The children were asked what they wanted to put on the wall to replace the Christmas displays and we decided between us all that we should have a large winter scene with trees and animals and snow. The children collected some twigs and leaves from the garden and we set about making the tree. We used thick brown paint and the children used sticks to pull through the pain to give it a more tree like texture. We suggested that they do some leaf prints but the children had a better idea and painted the leaves and stuck them on. Of course the theme of snow and ice gave a group of children the idea of creating characters from the film Frozen which still seems to be the main topic of conversation this term!
As the children collected twigs a small group decided to build a bonfire in the garden and said they wanted to try and make fire by rubbing sticks together. They had great fun twizzling sticks and trying to create a flame but were unsuccessful, (rest assured we are watching carefully in case they are successful). This activity has given us a great idea for next week when we shall be pretending to be adventurers in the wild. We will be building shelters and following maps and looking for wolves, bears and bugs in the wild. (more on that in next weeks blog).
The book of the week was called The Bear under the stairs. It is a delightful story about a boy who thinks a bear lives under the stairs and feeds it to keep him quiet. At the end we find that it was just an old coat hanging over a chair (or was it?).
On Tuesday we went into the large hall in small groups for some fun sporting games in sessions run by Jo. The children had a fantastic time playing games, jumping, crawling and running. We hope to use the large hall at different times during the weeks ahead to make sure that all of the children get the chance to join in no matter what days they attend. We are sure the staff fitness levels will improve too.
Throughout the week we have been doing lots of other physical activities to support the childrens' hand/eye co-ordination such as catching and throwing, using scissors, making models with boxes and sorting bean bags into size related patterns.
The week ended with small groups making their own books from sugar paper which they either wrote in or drew pictures or cut out shapes to stick in.
Words we have learned this week:
Lair (the home of the bear in our story of the week)
Throwing
Ideas to continue this week's fun at home:
Practise throwing small object like ball or soft toy into a waste paper bin or small tub
Collect leaves in the and twigs to make a picture