Week commencing September 14th - Westmeston
Welcome back! It's been wonderful to have the children back at the Acorns Westmeston after such a long break. We've also very much enjoyed welcoming new friends to our nursery and introducing them to new surroundings.
The weather has been very kind to us and we have spent the vast majority of our first two weeks outside enjoying the dry, sunny weather. On Tuesday we welcomed back our Forest School leader, Paulina who showed the children how to make prints of leaves and flowers on fabric by bashing the foliage, a process called Hapa Zome. The children made beautiful prints to take home.
The children also had a wonderful time making mud pies using baking trays and buckets. We used brightly coloured flowers, leaves, soil, water and even crushed up chalk to look like flour. They almost looked good enough to eat!
We went on minibeast hunts, looking under logs and dried leaves, and then used a minibeast identification sheet to name the different creatures. We were delighted to find that our resident frog was still doing well under a log - he seems to have found a happy home there.
This week our focus has been self-confidence and self-awareness. There were a selection of mirrors set out for the children to investigate. They had a go at drawing a self portrait which led to discussions about our differences and similarities.
The children chose to do a lot of mark making this week. Old cardboard boxes made perfect sturdy bases to draw on and excellent boats to ride in!
On Thursday we welcomed another new member of staff, Miss Matthews, who will be leading us in some music sessions. We sang a song all about our letter of the week - A. It was great fun to sing and dance along whilst Miss Matthews played her keyboard. Miss Matthews also led us in some games using musical instruments. The children had to really practise their listening and turn taking skills as they were all so keen to bash, shake, rattle and their instruments!
As we have been outside so much this week, the outdoor equipment has been well used. It was wonderful to see the children sharing and playing together, reviving old friendships and making new ones too!
On Friday, we enjoyed a walk to the woods and took a chance to pick some of the last blackberries of the season. What a harvest!
Back at the hall we used the fruit to make blackberry smoothies. We mashed up banana, making sure we didn't use our fingers, and added the blackberries and some apple juice.
Mrs Tubb gave it all a whizz with the blender and then we could enjoy delicious smoothies - cheers! What lovely blackberry smiles!
We hope you have enjoyed seeing what we have been up to at Westmeston this week. With such wonderful weather, it is easy to forget that we're heading into autumn and will soon need our wellies and wet weather clothing!
