This week our topic book has been The Little Red Hen. In the story we find out about a little red hen who is trying to make some bread. The children identified that the hen's friends did not help her at any point in the bread making process and this ultimately led to the hen to having to make and eat the bread all by herself. We discussed how we thought this might make the little red hen feel and Squirrels agreed that this was unkind and made the hen feel sad. We spoke about the different feelings of the hen in comparison to her friends at each stage of the story and used the book to reflect back on a time when we may have felt like that too.
We also linked the themes in the book and the language around foods and crops to our leaning of the harvest and the things we are thankful for. In the story the hen was thankful for the seeds which turned into bread. We chatted as a group to talk about all the things we were thankful for. There were lots of wonderful responses from the children including their families, dogs and of course sweets! We also used the book to develop our language and communication skills by practicing the the makaton for 'hen', 'bread' and 'help'.
The story ultimately led to us making our own bread rolls in Cookery with the big difference being that we all helped to measure, pour and mix the ingredients together. The children had a great time getting messy with the dough and exploring the textures with their hands.
In our Role Play Area the Squirrels we have loved pretending to be doctors. The doctor’s surgery has been at capacity with patients with broken arms and legs as well as tummy aches and colds. The Squirrel doctors have been working around the clock to make sure everyone has received the right treatment and looking after all of us to make sure we get better quickly. It has been lovely to see the Squirrels working as a team in the surgery and using their imagination to incorporate their own experiences with those seen in books and on television to extend the role play scenarios!
On our Outdoor Learning Day we continued to extend our gross motor skills from previous weeks and enjoyed challenging ourselves by climbing on a big fallen down tree. Having started our journey outdoors and risk taking abilities by balancing on logs and fallen branches it was wonderful to see the determination of all the children to conquer the biggest balancing challenge yet. We also explored the natural environment and searched for interesting natural objects to take back to the classroom. The children were tasked with finding objects that they thought might create exciting patterns so we encouraged them to feel the objets to look for different textures and sizes.
Back in the classroom we focused on understanding how patterns work and had a go at making our own patterns, using coloured pens and objects as well as the natural objects we found on our Outdoor Learning Day. We also experimented with making playdough into body parts, built wondrous things out of Duplo and had a great time transferring water. In our Outdoor Learning Environment we have been searching for treasure amongst foamy seas, baking lots of yummy treats and practicing our ball skills.
The end of the week culminated with our Harvest Festival celebration and everyone was very excited to welcome our families back into the nursery. The children put on an excellent performance and we were so proud of how confident the Squirrels were in their singing.
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