This week our topic book was the The Story Orchestra: Four Seasons in One Day by Jessica Courtney-Tickle. The story takes the children on an adventure with a little girl called Isabelle and her dog, Pickle, as they discover the different seasons. The book explores the differences in animals, colours and sounds found in each season and includes buttons for us to press which play sections of Vivaldi’s music from the Four Seasons.
We chose this topic book because on Wednesday the children had an exciting outing to Balham Baptist Church to take part in an Orchestral Workshop where they were welcomed by three professional musicians! The children had an amazing time learning about a range of different musical instruments. We learned the difference between string, woodwinds and brass instruments and had the opportunity to practice conducting! We listened to the musicians create different sounds with their instruments and we were introduced to different rhythms and sounds. At one point the children were able to touch the instruments while they were being played to feel the vibrations. We listened to range of wonderful classical songs and learnt that the music to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was written by the composer Mozart! The children loved the workshop and shared lot of their own ideas and knowledge.
We extended our focus on music and sound in the Role Play area which we set up as Performance Area. The children continued to explore musical instruments and loved practicing creating different sounds including sounds that were quiet, loud, fast and slow. We added a mini stage to the Role Play Area and the children loved forming small groups, playing the instruments and singing along to songs such as Baa Baa Black Sheep and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
During Free Play the children continued to engage with a range of construction activities and fine motor skill activities including decorating sticks with pegs and wool and creating transient art with natural loose parts. The children also enjoyed cutting activities where they practised cutting along the lines to cut out different shaped leaves. Our Sand Pit and Mud Kitchen have been popular activities with the children using their imagination to create sea creatures and an underwater world!
In Science we introduced the terms sinking and floating and discussed what they meant. We experimented with placing lots of different objects in water and watched what happened next! The children practised predicting what might happen and discussed what they observed. The children loved this activity and learned that it is the density of different objects which causes them to sink or float.
Our Outdoor Learning Day continues to be a huge success and it is quickly becoming one of the children’s favourite days of the week. During the day the children explored natural objects by weaving them onto a piece of cardboard. In this activity we explored seasonal changes and discussed what changes we could see in our environment now that we are in Autumn.
We also added a team building activity where the children held hands and they had to use their arms and body movements to pass a hula hoop along the circle without letting go of each other’s hands. This initially appeared to be a little bit challenging but after a couple of tries the children persevered and started to work together more effectively. This was a great activity to support the Fledglings resilience and to encourage them to keep on trying with tasks when challenges occur. It also encouraged them to work together to solve problems and supported the children’s communication and language skills, physical development and understanding of the world around them.