First of all I would like to thank everyone for coming on the walk this week. It was great to see so many parents and I hope this can continue throughout the year. If you can join us on our walks please come along. We are normally back in school by 9.45am. We will not be going on the first day back as we have parent consultations that morning.
This week we have introduced the children to story stones which has really caught their imaginations. Each stone has a picture on it and the children can create their own stories or choose some traditional tales that we have made for them. I was observing a mixed group of nursery and reception children who had used the stones to tell the story of the Billy Goats Gruff. They then acted out the story together. It is a great way to develop imagination and creativity. We would really like the children to have a go at making some at home. The children can collect their own stones then they can stick a character or picture on and then paint it with glue. Its very simple and doesn't cost anything except a bit of glue. If you do get the opportunity to make some stories we would love to have some photos to stick in their learning journals. You can email these to myself or Mrs Sheehan and we will print them for you.
This week we discussed how to be safe on the computer. It was very reassuring that the children had knowledge about E safety and we discussed what we should do if we see anything that makes us feel uncomfortable or frightened when we are online.
Finally we had our valentines disco on Thursday. The children enjoyed wearing their own clothes and dancing with their loved ones.
I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable half term.
See you after the break.
I am really sorry but we still have a technical problem with the photos. Hopefully this will be sorted soon.

Mrs Robinson:)

We have had a very exciting week starting with the arrival and build of the new outdoor classroom. We  watched the builders use the digger to clear the ground. We were very lucky as the builders put  all the spare earth in our digging area. 
We have also enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year and were excited to join in the celebrations with Leo and his family who were celebrating Vietnamese New Year. The children ate noodles with chopsticks, made dragons, lanterns, did Chinese writing and on Friday we had our own parade. The children were dancing round the room dressed as the dragon dancing to Chinese music. It has been a very creative week.
We are hoping to go on our wood walk on Monday so please come along if you can spare the time. Keep an eye on the weather.
I hope you all have a good weekend.
We have some fantastic photos but unfortunately we can not put them on the blog this week due to a technical problem. We will try and update the blog on Monday.

Mrs Robinson:)

The children have continued to learn about recycling and have got into some really good habits with their waste products. We are gradually building up our outside compost bin. We have also been fortunate again this week to enjoy the frost and snow. The children have had the opportunity to experiment further with melting. We have also created more ice sculptures and have painted with coloured ice that we made.
We are very keen for the children to handle as many natural objects as possible which we can use in many different ways. Simple household object can be used to create exciting mathematical exploration and learning. If you have any bits from the list below that you are happy to donate then they would be greatly appreciated.
Pegs ( plastic or wood)
large stones / pebbles
wooden logs / any size
old spoons for digging
Next week we are going to be focusing on observational art. The children will have the opportunity to recreate many different object through observational drawing and painting.
Our wood walk will continue next week so please come along if you can spare the time.
Have a great weekend
Mrs Robinson:)

The children have really embraced the idea of recycling and are making a conscious effort to put all the rubbish in the correct bins. We have even created our own compost heap which the children fill with our fruit left overs each day. We will hopefully be able to use our compost in the Spring to grow some vegetables.
Thank you to the parent's who came to the woods this week. The children enjoyed the experience and we hope that you will be able to join us on a regular basis. I do not have many helpers for next Monday so if you can come  please sign your name on the list.
We have created a new digging area in our outside environment and we are needing old spoons to use for archaeological digging. If you have any old spoons at home that you no longer need could you please bring them in. Small tools are far more satisfying than big tools and it allows the children to adapt a gentler approach to the dig.
The children have really enjoyed making ice sculptures which we have watched melt throughout the sessions. We have experimented with putting the ice inside and out to see which melts first.
Hopefully we will be able to continue with ice experiments next week with the cold weather, we may even get more snow!!!!
Have a good weekend.
Mrs Robinson:)

The weather has changed a bit this week and the children are definitely beginning to notice a difference when they play outside. On the plus side this gives us the opportunity to explore our environment which is changed by frost and ice. We managed to find some water that had frozen over night and the children observed how it melted throughout the day. We are hoping some more cold nights so that we can create some ice sculptures.
This week we have also been discussing caring for our planet. We have talked about recycling and have decided to make our own compost. I am just hoping that no little animals come and visit!!!!!!!!!
We did have an amazing visit from a montjac deer on Thursday. We all managed to keep very quiet while we watched from the window. We are now going to monitor the wild life outside and record what we see.
On Monday we are going to try and go to the woods with some of the children. If you have signed your name please be aware that if the weather is not good we will not go and I can only make that decision in the morning.
Have a good weekend.
Mrs Robinson:)

Welcome back. It was lovely to see the children on Wednesday morning full of enthusiasm and ready for the new term. We have made a few environment changes and have introduced some new areas that will support the children's independent thinking skills. We have created an area for them to make their own play dough and also an area that allows them to mix powder paint. As you can imagine we are going to be having a lot of mess while  they are learning so I will apologise now for messy clothes inside as well as outside. We have created an inside construction area that gives the children the opportunity to build with lots of different resources that we normally use outside such as dustbin lids, wood, nets, piping, tyres etc.The children have really responded well to this and are working together organising and sharing jobs from architects to builders and plumbers we have our own little work force.
We are hoping to start our wood walks this term and would like to go on Monday mornings at approximately 9.00am. I am going to operate this on a rotational basis but this can only take place if I have enough adults to come along. The walk  takes about 40 minutes and it allows the children to be involved with the local area and the natural environment around us. If you can spare the time could you please sign your name against the weekly rota so that I can sort out which children will be able to go. Our first walk will be on Monday 21st January.
Have a great weekend
Mrs Robinson