This week we have still been looking at fossils and working on uncovering more 'bones' from our fossil block.

The letter of the week was 'd' and, since 'd' is for dinosaur, this has tied in nicely to our fossil topic too.  On the craft table some of the children made dinosaur heads and on the construction table, we used the popoids to create some marvellous dinosaurs.

Without wishing to sound stereotypical (since this was the childrens' own choice), the boys enjoyed playing with the dinosaurs while the girls dressed up as fairies! :)

Outside in the garden, we have had the parachute out and used it both with the letter 'd' and to create a number circle to help us enjoy our numbers.  We have also looked at number lines and worked in small groups together on our numbers - recognising and ordering numbers are skills we develop at preschool.

We have also been baking and made some yummy carrot and raisin muffins.

Hope you all have a lovely half term holiday and we will see you back at preschool on Tues 3rd June.

This week we have been looking at fossils because some of the children have shown an interest in them.  We have a big chart on the wall with pictures of different kinds of fossils to help us learn about them and some of the children brought in fossils for us all to look at - trilobites, ammonites, brachiopods and fossilised fish!

One of the most exciting things we did was to play with a fossil block. We all took turns tapping and chipping and brushing at the block and revealed some bones inside. The children were so delighted with their discoveries!
As well as these dinosaur bones we found, we've had the dinosaurs out on the tough spot outside.

Our letter of the week this week was 'm' and we have also practiced writing our names.

Because of the lovely weather, we have spent lots of time outside playing on the slope and in the garden.  We have played with the sand, finding letters in there and played on the slide and see-saw and done some water-painting.

On Monday this week we had a fire drill which went really well and all the children are now aware of the importance of how to behave should we have a fire at preschool.

At the moment we are looking at how plants grow.  We spent time talking about things that grow on top of the ground and things that grow under the ground and then on the craft table, some of the children made pictures to show this - have a look below at their brilliant artwork!  You can see trees and tomatoes growing above the ground and carrots and potatoes under the ground.

We talked about what you need to make plants grow - sunshine and rain and plenty of time.... and all of the children have planted a sunflower seed.  Everyone enjoyed digging in the soil to fill up their pots and then poking their fingers in to plant the seed. It will be really interesting to watch these grow over the coming weeks.

On the games table, we have had puzzles about plants out and some of our stories have been along the theme of things growing - 'My Flower, Your Flower' and 'Oliver's Fruit Salad'

We have spent time both in the preschool garden and out on the slope this week and have played with the pirate ship outside in the water.  And it hasn't all been about plants, one day we made a train with all of the chairs and sang train songs - we even all had real tickets!

Our letter of the week this week is 'n'.

This week we are looking at the letter 'i'....... and 'i' is for insect!
The children are really interested in insects at the moment.

We have made insect pictures on the craft table - crickets, ladybirds and grasshoppers.  In fact all sorts of creative creatures came out of the woodwork. The picture above is (of course!) a grasshopper....

All the toy insects were crawling around the tough spot with special pictures on the table to show us what each one was called. (I had to ask what the 'tough spot' was so in case you're not sure either, it is a big tray used by builders to mix plaster etc on but happens to come in very handy for all kinds of messy play and as an insect run in preschool!). Rather excitingly for us (and probably alarmingly for the spider), we saw a real spider in preschool and we all had a look at it with our spyglasses.

As well as our usual Monday PE session in the school hall, we have spent lots of time outside in the preschool garden hunting for insects with the magnifying glasses and have been out on the slope practising rolling and throwing balls.

On the games table, we have had out our insect puzzles and played ladybird dominoes.