Let’s Go Camping!

As people across the country looked forward to heading out into the cold, Autumnal nights to keep warm around the bonfire and watch the night-sky light up with fireworks, we were busy enjoying our very own firework display and campfire in the classroom!  Don’t worry, we all kept safe with the firework display provided by several youtube clips on the interactive whiteboard and the campfire consisting of wooden logs, orange tissue paper and lots of imagination!

Several weeks ago, we had noticed that the children were particularly interested in the idea of “going camping”.  So, we decided to support their learning through play with the creation of a campsite complete with tent, sleeping bags, camping pillows, camping chairs and, of course, torches!

The children absolutely loved their campsite and quickly set to work, rolling the playdough into sausages, ready to be cooked on the open fire…

…making sure there was plenty of firewood to keep the fire going…

…and even reading a story or two by torchlight in the tent…

Our camping chairs provided the best seats in the house for the firework displays…and a quick chat on the phone!

And the firework displays inspired our very own firework mark-making in coloured sand…

We read the story of Bernie Sparks and Rocky the Rocket on Bonfire Night to help the children understand about how to keep themselves safe on the real Bonfire Night.

And, following on from last week’s excitement 🎃, we also read the story of Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper.  This charming book tells the tale of Cat, Duck and Squirrel as they learn about friendship and sharing by working together to make their favourite pumpkin soup.

Image result for pumpkin soup story

You can revisit the story below.  Try turning the sound off and reading it aloud yourself.

The Little Acorns had a go at creating their own pumpkin recipes…

And back in the classroom, Mrs Morris came up with this rather novel use of an old pumpkin!

Have a lovely weekend everyone and thank you for all the wonderful contributions to our nature table – it is really looking beautiful! 🍁

Festivals of Light

Welcome back to the second half of the Autumn term!  We hope everyone enjoyed a restful half term break.  As the dark nights draw in and the leaves start to change colour, we have been encouraging the children to notice the different coloured leaves in the garden.  If you find any red, yellow or oranges leaves when out and about this weekend, please do bring them into Nursery for our Nature Table.  Thank you!

There was great excitement this week as many of the children were looking forward to spending time with their families, celebrating a certain festival that involves special costumes, decorating homes, eating sweets and lighting candles! 🎃

In Nursery, we take every opportunity to find out about different cultures and religions so, this week, we decided to find out about a celebration that also involves costumes, decorations, sweets and candles: the light festival of Diwali.

Unlike Halloween, Diwali is a religious festival.  It is celebrated every year by Hindus all around the world.  First, we read the story of the Ramayana which tells the tale of Rama and Sita, who defeat the ten-headed demon king, Ravana, with the help of the monkey king, Hanuman.  The children all agreed that Ravana was “not very kind and friendly”!

Image result for rama and sita story

You can re-visit the story in this CBeebies clip:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/lets-celebrate-diwaliperformance

During Diwali, Hindus light diya lamps to symbolise the victory of light over darkness, just like in the story of Rama and Sita.  They also wear special clothes, decorate their homes and eat lots of special sweets!

Meet Jessica here to find out more about how Diwali is celebrated.

We had a go at dressing up ourselves!

Retelling the story of the Ramayana:

And we practised our mark-making within this beautiful Rangoli pattern!

We hope you’ll understand that we decided to leave all the sweet-eating to you at home!  Have a lovely weekend everyone 😊