This week our topic book has been Somebody Swallowed Stanley by Sarah Roberts. Stanley, a stripy plastic bag, looks like a jellyfish and gets swallowed by several sea creatures before a boy makes him into a kite. The main message of the story was: "Plastic bags don't belong in the sea!" The book opened up lots of discussion around plastic and the ways we can look after our oceans. We were very proud of the children for grasping the concept of plastic pollution and for looking after our environment so well this week.
The children ventured on the Common during the week to take part in a litter hunt. We worked together to look for and pick up pieces of litter thad had been left behind. We related the importance of picking up litter to the story, talking through how plastic left in our environment can eventually end up in the sea. We found plastic bags, crisp packets and lots of aluminium cans. Some of the rubbish was stuck in trees and we wondered how far litter would travel before reaching the sea.
During Art, the children upcycled some of the recyclable materials that we had found on the Common to give them a new life, turning them into a range of amazing models. Others created patterns by painting alternating stripes on the materials to make them look just like Stanley! We discussed the different materials and learnt what can be recycled and reused. The older children extended their language by using describing words when exploring the materials, such as hard, soft, bendy or transparent.
During Cookery, in keeping with our ocean theme, the children made lettuce leaf boats stuffed with chopped vegetables. They discussed healthy eating and refined their fine motor skills when chopping and spooning the peppers, cucumbers and carrots into the lettuce leaves. We are very proud of the Chicks for participating in the activity with such enthusiasm, and for happily tasting and trying all of the different vegetables.
This week we have started to practice races for our Sports Day celebrations and worked on lots of physical skills including balancing, avoiding obstacles and jumping. Parent reading resumed and it has been wonderful to be able to welcome some of you to the nursery to share stories with the children in our outdoor classroom. It is so lovely to experience a little normality and to involve the parents in our daily routine again.
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