2-3: The Discovery Hub and 3-4: The Investigation Hub at Deckham

It has been wonderful to hear the children discussing their celebrations of Eid last week. They shared with the other children how they celebrated with their families. It was lovely to see the confidence the children showed to share their experiences and share their henna tattoos.

Play and Exploring

The children have been exploring physical challenges in nursery as they test out obstacle courses. They explored balancing across balance beams, going through the tunnel and moving “over” and “under” the guttering. The children have also been testing out how long they can hold movements such as standing on one leg. They explored counting in sequence to see how long they could last and were proud of their achievements. Some of the children have been exploring books with movements in and have tried creating the movements themselves. We have shown a great interest with dancing this week, exploring creating fast and slow movements with voiles.

Thinking Creatively and Critically

This week our Investigators have conducted an experiment with planting cress seeds. We discussed what seed/flowers need to grow and the children explained “water” “soil” and “warm”. The children then explored adding cotton wool and seeds to the cups. We then discussed how we were going to place the seeds in the “sun” and in the “dark”, one with water and one without. We all made predictions to see which cup we thought would grow the most and recorded these to reflect on at a later date. The children then helped to place the cups in the positions and we created labels with drawings to remind us which cup needed water.

Communication and Language

Our Investigators checked on the growth of the sunflowers this week. We were amazed with how much they have grown. We explored sorting the flowers into height order starting with the shortest. The children used language such as “taller”, “shorter” and “tallest” to describe their appearance.

On Thursday, the children used their sense as we explored smelling, feeling and tasting bananas. The children explored peeling the bananas, chopping the bananas and mashing the bananas. Both the Discoverers and Investigators has a wonderful time exploring through this experience. Some of the children began to discuss the purpose of the various tools “this is to cut” while chopping the bananas. They explored the different purposes of the tools, beginning to realise some are made to mash and some are made to cut or scoop.

Active Learning

This week we have been developing our fine motor skills across many areas. The children have been exploring using their hands to manipulate playdough by rolling it between their hands and pulling it apart to make smaller pieces. There has been a great interest with painting, as the children explore using various paintbrush and rollers, developing our grasp of the tools. Our Discoverers have explored creating exploratory marks on the boards. This is an important step as it develops our fine and gross motor skills. During all of these explorations the children have been motivated to follow through on their interests and showed pride in all their achievements.

Outdoor Learning

The children have enjoyed making nature bracelets in the garden. We explored making a bracelet with masking tape and then explored the garden to locate leaves and flowers to add the their bracelets. Some of the children were then able to talk about where they found the natural resources.

The children have explored a new game in the garden “Bear likes Honey” as Miss Goodrick explained how to play. The children then took turns to take the honey and be the bear. It was lovely to see then children initiating the game again without staff, as they wanted to have another turn.

Parents as Partners

This week the children have wanted to explore many different nursery rhymes. Favourites being Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Wind the Bobbin and Wheels on the Bus. 

The children have loved the opportunity being active this week, we would love to see how the children keep active at home whether it is going for a walk, swim or playing in the park. Working on gross motor skills at home and nursery helps a child gain strength and confidence in their body.

Just a reminder school will be closed on Friday 20th June for a staff training day.

The Nursery Team