Rabbits News October 2014
We would like to welcome Maggie to our Rabbit’s room! We look forward to having her join our group!
Literacy
This month the children have shown an interest in Space, so we have worked on developing their existing knowledge. The children have been exploring events and characters in stories and expressing their own thoughts in different ways. They wrote their own space stories involving planets, space ships and astronauts then drew pictures to illustrate their creative stories. There have been many story and reference books the children have enjoyed reading. They have been creating their own stories and journeys within the new Space corner where they can explore the concepts of space in their role play with twinkly stars, posters and globes.
Numeracy
This month our numeracy focus has involved investigating objects and shapes and being able to sort, describe and be creative with them. First they used a toothbrush to flick yellow and white paint on the paper, and then they explored 
different sized and shaped collage pieces. They used these to create space ships and planets on their paper. The children have also created a countdown for the rocket ship in our space corner, which is hanging up for them to countdown from ten ready for blast off! In the garden the children have been using different shapes to trace around with chalk to create planets, stars and rocket ships. They have used a variety of junk modelling including boxes, triangular shaped card, plastic containers and cardboard tubes to build space stations, space craft and astronauts.
Health and Wellbeing
This month’s focus was for the children to become aware of cleanliness, hygiene and safety and how it affects their health and wellbeing. We incorporated Health Week into this, where each day we focussed on a different area of healthy living. The children learnt about the importance of hand washing, and used glitter to demonstrate how germs spread when we touch things. They were involved in Zumba where they enjoyed learning dance routines that keep them fit, and cooled down with some yoga. The children received a certificate for showing they can brush their teeth, as they watched in the mirror to make sure they were brushing them correctly. The whole Nursery took part in Healthy Lunch day where everyone was encouraged to bring healthy snacks to eat. The Rabbits have also baked some yummy healthy carrot and cinnamon muffins.
Science
The focus this month to extend on the space topic is to explore the vastness of the sky and learning to recognise the Sun, Moon and Stars. The children have had the opportunity to lie on the grass and watch the clouds, seeing what shapes they can see in them. They enjoyed learning about the different qualities of the planets amongst the solar system. The children found the most interesting part was how long each planet takes to orbit the Sun. We have read a book about star constellations where the children then glued on their own stars, and drew a picture joining all the stars together for their own constellation.
Forest Schools
This month the children have been using their imagination and creativity to construct models and problem solve. They used sticks and string to create fishing rods and went fishing in the pond and built boats to trial what items sink and float. They explored mixing different natural materials to make ‘paint’ and found different colours in nature to make more colours to paint with. To develop their problem solving and gross motor skills the children helped to build a rope swing, and held their bodies up as they swung across the garden. The children created their own journey sticks where they collected various natural items that were meaningful or of interest to them and attached them to their stick to take home and revisit their journey to Forest Schools.
Events
The children explored different cultures and beliefs as they watched a video about Diwali and how it is celebrated. The children also enjoyed dressing up and playing ‘spooky’ games for their Halloween party. They made pumpkin soup and then helped design the pumpkin into a spooky face to be carved.