Week commencing 18th January - Westmeston

This week our focus was on communication and language, specifically speaking. We used our book of the week, 'The Little Red Hen', to talk about characters and plots and we retold the story line using some sensory materials. It was interesting to have a discussion about whether or not the animals in the story should have been allowed to share the Little Red Hen's bread, even though they refused to help make it. The children had some interesting ideas,

"The Little Red Hen should have said 'please!'"

"They shouldn't get any bread,. They didn't help."

"I would let them have some bread."

The children were keen to retell the story but with all the animals helping and enjoying the bread together at the end.

The children also enjoyed getting their hands into the sensory grain and continued with the character role play.

We used our communication skills when working as a team to build a den in the garden. There was lots of discussion about where to put the sheets and how to peg them onto the benches. The den made a great role play house with the children deciding on a front door section and where the kitchen should be.

During the week we made some bird feeders. We talked about how the birds need high energy food during the winter to keep them warm and that when the ground is hard and frozen, it is tricky for them to find insects to eat. Our bird feeders were made by squishing bird food suet or coconut oil into a pine cone, then pressing seeds into the mixture. It was a messy job, but fun!

We seemed to have a whole range of weather throughout the week : sunshine, wind, frost and lots of rain! But whatever the weather, we had fun playing outside.

On Friday, we looked carefully at some ice decorations that had been hung up in the garden. They looked beautiful in the early frost. The children were able to observe them melting throughout the day as the sun shone which enabled some interesting discussions about melting, freezing, solids and liquids.

The sun continued to shine on us during our walk to the woods. It was such a lovely, still day that we were able to listen to the birds singing and try to identify their calls.

Whilst having our snack sitting on the logs, we noticed some jelly ear fungus growing on the ends of the tree stumps. The children enjoyed feeling the jelly texture gently with sticks.

We were lucky enough to have some delicious home baked goods this week. Some beautiful cupcakes with unicorn sprinkles and a lovely sponge cake made for us by our friend Mr Kelly. With so much energetic outdoor play, we were so thankful for the treats.