This week has been a very exciting start to our spring term expedition “How do things grow and change?” The whole of EYFS have been exploring the story “How do you grow a Dinosaur?” By Caryl Hart. In the text a little boy named Albie is asked to help his mother with the gardening. Little did Albie realise, that the seeds were in fact dinosaur seeds!!! Nursery have had a lovely time painting their own imaginative creations of what they would grow, if they could grow anything from a packet of seeds.

We have also had an exciting visit from an expert visitor “Albie” the Ranger, from Animal Club, who brought with him some of his reptiles, insects and furrier animals to share with us. The children learned lots of interesting and exciting facts from Albie and were able to touch and experience most of the creatures close up, such as; a hissing cockroach called Bob, a black beauty stick insect named Del, a giant African snail, a horned frog, a tarantula, a monitor lizard (closest to a dinosaur) and a tiny furry mouse. Albie shared with the children how the animals change as they grow and how they are specially adapted to survive in the wild.

Our final hook was a lovely visit from our Kindness Elves, who kindly brought us some Jelly Beans to try, which they had harvested from their Jelly Bean Tree – just like in our story! Nursery played a game, where we covered the bowl of Jelly beans with a paper towel and had to slide our hand underneath to get a surprise flavoured Jelly Bean. We then talked about what kind of flavour they thought the coloured jelly bean would be? Some of the ideas were “Lime”, “Apple”, “Milk”, “Snow”, “Orange”, “Carrot”, “Raspberry”, “Strawberry”, “Blood”, “Lemonade”, Banana”, “Custard” and “Yellow Pepper”. They were very yummy and we all had quite a few chances to try the different flavours, for some of us this was our first time eating jelly beans.

Last week we celebrated World Kindness day on Wednesday 13th November as part of our continuing expedition “Be Kind – How do we show we care?”

During our current and final case study “Where do we live in the world?” The children have began to explore differences between them and their home to that of others around the world, through our key text “My World, Your World” by Melanie Walsh. We have examined key vocabulary which helped us to understand some of our differences, such as “Sari”, “Snowboots”, “Chopsticks” and “Flats”.

Nursery practised thinking about differences between each other, staff and toys to help them understand what a difference is. We then celebrated these differences by making Kindness Wands, using breadsticks, icing and sprinkles to spread kindness everywhere.

At the end of the week the children were thinking about Children in Need and how the cause helps to bring happiness to children that are less fortunate or sick. We made a huge Pudsey Bear collage out of coloured papers, working collaboratively .

Today Nursery had a visit from an expert visitor of an unusual kind….. a therapy dog named Ralph! The children were so excited to meet Ralph and his carer Sarah, who came from the charity Pets are therapy, who kindly agreed to spare what little spare time they have to visit us, as part of our case study “How do people show they care?” Sarah explained about the important work that the pair do in the community and the important job Ralph has to make friends and bring people happiness.

The children looked at photos of different therapy dogs and the kinds of people that they help, including the elderly, children in schools, people in hospital and hospices, as well as adults with learning difficulties and even people in prison. The dogs bring healing to those who are feeling very low, poorly or suffer with anxiety or worry.

The children were so excited to stroke Ralph and ask questions about his job and about what he needs, to care for him, after looking after so many others…. “He likes sausages and cheese best”. They thought he was “very kind”.

Thank you for coming to visit Ralph and Sarah – we very much appreciate your time and kindness.