Nursery have been working hard to resolve social conflicts this last week, as part of our first case study “How can the Goats and the Troll be friends?” This is within our new expedition “Once upon a time” and working towards answering our guiding question “Who is hiding in the pages of this book?”

Nursery have listened to the traditional tale of “The Three Billy Goats Gruff” and an alternative version of the story “The Three Billy Goats Fluff” by Rachael Mortimer. They have thought hard about the issues of both key characters; in that the Goats would like to eat the juicy, green, lush grass, but unfortunately they have to trip, trap across the bridge to reach it which in turns wakes up the Troll, who is desperate for some sleep, peace and quiet. Mummy Goat made the Billy Goats booties in the alternative story, but we wondered what if you insulated the bridge? So we have tried hard to make a quiet bridge for the Troll to live under using a variety of insulating materials. We tested baking paper, tinfoil, felt and bubble wrap. Here’s how we got on……

Some of the language and ideas expressed throughout this problem solving was amazing! The children said “the troll is grumpy because he is tired”, “the troll is frustrated because he wants to sleep”, “trip trap, trip trap keeps waking him up, because it’s noisy on the bridge”, “The goats need to be kind and go quieter”. The children spoke in depth about the materials, carefully using their senses to investigate them, some of the words used were; “Shiny”, “Crunchy”, “Crinkly”, “Rattly”, “Soft”, “Fluffy”, “Furry”, “Bubbles”, “Popping”, “Too loud”, “Quiet”, “Silent” and “noisy”.

What beautiful work Nursery – most children either came to the conclusion that the felt was the “quietest” or “softest” material or that the paper and tin foil were “too loud” or “noisy”. Some of the children thought about folding materials into layers to make the bridge even softer and one child thought about using the soft toy troll as a material, as he thought the felt was “still too noisy and the troll is bouncier”. Great experimenting!

To begin our spring term expedition Nursery have become Nursery Rhyme Detectives! Our task this week has been to find new clues each day to work out which Nursery Rhyme we are exploring that day. The children have searched high and low for clues and used their existing and new knowledge of Nursery Rhymes to work out which props fit with which Nursery Rhyme. Here are some of the props Nursery have found so far….

Also to immerse ourselves in our new expedition, Nursery have been working collaboratively to create artwork of large scale images of Nursery Rhyme characters and iconic objects. There have also been a couple of rather large mice around the Nursery Building!

Today Nursery hosted their very first Celebration of Learning to draw our expedition to a close of “What do stories tell us about Autumn?” Both Morning and Afternoon Nursery shared their learning through a series of photo slides and interaction. They sang songs to their parents and then added decorative touches to complete the final product with their parents, making the whole project a community affair. Our Bird Boxes look beautiful and are now ready to go their new homes. The children also shared their learning journeys, show casing all of their beautiful work so far! Well Done Nursery you did a great job!

Nursery have been taking part in Maths Week England. Starting with todays challenge of making Triangular Art. Each child decorated their own triangle, thinking about the shape of a triangle; how many sides it has, how many points it has and that it is a 2d flat shape. The children did careful counting to three to check these key features.

Our second stage of the challenge was to make larger triangles… I wonder how many of our small triangles will we need? The children had a go at arranging the shapes to make a triangle. I then modelled, if we use three, we can make a larger triangle. The children followed instructions and copied to help make a larger piece of floor art.

Can you guess what we have created using triangles?

Great work Nursery, you have been Exploring Elephants, Persevering Parrots and Challenge Chipmunks today! Bring on the next challenge.

Over the past week Nursery have also been learning about the Hindu festival of Diwali, celebrated as “The Festival of Light”. We had an Expert Visitor come into Nursery to read our key text “Chapatti Moon” by Pippa Goodhart and model how to make Chapatti’s with the children after our first attempt to grapple with chapatti making didn’t quite go to plan – it is harder than it looks! The children had lots of fun making their chapatti with Mrs O’Donnell and used their listening ears to carefully follow instructions.

Just look at our beautiful work….

Nursery were also immersed in lots of different provision throughout the week to demonstrate how Diwali is traditionally celebrated. We learned lots of new vocabulary, such as Diva’s, Rangoli, Mehndi, Nann, Poppadoms and Spices. The children had lots of fun exploring, experimenting, tasting and creating.

Brilliant learning Nursery, celebrating other traditions and cultures! You have been Go For It Gorillas, Persevering Parrots and Teamwork Tigers.

On Friday 10th November Nursery learned about and celebrated the tradition of Remembrance Day. They watched a short video about the meaning of the day and why we wear poppies as a mark of respect and remembrance. The children learned that the poppies were the first flower to grow on the fields after the war. Teachers modelled how to make our own poppies using loose parts and also how to create a field of poppies, using paint and an apple to print in provision. Just look at our beautiful work!

For snack we also made our own Poppy toast. We used our fine motor skills to spread the jam. The children were encouraged to think about the shape of the toast and why we were using Strawberry jam to decorate it? Some of the words the children used were; “Because it’s red”, “Because it’s red like a Poppy”, “same colour as the flower”, “because it’s yummy!”

To draw our celebrations to a close we read a story called “Thank you for the Little Things” by Caryl Hart to inspire and encourage the children to be thankful for the duty and service of the fallen and our current serving servicemen and women. Finally we watched a beautiful, poignant and child friendly animation about the tragic effects of war lived through the eyes of animals, which the children empathised with and received well. Some of their words were “Sad”, “Upset”, “Scary”, “They’re hiding”, “Frightened of the bangs”, “Like fireworks”, “Foggy”, “Cloudy”, “Poppies grow”, “Soldiers hat”, “Happy again” and “it’s safe now”.