Blooming plants

SUNSHINE AND SHOWERS
A great mix of weather was just what our outdoor plants needed!
The children have loved checking the beans, nasturtiums, strawberries and potatoes every day and reporting the changes.

 I think the potato plants have caused the most conversation as their growth has been incredible! The plants are now as tall as some of the children! This has led to brilliant discussions about growth and height and comparing.

This young lady planted a conker seed she found that had sprouted in the sand pit. We now have a shoot and leaves - our very own horse chestnut tree!!

                                       

PLANTS GALORE!

Indoors much has been growing. The bean seeds have begun to grow roots, which initially intrigued the children, as they didn't know what they were, as well as the seeds looking as if they were going mouldy!

 Our Mr Grass Heads have been a huge success and are all sporting a healthy crop of green hair! The children have also spotted the white hairy roots underneath. I have been amused to hear the children asking me excitedly "Mrs Courtney, show us your roots!"

 Mr Grass Head has had several hair cuts, and survived them all - some budding hairdressers in our midst!

AND NOW FOR SOME MUSIC MAKING

The classroom has been full of sounds this week with the children thoroughly enjoying exploring sound!

 The children watched and listened to video clips of bands and orchestras playing a variety of styles of music, and we have had our own conductors too!

 We were treated to live music with one of our KS2 teachers, Mr Baguley, playing the guitar and piano for us. He was impressed by our piano playing too!

 So many instruments to explore. The African drums were definitely our favourite as well as being the loudest! 

A little taster of what next week holds in store...

Yes! Our theme will be mini beasts! 

Let's get growing!

PLANTING
We have planted some broad beans and sweet peas outdoors, and have also each planted a broad bean, which we will take home to continue growing and hopefully have a harvest!

 We have also set up an investigation so that we can see what happens to the seed in the soil, where we usually can't see!
The children have noticed what they call "long dangly bits" and I've asked them to closely watch to see where these come from!

The children have had a great deal of fun planting Mr Grass heads, especially commenting on the stockings we have been using for Mr Grass Head's head!

 Only 1 week later and some of the Mr Grass heads are growing delightful green hair!

We have also been observing and finding out more about many different plants and herbs.

Painting pictures of flowering plants encouraged the children focus on the length of the stem, the colours of the flowers, the centre of the flower heads and much more.

 Magnifiers have been used a great deal, and it has been pleasing to see the children spend so much time examining seeds, plants, leaves and talking about them. The scented herbs created much discussion!

 We have also carefully cut some flower petals and leaves and added them to water to freeze so that we can investigate them further in the water tray next week.

We are blessed with beautiful school grounds and the children have loved spotting flowers, blossom and plants bursting into life. Here are just a couple of them.

We also seem to have adopted a new little family in our grounds! Mother duck and her eight ducklings frequently come and say hello. The children have been delighted by this and it has been a great opportunity to see them grow and change. We have had lots of questions and comments about how they grow, what they eat, do and the way they move!

What a busy week it has been, with so many opportunities to learn about 

growth and change!