Week commencing 16th September - Westmeston

What a glorious week of sunshine we have had. So much so, we have hardly spent any time indoors.

We have enjoyed using lots of different building materials to create shelters and structures. Using good teamwork is important when working on projects together and we have had to listen to our friends' different ideas and opinions.

Good listening skills were also important when using our musical instruments on Thursday. We listened to the different sounds the instruments made and noticed how some were played by banging and some had to be shaken. We investigated how to play the instruments loudly and softly and enjoyed being part of a marching band singing 'Everyone Together!'

We also used the instruments to accompany us in some nursery rhymes which we have been listening to and singing for the past few weeks.

On Tuesday we had a go at making up our own version of Baa Baa Black Sheep. Our first attempt was:

Baa Baa Green Sheep

Have you any ice cream?

Yes Sir, Yes Sir,

Three cones full,

One for the cat and one for the donkey,

And one for the chicken who lives in a tree!

This version really made us giggle but we noticed that it didn't rhyme. With Mrs Tubb's help we came up with this alternative rhyming version:

Baa Baa Green Sheep

Have you any bread?

Yes Sir, Yes Sir,

On my head!

One for the squirrel and one for the mole,

And one for the little mouse who lives in a hole!

This made us giggle as well! Which version do you like best?

We've been expressing our artistic talents again this week. We had fun doing some free painting in the sun. We painted pictures of our families and animals and had a lovely time getting messy doing painted hand prints.

We incorporated nature in our art as we did some bark rubbing in the woods. The tree stumps made some interesting patterns as we rubbed over them in a variety of colours.

On Thursday, we set up a dinosaur park to play with. The dinosaurs have had some impressive shelters built for them and even got to ride on a dinosaur car!

It's he season to go Bonkers for Conkers! And we are certainly being well supplied by the horse chestnut trees around us. We can't believe how many conkers have fallen to the ground and how big and shiny they are. We like it best when the conkers are still in their spiky shells and we have to peel them open. On Friday we collected so many, we could hardly carry the basket!

It wasn't just conker collecting keeping us busy on Friday...

We made dough for our pizzas at lunch. They were delicious and we enjoyed eating them whilst sitting outside in the warm sunshine.

Again, we showed excellent teamwork as we set up a Mud Cafe in the wooded area. We were all so busy with jobs:

"I need more chilli powder. This is going to be very spicy!"

"I'm making Rice Krispies."

"I'm in the cafe with my dog Bruno. I'm waiting for my cake."

"Whoops! I dropped the chilli powder!"

This week, we walked through the beautiful fields to the woods where we used our imagination to build all sorts of things - tractors, ladders and a Chocolate Brioche House (inspired by the snack we had all just enjoyed!)

There were plenty of Autumn coloured leaves to play with. They looked so pretty in the September sunshine.

In the afternoon, Mrs Tubb challenged us to find a face on the trees that she had created using clay.

Once we had found it, we were all keen to have a go at making our own creations. We used our fingers to work the clay onto the bark then moulded it to the shape we wanted. We added twigs, leaves and pebbles to make faces.