Busy, Busy week!

CONTINUING TO ENJOY AUTUMN

We were invited to join with the Children's Centre staff and some parents and toddlers on a Listening Walk. Aeroplanes, rustling leaves, car engines and wheelie bins were among the many sounds we heard as we walked. We were hopeful of hearing a train when we walked up the railway bridge, but not even the sound of a distant whistle!

We found heaps of leaves and had great fun scooping them up as well as jumping in them!

                                  

 Then a song dancing those leaves around and up and down!

              

       EGG-XPLORATIONS THIS WEEK!

One simple egg was what we started with. 

I posed some questions - where did this come from? How will it feel? Can we eat it like this? What will it be like inside? 

There was lots of discussion and interest and the most popular answer to where did it come from was "The Co-op"!

Cracking open the egg and watching it slip out and wobble about in the container produced delight, surprise and giggles and lots of children began wobbling their bodies to imitate what they could see!

Everyone observed closely as we watched the mixture heating up in the microwave.

A couple of hopeful children suggested it would be a cake when it had cooked!

The children were fascinated by the changes.

And then of course we needed to taste our scrambled eggs! Some children who hadn't been too sure found out they did like scrambled eggs after all!

From the children's comments and questions we will be finding out more about eggs and where they come from!

TIME WITH OUR OLDER FOLK

Once a month a coffee morning is held in school for the older members of our community to meet and chat. Little Conkers usually like to go and sing to them.

This week we took paper and crayons and invited them to a draw and talk time with us.

I think you'll agree from the photos that everyone had a great time! 

Such a wonderful opportunity we have for young and young at heart to share together!

Amazing Autumn!

PUMPKIN EXPLORATIONS!

On Monday morning the children spotted the pumpkin and immediately tried to cut it to see the inside! the plastic knives and spoons slipped, and bounced off the tough skin. One very determined child managed to pierce the skin and there were shouts of delight!

"It's very heavy!" was heard several times by surprised children lifting the pumpkin.

The children used some great words to describe how the pumpkin felt and smelt -
"Sticky"
"wet"
"cold"
"Like ice cream"
"It tickles!"

LOTS OF FUN WITH LEAVES

We have some incredible trees in our grounds!

Most days someone tries to climb this one!

         

 It was wonderful watching the children having fun together in the heaps of fallen leaves.
They scooped handfuls up and threw them high into the air, laughing and shouting with delight.








Next was the messy part! From the bucketfuls of leaves we collected the children chose some to paint and print.
 It was very interesting watching how the children approached this activity. Some clearly favoured particular colours, some worked through the colour choices in the order they were laid out. Others mixed colours on leaves. The effects achieved by all were stunning!

Harvest time!

FINDING OUT ABOUT HARVEST

Our week began with going to explore the whole school Harvest Festival display in the hall. The children were amazed by so much food!

They named the foods they could see that they liked to eat. Scooby Doo tinned spaghetti was spotted by one very observant child!

We talked about how Harvest time is a special time for saying Thank you to God for all the lovely foods we enjoy. We also talked about this food being collected to help others who do not have as much as us - this year the school is supporting our local Food Bank, The Sleaford Community Food Larder.

Some of the children asked questions about the cross and the candles.

     The children were                fascinated by the aubergine!  They gently smelt and touched it.  "Can we open it?" asked Charlotte.

The next day we cut an aubergine in half, and the children looked very surprised! 

"It feels a bit like cheese" commented Luke. "It's a bit squidgy!" added Theodore.

The children wanted to cut open some of the other vegetables on the table.  

There was lots of interest in all the vegetables, and plenty of opportunities to introduce new words and to encourage the children to explore and describe textures.

         

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Our explorations this week also extended into Autumn and to looking at what is happening in the world around us. We gathered all sorts of natural objects from our outdoor area.

   

Some of us also went walking in the village with our mums and dads and collected some different objects, which we brought in to share with the rest of the children.

 

 We found many different leaves, and compared the colours and sizes, looking closely to see if any matched.

There is so much to learn about our wonderful world in Autumn!

Next week..... trees and leaves - printing, threading....

          

  

Investigating!

                                                   What do shapes do?

The children have been finding out about shapes all around them. 

In the construction area we have all sorts of boxes, containers and objects - the children were encouraged to see for themselves how shapes behaved.

The children were quick at identifying objects that rolled, and found lots of them!

They also thought the penguin would roll - he just sat there to begin with, until he was given a bit of a push, and then the children were amused to see him slide down the slope!

Indoors and outdoors we went on a shape hunt, to spot anything that would roll.

                                                              

Hoops, balls, tyres, wheels, conkers, apples, beads, Mrs Courtney's pen.... the list seemed endless!

We explore the marks we could make when wheels roll.

This threading activity was great for finding out about the bead shapes, as well as practising our fine motor skills at the same time! It also prompted lots of discussion about colours.

The marble run gained the children's attention for long periods. I'm not sure what part the pink shoe on the table played, but I guess there was a Cinderella somewhere looking for it!

Investigating joining different pieces, trying to get the structure to balance without toppling over, working out where the ball would end up, changing pieces to stop the ball getting stuck, talking about the directions the ball was travelling...were just some of the learning opportunities from this marble run.
Next week we will be putting the marble run pieces in the water tray, and investigating further!

There have been many times this week when I could almost hear the children's minds thinking things through - so much learning has been going on! Well done Little Conkers!