25th March

We had a lovely morning this week when we went on a sunny spring walk around Upham village.  We noticed how plants and trees were changing and had changed since our visit in Autumn, with the first clouds of pink and white blossom appearing on some trees, and how new flowers were appearing such as daffodils and primroses.  The magnolia trees around the village looked glorious.  We also discussed the uses of some landscape features, such as the gravestones in the church yard and the post box, and spotted some of our children's and buddies' homes too.    The park needed no explanation! 

Everyone had a lot of fun in the den building area this week when the mud kitchens became very industrious with sloppy mud smoothies and soups being made.  There was a lot of experimenting with making different thicknesses of mixtures and some of our children were keen to write recipes to help make mud soup, wedges and how to cook cold chips!  

The marigolds that the children planted from seeds we collected last year, were finally potted into their final pots as gifts for Mothers Day.  We hope you enjoy your messages in your Mothers Day cards.  Your marigolds will need to be kept well watered and gradually introduced  to being outside.Please don't leave them out all night until there is no more fear of frost. They can move into a bigger pot or a flower bed in time where the plants will increase in size and flowers.  Wishing you all a happy Mothering Sunday.

The children have been very busy over the last few weeks.  The children enjoyed dressing up for World Book Day and telling each other who they had dressed up as and we also shared some children’s favourite stories and books.  

We have been taking advantage of the improving weather as we enter the season of Spring.  The children have been pricking out seedlings they planted back in February and we have been sketching the Spring daffodils and crocuses.

The children continue to learn by following their own interests as well as by direct teaching, taking their activities inside and outdoors.  They have created vehicles, animals and landscapes and some have been motivated by monsters, volcanoes and lava to tell and write stories. 

We enjoyed learning about a German festival from Benno’s mum who showed us a video of a parade taking place in their home village where winter was driven away in favour of Spring.  The children tried to dance with the same steps as the parade characters and a couple of days later, we made some scary masks inspired by the parade characters and masks, to scare away the winter.  We are still practising our dance steps and jingling our bells!