This week in Nursery has been full of curiosity, excitement, and a great deal of wonder as we celebrated Science Week. The children spent time thinking about what it means to be a scientist. We talked about how scientists ask questions, explore ideas, and carefully observe what happens. It turns out that Nursery children make wonderful scientists, especially when there are experiments to try and new things to discover.
Our classroom quickly became a busy little laboratory as we explored a wide range of experiments together. Some gave us immediate results, which led to many delighted reactions, while others encouraged us to watch carefully and notice small changes over time. The children were completely absorbed in the process of discovering what might happen next.
We investigated static electricity and were fascinated to see how it could move objects in surprising ways. Our walking rainbow experiment kept us watching closely as the colours slowly travelled and mixed together. The milk fireworks created beautiful swirling patterns that were quite magical to observe.
The children also enjoyed exploring planting and growing, learning about what plants need in order to thrive. During our floating and sinking investigation they carefully tested a variety of objects and shared their predictions with great enthusiasm. The skittles rainbow created a bright burst of colour that slowly spread across the plate, which was met with great delight. Magnets proved very popular as the children discovered which objects they could attract. One experiment that caused particular amazement involved pushing pencils through water filled sandwich bags and seeing that not a single drop of water leaked out. There were many impressed faces and some very thoughtful scientific conversations.
Alongside our experiments, we continued to observe the weather each day. The children enjoy looking closely at the sky and carefully marking the weather on our chart. During our time in the forest we also noticed many signs that spring is beginning to appear. The children were very excited to spot fresh growth and the bright green shoots appearing on the trees. It has been lovely to see them noticing these changes in the world around them.
In phonics the children have continued to learn new sounds and they are becoming increasingly confident in recognising them. They are also practising blending sounds together to hear words, which is an important step in their reading journey. The children are very proud when they can read decodable words and their enthusiasm is wonderful to see. It has been especially lovely to watch them using their phonic knowledge in their play when they write cards, notes, and lists for one another.
This week the children worked very hard to spot the letter d in their environment. Once we began looking carefully, we discovered it in many different places around the classroom. We also had great fun creating alliteration with Dante Duck, which led to some wonderfully imaginative ideas and plenty of smiles.
With another special day coming up on Sunday, the children have been thinking about the special person in their lives who does so much for them each day. They have worked incredibly hard to make a very special surprise for every mummy. A great deal of care, thought, and effort went into these creations and the children were very proud of their work. We hope the surprises bring many happy smiles at home.
Activities you might enjoy at home:
Fill a bowl with water and collect a few objects from around the house. Ask your child to predict whether each object will float or sink before testing it together.
Take a short walk together and see what signs of spring you can find. Look for buds on trees, tiny new shoots in the ground, and listen carefully for birds singing.
Choose a letter sound such as d and see how many things your child can find around the house that begin with that sound. You could also have fun making your own silly alliteration, just like Dante Duck.
We would like to wish all of our wonderful mothers a very happy Mother’s Day. We hope you are able to enjoy a lovely day and perhaps even a little peace and quiet. You certainly deserve to be celebrated.🌷
Lots of love, the Nursery Team x