Week commencing 19th October - Westmeston

This week our focus was mathematics, specifically numbers. Most of our number work is done as part of our everyday play and activities, such as counting conkers, reading number signs whilst out on walks or drawing numbers in the mud. But this week, we also had some fun with specific maths resources which the children loved investigating - counting bears, ordering numbers and making block towers were very popular.

We celebrated two birthdays this week which was a perfect excuse to talk about numbers and age (whilst eating cake!). Who is the oldest? Who is the youngest? How many candles are there on the cake? What age will you be next year?

To start off our Tuesday Forest School session, we had a treasure hunt. Paulina had hidden lots of beautifully decorated discs around the wooded area and it was the children's job to find the matching pairs. It certainly tested their observational skills and resilience as some were very well hidden!

Then it was time to get creative using the beautiful autumnal leaves around us. The children made leaf crowns which they wore with pride! They also made hanging mobiles by tying or sewing leaves and shells onto a piece of wool. They looked lovely hanging from our porch area.

The children worked as a team to put up a den. Paulina helped them to hammer in some pegs to make it stable. It was a great hiding spot.

We have been for some lovely walks this week and we are really noticing the leaves changing colour. We pass a few horse chestnut trees on our walks and we are always amazed by the size of the leaves. This week the children decided to use them as umbrellas in case we got rained on!

There are always interesting things to look at on our walks and it is also fascinating to see the changes in nature over time. We often pass some amazing fungi that has changed from a bright, custard yellow to a two-tone brown colour. We wonder what it will look like after our half term break. The children are always reminded not to touch fungi with their fingers, but prodding it gently with a stick to feel its texture is safe, as long as the stick is put down afterwards.

Some regular features of our walks are puddle jumping, tree climbing and running down hills, which are wonderful for the children's gross motor skills, not to mention great fun!

This week we got busy making some pumpkin bird feeders. The children worked hard to hollow out the insides of the mini pumpkins.

On our walk we selected some good, straight sticks to put through the pumpkin halves. This was quite hard work, but with some grown up help, they all managed it. The sticks will hopefully give the birds something to perch on whilst they eat the feed.

Mrs Tubb tied some string around the sticks and then we filled the pumpkins with seeds, or bags of seeds for the children to take home. We hope the birds enjoy feeding from them in your gardens as the weather gets colder.

On Thursday we had our music lesson with Miss Matthews outside. It was lovely to be singing and playing instruments in the autumnal sunshine. The children also loved sitting in the camping chairs!

There was lots of fun to be had in the garden over the week as children made up their own games, including transporting leaves and making a delicious mud soup!