Week commencing 22nd March 2021 - Lindfield.

Welcome to our blog.

This week our focus has been on Literacy – Writing.

We have been observing …

*Can the children distinguish between the marks they make as they draw, paint or write?

*Do they give meaning to their marks?

*Can they continue a rhyming string?

*Do they hear and say the initial sound in words?

*Are they beginning to blend sounds together to make words?

*Can they link sounds to letters?

*Can they write their own name?

When we arrived at The Acorns on Monday morning we had a very special visitor in our garden … He was exploring the pirate ship and was excited to wander around looking for food. We were very excited to see him!

We set up a writing workshop area in the kitchen – each day there were opportunities for the children to make marks in a variety of ways and using a selection of writing tools.

We used the salt tray, chalk boards, pens, pencils and paint dabbers.

We offered opportunities for tracing over pre drawn lines and alphabet/name cards.

In the garden we used some new chalk marker dabbers on our giant black board. The colours were bright and beautiful.

We had to squeeze them hard to make them work which was a great finger gym activity.

We also dipped paint brushes into pots of water to make marks.

Finger gym activities are brilliant for our (pre writing) hand muscles – they help our fingers to grow strong and will help us with pencil control.

Mrs Franks has lots of great finger gym ideas - if you would be interested in hearing about them please ask.

Miss Matthews did a veryspecial activity with us, we made our own guitars!

We used old cereal boxes and lots of rubber bands. Stretching the bands over the boxes and using them as the strings for us to strum.

We enjoyed playing along with Miss Matthews on her guitar during our music session afterwards.

Some children brought in their big nursery school books to share with us – Thank you.

On Tuesday we celebrated Iranian New Year. Our friend Rose brought in some lovely goodies to share with her friends.

We are so lucky to be able to introduce all of the children at The Acorns to traditions from around the world.

Happy New Year and Thank you for sharing with us.

We had apples that had been carved into beautiful leaf shapes, hard boiled eggs for us to roll and also some delicious cookies.

Some children had fun writing sentences. Look at this amazing work by Annalise and Sam.

Mark making doesn’t have to mean using a pen or pencil –

We dipped cars into paint and rolled the cars across the paper to leave a trail.

You could dip a dinosaur into the paint and print using its feet.

In the garden we enjoyed playing and building with the giant wooden blocks.

We built bridges and towers, dens and houses.

We made ramps and rolled our cars down them too.

So many play experiences!

The children who stayed for child-minding had their first picnic tea of the year on Tuesday.

They kicked off their shoes and relaxed on a blanket in the sunshine.

We found a lady bird and watched it as it crawled around in our digging spot. We counted its spots and watched closely as it flexed its tiny wings.

We love bug hunting in the garden.

On Wednesday we opened up our play house.

All of the toys inside needed a good clean and the children helped with buckets of warm soapy water and cloths.

Great team work !

We enjoyed lots of time in the garden this week, here are some more pics.

Miss Young and the children have been working hard on creating an Easter Display.

The children have been super busy doing easter themed crafts to hang up on the display.

It looks great so far! We will continue to add to it next week.

Our sunflowers continue to grow strong. We have been checking on them each day and watering them when they need it. We noticed that they turn to face the sunshine that is beaming through the window. Amazing!

Next week on Tuesday we will be celebrating the Hindu Festival Holi.

Holi marks the arrival of spring and the solidarity and togetherness of communities.

The festival of Holi usually sees people on the street for singing, dancing and Dhuleti – the colour throwing ceremony.

Giisele and Niyas family have kindly offered to share their traditions with us and will be bringing in some child friendly coloured power paints.

We will ask you to sign a permission slip on Tuesday morning to say you are happy for your child to take part in the colour throwing ceremony. You might choose to send the children in wearing old clothes that you won’t mind getting covered.

We had a visitor from MSDC this week to review our Food Hygiene Rating. We are pleased to say that we maintained our 5 star rating and that our new sticker is in the window for everyone to see.

Well Done Acorns Team.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Stay Safe!

Just a few more photos ....