This week the children have been focused and have developed their understanding of change and growth over time as we have been taking part in the Living Eggs hatching program which has enabled the children to see baby chicks being born. Now they have been moved to their bigger warm home the children will be helping to look after them next week before they go back to their life on the farm.

Activities have included:

• listening to our story of the week: A squash and a squeeze
• mixing in the mud kitchen and sandpit outside
• counting out numbers in a group and focusing on our number of the week:11
• creating a music story with instruments representing the life cycle of a chicken
• practicing using scissors while creating a life cycle picture of a chicken
• the children are enjoying choosing their own craft activities from the art area and there has been a lot of independent junk modelling
• practicing recognising our letter sound of the week:g
• creating paper plate chicks, painting foam eggs and creating pictures with feathers
• singing the jolly phonics songs and developing our recognition of letters and letter sounds using flashcards *role playing in our new baby clinic role play area
• painting
• building walls and enclosures with the wooden bricks outside
• enjoying ring games and singing
• practicing pencil control with fun activities
• having a sensory experience with shaving foam on our tuff tray
• estimating how many items there are during maths games
• recognising 2d shapes while matching shapes to our unusual pancake picutres
• lots of listening games, stories and action songs
• reminding ourselves of the rules of the setting
• talking about how we can care for the chicks, the rules of how we treat the incubator and nesting box and also naming them.

As usual the weekly blog represents a snapshot of what most of the children participate in during the week. Please speak to your child's key person if you would like to have further information about your child's interests and progress. You are welcome to ask your key person for feedback at any time and book a time to have a meeting for feedback on how your child is progressing.

NOTICE: We are aiming to recruit new Trustees so that we can have a handover period with our remaining Trustees to help with continuity. We need Trustees in order to remain open and we greatly appreciate our Trustees for their time and commitment. If you are interested in taking on a role now or in the future then please speak to Julia or one of our existing Trustees: Mallika Sumner, Laura Evans, Lisa Steptoe and Catalina Nickson.

Hoping you all have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes, Julia, Grace, Sharon, Lisa, Jackie and Amy