Week commencing June 2nd

The Investigation Hub

Characteristics of Effective Learning

Following on from the children’s interest in fossils and rocks, we set up a provocation leaving a bag outside for the children to find. The children investigated and discovered lots of different types of rocks. When studying the rocks the children used a wide range of vocabulary to describe what they saw. They talked about the similarities and differences in size, the colours and patterns and shapes of the rocks.

Later in the week we made another discovery; a bird’s nest had appeared in our outside area. The children looked at it closely and some of them wanted to touch it. They were fascinated!

“Maybe Mammy bird make it!”

“Should be chicks in here!”

”chicks can’t be hurt!”

“even a feather in here! It’s grey!”

“dinosaurs have nests!”

The children quickly observed that there were pieces of plastic in the nest and they understood why that was worrying…

“plastic is not bird food!” “They might get sick!”

Parents as Partners

We have had a super week sharing the Gingerbread Man and working on activities linked to the story. We retold the story using props and reciting key refrains together. Amy supported a small group of children to make gingerbread play-dough on Monday which has been a popular choice this week.

We engaged in lots of problem-solving, encouraging the children to think creatively about how the gingerbread man could cross the river safely. Most of their ideas revolved around boats and bridges, so we focused on bringing their ideas to life—crafting a river and constructing bridges and boats using junk modelling materials as well as larger outdoor equipment. Outside the children created a variety of bridges with crates and planks, they also thought a tunnel would work to cross the river! Amazing critical thinking skills in action! In the studio they created some amazing bridges, even including a seesaw bridge and a loop the loop bridge!

We also shared the wonderful musical story of the Gingerbread Man which features musicians from the BBC philharmonic. The children listened attentively to the musical sounds and linked them to the animals from the story. If you’d like to share this at home it is https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00158jj/bbc-philharmonic-the-musical-story-of-the-gingerbread-man

Finally, we received a special treat from the gingerbread man himself! To say thank you for all of the ideas to cross the river he left us a box of mini gingerbread men!

Outside Learning

The children have been interested in filling and pouring in the water tray so we decided to try some potion making outside. We were kindly donated some flowers so these made the perfect ingredient. The children then had to say what their potion would do. We had potions which would turn us into lions and frogs! One child said: “mine smells quite flowery!”

The children have been fascinated by the ladybirds which have started appearing on our fence. They have been observing closely and wondering why some of the ladybirds look a little different to others! Next week we will look at the life-cycle of a ladybird and try to answer some of the children’s questions!

We hope you have a lovely weekend 🙂