Gallery

SUMMER 1

THE NOISY NOISY FARM

This week we have thought about farming and farm animals.  We have talked about what animals we would find on a farm and made the noises those animals make.  We have listened to the story book The Noisy Noisy Farm.  We have thought about what foods are grown on the farm and have enjoyed watching Down on the Farm on Cebeebies to help us to understand what jobs happen on a farm.

This week we have mixed red and white paint to make pink and paint our very own pigs.  In maths we have thought about more and fewer and we have also been practising our cutting skills in the workshop area. 

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 

This week we have continued to think about growing and have been watching our runner bean pot very closely.  We can't see any shoots yet but the children were able to retell what we did to plant them and could say what they need to grow.

This week we have read the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.  The children have enjoyed acting as the giant saying 'fee fi fo fum' and have enjoyed stretching up high to show how tall the beanstalk is.  In maths this week we have focused on positional language.  We have used the words in, on, under, out, in front and behind.  The children have drawn and painted their own beanstalks and we have started colour mixing in our creative area. 

JASPER'S BEANSTALK 

We have enjoyed welcoming our returning and new children to Puddles this week.  We have talked lots about our Puddles rules and routines to help us to know what to do when we are in Puddles.  We have really enjoyed the start to our new topic Our World Around Us.  We have read the story of Jasper's Beanstalk and started planting our very own runner beans.   We have talked about what plants need to grow and have really liked thinking about what things grow that we can eat. The children have drawn some super beanstalk pictures and have also been drawing pictures of themselves.   

Outside we have enjoyed the milder weather and have liked looking at all our colourful spring flowers.  In maths we have been sequencing events such as stories and nursery rhymes. 

We have also enjoyed walking around the grounds of school for our Sponsored Walk. 

SPRING 2

EASTER AND THE RHYMING RABBIT

This week in Puddles we have been celebrating Easter.  We have listened to Easter stories, learnt that we celebrate Easter to remind us of new life, talked about spring animals and spring flowers.  We have also talked about what seasonal changes we can see as we move into spring.  The children have all made chocolate Easter crispy buns, painted and decorated card Easter eggs and learnt about different animal eggs and rabbits.  We have watched how chocolate Easter eggs are made and talked about what we are going to do on the Easter break.  We have also listened to the story of The Rhyming Rabbit and discussed lots of rhyming words.

In maths we have looked at capacity and talked about the words full, empty, nearly full and nearly empty.

SAFETY FIRST AND COMIC RELIEF

This week we have read Topsy and Tim Safety first.  We were really impressed with the children's knowledge of staying safe, they could tell us lots of ways to stay safe such as wearing seatbelts in the car, holding hands to cross the road, using traffic lights, not putting things in your mouth and not playing with doors.  We were also really lucky this week to have a visit from Lauren at Finkle Hill Dental Care.  Lauren talked to the children about good dental hygiene, why it's important to visit the dentist and how to brush our teeth correctly.  

In maths this week we have been thinking about heavy and light.  The children have had lots of practical fun with our balance scales both indoors and out and are really good at knowing when something is heavy or light.

At the end of the week we joined in with wearing non-school uniform for Comic Relief.  The boys and girls came in their own clothes to raise money and we also took part in a bun sale.

PEPPA'S DENTIST TRIP AND WORLD BOOK DAY

This week we have been thinking about how we keep our teeth healthy and clean.  We have listened to the story Peppa's Dentist Trip and have watched Topsy and Tim go to the Dentist.  We have talked about the importance of brushing our teeth, looked at how stripy toothpaste is made and discussed what happens when we visit the dentist.  The children have enjoyed cleaning dirty teeth and looking at a range of images to do with teeth and good oral health.

In maths this week we have been looking at length and height, we have been cutting long and short lines, comparing tall and short and long and short objects.

On Thursday we celebrated World Book Day! The children came into Puddles dressed as their favourite book character and had a wonderful time. 

HANDA'S SURPRISE

This week we have continued to think about healthy foods.  We have listened to the story of Handa's Surprise and discussed the setting of the book.  We have listened to African Drumming Music and moved to the music in class.  Puddles children have all painted a pineapple and looked closely at it's spiky outer peel.  Puddles have enjoyed retelling the story of Handa's Surprise and done really well at remembering the fruits and animals from the book.

We have also had our outdoor learning week this week,  the children have all enjoyed trips to the orchard to look for hidden animal and fruit cards from the story.

OLIVER'S FRUIT SALAD

This week we have really enjoyed reading the story of Oliver's Fruit Salad.  We have looked at lots of fruits from the story and made and eaten our own fruit salads.  We are thinking all about Staying Safe and Keeping Healthy for our new topic and the children have enjoyed talking about healthy foods.  We have modelled writing fruit salad recipes, looked closely at a pineapple and used descriptive words to describe what a pineapples looks like and we have even learnt how marmalade is made.  Outside the children have used play fruits to cook with and make lovely dishes of fruit salad and in our number learning we have consolidated our number 4 knowledge. 

SPRING 1

NIGHT MONKEY DAY MONKEY 

This week we have loved our story Night Monkey Day Monkey.  The children have really enjoyed listening to the rhyming words and we have spent lots of time modelling writing the rhyming words, writing lists of the animals in the book and modelling our describing words to describe a monkey.  The children have been practising their cutting skills this week and have cut colourful feathers out of paper to decorate a parrot.  They have enjoyed watching Andy's Safari Adventures and learning about the Capuchin monkey.  The children have really liked our jungle small world area and have used role play masks to role play animals from the story.

This week we were lucky enough to see some snow falling. The boys and girls in Puddles got wrapped up warm and went for a snowy walk around our playground, listening to the crunchy snow and feeling it fall on their faces.  Lots of fun was had by all!

GIRAFFES CAN'T DANCE

This week we have loved reading and listening to the story Giraffes Can't Dance.  The children have really engaged with this story and have thoroughly enjoyed learning about somersaults, as this is what Gerald the giraffe does in the book.  We watched Olympic gymnastic somersaults so the children could see what it looked like, they were fascinated!

The children have coloured in and painted their very own giraffes, listened to lots of lovely rhyming words and continued to think about the number 4, learning what numbers can go together to make 4.  The children have also really enjoyed continuing their Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle movements and this week we have used the same movement to draw marks on paper with. 

TEN MINUTES TO BED LITTLE DINOSAUR

What a wonderful week we have had in Puddles.  The children have loved the story book Ten Minutes to Bed Little Dinosaur!  They liked listening to the rhyming words, learning about volcanoes and looking at the map of the Land of Nod.  We talked lots about maps and drew our own maps of Sherburn village.  The children really enjoyed making their marks and showing where they live in the village.  We also started Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle, this sees the children moving their arms and bodies in different directions to help to develop their gross motor skills.  We have also continued our Dough Disco sessions which help to develop our fine motor skills.

DINOSAURS LOVE UNDERPANTS

This week we have loved our story, Dinosaurs Love Underpants! The children have really liked the rhyming words in the book and loved looking at the patterned pants in the book.  We have used tissue paper and felt tips to create our own pattern pants and painted pants too!  In maths we have learnt all about the number 3 and even looked at triangles which are three sided. We have practised our pencil grip this week and drawn pictures of ourselves.

TEN LITTLE DINOSAURS

This week we have welcomed back our returning children and our new starter children. What a fantastic week they have all had.  The children have settled really well in Puddles and are beginning to learn our routines of the day.

This week we have started our new topic, Down in the Jungle.  We are thinking about dinosaurs for the first part of our topic and have listened to the book Ten Little Dinosaurs.  The children have really enjoyed joining in with this story.  We have been listening out for our word of the week 'stretching' and spotting rhyming words too!

In maths we have been learning all about the number 3 and have enjoyed spotting 3 as a numeral and subitising with 3 objects.  

The children have really liked playing with our dinosaur small world toys, painting and exploring the outdoors. 

AUTUMN 2

CHRISTMAS 

What a fabulous two weeks of Christmas we've had! We've made our cards, calendars, and decorated snowman biscuits! We've danced, sang Christmas songs and used lots of glitter.  We've recapped our maths learning from this half term, read lots of lovely Christmas stories and watched a fabulous Cebeebies Panto!  We've ended our Christmas celebrations with a fabulous party and even had a visit from Father Christmas himself!

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS

Well what an exciting week we've had in Puddles.  We have decorated our classroom, put up our trees and started our Christmas craft activities.  The boys and girls have loved exploring all of our Christmas small world toys, Christmas dress up clothes and listening to Christmas books.  We have listened to the story of The First Christmas this week and we have talked about why we celebrate Christmas.  

We also had a fantastic visit from Moo Music, Farmer Tammy came with lots of Christmas songs, instruments and enthusiasm! The children had a wonderful time!

OWL BABIES

Wow what a busy week we've had this week.  The children in Puddles have really enjoyed listening to the story Owl Babies.  They have painted fork print owls, made play dough owls, role played owl babies with the owl teddies and created tissue paper collage owls.  In maths we have concentrated on repeating patterns.  We have looked at making a repeating pattern with two colours and with natural objects. 

We have also started thinking about Christmas and have begun decorating the classroom.  We have some very excited children, especially as school have had a visit from an elf!!

WORLD NURSERY RHYME WEEK NUMBER

This week we have focused on number nursery rhymes.  The children have enjoyed singing Wind the Bobbin Up, 1,2,3,4,5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive, 5 Current Buns, 5 Little Speckled Frogs and Baa Baa Black Sheep,

The children have learnt about where wool comes from and looks at the life cycle of a frog, they have painted frogs in ponds and collaged frogs using tissue paper.

We have also had lots of parents join us for our after school Stay and Play session which was lovely and the children really loved showing off their classroom and outdoor area.

WORLD NURSERY RHYME WEEK

 This week the children have enjoyed listening to nursery rhymes.  We have focused on the five World Nursery Rhyme Week songs: Jack and Jill, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Hickory, Dickory, Dock and The Wheels on the Bus.  The children have enjoyed taking part in a range of creative tasks around these songs, such as, printing with buses and boats, making boats and collaging mice.  We have used instrument when singing the songs and have enjoyed using actions too.

On Monday we celebrated Odd Socks Day as part of Anti-Bullying Week and on Friday we came dressed in spots to raise money for Children in Need.

THE VERY HELPFUL HEDGEHOG

Puddles are settling back after half term. We have started our new topic, Celebration Time.  On Monday the children discussed Bonfire Night.  They created firework chalk pictures and looked at firework pictures.  This week we have read the story The Very Helpful Hedgehog.  The children have enjoyed making spiky playdough hedgehogs and have used forks and paint to create spiky paint hedgehogs.  They have been practicing their pencil skills this week and learning all about the number 1 in maths.

AUTUMN 1 

SPOT'S PUMPKIN SURPRISE

This week we have had a fabulous week taking part in Outdoor Learning Week.  The children have enjoyed exploring our orchard area, winding wool onto card leaves, sticking autumn objects onto an autumn collage card and playing in our mud kitchen.  They also had a lovely treat of hot chocolate and a biscuit in the orchard!  We have read Spot's Pumpkin Surprise, scooped pumpkins and compare shapes and sizes of pumpkins.  The children have printed with orange onto pumpkin shapes and continued to match and sort in maths. 

FOX'S FAVOURITE AUTUMN

This week we have read the lovely story of Fox's Favourite Autumn.  This books tells the story of Fox who doesn't want autumn to end and he tries to think of ways to stop it.  The children have loved exploring natural autumn objects throughout the week both indoors and out.  We have painted autumn trees and looked at autumn leaves.  In maths we have continued sorting by colour, size and shape.  

OLIVER'S VEGETABLES

This week we have had a wonderful time exploring the feel, smell and taste of some different vegetables.  We have listened to the story of Oliver's Vegetables and really liked looking at the vegetables throughout the week.  Outdoors we have been digging in mud with potatoes and onions.  The children have enjoyed vegetable printing with carrots and potatoes and have used vegetable colours to decorate paper with in our workshop area.  In maths this week we have been matching shapes, size and colours.

THE LITTLE RED HEN

This week we have thought all about friendship, kindness and sharing.  We have listened to the story of The Little Red Hen, in the story the Little Red Hen's friends won't help her to make bread.  The children have enjoyed tasting bread at snack time and exploring the feel of bread dough. We have painted and collaged lovely red hens this week.  In maths we have been matching with bingo games and colours. 

SUPER DUPER YOU

This week we have celebrated our differences and our feelings.  We have read the story Super Duper You and talked about how we are all special and unique.  We have also thought about our feelings and emotions and acted out feelings such as happy, sad and cross.  The children have enjoyed learning how to draw a face.  They have used mirrors to look at their own faces and made feelings faces with different face parts.  They have also continued to explore colour and have painted with purple and green.

INTERNATIONAL DOT DAY

This week we have celebrated International Dot Day.  The children have listened to a story about Vashti, a little girl who believed she could not draw.  With a little encouragement from her teacher, Vashti learns that making marks on paper can be a wonderful thing.  We have thoroughly enjoyed making marks this week, we've explored circle shapes and baked buns with circle chocolate buttons on top.  We have also enjoyed singing the Dot Day song and copying the actions. 

COLOURS AND PETE THE CAT

We have had a wonderful start to Puddles.  The children are beginning to settle really well and are enjoying exploring our Puddles provision.

Over the last two weeks we have been thinking about different colours, we have been painting with different colours, using colours to draw with and learning to recognise colours.

We have also listened to the story Pete the Cat.  The children have really enjoyed joining in with the story and singing the catchy song.

SUMMER 2 

PIRATES LOVE UNDERPANTS AND TEN LITTLE PIRATES

Over the past two weeks we have enjoyed listening to Pirates Love Underpants and Ten Little Pirates.  We have really enjoyed our pirate theme! The children have loved playing with small world pirate ships and making their own boats using junk model materials.  They have explored with water play outside, using guttering and water to send things down.  We have enjoyed stories and snack outside under the shady tree on the hotter days and have enjoyed listening to new pirate themed songs. 

BRIGHT STANLEY 

This week we have read Bright Stanley.  We have learnt what a shoal of fish is and we have enjoyed listening to a sensory music version of the story online.  The children have worked on their cutting skills this week by cutting out shiny paper to collage a large fish together. We have also enjoyed the sunshine this week, we have kept cool with water play and enjoyed stories in the shade!

BARRY THE FISH WITH FINGERS

This week we have welcome everyone back for the last half term of the year.  Our topic this half term is Splish, Splash, Splosh!  This week we have read the story of Barry the Fish with Fingers.  The children have found the story really funny and have really enjoyed listening and retelling the story.  This week we have used bright coloured paints to paint patters on fish.  In Puddles 1 they have been thinking about sequencing nursery rhymes and their daily routines.  In Puddles 2, they have been thinking about pattern and looking at different patterns on fish. 

SUMMER 1

MAISY GOES ON A NATURE WALK

This week we have finished our Down at the Bottom of the Garden topic with our book, Maisy Goes on a Nature Walk.  The children have enjoyed remembering their trip to the orchard last week when they had a nature walk of their own.  This week we have learnt about bees.  We have listened to bee fact files and learnt about how bees make honey.  We have collaged bee pictures using yellow and black tissue paper.  In Puddles 1 we have consolidated our 3D shape learning in maths and in Puddles 2 we have thought about positions and directions. 

TEN TINY TADPOLES

What fun we've had this week! We have read the story 'Ten Tiny Tadpoles' and have visited the school orchard to see our very own tadpoles in the pond.  We have learnt all about the life cycle of a frog and have enjoyed listening to facts about frogs.  The children in Puddles 2 have been painting frogs and in Puddles 1 they have been colour mixing to create light and dark shades for their frog paintings. 

THE KING'S CROWN

This week we have continued to think about the Coronation weekend.  The children have told us about the party's and celebrations they were involved in. 

We have listened to a lovely rhyming story called The King's Crown.  We have enjoyed lifting the flaps to find the different hats in the book.  We have enjoyed using paint and sequins to decorate our own crowns.  In maths Puddles 1 have explored 2D shapes and Puddles 2 have thought about lots and more. 

THE KINGS CORONATION 

Wow what a busy week we've had in Puddles!  The children have enjoyed learning about the Coronation celebrations that are about to happen.   We have watched clips of the Queen's Coronation to show them what they might expect to see.  We have also read the story The Kings Coronation and have talked about how we are all celebrating.  The children have painted flags, carried out Coronation themed funky finger activities and for those that come on a Friday they have enjoyed a non-school uniform day and a Coronation picnic lunch. We have also enjoyed developing our balancing skills this week in Puddles. 

SUPERWORM AND CRUNCHING MUNCHING CATERPILLAR 

This week in Puddles, Puddles 1 have continued reading Superworm.  Puddles 2 children have enjoyed listening to The Crunching, Munching Caterpillar. All children have really enjoyed looking for minibeasts outside, creating butterfly paint pictures and drawing different minibeasts in a variety of ways.

This week we have also enjoyed going on our sponsored walk.  Some children have walked around the large school field and others have walked around the orchard.  We have all enjoyed walking to raise money for our school. 

SUPERWORM

We have really enjoyed welcoming our new children into Puddles this week.  Everyone is settling really well and are beginning to get used to some of our routines. 

This week we have enjoyed listening to the story of Superworm.  The children in Puddles 2 have also been listening to There's a Worm at the Bottom of the Garden.  They have really enjoyed listening to the song and copying the actions. 

We have all enjoyed colouring in worms, hunting for worms and other insects in our outdoor area and drawing insects with chalks outside.

SPRING 2

WE'RE GOING ON AN EGG HUNT AND STAY AND PLAY 

This week we have talked about what we are looking forward to about Easter.  The children are very excited about a visit from the Easter Bunny and chocolate eggs! We discussed how Easter is about celebrating new life and how we can see lots of lovely baby animals at Easter time.  We have listened to the story of We're Going on an Egg Hunt.  The children have all made a delicious Easter nest bun to take home and painted a salt dough bunny.   They have also made finger print chicks as a piece of Easter artwork.  This week we have enjoyed the second of our Stay and Play sessions.  It has been wonderful to see so many parents come into Puddles over the last two weeks and explore our classrooms with their child. 

We wish all our families a wonderful Easter break!

COCK A MOO MOO AND STAY AND PLAY

This week we have read the story of Cock a Moo Moo, in the story the cockerel can't remember how to crow.  The children in Puddles have really enjoyed listening to this story, they have found it really funny and have liked comparing it to our non-fiction book from last week.  The children have loved playing outside this week, they have enjoyed our small world Peppa Pig play and have liked looking at the daffodils which have grown near our mud kitchen. 

We have also spend some time this week thinking about healthy living.  We have thought about healthy foods, how exercising can keep our bodies healthy and about brushing our teeth. 

This week has been the first of our Stay and Play sessions.  Some children have had their special grown ups in Puddles and they have loved showing them around and playing with them inside and out at Puddles. 

A VISIT TO THE FARM

This week we listened to a non-fiction books, A visit to the Farm.  We talked about the differences between non-fiction and fiction and we enjoyed looking at features such as the index page, glossary and real photographs. We were also really lucky to have a real farm visit in school on Thursday.  Ian's Mobile Farm came with some beautiful farm animals that the children could stroke and look at. We looked at a pig, alpacas, sheep, goats, ducks and a cockerel. We also got to meet Meg the most amazing sheep dog. We all had a wonderful time.  At the end of this very busy week was Comic Relief! The children donated money to come to school dressed in their own clothes and we held a bun sale too.

A SPRING SURPRISE 

What a lovely surprise we've had this week, whilst reading A Spring Surprise to help us begin to think about the signs of spring, we had a lovely day of snow!

The children who attended Puddles at the end of the week loved exploring the snow.  We collected it, made a snowman, made marks in it and watched it melt.  It was very cold but great fun!

We are really enjoying spotting the daffodils growing from our bulbs planted last year.  We hope they didn't mind the snow covering them and are looking forward to checking on them next week.

We have also enjoyed painting and colouring pictures of Peter Rabbit, using tweezers to move small pieces of fruit for funky fingers and completing farm yard jigsaws. 

FARMER DUCK

Wow what a busy week we've had in Puddles.  The children have really enjoyed listening to the story of Farmer Duck.  The children really know the story well and have joined in with the words throughout the week.  Outside this week we have been looking at daffodil bulbs and discussing the life cycle of a daffodil.  We have also created obstacle courses using tires, hoops and balls which the children have had to think of different ways of moving through them.  Inside we have been developing our rolling skills in the playdough area and learning to press objects onto paper to print with. On Thursday this week the children and staff came into Puddles dressed in our pyjamas to celebrate World Book Day.  A super week was had by all!

TOPSY AND TIM AT THE FARM

Welcome back to Puddles after our half term holiday.  This half term our topic is Fun on the Farm.  This week we have really enjoyed listening to Topsy and Tim at the Farm. The children have painted sheep using sponges and black and white paint, they have collaged tube chicks with yellow tissue paper and explored a range of farm books.  Outside we have been looking for any signs of spring that we can find and we have been role playing farm animals using our role play masks.  The children have been encouraged to make their own tractors using Mobilo in our construction area and have enjoyed mark making and crafting with our large cardboard box. 

SPRING 1

DINOSAUR POEMS

This was the last week in our Dinosaur topic. The children have thoroughly enjoyed this topic and have loved listening to the range of dinosaur books we have read.  This week we listened to Dinosaur Poems. Mr Osborne came into Puddles and read one of his favourite dinosaur books and shared a fun active dinosaur poem with the children.  The children have enjoyed listening to the rhyming poems in the book.  We have discussed how poems can be funny, sad, long, short, we have talked about how poems can express how people feel and also how they don't always make sense.  We have also enjoyed watching what happens when you mix bicarbonate of soda with vinegar, it looked like an erupting volcano. 

TEN MINUTES TO BED LITTLE DINOSAUR

What a super week we've had in Puddles.  We have really loved reading our number book, Ten Minutes to Bed Little Dinosaur.  The children have really enjoyed looking at the map in the book of The Land of Nod and have been creating their own maps of where they live.  We have created some super volcano art work using paints and have also enjoyed using sponges to print with to see what different affect it gives our paintings.  We have continued to explore the number 5 in maths and are able to identify the numeral 5 and count 5 objects accurately.  The children are really enjoying exploring a range of fiction and non fiction books and are looking forward to listening to dinosaur poetry next week. 

DINOSAURS LOVE UNDERPANTS

Puddles have loved reading the story of Dinosaurs Love Underpants.  They have found the book really fun and have really enjoyed looking at all of the different patterned pants in the book.  They have designed their own pants and painted pants for their creative tasks.  We have also been thinking about dinosaur fossils and have created our very own.  We used salt dough and have pushed patterns onto the dough and small dinosaurs to leave an imprint.  We have also been thinking about Chinese New Year, we have watched how some people choose to celebrate Chinese New Year and have enjoyed making marks using mud sticks and copying Chinese symbols. 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT DINOSAURS

This week we have really loved exploring Questions and Answers a fact book all about Dinosaurs.  We have looked at the different questions in the book and discussed possible answers before reading the correct answer.  We have enjoyed comparing a non fiction book to a fiction book and learning more information about dinosaurs.  The children have really enjoyed playing with dinosaurs in our dinosaur cave area.  They have made dinosaur puppets and decorated them, painted dinosaurs and made large marks on big sheets of paper.  We have also really loved exploring the wintery weather this week.  We have spent lots of time in our mud kitchen area looking and playing with ice, frosty leaves and very cold mud. 

DINOSAUR RAP

This week we have continued reading the story Dinosaur Rap.  The children have really enjoyed the story and are beginning to join in with the repeated rhymes.  We copied the actions in the book, we have swooped, swished, tapped and roared!

We have also really enjoyed collaging some large dinosaurs using different materials such as tissue and shiny paper.

Outside we have liked using chalks to draw our very own spikey dinosaurs, we have enjoyed having the balance bikes out and are using ramps and guttering to send balls down.

In maths we have thought all about the number 3, we have learnt to count 3 objects, recognise the numeral 3 and subitise 3. 

WELCOME TO PUDDLES AND DINOSAUR RAP 

This week in Puddles we have welcomed back our children from their Christmas breaks and welcomed our new starter children.  The children have enjoyed exploring their new Puddles classrooms and we have started establishing our Puddles rules and routines for our new children.  The children have all enjoyed the start to our Roar, Roar, Roar Go The Dinosaurs topic.  We have listened to the story Dinosaur Rap.  The children have enjoyed stomping, swaying and tapping to the beat of the rap and listening to the rhyming words.  We have painted dinosaurs, listened to dinosaur facts and completed dinosaur jigsaws.  In maths we have focused on the number 3.  The children have looked at the 3 numeral, counted 3 objects and used subitising to see 3.  

AUTUMN 2022

CHRISTMAS 2022

We have had a fun filled Christmas time in Puddles.  The children have completed many Christmas crafts, enjoyed lots of Christmas stories and we have sung our favourite Christmas songs.  This week we have had our Christmas party, had a very special visit from Santa and on Thursday we had a very Christmassy Moo Music session.  The children have really enjoyed their Christmas time in Puddles. 

CHRISTMAS STORIES

This week we are really enjoying listening to a range of Christmas story books.  We are sharing our own Christmas traditions and what we are looking forward to about Christmas.  We have continued making our Christmas cards and calendars and have also started decorating baubles and making stockings with our favourite toys stuck to them, this activity has also allowed us to practice our cutting skills.  Children who attended on Friday enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner and came to school in their Christmas jumpers. 

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS

This week Christmas has landed in Puddles.  We have some very excited children, and we are all enjoying our decorated classroom. We have really enjoyed learning about the story of The First Christmas.  The children have liked listening to the story and we have used the story to discuss kindness and explain that people have different beliefs.  We have also started making our Christmas cards, we have decorated Christmas trees, threaded with ribbons and added the correct amount of pom pom marshmallows to pictures of hot chocolate. 

FERDIE AND THE FALLING LEAVES AND STAY AND PLAY 

This week we have listened to the lovely story, Ferdie and the Falling Leaves. The children have enjoyed exploring natural objects such as pumpkins and leaves.  We have created leaf collage pictures, painted trees and made trees with glitter play dough.  The children have also been learning about pattern in maths, we have made patterns with leaves and conkers, discussed patterns with mistakes and how we correct them.  We have also had ice painting outside in our tuff tray which the children have really enjoyed. 

We have continued our Stay and Play sessions this week, it has been really lovely to see so many mums and dads in Puddles.  We will hold another Stay and Play session in the spring term. 

WORLD NURSERY RHYME WEEK AND STAY AND PLAY 

This week in Puddles we have joined in with World Nursery Rhyme week.  We have enjoyed listening to and learning the following songs:

* The Big Ship Sails on the Alley Alley Oh

* 12345 Once I Caught a Fish Alive

*5 Little Speckled Frogs

*Bingo 

*Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

We have enjoyed taking part in nursery rhyme crafts, exploring our provision areas and using our musical instruments to create a beat or tune for our songs. 

This week has also been the start of our Stay and Play sessions.  We have really enjoyed seeing mums and dads come into school and spend time in our provision with their child.

OWL BABIES

This week we have listened to the story Owl Babies.  The children have loved this story and it's a real favourite amongst staff too!

We have retold the story using puppets and scenes from the book, painted owls, listened to facts about owls and made links to previous learning about nocturnal animals. 

The children have continued their learning about the number 2, we have looked at number 2 facts such as it comes after 1 but before 3.  The children are really growing in confidence with using their subitising skills (seeing how many objects there are without counting - to see a video about subitising please see the 'video resource' part of the website).  We have also introduced new reading and music areas which the children are really enjoying. 

THE VERY HELPFUL HEDGEHOG 

Autumn has finally arrived in Puddles this week and the children have really enjoyed their creative tasks.  We have listened to the story The Very Helpful Hedgehog and talked about kindness and helping others. The children have collage and painted hedgehogs and created leaf men using leaves from our outdoor area. In maths we have enjoyed thinking about the number 2, we have looked at all the different ways number 2 can be represented such as on a dice, in tally marks, two objects and the numeral. 

LEAF MAN AND OUTDOOR LEARNING WEEK

This week we have all enjoyed visiting the Orchard in small groups.  The children have all listened to the story the Leaf Thief in the Orchard and we have discussed what happens during autumn time.  The children all explored the Orchard and looked for natural autumn resources.  We looked at what we had collected and discussed what we had found.  We also sung Autumn Leaves are Falling Down.  In class Puddles have listened to the story book Leaf Man.  We have made our own Leaf Man pictures using leaves, glue and googly eyes.  In maths we have looked at the number 1, we have found the number 1 on a dice, looked at the numeral and found 1 object. 

ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE

This week we have really enjoyed listening to the non-fiction book All Kinds of People.  We have been discussing how we are all special and all unique.  The book looks at how we are all different shapes, sizes, skin colours and how we all have different interests.  The children have enjoyed creating collage paper plate faces and looking at their baby pictures.  We have also threaded with string and cotton reels, looked for autumnal objects, chalked in the outdoor area and sorted by colour and shape in maths. 

SUPER DUPER YOU

This week we have celebrated being super and have loved listening to the story Super Duper You.  We have talked about how we are all different and what makes us different. The children have really enjoyed looking at themselves as babies and talking about how they have changed. 

We have created some beautiful paper plate faces with sequins, features, googly eyes and wool and we have really enjoyed exploring sorting in our maths carpet times.

THE LITTLE GREEN HEN

This week we have really enjoyed learning about kindness and looking after each other through our lovely book of the week The Little Green Hen.  We have discussed what kindness looks like and how it feels when someone is kind to you. The children have continued to explore their surroundings and have enjoyed a range of indoors and outdoor activities.  We have painted some beautiful trees, looked at scenes from the book and learnt about the life cycle of an apple. 

WOW SAID THE OWL

This week we have continued to think about colours and ourselves.  We are really enjoying getting to know each other and learning our Puddles rules and routines.  The children have all enjoyed our story book this week, we have talked about the features of the book, discussed nocturnal animals and identified lots of different colours.  The children have enjoyed looking at flower parts and have had real flowers in the classroom to explore with their senses.  We have also had paint and spaghetti outside to help the children with colour mixing. 

INTERNATIONAL DOT DAY

Hurray, it's International Dot Day! Puddles children have celebrated International Dot Day this week and have enjoyed carrying out a range of mark making activities both inside and out.  They have made colourful dots using tissue paper and paints for our Dot Day display (picture to follow) and they have enjoyed drawing pictures, painting, using chalks outside and water and paintbrushes. We have discussed the importance of making a mark and having fun with drawing.  We have also enjoyed the mild start to autumn with lots of outdoor play. 

PETE THE CAT I LOVE MY WHITE SHOES

We have had a wonderful first week in Puddles.  We have really enjoyed meeting our new children and saying hello again to our returning children.  This week we have enjoyed getting to know each other, we have explored our classroom both inside and out and enjoyed learning new names and making new friends.  Our book of the week, Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes has helped us to think about colour.  We have sorted colours, painted with different colours and made marks in different coloured paints. 

2021 - 2022

TIP TAP WENT THE CRAB

This week we have enjoyed listening to the story Tip Tap Went The Crab.

The children have enjoyed making bubble paint pictures and have been developing their cutting skills by cutting out crabs.  They have also enjoyed spotting numbered shells and choosing the correct amount of real shells to go with the numbers.  The children have made marks on cling film, drawn sea creatures and enjoyed water play this week.

MY GRANNY WENT TO MARKET AND PE WEEK 

This week we have been enjoying listening to the story My Granny Went to Market.  The children have been thinking about different places they have visited, how families are different and how different traditions are celebrated around the world.  The children have enjoyed making world pictures using cotton wool dipped in paints, they have made worlds during funky fingers with milk bottle tops and have enjoyed looking at pictures from different countries. 

During PE week the children have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in a mini athletics workshop and a balance bike workshop. 

BIG YELLOW DIGGER

This week we have enjoyed listening to the story of the Big Yellow Digger. We have loved painting diggers and using chalks outside to draw diggers on the floor. The children have also really enjoyed playing in our construction role play area, counting vehicles and matching them to the correct numbers and making large scale vehicles from our crates outside.   We have also enjoyed listening for initial sounds and are trying really hard to hear the syllables in our names. 

NAUGHTY BUS AND DIVERSITY WEEK

This week in Puddles we have been celebrating our differences and the children have all been taking part in a lovely rainbow making activity to help us to understand that we are all different, unique and special.

We have been continuing thinking about journeys and have been reading the book Naughty Bus.  The children have been washing vehicles outside, making vehicles in the play dough and matching vehicles in our funky finger activity, We have also been thinking about one more and one less in our maths activities this week and have been adding people onto our bus and then taking them off again.  

JOURNEY HOME FROM GRANDPA'S

This week we have enjoyed listening to a sing along story, Journey Home From Grandpa's.  We have been thinking about journeys, routes and maps.  We have also been using equipment to move along, following instructions using positional language. We have enjoyed making plastic bottle boats, painting vehicles and digging with diggers in the sand.  The children have also enjoyed listening to other stories about vehicles.  On Friday we had a really hot sunny day, the children enjoyed water play outside to keep them cool. 

WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT

This week we have been reading the story of We're Going on a Bear Hunt.  All week the children have been bringing their teddy bears from home into Puddles.  We have had a teddy bears picnic style snack each day and all enjoyed acting out the story.  The children have been thinking about positional language and have enjoyed travelling along our soft play in different ways.  With the lovely sunny weather, we have enjoyed lots of water, sand and mud play outdoors. 

THE QUEEN'S HAT AND THE QUEEN'S PLATINUM JUBILEE

Well what a fabulous week the children have had celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee!

They have listened to the story of The Queen's Hat, looked at and talked about London landmarks, printed with blue and red to make party crowns, coloured in Jubilee placemats and looked at pictures of the Queen as she has grown up.  The children had a fabulous street dance workshop on Thursday, they had to learn a dance routine and perform it at the end, they were amazing! The children also thoroughly enjoyed coming into Puddles on Friday dressed in red, white and blue and enjoyed a street party style lunch on our playground.  What a wonderful week we have all had!

Please click on the link below to watch some of our Puddles children performing their street dance routine.

DINOSAUR DEPARTMENT STORE AND FOREST SCHOOL

This week in Puddles we have listened to the story of Dinosaur Department Store.  We have thoroughly enjoyed playing with dinosaurs this week.  The children have washed dirty dinosaurs, printed with dinosaur feet and listened to interesting dinosaur facts. We have also had our Forest School this week.  The children have enjoyed exploring our Orchard area, creating mud pies, journey story sticks and clay print tiles.  The children have really enjoyed looking at tadpoles from our pond and discovering what nature we have on our school site. 

NORMAN THE SLUG WITH A SILLY SHELL

This week we have enjoyed listening to Norman The Slug With A Silly Shell.  The children have enjoyed playing with slime 'gloop' in our outdoor area, creating junk model snails and painting Norman and his shell.  They have also really enjoyed exploring our outdoor area, especially our mud kitchen area where we have spotted lots of different minibeasts.  We have been using chalks to create snail shell spiral patterns and also using ribbons to make circles in the air.  We have looked at 2D and 3D shapes and have been making different shape arrangements. 

GIRAFFE'S CAN'T DANCE

This week in Puddles we have been listening to the story of Giraffe's Can't Dance.  The children have been watching giraffe's in the wild online, listening to interesting facts about giraffes and looking at the different patterns on their skin.  We have been creating some lovely play dough giraffes, printing giraffe patterns and creating junk modelling.  Outdoors we have been using paint brushes to find hidden jungle animal footprints and also enjoying exploring the climbing equipment and moving in different ways,

THE GRUFFALO

This week we have been reading the story of The Gruffalo.  The children have been listening to the story, helping us to describe the Gruffalo and watching their teachers model writing.  We have been thinking of describing words to describe the Gruffalo, writing recipes for Gruffalo Crumble and writing letters at the mark making table.  The children have enjoyed playing in our sensory tuff tray which has been full of Gruffalo Crumble ingredients. They have also been matching numerals with the correct amounts for our maths activity this week. We have enjoyed playing games together and our new Puddles children have settled in beautifully. 

EASTER

This week in Puddles we have been reading a range of Easter story books and listening to Easter poetry.  The children have enjoyed exploring our Easter tuff tray, listening to Easter stories and matching the correct number of Easter eggs to the numeral.  The children have all enjoyed making crispy buns this week.  They have watched the chocolate melt, stirred it into rice pops and spooned it into their bun cases.  We discussed what happens to chocolate when it gets heated and all enjoyed sprinkling crushed mini eggs onto the top.

TEETH

This week we have continued to look at non-fiction books about teeth.  We have discussed what we need to do to look after our teeth and we have even conducted an experiment with eggs, juice and water.  We submerged one egg in water and one egg in sugary orange juice and we watched to see what effects it had on the egg shell.  Very quickly, the egg shell in the orange juice began to discolour.  

The boys and girls in Puddles have enjoyed exploring colour mixing this week, we have been using powder paints, pallets and brushes to mix our colours correctly and see which colours can be made.  The children in Puddles have also enjoyed taking part in their sponsored toddle around our school field. 

EXERCISE

This week we have enjoyed looking at a range of non-fiction books focusing on exercise.  We have looked at the features of a non-fiction book, including front and back covers, spine, title, contents page, index and page numbers.  We have discussed how we can use non-fiction books to find out real information.  The children have enjoyed learning about having a healthy lifestyle.  They have all enjoyed taking part in the Peppa Pig Movement Challenge and have also enjoyed our large soft play equipment.  We have discussed what we can do to keep ourselves healthy and look after our bodies. 

OLIVER'S VEGETABLES

This week we have enjoyed listening to the story of Oliver's Vegetables.  The children have explored the vegetables from the story in our sensory tuff tray.  They have enjoyed opening sugar snap peas for their funky finger activity and also learnt the days of the week.  We have also started planting our own cress seeds to make Cress Heads and have enjoyed learning about what plants need to grow.

On Friday the children who attended Puddles got to come in their own clothes to raise money for Comic Relief.  We had lots of fun. 

HANDA'S SURPRISE

This week we have read the story of Handa's Surprise.  The children have enjoyed printing with oranges and eating lots of tangerines just like in the story. We have also been thinking about routes and directions and going on a journey just like Handa.  The children also had a very special visit on Monday from the Yorkshire Rotters.  They road a special bike that also made a healthy smoothie at the same time and the children also got to make their own wormery.  

Puddles have enjoyed some sunny afternoons this week and have really enjoyed exploring the climbing mound and tunnel.

MR WOLF'S PANCAKES

What an exciting first week back we've had in Puddles.  We've celebrated both Pancake Day and World Book Day this week.

The children who attended Puddles on Tuesday got to enjoy \Mrs Hudson cooking up some pancakes and we've enjoyed finding out what the children like to eat on their pancakes all week.  On Thursday the children came dressed in their pyjamas for our bedtime story theme for World Book Day.  We enjoyed sharing the children's favourite stories all day.

We have also enjoyed listening to the story Mr Wolf's Pancakes, we have discussed how important it is to be a good friend and be kind. 

WALTER'S WONDERFUL WEB

This week in Puddles we have been reading the story of Walter's Wonderful Web.  We have continued to think about 2D shapes and have made our own shape printing paintings.  We have also thought about been determined and talked about what that means.  We have enjoyed subitising this week in maths and have been looking at objects 1 to 5 and seeing if we can subitise the amount (this means seeing the amount straight away and not counting).  This week has also been Science Week in school.  We have focused on bees as a school, in Puddles the children have enjoyed learning bee facts and looking at pictures of honeybees and their honey making environment.  The children have enjoyed making bee collages using tissue paper. 

THE PERFECT FIT

This week we have been enjoying listening to the story The Perfect Fit, it's all about a triangle who doesn't feel like she fits in with the other shapes.  But when she eventually does find the triangles just like her, she realises it is fun to have friends who are different.  We have talked lots about our differences this week and what makes us special.  We have also been looking at the names and properties of 2D shapes and making pictures and patterns with them.  We have been enjoying exploring outside, drawing shapes and using subitising as a way of recognising how many objects there are. 

THE GREATEST GYMNAST OF ALL

'I'm zipping zooming Zoe, the greatest gymnast of all'! This week we have been reading a story all about a little girl called Zoe, she is a gymnast.  The book uses positional language to describe how Zoe moves in her gym lessons.  She goes up, under, over, high, low, long and short.

We have enjoyed focusing on positional language this week, the children have been making towers and telling us, using positional language, how they have built them. We have also used the play apparatus outside to climb on and off, go through, over and under.

THE SMARTEST GIANT IN TOWN

This week we have been reading the story of the Smartest Giant in Town.  We have really enjoyed making crowns and decorating them with 2D shapes.  We have also retold the story using our tuff tray activity and looked at measuring things to see how tall they are. 

The children have enjoyed joining in the the phrases from the story and picking out rhyming words.

We have really enjoyed using chalks to mark make outside with and have explored subitising in our maths area.  We have also been developing our physical skills further with lots of opportunities to ride the scooters and balance bikes. 

RIDICULOUS

This week we have continued to read the story Ridiculous, we have also listened to some winter poetry and listened to a fact file about hibernating.  The children have learnt what types of animals hibernate for the winter and what they do and need to stay warm.  We have made paper plate tortoises this week and printed tortoise patterns onto paper tortoise shapes.  We have explored sorting with natural materials in the maths area and have also been exploring shaving foam in our sensory tuff tray. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR

We would like to welcome all our children, both returning and new to Puddles and wish all of our families a very happy new year.  We have really enjoyed settling back into Puddles and introducing our new children to our other Puddles children and staff.  We have enjoyed listening to all of their exciting Christmas news.  This week we have started our new topic, Pattern and Shape in Winter.  We have been reading a story book called Ridiculous, a story about a tortoise that wants to go out in winter.  We have even seen some small snow flakes from our window and have enjoyed watching our icy playground melt.  We have even had ice inside to watch what happens to it as it warms up. 

CHRISTMAS IN PUDDLES

What a fabulous three weeks we've had celebrating Christmas in Puddles. We have listened to the Christmas story and discussed how we each celebrate Christmas.  We have ordered and sequenced pictures of the Christmas story. We have looked at lots of pattern and size in maths, ordering different sized Santa's and Christmas trees, looking at patterned Christmas wrapping paper and making our own repeating patterns.  The children have also enjoyed making Christmas cards, calendars and Christmas stockings.  We have written letters to Santa, Christmas cards and decorated baubles.  We have also read a range of Christmas stories and sang lots of Christmas songs. Puddles have really enjoyed Christmas Jumper Day, their Christmas dinner and their Christmas party, we even had a visit from Santa himself. 

WORLD NURSERY RHYME WEEK 2021 AND CHILDREN IN NEED

This week we have taken part in World Nursery Rhyme week.  We always love to sing nursery rhymes in Puddles but we have sung even more this week.  We have sang all of our favourite songs, taken part in creative spider activities and spider funky fingers.  We have listened to nursery rhymes sung in different languages such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Japanese and leant how to say hello in different languages too. 

On Friday the children took part in Children in Need.  They wore non-school uniform, dressed as Pudsey Bear or wore something yellow or spotty and brought a pound to raise money for the charity. We also decorated spotty biscuits to help us to celebrate.

OWL BABIES

This week the children in Puddles have been reading the story Owl Babies.  They have explored conkers, pine cones and sticks whilst making owls nests, they have painted using forks for the owls feathers and they have retold the story using our owl baby teddies. 

They have also been subitising using conkers, this is where they can see a small group of objects up to three and know it is three without counting. 

LEAF MAN

This week we have read the story of Leaf Man. We have started thinking a little more about Autumn and how the world around us changes from each season.  We have enjoyed rolling conkers down tubes and guttering in our outdoor area, we have made our own leaf men and looked at how leaves fall and move in the wind.  We have looked at size and compared the size of a pumpkin, squash, carrot, cabbage and potato.  We have also done some leaf printing in our painting area.

Puddles have had a super half term. We wish all of our families a wonderful half term holiday. 

THE LION INSIDE

This week we have read The Lion Inside to our Puddles children.  We have thought about what makes us brave and when have we had to be brave.  We have also been learning about the parts of a book, front cover, back cover, blurb and spine.  The children have been pointing out the features of books throughout the week.

We have been making some super lions of our very own (keep checking our page for our display photograph). The children have also been thinking about sorting in maths.  We have been using natural objects such as conkers, leaves, acorns, sticks and pine cones to sort by colour and textures, such as smooth, rough, shiny and dull. 

SUPER DUPER YOU

This week in Puddles we have read the book Super Duper You.  We have been focusing on what makes us special and how we all have different feelings.  In class we have been drawing and collaging paper plate faces, making feelings faces for our Funky Finger activity and also discussing emotions during carpet time.  We have also been looking at rectangles and patterns as the pages in the book are illustrated with lots of lovely patterns.  The children have been using foam sand to draw their own patterns in.  We have also enjoyed the lovely warm weather this week and have explored our digging area. 

THE LITTLE GREEN HEN

This week in Puddles we have read the story of The Little Green Hen.  This story tells the tale of a little green hen who lives in an apple tree, the hen asked some other animals to help her tend to the tree.  Some of the animals say yes and others say no.   One day the rain comes and it soon turns into a flood, the animals that helped the little green hen all have somewhere dry to shelter, the tree.  The other animals ask for help from the hen and she offers them shelter too.  In the end all of the animals work together to tend to the tree and plant new seeds, they soon have an orchard to care for.  This week we have spoken lots about friendship and kindness in Puddles.  We are looking out for lovely friendly behaviours and kindness throughout the day.  This week the children have printed with apples, played in corn flour apple gloop and made transient art with dried apples, conkers and leaves.  We have also been exploring conkers in our Funky Finger activities. 

We would also like to share two of our displays with you this week, you can see our Dot Day display full of the children 's Dot Day art work and our Puddles Splash of Art gallery which we use as a working wall to fill with different art from the children. 

WOW SAID THE OWL

This week in Puddles we have been continuing to think about colour and have enjoyed listening to the story of Wow Said The Owl.  We have focused on the words Fluffy and Floated as our words of the week and we have been saying them in different sentences. The children have used colour to make towers, explored our colour tuff tray, made rainbow patterns in our Funky Finger activities and created flowers collages using real flowers.  We have also continued to develop our friendships and learn our new Puddles routines. 

INTERNATIONAL DOT DAY

This week in Puddles we have focused on the story of The Dot.  The Dot celebrates a little girl called Vashti as she gains her confidence with making marks and drawing.  Encouraged by her teacher, Vashti realises that any marks she makes are important and special.  The children in Puddles have made their marks this week using different medias, they have used pencil colours, crayons and pained with different circle shapes to create our wonderful Dot Day display board. We have also continued to develop our relationships, friendships and new class routines with our children in this week.

PUDDLE'S FIRST WEEK IN SCHOOL

This week we have really enjoyed welcoming our returning Puddles children and new children to our nursery.  This week we have read the story of Pete The Cat and we have done lots of lovely activities with colour. We have painted with different colours both indoors and out, we have played with different coloured play dough and sorted objects into colours.  We have also enjoyed settling in activities and getting to know each other activities such as playing with our parachute. We have also enjoyed a very sunny week and the Puddles children have enjoyed playing with our new Puddles water wall.

MINIBEASTS

Puddles have enjoyed their last week of learning about Minibeasts.  We have focused on non-fiction books this week.  We have talked about where we can get information from, looked at the features of a non-fiction book and compared it to a fiction book.  The children have enjoyed spotting minibeasts in our outdoor area, they have drawn a range of minibeasts using different media and even had a visit from some giant snails.

GOODBYE BUTTERFLIES!

TWIST AND HOP MINIBEAST BOP

This week we have really enjoyed listening to the rhyming words in our story Twist and Hop Minibeast Bop.

We have suggested other words that rhyme and clapped when we heard the rhyming words in the story.  We have also been using tissue paper to collage minibeasts and have used cotton buds dipped in paint to create paint patterns.

In the warmer weather the Puddles children have been enjoying exploring water play.  They have made water shoots using pipes and pipe holder and have been pouring the water down to see where it comes out of. 

We have had a very exiting week as our butterflies emerged at the end of last week and over the weekend.  The children in Puddles on Monday got to say bye to our butterflies and watched as they were released into the world. 

THE VERY GREEDY BEE

This week we have read the lovely story of The Very Greedy Bee.  We have enjoyed watching videos of how bees collect nectar to make honey and how they travel back and forth from their beehive.  We have painted bees, made collage bees using yellow and black tissue paper and made playdough bees. Our Puddles children have been very busy bees themselves!

We have also continued to observe our caterpillars and we have been very lucky to have seen two butterflies at the end of the week.  

THE CRUNCHING MUNCHING CATERPILLAR

This week in Puddles we have been very excited to have our very own caterpillars arrive.  We are going to watch them as they eat the food from inside their container and see how they grow! Keep watching for updates on our caterpillars.

This week we have enjoyed reading the story book of The Crunching Munching Caterpillar.  They children have been making caterpillars of their own by using circle shapes to make the caterpillars body.  The children have also been thinking about repeating patterns and have made some lovely repeating patterns with our large colourful multilink blocks. We have also been threading leaves for our Funky Finger activity.  

WE'RE GOING ON A TREASURE HUNT

This week in Puddles we have finished our pirate topic with a book called We're Going on a Treasure Hunt.  We have enjoyed meeting the animals in the story, looking at the lift and flap pictures and finding the ten golden coins.  We have concentrated on developing our physical skills this week and have used large boxes to mark make on outside, created obstacles and used our large soft play equipment.  We have also been digging in the sand and practicing our cutting skills.  

ZOE AND BEANS PIRATE TREASURE 

This week in Puddles we have been thinking about pirates and treasure.   We have read the story of Zoe and Beans Pirate Treasure and enjoyed going on treasure hunts in and around Puddles. The children were very excited on Monday to discover our large outdoor sandpit full of new sand and shiny golden coins. They enjoyed digging for the coins and collecting them. We have also enjoyed role playing pirates, drawing our own treasure maps and discussing routes and familiar places. The children have also made glistening sequin treasure chests for our creative task. 

BRIGHT STANLEY 

This week we have continued our under the sea theme and have read the story Bright Stanley.  The children have really enjoyed this story and have created little golden fish just like Bright Stanley.  They have used shiny gold paper to collage their own Bright Stanley fish.  We have also been developing our finger muscles by pegging pegs onto lobsters and creating seaweed by using pipe cleaners and upside down sieves.  The boys and girls have loved our under the sea stories and they have used a range of media to create some sea themed art work.  You can see from the picture of our display how much effort and enjoyment the children have put into their creations.  We have also been thinking about heavy and light and the children have been weighting objects in our weighing scales.

SILLY SEA

This week in Puddles we have continued with our sea theme and have read the story book 'Silly Sea'.  The book talks about different sea creatures such as an humpbacked whale, an octopus and a lobster.  We have talked lots about the different sea creatures and what they look like.  The children have enjoyed making paper plate octopuses, using chalks outside to draw fish and moving like a fish in the sea.  Also, we have played in our new Puddles outdoor stage area, painted, played in the sand and water and enjoyed developing our physical skills outside. 

BARRY THE FISH WITH FINGERS

This week the children in Puddles have enjoyed listening to the story Barry the Fish with Fingers.  They have also enjoyed singing the Five Little Fishes Song.  The children have loved drawing Barry and have used different media to do this.  They have used chalks on the outdoor floor, drawn Barry on the Interactive White Board and painted him.  They have also used bubble wrap in paint to create bubble effects on starfish.  We have also collaged starfish using different coloured tissue paper.  The children have also been sequencing the events of planting their sunflower seeds for our maths this week and we are all enjoying singing nursery rhymes and playing listening games in phonics. 

SPRING

This week in Puddles the children have enjoyed learning all about Spring.  We have listened to our story Rabbit's Spring Adventure and sang our Spring song.  The children have enjoyed exploring our grassy area outdoors and have had fun in our mud kitchen area.  They have also enjoyed painting spring pictures and they have created blossom pictures with pink paint and pink tissue paper. We have also started planting our very own sunflower seeds. We have learnt what a flower needs to grow and will enjoy watching them over the coming weeks to see if we can spot any signs of our sunflowers growing. 

HOP LITTLE BUNNY HOP, HOP, HOP

Watch Puddles singing our Easter song of the week, 'Sleeping Easter Bunny'.

EASTER

This week we have been celebrating Easter. We have read the story of 'We're Going on an Egg Hunt'.  The children have thoroughly enjoyed listening to this story, counting how many eggs they find and lifting the flaps on the book to look for the eggs. We have also painted eggs, looked at patterns on Easter eggs for our maths and even had our very own egg hunt outside.  The Easter bunny delivered a very special Easter letter to our Puddles children and had hidden lots of colourful plastic eggs for them to find.  They had great fun!

Puddles have also made Easter crispy buns, they have watched the chocolate turn into melted chocolate and have mixed it together with rice crispies to create their own Easter nests.

SUPERHEROES AND RED NOSE DAY 2021

This week in Puddles we have been reading the book 'Super Duck' and thinking about superheroes.  We have painted and drawn pictures of superheroes, we have looked at 2D shapes, posted shapes through our shape monsters and spotted shapes outdoors.  The children also celebrated Red Nose Day on Friday and were able to come to Puddles dressed up as a superhero to raise money for the charity.  We all had a fabulous day, we discussed the importance of giving to others and being kind, we made superhero masks, coloured in Red Nose Day pictures and danced to superhero music.

PEOPLE WHO HELP US

This week in Puddles we have been learning about different occupations and People Who Help Us.  The children have role played doctors and looked after babies, being firefighters and used waster spritzers to squirt water at fire numbers and brushed dirty pretend teeth with toothbrushes.  They have listened to a range of books about People Who Help Us such as firefighters, police and doctors.  The children have drawn emergency vehicles and played People Who Help Us matching games.  

BIG YELLOW DIGGER

This week in Puddles we have been reading the story of the Big Yellow Digger. The children have enjoyed drawing diggers and thinking about going on journeys.  They have been thinking about the route they take from their house to Puddles and thinking about what they see in the village when they walk through it.  We have been drawing maps of our own and using vocabulary such as left, right, straight ahead, turn.  The children have enjoyed continuing to explore our bikes and scooters outside and we have also learnt some facts about Australia.

BIG BLUE TRAIN

This week in Puddles we have been reading the story of the Big Blue Train.  We have listened to the trains adventures and discussed the animals that boarded the train along the way.  The children have enjoyed making their own trains using crates outside, riding our own Puddles blue train and playing train role play in our outdoor Train Station.  The children have also enjoyed painting and drawing trains using a range of different media!

CHINESE NEW YEAR

This week in Puddles we have been learning about Chinese New Year.  The children have listened to the Chinese New Year story on Cebeebies, watched dragon dancing and looked at Chinese resources and pictures.  They have also danced with dragon masks, painted dragons and tigers and drawn them on the smart board.   We have also made a class dragon head which our Puddles children used to help them become a dragon and do some dragon dancing themselves. 

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE DINOSAUR STOMP!

This week in Puddles the children have been listening to Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp.  We have been pegging pegs onto dinosaur numbered feet for our Funky Finger activities, painting dinosaurs and using dinosaur feet in paint to print with.  The children have used the interactive white board to draw dinosaurs on and have also enjoyed role playing dinosaurs in our dinosaur cave and small world areas.

THE GRUFFALO'S CHILD AND SHAPE WEEK

This week in Puddles we have read the Gruffalo's Child.  The children have enjoyed role playing with the character masks and exploring small world play with woodland creatures and logs.  We have also continued to paint the characters from the story and cut out and stick tissue paper to Gruffalo masks.  During this week we have also been exploring 2D and 3D shapes. The children have been doing shape hunts both indoors and out, drawing around shapes and make their own shape pictures and 3D shape models.

THE GRUFFALO

This week we have been reading The Gruffalo.  The children in Puddles have thoroughly enjoyed listening to the story, finding out about the different characters and singing our snake song of the week. They have also enjoyed watching and listening to The Gruffalo song, they have collaged a large Gruffalo for our display and painted a mouse.  They have used brown, purple and green paint to paint their own Gruffalos and made Gruffalo masks.  We have also been practicing our mark making, the children have used mark making to describe what the Gruffalo looks like and to write a recipe for a Gruffalo Crumble. 

ONE WINTER'S DAY

We have been thinking all about Winter in Puddles for the last two weeks.  We have read the story One Winter's Day, which is all about a little hedgehog who gives his warm things away to help his friends.  We have looked at ice and watched what happens to it as it gets warm, we have practiced our cutting skills by making snow flakes from white paper and painted the woodland animals from our story. We were even lucky enough to see actual snow in Puddles!

CHRISTMAS IN PUDDLES

This week we have been celebrating Christmas in Puddles.  The children have listened to a simple version of The Nativity Story and we are also reading lots of other lovely Christmas stories.  We are singing lots of Christmas songs and enjoying the decorations in our classroom.  The children have enjoyed making Christmas cards and calendars this week. They have also used the Interactive Board to decorate a Christmas tree, decorated our home corner tree, painted Christmas pictures, use Christmas cutters in the play dough area and played Christmas games.  

SAY PLEASE, LITTLE BEAR AND CHILDREN IN NEED

This week the children in Puddles have enjoyed reading the story of Say Please, Little Bear.  The children have painted bears, used the Interactive Board to draw bears, made bear masks with paper plates and tissue paper and built bear caves in our outdoor area.

We have also celebrated Children in Need.  The children have dressed in something spotty to raise money for Children in Need, they have danced to Jump Up and Dance, listened to our Pudsey Bear story and have enjoyed hunting for Pudsey picture cards in our outdoor area.

BONFIRE NIGHT

This week the children in Puddles have enjoyed a range of creative bonfire activities.

We have explored painting with different mark making tools, created firework effects with paint and a spray water bottle and danced with ribbons to make firework effects in the air.

The children have also built bonfires in our block area, used chalks to draw fireworks and listened to firework sounds at carpet time.

ORCHARD VISIT 

This week we enjoyed visiting the school orchard to look for signs of Autumn. We listened to the story The Very Helpful Hedgehog whilst we were in the orchard and we have had lots of fun painting autumn trees, printing with apples and creating hedgehogs.

OWL BABIES

In Puddles we have been reading the story Owl Babies. We have been printing using forks in brown paint to create feathers for the owls and using different props to retell the story. We have also been looking at signs of Autumn and sorting different natural objects.

WALTER’S WONDERFUL WEB

Puddles have enjoyed reading the story Walter’s Wonderful Web and learning about different 2D shapes. We had lots of fun printing with shapes, using shapes to make pictures and looking for shapes in the environment. We enjoyed painting spiders and also created our own giant friendship web which helped us to learn each other’s names.

INTERNATIONAL DOT DAY

Puddles have had lots of fun celebrating International Dot Day. We listened to the story The Dot and enjoyed creating our own dot pictures.

OUR FIRST WEEK IN PUDDLES SEPTEMBER 2020

We have all had a great time exploring in our indoor and outdoor areas during our first week in Puddles.