could manage this with easy because this story language is stored in your long term memory.  We have to repeat traditional and new stories so that the children also have a wide range of stories in their long term memory. Last term we looked at The Gingerbread man.

This half terms story is:- The Enormous Turnip. There is also a rhyme we will learn about the story.  It will be added onto the site soon. 

Mrs Heap has created An Amazing Rhyme Time video for you to join in with. Just click the arrow below so that you can join in with her activity. ENJOY.  We will add a new Rhyme Time clip everyday this week. 

Day One (1) Click on the blue (1) for the words to rhyme ‘Horsey  Horsey’ . 

Enjoy your day and What ever story you decide to create, HAVE FUN. Remember to Stay Safe 

From Miss Butler, Mrs Breakwell and Miss Lofthouse. 

Hello everyone!

Did you enjoy the weekend? the sun shone so I hope you were able to spend time outside? I did some gardening: some digging and moving very big stones and I also planted some seeds. I noticed how tiny the seeds were I was sowing in the trays. At lunch time I cut up an avocado and was amazed at the size of that seed stone!

Did you notice the different sizes of seeds? Kieran has sent me some photos of his learning and he had a space theme going on at home and he found and ordered some stones which he calls his moon rocks! Thank you for sending me your photos they make me smile!

Today’s story has a space theme  and is called “Papa get the moon for me!” this is another Eric Carle book so I hope you enjoy it?

Can you take a circle piece of paper or perhaps a paper plate and cut it to create the different sizes of the moon?  If you add string you could create your own moon mobile!

I thought that the bubble foam was such great fun and it reminded me that you could have ago at making some corn flour slime either in your outside space or if dull and chilly inside(mummy’s and daddy’s this slime sweeps up easily!) you need a big bowl, some corn flour and water and food colouring if you have it?

• add the corn flour to the bowl
• add water slowly
• keep mixing and adding water until the mixture looks like you can pick it up (if too stiff add more water/if too runny add more flour)
• add food colour if you have it
• Play with the slimeIf you do not have any corn flour why not try a squirt of baby lotion on a tray and explore this with your fingers or your toys. This fun activity will develop all the muscles in your hands and arms and shoulders which you will need for writing!

Please continue to send pictures of your learning we love to see them and we always write back to you. Remember we have a 2 days left before Captain Tom is 100 years old so any happy pictures you have done please send them so we can print and add them to his card

Thank you

Mrs Penn, Mrs Heap and Mrs Coleman

Good Morning 

Thank you for sharing the amazing learning your have been engaged with at home. Your photos always make me  smile as I open my emails. THANK YOU. 

Flower collections and Snails has been a huge hit with you all.

If you have not yet pressed flowers, see which flowers you find on your walk. Remember you only need two pieces of kitchen roll and large books to press the flowers. 

FINAL IMAGE

Mixing Flower petals

I was even sent a story square that was written at home and sent in. Its lovely to think you are still writing your own stories at home. I love how story squares are totally individual. 

Snail and slime all over the place. The baby didn’t go with the daddy snail. The mummy snail stayed to look after the baby. Then daddy snail came to see baby snail that had hurt himself. The doctor snail took baby in a caravan to take him to the doctors where he had a plaster put on and was given a sticker for being such a good boy.The other snails are doing something else and slugs. Then they just are popcorn and watched TV but the TV stopped. They were cross, so they bought a new TV and then owl went Twit Twoo and was cross because they were watching a new TV….. The End. 

Story Squares are stories your child tells you which are written down … WORD for WORD. We usually act these stories out at the end of a school day but at the moment we can just share these stories until we are back together again BUT you might wish to act out your story square at home.

I was sorting out items at home and wondered how many different arrangements  of 10 you have found? 

You will have lots of exciting things to sort, Cars, Polly pockets,  pirate coins, Lego men etc 

You will all be able to join in with this song. We will have to change the words to the song depending on what you find at home in your search and sort. I wonder what your number song will be about? 

Enjoy your day searching and finding different things: flowers, snails, sticks, toys you want to sort or line up.  You could even make your own  Story Square. 

Keep Smiling and having fun as a family and remember to Keep Safe

From Miss Butler, Miss Breakwell and Miss Lofthouse.

Here are some of the lovely photos you have sent this week from your time at home enjoy!

Hello Everyone!

What a lovely sunny day Thursday was! I managed to do a little gardening and on my daily walk I think I successfully found a flower to match each colour of the rainbow. Have a look at my photos below to see if you agree? Did you try this challenge and did you find a flower for each colour?

I noticed a lot of dandelions on my walk and I remember blowing the seeds and saying a time for each blow. This was called a dandelion clock and it is helping the dandelion disperse it’s seeds to make a new plant. Why not have a close look at a dandelion seed head, look at how small the seeds are. I know that  some of you have been planting seeds to grow at home. Have noticed that seeds come in different sizes? Collect seeds this weekend from the fruits you eat or what you find in the woods on your walks  and look at their shapes and sizes. Inside each seed a new plant is waiting to grow~ this is amazing! 

Our world is full of wonder and it has been good to see how many of you and your families have been exploring your gardens, local woods and fields on your daily walks. I  read an article this morning and in the article they suggested a poem. I have found a you tube video of this poem for you to watch and listen to. This poem is called “Who Has seen the Wind?” by Christina Rossetti when you have listened to it talk with your family about it!!

Over the weekend you might like to create a little den for the bugs in your outdoor spaces. You need  sticks and twigs and leaves that you could collect on your daily walks. Make a small den and wait for the creatures to move in. Please send me photos of your den creations.

To end this post I have chosen 2 stories for you to listen to this weekend. They are both by Eric Carle. The first one is a favourite and you will know it well. in this video Eric Carle himself reads “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and then this is followed by a short film of the story  “The very Quiet Cricket” which is beautiful and has so many creatures for you to spot. Enjoy!

May we wish you a lovely weekend carrying on doing the things that make you feel safe, fit and above all happy!

Please send us any photos of your learning

Mrs Penn, Mrs Heap and Mrs Coleman

Hello Everyone 

I can’t believe how beautiful the weather has been this week…Super Sunshine. I went for a walk at 8am yesterday morning,  the bird songs are clear and now sound so loud because we don’t have many cars on the road, It’s such an stunning sound. Have you heard the bird sing on your walks?  What is also amazing is how the flowers and new leaves just shimmer in the morning light.

I wonder if the sun is shining on Friday you might wish to explore learning outside again but this time looking at water. I am sure some of you will have already been exploring water outside and inside!! Water is always a HUGE interest  because of its sensory properties and calming  effect.  

I have pick 2 of the 100’s of water activities you might wish to explore. I’m sure you will have fun with water what every activity you choose. Even just washing your mum & dads car or washing the dishes,  is fun learning.  

•  Have you tried painting with water outside on you path or on your patio.  Maybe you, your mum, dad or older sibling could even paint around your hand with water to make a shape.  You might even be able to paint, lines, a picture or even letters in your name.

  

  Wait and watch how they explore the water.

  

  What will they create?

  

  Where will they paint?

  
  
• I wonder if you could make your own garden soup or perfume with tree blossom  or flower petals. Collect petals that have blown off trees in you garden or you find on your daily walk.  Bring back your treasures and mix them together in a bowl of water in the garden or on your balcony. Mixing garden potions are always fun.

I wonder if any of you feed the birds in your garden? What do you feed your birds? Or maybe you feed the ducks on your walk?

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/04/identify-bird-song/ 

The website is GREAT because you can click on each bird image and hear their individual bird songs and calls.  Enjoying listening to the sounds. I wonder if you will be able to name any birds?

Leo Leonni is one of the authors we would have been looking at this half term. You might know his stories they always have many layers of personal and social learning. Click on the arrow and the story will play. 

If you are having difficulty accessing or using bug club,  Please do let me know. I will help however I can. Next week we will start to look at this terms told story ‘ The Enormous Turnip’ …Mrs Breakwell has set  all  of the FS staff a challenge of growing our own vegetables. I have NEVER grown vegetables before and  I am not sure my lettuce, carrots and radishes will grow ENORMOUS or grow at all!!! I will let you know. 

How are your Pea plants growing? 

Enjoy the Amazing Weather together as  a family.

Keep Safe and Keep Smiling Miss Butler, Mrs Breakwell and Miss Lofthouse

Hello All Good Morning 

The weather keeps getting better and better. What a fabulous day it was yesterday. I hope that you all managed to get outside in the garden or for a walk. I wonder if you found any flowers in your garden or on your walk? 

Last week I wrote about the Baking because you had been sharing with me how much your children were enjoying baking cakes, and biscuits.  Baking covers All areas of learning, Maths, Literacy, Physical development, Concentration, Science, Creativity,  Personal and Social development  etc … as well,  you have the wonderful smells of baking and then you get to eat the end results!! 

I have been sent photos of someone cooking their own LUNCH..  Cooking requires so many fine motor /physical and concentration skills; mixing, cutting, grating, pouring, chopping etc 

Have you ever made your own sandwich for lunch? …spreading  your own butter on bread and adding your own topping…? Or added your own topping onto your own pizza and grating additional cheese?

I wonder what you have cooked?  I’ve  added the recipe just in case you would like to try…

Recipe 

I’ve have also had some new DEN pictures sent to me…I love the way that you all adapt to this building challenge and make these den’s suit your needs. Brilliant. What also makes me smile is how many siblings are working closely together. Fantastic Fun being able to share learning.

Today’s challenge was inspired from assault course photos a family had created at home. When completing an assault course …children are actually handwriting…but they don’t know it because they are having FUN. To be able to write and draw children need to have strong upper arm muscles and a strong core.

I wonder if you, your brother or sisters and your parents can Crab Walk????  A core strengthening activity 

Crab Walk Game ……
You need

An area of floor or grass and a bean bag or small soft toy.

How to do it

Get your child to sit on the ground with their hands and feet on the floor, fingers pointing behind them, raise their bottom off the floor to make a table shape. In this position get them to walk backwards, like a crab, to a destination and back again. Put a beanbag or soft toy on their tummy – make sure they keep their bottom up otherwise the toy will fall off!

As this activity is quite demanding only ask your child to go 2 to 3 metres at their first attempt, as the child’s endurance increases you can increase the distance.

To add variety you can add an obstacle course or follow-my-leader to the game.

Click on the spider to listen to the story…. I hear that some of you don’t like Spiders!!

Remember you can still send in your drawings, scribbling, mark making and pictures so that we can send Captain Tom a Happy Birthday card,  100 yrs old, what a special day. 

Keep Enjoying your days at home. Stay Safe and Keep Smiling

Best Wishes Miss Butler, Miss Lofthouse, Mrs Breakwell

Hello Everyone

What a beautiful sunny day Wednesday turned out to be! I was in school but was able to enjoy the warmth and catching up with staff and parents I was able to phone!Mrs Breakwell told me how she was enjoying being at home with her little girl but would occasionally like 5 minutes peace to herself! I am sure lots of the mummies will be feeling like this in these very strange times! This reminded of a lovely story written by Jill Murphy about the large family so I have added it for you all to enjoy!

Today I have been sent some photos of your learning at home! It is good to see that you have been trying to get worms to the surface by using water and stamping the ground!

I have liked seeing that a lot of your fun learning is taking place outside. It was wonderful to see these photos of making rainbow foam! Its so easy you need a bowl, a whisk, washing up liquid and food colouring just add them in a bowl and whisk to see how many bubbles you can make!

So much learning is going on in this fun activity! Physical skills to whisk and use your fingers to explore the foam. Being creative by Adding colours and watching which new colour emerges. Being imaginative by adding small cups, plates junk containers to make a cafe to serve drinks to your family! By Using your small animal toys to make up stories as you create an adventure through the bubbles! You can use shaving foam to create a similar effect! Why not have ago and upload the photos of your bubbly foam!

It was lovely to see this happy collage! The backing for this picture looks like a piece of fabric and what lovely items have been found to cut out and stick on! Thank you and well done I think this photo will brighten up the card for Captain Tom!

Could you make a picture to make us all feel happy with the things you can find at home and in the garden? Have ago and send us a photo !

The warm sunshine yesterday inspired some of you to go on a creature hunt and to draw your own pictures of flowers as was suggested by Mrs Heap’s lovely flower photos, I know that I am going to see how many different flowers I can spot on my daily walk tomorrow! Do you think I can find a flower for each colour of the rainbow? You could try this as well and we can see what we managed!

Thank you for all the lovely fun activities you are sharing together, stay safe

Mrs Heap, Mrs Coleman and Mrs Penn

Hello All

What a beautiful day yesterday turned out to be! During our daily walk my dog Ollie was so warm he went for a paddle in the cool water of a stream! I did not join him but watched as he tried to pull a fallen tree out of the stream which made us smile! because Ollie is a little dog who thinks he is big!

Yesterday I had some messages about what you are finding in your garden. Although our challenge was around worms many of you are finding other creatures as well! Perhaps today you would like to use the attached garden creatures hunt sheet to tally how many of each creature you can find or you can make your own sheet up with the help of your families! Please click the blue writing below:

My Garden Creatures hunt 2

Mrs Heap has been busy in her garden and on her daily walks she has been enjoying the flowers she can see. She has made a sheet of some of the flowers she has found and she thought you would like to see them and see if you can see similar flowers in your outdoor spaces or on your daily walks! Please click on the blue  writing below link below:

Garden Flower Search

Challenge: make a model of a flower with your construction kits, can you use play dough to make a flower or carefully look closely at a flower to paint and draw. think about the number  and shape of petals , the stem, the position of the flowers and so on

Making your own number flowers. Counting the petals.

Please keep sending me photos and messages about your learning and I will always write back to you! Brooke sent me a picture of the tunnel she made for her guinea pigs.

Maybe you have a pet at home and you could make something to make them feel cosy or as my children did when they were little create an obstacle course for your pet to negotiate!

As ever please enjoy this lovely day and stay safe

Mrs Penn, Mrs Heap and Mrs Coleman 

GOOD MORNING Happy Wednesday

What a LOVELY afternoon I had yesterday as I was able to hear some more of your voices again. I will continue to phone families to say HELLO over the next few weeks so that we can keep in touch. However, if you have any questions or wish to share your child’s play we are here and ever so happy to receive messages and photos regularly. We will email your child back so that we can continue to keep in touch and have an awareness of their interests. 

I was sent some lovely photos of your bug hotels and stick homes….. Have a look.…  Remember every bug hotel, house or tower will be different. You might also like to build one with your brothers or sisters.

When I got home from work, I went on a walk, it was such a beautiful evening. Look what I spotted!  

I know others have seen horses on their walks…

I know that YOU! spotted a horse on your scavenger hunt.

What do you notice on your daily walk? 

Last week Miss Lofthouse set an outside scavenger hunt challenge. Her new hunt is like a rainbow…You can complete this hunt inside or outside.. 

• Find something Red
• Find something Yellow
• Find something orange
• Find something green
• Find something blue
• Name a fruit that is red
• Name an animal that is yellow
• Name a vegetable  that is orange
• Name a plant that is green
• Name a flower that is purple
• Name something outside that is blue…!

Mrs Heap has designed a garden hunt, she been in her garden today, it was a beautiful day and she has created you a quiz about flowers. Click on the blue words below to see Mrs Heaps flower search Garden Flower Search

I heard yesterday that some of you are concentrating for LONG periods of time when playing with playdough…Playdough is brilliant in helping you become very creative and in strengthening your fingers. Well Done, Great Learning. 

Today’s Story :- Planting a Rainbow:- click on the arrow to listen to the story.

I collected daisies and buttercups on my walk to press

 All you need to press flowers is 2 pieces of kitchen paper and a heavy book. Have you ever pressed a daisy or buttercup? What do you think will happen?

Practical active FUN learning is all around your child as they play and experiences daily life. Keep having fun learning in an exciting active way. 

From Miss Butler, Miss Lofthouse and Mrs Breakwell.