We have been spending lots of time outside over the past couple of weeks; enjoying the lovely weather and being appreciative of our wonderful garden!  The children have been challenging themselves on the tricky climbing frame and thinking about how to keep themselves safe by waiting for their turn.  We even had a numbered ticket system in place!

The children have also been working together to create this beautiful art installation!  When it’s finished we might use it as the backdrop for our outdoor stage which, lately, has been giving the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury a run for its money!

Earlier in the week, we had to say some sad goodbyes to two of our Nursery children, who have moved to a new home and school in Denmark.  We were so sad to say goodbye but we also shared in their excitement as they set off on their new adventure overseas! We wish you the very best of luck!

Much of our recent learning through play has, in fact, been inspired by taking trips to foreign lands! We have been reading lots of fantastic stories about travelling by sea to distant destinations.

One of those stories was ‘Jack and the Flumflum Tree’ by Julia Donaldson which tells the tale of three friends (Jack, Stu and Rose) who set sail for the island of Blowyernose to find a cure for poor Jack’s Grandma who had been suffering from a nasty bout of the woozles!

You can listen to the author reading the story here:

http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/julia-donaldson-jack-and-the-flumflum-tree

As it’s quite difficult to make out the words in that video, you might also like to read the story yourself, using this one…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOcDPtsFL9I

Another story we read was the classic tale of “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak…

You can re-read that story here – do remember to turn the sound off and read it yourself as the voiceover and background sounds could be a bit scary or at least check it out for yourself first before playing it…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk3H_WkD2gI

And of course, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to read one of the most famous boating stories of all, that of Noah and his Ark.

We absolutely loved this musical adaptation of the story…

All of these stories inspired us to have a go at making our own boats using junk materials.  We thought carefully about which materials would make good boats; e.g. plastic tubs or  cardboard egg boxes?  We knew that cardboard “melts” in water so we eventually decided that plastic tubs would make better boats.  Well done Nursery!

Our scientific thinking continued later in the week as we set about exploring the floating and sinking properties of a whole range of objects.  We used words like “heavy”, “float” and “sink”.  Can you remember something that could float and something that sunk?

Why not carry out your own floating and sinking investigation at home, perhaps in the kitchen sink or in the bath at bath-time.  Sesame Street have produced a family newsletter with some lovely ideas for you to try out at home:

https://cdn.sesamestreet.org/sites/default/files/media_folders/Images/Stem_Sink_FamilyGuide.pdf

The video referred to in the newsletter (Rocco’s Boat) can be found here:

https://www.sesamestreet.org/toolkits/stem/sink-or-float

At the end of the story of Noah’s Ark, the dove returns with a leaf in it’s beak to let Noah know that it has found dry land.  Quite incredibly, some rather unusual leaves have been growing on a new tree in our classroom.  When it first arrived, it was completely bare, without any leaves at all.  But each time someone in the class did something particularly kind, a leaf suddenly began to grow on the tree!  We decided to call our new tree ‘The Kindness Tree’ and, over the course of the week, we have watched in wonder as each new leaf has started to grow! It is perhaps no surprise, given how kind and friendly we all are in Nursery, that our new tree is now bursting with new life.

If you would like to know a little more about these individual acts of kindness, take a closer look at the leaves next time you are in the classroom…