Monarch Butterflies

On Friday Amelia brought in some butterflies and chrysalis for us to look at.

We could see the stages of development in the chrysalis, there was one nearly ready to hatch!  

We watched as Amelia let the two butterflies go.

We knew that the butterfly in the chrysalis was ready to hatch, and it did, at lunchtime.  The children were very excited to come back inside from play and see the newly hatched butterfly.

The children were also interested to know that the little brown patch on the bottom of the cage underneath the butterfly was its first poo!

Sunflower Study

This week we looked closely at and talked about sunflowers.
Firstly we read the book The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.  It is a beautiful seed cycle story.

Our poem of the week was also about a sunflower - that went FLOP.  We published the poem in our Home Books.

Then we went on a sunflower hunt around the school.  We found a sunflower in the Kitchen Garden, lots of sunflowers in the Butterfly Garden, and some tiny sunflowers in Fairyland.

After looking closely at the sunflowers, and discussing the stems, leaves, petals and where the seeds are, we used pastels to each draw our interpretation of a sunflower.

You can find your child's work on the wall in the classroom.  

Fun in the Pool

We have been having lots of fun in the pool.  The children are so keen to swim every day. Lessons are going well, with instructors in the pool working with individuals and groups.

Ring a Rosie to support confidence

Games to help confidence with putting heads under.

Confidence and Risk Taking

Water Safety Day

Lifejackets on!

What learning is happening here?

Children are gaining confidence in their abilities in the pool.  Especially I can see perseverance happening, and risk taking. Risk taking is such an important disposition to have as the child can use this in other learning.  Knowing that it's OK to be brave and try is really important.