Week commencing March 8th we are going to be exploring the book "Wait and See" as well as celebrating Mothers Day.  Please find below just a few of the ways we will be exploring and enjoying this book.  The story can be found on YouTube should you wish to enjoy it at home

1.       Talking about family – who is in our family. Jo posts a parcel to her grandma in Jamaica. Talk about where the childrens extended families live and look on the globe to find Jamaica.

2.     Talk about what makes our Mum special. What one thing do the children love about their Mum.

3.     Jo and her Mum go to post a parcel at the post office. Get the post box out and post letters at the graphics table.

4.     Jo has some money and is deciding what to buy as they go to the post office. They pass lots of food shops, talk to the children about the food in our role play shop this week and model paying for food (with our role play cards, bank notes and coins) talking about money as we do so.

5.     Jo was very kind and gave her mum the money to pay to post the parcel. How can we show our mums we love them (making cards etc)

6.     Read the other books about Jo and her family in the series “In a Minute” and “Through my Window”.

THE BIG PANCAKE AND MAMA PANYA’S PANCAKES

Week commencing February 22nd we are going to be looking the book “The Big Pancake” together with “Mama Panya’s Pancake”

We imagine that several of the children will have enjoyed eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday in half term and thought this would be a good book to explore therefore.

Our activities will include:

1. Talking about sharing - how many children does the mother have to feed and how could we cut the pancake to share fairly. The children will be able to make pancakes from paper and cut it up to share out with 7 people.
2. Explore fractions – half and quarters etc.

3. How many animals can we see in “The Big Pancake” – are there more people or animals that are chasing the pancake?

4. Ask the children if the story reminds them of another well known story (The Gingerbread Man)

5. In a small group use our gingerbread men maths set to explore sharing. How many gingerbread men can each child have if we share them out equally? (you could use any resource at home for this activity)

6. Talk about kindness, in Mama Panya’s pancakes the little boy invites all his friends to share the pancakes he and his mum are going to make. Mum worries they won’t have enough but in the end all the boys friends arrive with gifts of food.

7. Talk about the pictures in Mama Panya’s Pancakes – paying particular attention to details such as the houses, how the people are carrying their food (on baskets on their heads). This shows what everyday life is like in Kenya.

Week commencing 1st March we will be exploring the Book “Oliver’s Milkshake”.

Our activities next week will include:

1.       Talk about milk, where it comes from and how it helps our bones and teeth to grow strong

2.     Talk about the different fruit Aunt Jen used to make the milkshake, serve bananas and blueberries at snack time and encourage the children who are not familiar with either of the fruit to try it.

3.     The children will be able to help prepare the bananas for snack honing their fine motor skills.

4.     Make a smoothie with blueberries and bananas and also make milk shake using the milkshake machine to make it frothy

5.     Oliver visits a farm to get some milk and buy some fruit from the farm shop. Explore what animals might live on a farm and also what other produce the farmer may grow

6.     On the farm Oliver sees some other animals such as sheep and hens. We will explore their produce such as wool and eggs.

7.     We will have the small world farm and figures out and the children will be able to role play being Oliver visiting the farm

8.     Sing Old Macdonald at Circle time and The Farmer’s in his Den during PE

9.     Talk about the different types of milk that are available: cows, goats, soya, almond etc.

10.  Look at our globe and world map to see where bananas grow and talk to the children about what type of climate bananas need to grow.

11.   We will have our greengrocer shop in the role play area where the children can enjoy playing as the shop keeper or the customer filling their trolleys or bags with produce.

12.  Read the other books in the series “Oliver’s Vegetable” which we are going to focus on later in the term when we plant out our potatoes and also “Oliver’s Fruit Salad”

Week commencing February 8th we are going to be enjoying the book “The Go-Away Bird” which is again by Julia Donaldson. The Go-Away bird is a real bird found in Africa – so called because his call sounds as if he is shouting “Go Away”!

This book coincides nicely with the fact that we are joining in the RSPB School Bird Watch this week and will be sending off a list of all the birds we see in the grounds during one hour to the RSPB.

Our activities will include:

1. Completing our bird watch. Using some bird identifier cards the children will note down the different bird types they see and how many of each.       Perhaps you could do your own bird watch at home?

2. Listen to the different bird calls while outside (this is something we do regularly during our extended session)

3. Think about how we can care for birds particularly during the winter when it is hard for them to find food.

4. Create their own birds using a variety of media at the activity table

5. Explore migrating birds, why they migrate and what migration means.

6. Explore language that may be new to the children such as whirly, whizzy or crest.

7. There are a variety of different coloured birds in the book. Explore colour with the children as they spot the different birds on each page.       We will extend this activity with colour mixing.