Today we began our new weekly theme about travelling by aeroplane. The children shared if they have ever been on a plane and we read the story "Topsy and Tim go on an Aeroplane" to help our understanding of what it is like. 
In the construction area, the children were given a challenge to build an aeroplane using the sticklebricks. We had some super ones with all the correct parts!

We have also enhanced our small world area with a large map and some map books to stimulate talk about different places. We  have a small world airport and lots of different sized aeroplanes to explore.  This area provided lots of opportunities for us to practise taking turns and sharing too!

To enrich the children's experience and support their understanding, today we had our snack on a boat! The boat was made from chairs from our classroom and we role-played boarding the boat and choosing a seat before setting sail! While the children ate their snack, we sang some of the boat songs we have been learning this week:
The Big Ship Sails on the Alley Alley Oh
We all Live in a Yellow Submarine
I Climbed Aboard a Pirate Ship. 
The "skipper" (Miss McGinnes!) then  steered the boat back to shore and the children carefully climbed off before home time. 

To link in with our learning about boats, we have been exploring floating and sinking in our water tray. We tried out lots of different objects to see if they would float or sink and then we sorted them into groups. Some children were able to say whether they thought an object would float or sink and some could explain why! Some of the comments included:
"I think it will float because it's not heavy and it's flat."
"It hasn't got any air in it,"
"It's made of plastic and I think plastic things float." 
The children tried out their ideas and talked lots about them- what superstars!! 
After this, we had a challenge to find out how many of our toy people it would take to sink a boat! There was lots of Science and Maths thinking in this activity. 

Today we read the story of "Mr Gumpy's Outing" to begin our theme of learning about boats. We learnt the word "oars" and in the outdoor area we made boats with our crates and used oars to row them like Mr Gumpy did in the story. Some children began to talk about things they could see from their boat which led onto play about what was under the sea so we added in goggles and snorkles to extend this. 

Today we were very excited as we found out that we were going to be involved in the kite festival which has been organised by Mrs Fitchett in school. This is a festival of joy and an opportunity for our children to make their own kites and then fly them together on the school field. 
We used brightly coloured paints to decorate our kites with different patterns and then used our fine motor skills to add the string and ribbons. Look how amazing they all are!

Here are some photos of us in action painting our kites:

We love learning Makaton signing in nursery! This is great for supporting our speech development and supports all the children to be able to communicate with each other. 
Over the last couple of weeks we have been learning the signs for lots of different vehicles. See if your child can show you any of our new signs. So far we have learnt: car, bus, train, aeroplane, boat, bicycle, motorbike, hot air balloon and submarine!
Here is a link to some of our signs so you can practise at home:
Makaton Topic - TRANSPORT - Singing Hands - YouTube

This week we are basing our learning around the theme of trains. Our book of the week is "The Magic Train Ride" and we will be reading it lots and lots so the children can learn it. 

In the outdoor area, the children have loved role playing their own train rides today. Firstly, we worked together to chalk a train track and station onto the playground floor. Then the children took turns to wear our engine suit and lead the carriages around the track. The children bought tickets, handed them to the driver and then boarded the train. There was so much turn taking and imaginative play involved in this activity! 

To link in with our vehicles theme, we did a survey of cars parked around school on our welly walk today. We talked about the colours of the different cars and then learnt how to record how many of each colour using tally marks. Then we carefully counted how many of each colour we had spotted and talked about which was the most and the least- so much Mathematical learning! Some of the children were so excited by this activity and it was lovely to see their enthusiasm.
Maybe you could count how many cars of different colours you can spot on your way home from nursery!

This week for our baking activity, the children had the opportunity to follow a recipe to make vehicle shaped biscuits. Firstly a group of children carefully weighed out the ingredients and mixed them together to make the dough. Then all the children had the opportunity to roll out their own dough and cut out their chosen vehicle shape. The children have made lots of progress with their baking skills over the year! I hope they tasted delicious. 

Today we were excited to hold our first Reading Together session since the lockdowns! It was so lovely to welcome our parents back into school and to see you all enjoying books together. If you weren't able to join us this week, the session will be running every Tuesday from 10.45am until 11.15am. We hope to see you next time!