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The children have had lots of fun exploring their new nursery. They have explored building with the blocks, riding on the bikes and cars and exploring musical instruments. Inside nursery they have explored sand, shaving foam, mark making in salt. What a busy first week.

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What is Write Dance?
Write Dance is an exciting music and dance approach to develop the skills needed for writing. Write Dance provides movement opportunities so children can develop the physical skills needed to develop their handwriting skills. The movement is driven by the music and the underlying principle is enjoyment to build confidence.

The benefits of Write Dance:

It supports the physical skills needed for writing,

Improve children’s handwriting and it motivates and encourages children with their writing

It develops confidence, self esteem and social skills.

Helps develop fine motor movements in hand to support good manipulation and control with using one handed tools and equipment.

It supports children’s physical development such as balance and coordination for writing

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Lift Off To Language is a programme to support the development of children's communication and language within the Early Years environment.

We are pleased to be able to offer Lift Off To Language interventions here in Poppy Class for our children. We have Johanna Shore specifically trained to run these sessions for your children.

Lift Off To Language for 2s
Lift Off To Language for 2s is specifically designed for our younger children In our setting.
The second year in a child's life is extremely important as their language development continues to grow.
The children go from speaking 50 or more words at the age of 2, to at least 200 and as many as 1000 words by the time they reach 3.

Lift Off The Language sessions provide an opportunity to support language skills as well as supporting the children's attention and listening, social interactions and turn taking skills.

The sessions run once a week (Fridays). Each session is carefully planned for using a variety of props and activities suitable for our children. The sessions are approximately 20 minutes long.

Overview:

Each session begins by welcoming the children in the small circle with the trained member of staff. 'Doug the Dog' joins the children to role model listening and turn taking throughout the session.

First activity is 'Roll the Ball'. This is an attention activity to support children's listening skills and encourage them to join in. The children listen to their name and roll the ball back to 'Doug'. The children are also encouraged to join in singing or simply tapping their knees to the song.

Second activity is 'What's in the box?'. The children are encouraged to guess what they think is in the box. Objects are changed regularly when the children are able to identify each item without a visual clue.

Third activity is singing the children's favourite nursery rhymes with instruments. Each of the children has a turn in choosing a rhyme to sing (up to 3 children within the group chooses a rhyme, this rotates to ensure all of the children have a turn to choose a rhyme to sing).

We finish off with a big squeeze with our friend 'Doug' for doing amazing job at sitting, listening, watching and joining in.

"Communication is an essential life skill. It is the basis on which all children learn, achieve and make friends. It is vital to the development of childrens social and emotional wellbeing"
(Bercow report, 2008)

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The children have been busy exploring their new nursery class both inside and in the garden. We have been busy building, making tea in the mud kitchen, painting and using real tools in the digging area. What a busy first week.

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The children decorated our Christmas tree, they worked together to make it look beautiful!

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We have been busy this week exploring activities about space. We have played with moon dough, explored galaxy playdough and made our very own space pictures.
Here are our wonderful salad spinner space pictures.

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We made space pictures using the salad spinner to make patterns.

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We made special pictures using the salad spinner.

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We have been exploring making marks in different media.

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We have been busy mark making in different media.

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I can draw lines and circles independently.

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Here are your new teachers in your class. We have Jenna and Johanna and Lizabella at the top and at the bottom we have Shagufta and Tia. We look forward to meeting you, playing with you and helping you learn.

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We have been really busy this week exploring pumpkins. The children wanted to explore what was inside of the pumpkins and used spoons to scoop out the seeds.
"It's wiggly inside", says one child.
"Gooey", says another. "Cold".

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Our parents came into nursery to help us to celebrate culture day and the festival of lights. We made some special firework pictures using the salad spinner. We made rangoli patterns using different coloured rice and we share our favourite stories.

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This week the morning children made their own sandwiches as in our story this week 'The Train ride' the little girl had a picnic on the train. The children chose what to put in their sandwiches and really enjoyed eating them.

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We were very lucky to get so many mummies and daddies come into nursery to take part in Curriculum day. They joined in with different Christmas themed activities based on maths. We made transient art Christmas trees, made 5 Christmas puddings and lots lots more....
Look at all the fun we had.

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This week at nursery our story has been were going on a bear hunt. The afternoon children went on their very own bear hunt! We went through long wavy grass, we saw a cold river, we saw some thick oozy mud and we went through a big dark forest.

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The children have been very busy making their own Christmas decorations. We used old cds, glue and gems. The children had to glue the CDs and attach on the pretty gems.

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The children have been very busy exploring lots of different Christmas crafts this term! They have used the loose parts to make pictures and patterns including their own Christmas tree. They have used branches and glitter to make Christmas cards and made decorations out of salt dough.

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Over the weekend something very special happened... IT SNOWED! The children were very excited when they came to nursery and began exploring straight away. Then we went into the garden and threw lots of snowballs. Some of the children talked about how cold the snow was to touch.

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The children have been very busy chocolate cornflake cakes and cupcakes. First they had to break apart the chocolate which was quite tricky. Then we melted the chocolate in the microwave and mixed in the cornflakes! When we made the cupcakes we spoke about how the oven gets hot and is dangerous.

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Over the weekend something very special happened... IT SNOWED! The children were very excited when they came to nursery and began exploring straight away. Then we went into the garden and threw lots of snowballs. Some of the children talked about how cold the snow was to touch.

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This week the children had a very special story. Clare read us the nativity story and used all of the props!

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Today the children have been painting with feathers. They show confidence in selecting what colours they wish to use and make their marks. They have turned out beautifully

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The children have worked on making their owls using loose parts. They used a range of different materials including feathers, wooden rings and sticks.

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Children have been very helpful. They took turns in cleaning our home corner with the hoover.

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Painting with feathers. Today the children made their marks using feathers. They turned out beautifully

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Making owls using loose parts. Children to select own resources to make their owls

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The children explored the different sounds made by banging pots and pans whilst singing their favourite nursery rhymes. There was a lot of noise but we had great fun!!!

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The children explored the different sounds made by banging pots and pans whilst singing their favourite nursery rhymes. There was a lot of noise but we had great fun!!!

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Funky Fingers are activities that help develop and strengthen the childrens fine motor skills in preparation for early writing. Activities could include: squeezing, poking and splatting playdough, mark making with pencils, chalk or other writing resources, picking up objects using tweezers or pegs or cutting using child sized scissors. As our story this week is 'Peace at last' our Funky Finger activity is feeding the owl. Children to use the pegs available to pick up the worms to feed the owl.

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'Peace at last' themed activities: this week we had a teddy bears picnic. The children made their own sandwiches. They chose their filling and were able to spread it safely using a knife under direct supervision from adult. They were delicious

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'Peace at last' themed activities: this week we had a teddy bears picnic. The children made their own sandwiches. They chose their filling and were able to spread it safely using a knife under direct supervision from adult. They were delicious

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To celebrate we made a stirfry, writing Chinese numbers using chop sticks in rice & made a dragon out of playdough. Children were engaged in all activities and were encouraged to try new foods.

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To celebrate we made a stirfry, writing Chinese numbers using chop sticks in rice & made a dragon out of playdough. Children were engaged in all activities and were encouraged to try new foods.

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The children made something very special at nursery. Using Flour and water and with the help of an adult for cooking, they made Roti!

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We've been learning about keeping safe when going on technology. The children have explored taking selfies on the ipad, drawing special pictures on the iPad and they learnt how to use to use the CD player!

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We've been learning about keeping safe when going on technology. The children have explored taking selfies on the ipad, drawing special pictures on the iPad and they learnt how to use to use the CD player!

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Wow Wednesday- celebrating different cultures 

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Wow Wednesday- celebrating different cultures 

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To celebrate different cultures at nursery we had lots of different activities out. We had books in different languages, We made patterns using play dough and loose parts and drew patterns on special tiles.

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The children and parents helped to make Halwa at nursery! Using semolina, sugar and water they made Halwa which is a semolina dessert.

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The children came to nursery today dressed up as their favourite book  characters. They brought in their favourite books to read at group time. All activities out today were linked to a story - train track in a story tray, play dough making caterpillars and loose parts as well as various story spoons for the children to act out their favourite stories. The children looked fantastic

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The children came to nursery today dressed up as their favourite book  characters. They brought in their favourite books to read at group time. All activities out today were linked to a story - train track in a story tray, play dough making caterpillars and loose parts as well as various story spoons for the children to act out their favourite stories. The children looked fantastic

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The children explored different ingredients to make their pancakes. They each took turns to pour the ingredients into the bowl. The children were introduced to a new kitchen utensil :- the whisk, where they each took turns to mix the ingredients together.
Delicious pancakes to enjoy at snack time.
Yummy!

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The children explored different ingredients to make their pancakes. They each took turns to pour the ingredients into the bowl. The children were introduced to a new kitchen utensil :- the whisk, where they each took turns to mix the ingredients together.
Delicious pancakes to enjoy at snack time.
Yummy!

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Our story this week is 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'.
The children were engaged in creating their own butterfly pictures using coloured paints of their choice.
Whilst painting their pictures, some of the children discovered that when you mix different colours together you can make a new one.

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Jenna transformed the home corner into a shop for the children to explore.
In the home corner we had shopping bags, real foods to buy, cash register and an opportunity to write our own shopping lists. Each child had a turn at being the shop keeper.
Children were able to apply their first hand experiences during their role play by inviting other children to join them whilst they make dinner.
When paying for shopping, one child used the word dollars, which lead into a discussion about our currency we use in England. They were able to apply this new knowledge during the rest of their role play and apply it outside in our ice cream shop.

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Talking Takes Off aims to improve speech and communication in children from 0-5 years in Luton.

Speech and language provides a solid foundation which supports building on having the best start in life.

They lead to vital skills which will guide children on a life long journey of socialising, learning and progressing as well as supporting wellbeing and achieving their full potential.

In Poppy class all staff are trained in delivering this intervention to the children. If staff have a concern with your childs speech and language development, your child's key worker will have this discussion with you. A plan can then be put into place that is tailored to your child's needs. A review will take place every 6 weeks which if any changes are to be made these will be discussed with you.

If you would like any further information about Talking Takes Off please speak to Jenna.

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Fridays is our dedicated day for exercise.
Excercises includes:
* Yoga
* Climbing Frame
* Obstacle Courses
*Soft Play
*Dancing
* Running

We encourage the children to develop their physical skills everyday. But by dedicating Fridays as Fitness Friday has overall benefitted the children.

Physical activities has been proven to have countless health benefits for children. Not only does exercise improve a child's overall health and fitness, it can also help to improve heir mental health and cognitive development.

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Soft play fun in the community room.
The children have been exploring how to move in different ways. They have been stretching to build towers, rolling on the mats, diving through the puzzle pieces, jumping, running, rocking, and crawling under.

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Our story this week is Handas Surprise - the children were intrigued when exploring the different fruits in our story basket.
Tasty Tuesday - The children made fruit salad today.
They were able to identify some of the fruits they used such as banana, apple, orange and pear. The children were introduced to a new fruit to extend their vocabulary - plum.
Making simple recipes with the children helps build independence, supports them to try new foods and supports trying different textures. As well as giving them opportunity to develop manipulation and control of one handed tools and equipment.

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Soft play fun in the community room.
The children have been exploring how to move in different ways. They have been stretching to build towers, rolling on the mats, diving through the puzzle pieces, jumping, running, rocking, and crawling under.

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Our story this week is Handas Surprise - the children were intrigued when exploring the different fruits in our story basket.
Tasty Tuesday - The children made fruit salad today.
They were able to identify some of the fruits they used such as banana, apple, orange and pear. The children were introduced to a new fruit to extend their vocabulary - plum.
Making simple recipes with the children helps build independence, supports them to try new foods and supports trying different textures. As well as giving them opportunity to develop manipulation and control of one handed tools and equipment.

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This week is science week. Although we know science is around us and we are constantly learning about the world, we have dedicated this week to create different experiments.
Children getting to know what happens when two ingredients are combined together. Lots of communication opportunities and children willingly wanting to repeat the activity. Here is what we have been upto:

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What you will need:
Bottle, balloon, baking powder and white vinegar.
Place the vinegar into the bottle (just a little) and baking powder into the balloon (4 teaspoons). Place the balloon onto the bottle. When you are ready, tip the balloon upright, so the baking powder falls into the vinegar.
Sit back and watch the magic happen.
If your child would like to repeat activity replace both the vinegar and baking powder each time.

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What you will need:
Bowl of water, black pepper and washing up liquid.
Pour in the pepper, dip your finger into washing up liquid then into the bowl.
What happens?
Amazing experiment which had the children thoroughly engaged. Full of laughter all around.

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What you would need:
Bag of skittles, plate and hot water.
Place the Skittles onto the plate in a circle. Can the children identify each colour?
Pour on the hot water (please be careful!!) and watch the magic happen.

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What you will need:
Bottle of cola (cheaper bottle will work) and mentos.
Open the bottle of cola and place in 3 mento mints.
You will need to ensure you run quickly not to get it all over yourself.
Children were amazed at the reaction and wanted Jenna to repeat it on more than one occasion.

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The children helped Lizabella to make bread. They carefully mixed together the ingredients into a bowl, when the ingredients were mixed thoroughly they kneaded the dough on the table.
Lizabella had to cover it and put it somewhere safe before putting it in the oven.
Something very exciting happened.
The bread got bigger.
Lots of opportunities to introduce new vocabulary such as: expanding, rising, reacting
The best part? Getting to taste it of course! Yum

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The children helped Lizabella to make bread. They carefully mixed together the ingredients into a bowl, when the ingredients were mixed thoroughly they kneaded the dough on the table.
Lizabella had to cover it and put it somewhere safe before putting it in the oven.
Something very exciting happened.
The bread got bigger.
Lots of opportunities to introduce new vocabulary such as: expanding, rising, reacting
The best part? Getting to taste it of course! Yum

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The children have been busy making marks in the garden.
Making marks isn't always using pens, pencils or paints. Making marks can also include water.
Here the children are making marks with water on the white board to wash off the paint they did yesterday at Nursery.

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Today the children were very interested in going on a bug hunt in the garden.
"Let's find a spider" says one child
"Slugs" says another
Children investigate different areas of the garden to find a spider.
We found:
Spiders, slugs, worms, ants, centipedes and more.
We spent the afternoon drawing the bugs we found.

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This week our story has been 'Baby goes to the Market'.
We transformed our home corner into a market.
Our market had: fruit, vegetables, jewellery, milk, eggs, clothing and cerrals.
We then pretended to be the Mum from the story and balanced a basket of fruit on our head.

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The children were willing to taste different fruit and vegetables from our 'Baby goes to the Market' story.
We tried: chin chin, coconut and orange.
"Mmm" says one child.
"Nice" says another.
"I've never tried chin chin before" says Johanna.
The children then explained which food they liked the best and what they wanted more of.

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It is important for young children to learn to discriminate between different sounds. Soundtracks is an excellent way to support learning these skills through play. The game also gives opportunities for language development and stimulates discussion.

A group of children joins Jenna for a game of environmental sound lotto. The CD plays and the children look at each board or shout out what they think the sound is. This game encourages children to concentrate and to develop important listening skills.

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Welcome back to Nursery, we hope you all had a wonderful break.
The children have dived straight back into learning doing activities linked to The Gingerbread Man story.
Heres what we've been upto:

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This week the funky fingers is linked to The Gingerbread Man story.
The children are to decorate theirs either using loose parts or they could draw features on.
Look how amazing they are!!

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The pm children made gingerbread men out of playdough. They use different coloured pompoms to create the features.

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Tuesdays delicious baking activity was making 'gingerbread men biscuits'.
The children labelled each ingredient and took turns scooping the ingredients into the small bowl before placing them into the large bowl.
The children smelt the different spices used and identified the number of cups needed for each ingredient.
The best part of our activity was of course getting to taste them at snack. Yummy!!!

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Tuesdays delicious baking activity was making 'gingerbread men biscuits'.
The children labelled each ingredient and took turns scooping the ingredients into the small bowl before placing them into the large bowl.
The children smelt the different spices used and identified the number of cups needed for each ingredient.
The best part of our activity was of course getting to taste them at snack. Yummy!!!

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This week we celebrated Eid with our children. We had a special story read by Shagufta that explains to the children what Ramadan is and how some celebrate Eid.
The children who celebrated on Friday, shared in simple terms how they celebrated with their families. They were fully engaged and excited to share this with their friends.
During the session we enjoyed having our face painted and Mehndi.
We also enjoyed trying different foods at snack time. Many of our families brought in their traditional foods for us to try.

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This week we celebrated Eid with our children. We had a special story read by Shagufta that explains to the children what Ramadan is and how some celebrate Eid.
The children who celebrated on Friday, shared in simple terms how they celebrated with their families. They were fully engaged and excited to share this with their friends.
During the session we enjoyed having our face painted and Mehndi.
We also enjoyed trying different foods at snack time. Many of our families brought in their traditional foods for us to try.

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The afternoon children visited the ducklings today.
The children were very gentle using just one finger to stroke the ducks. Jenna explained they had to be very quiet as not to scare them. They took in turns to look and say hello, sitting perfectly still when encouraged.
One last goodbye before they head to their forever home.

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I wonder...
What would happen if the gingerbread man was put in water?
Lets investigate..
Today the children experimented with what would happen if the gingerbread went into the water.
It was a perfect opportunity for recalling our story.
What happened? Where did he go? Who did he see? What did he sing?
The children learnt new vocabulary such as dissolving and melting.
The children giggled as they watched the changes, but especially at the end, when all that was left was the eyes and its bow.

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I wonder...
What would happen if the gingerbread man was put in water?
Lets investigate..
Today the children experimented with what would happen if the gingerbread went into the water.
It was a perfect opportunity for recalling our story.
What happened? Where did he go? Who did he see? What did he sing?
The children learnt new vocabulary such as dissolving and melting.
The children giggled as they watched the changes, but especially at the end, when all that was left was the eyes and its bow.

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On Friday 5th May we celebrated King Charles receiving his crown. Snowdrop joined us for fantastic activities these included: pin the crown on the King, hook a duck, throw a ball into the crown, Morris dancing and face painting.
A fantastic historic event for the Coronation of the King.

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On Friday 5th May we celebrated King Charles receiving his crown. Snowdrop joined us for fantastic activities these included: pin the crown on the King, hook a duck, throw a ball into the crown, Morris dancing and face painting.
A fantastic historic event for the Coronation of the King.

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The afternoon children helped Lizabella to plant beautiful flowers in our garden. The children spoke about the colours of the flowers and used different tools to plant them.

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The children practiced using the scissors today.
Most of the children operate the scissors using both hands, after being shown how to use them the children were able to confidently make snips to the paper.

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Look at what we have been up to in the garden. Plenty of opportunities to extend learning development through a range of activities

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Look at what we have been up to in the garden. Plenty of opportunities to extend learning development through a range of activities

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For this weeks cooking activity the children made delicious cakes.
They measured the ingredients, listening to instructions given by adult, then took turns to mix them together.
They tasted as good as they looked

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For this weeks cooking activity the children made delicious cakes.
They measured the ingredients, listening to instructions given by adult, then took turns to mix them together.
They tasted as good as they looked