Mummies, aliens and other remarkable things

The Spring Term created some wonderful memories, from fun-filled snow days to Forest School sessions where the children captured the first signs of spring using digital cameras.

We loved welcoming families into the school to watch our Mother’s Day assembly, joining in with some special songs. Comments from the children as to why they love their mummies included everything from “because she gives me cuddles” to “because she hoovers and cooks soup”, reminding us all that it really is the little everyday moments that mean the most to our children, and make them feel loved.

At the start of the term the children embraced our Blast Off topic, with a spaceship-themed role play area and planet-themed activities. Highlights for the children included decorating biscuits with star-shaped sprinkles and using water-filled balloons to print swirly planet pictures.

They also loved casting shadows and using torches to explore the darkened classrooms as we blasted off and pretended to explore space. The children were encouraged to name different 2D and 3D shapes as they made rocket models, many of which were then used in games around the classroom. Some colourful alien artwork was also created by dropping paint-covered tea bags onto black paper.

We are fortunate at Copthill to have wonderfully enriching environments within the school grounds which help enhance the learning experiences for our youngest children, and this has been very evident over the last few weeks.

We have been looking at nursery rhymes as part of our Humpty and Friends topic and the children have searched the woods for Incy Wincy Spider, visited the farm animals and sat in the tractor as part of our Old Macdonald themed week. They’ve marched up the hill to the fort while singing ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ and visited the river to help bring the rhyme ‘Once I Caught a Fish Alive’ to life. Next term we start our new topic, Jurassic Park, and I am sure we will be out in the grounds searching for dinosaur eggs, measuring footprints and digging in the sand pits for bones.

Some eggs have already arrived in the department and have been placed into an incubator. Although some might be hoping for little dinosaurs to emerge I am fairly confident it will be new feathery friends for us to care for, helping the children to understand concepts of growth and changes over time, as well as the importance of caring for living things. Keep an eye on our blog for updates!

The new term will also see us welcoming new children to the department, and we will all be looking forward to inviting our families in to celebrate the Coronation, Sports Day and our annual teddy bear picnic. The Summer Term allows for plentiful outdoor opportunities and we will continue to make the most of the Copthill grounds.

Finally, I would like to wish all of our Nursery and Pre-School parents and children a wonderful Easter break. We look forward to hearing all about it!