Welcome back everyone.  Hope you had an enjoyable break.  We have been hearing lots about Easter Egg Hunts and big Easter bunnies, trips to beach, holidays away to St Ives and lots more birthdays - wow, wow, you've all been very busy.

We are still continuing practicing Hello, Good Girl and Good Boy in Makaton signs.

Building outside was popular this week.  The children had a go at building with real cement (sand and water) and bricks.  The children came up with some excellent ideas and creations.  They even had more fun knocking them all down again!!

There was lots of snipping and clearing away the dandelions.  As we did this we were very careful with the wildlife.  We didn't want to hurt snails, slugs and worms.  There is so much going on in the undergrowth!!  Lots of discussions came up about not hurting them because they were alive and that we needed to move them to some where safe.  Where is a safe place?  Let's go and see...

We had lots of fun playing football and kicking the ball to one another - great sharing, scoring and team work - roll on the next world cup!!!

On Thursday afternoon we walked to our outdoor area.  We had 2 new children, so we showed them and explained our routine and gold rules.  We made daisy and dandelion chains with lots of laughter.  We also did lots of exploring looking for ladybirds and we even saw a Bee Keeper!!!  Finally we watched some birds make a nest.

For Yoga this week we had the Easter Bunny who had a brother called  "Freddie" who he did not know about.  There were lots of super slow mixing, count to 3 and super fast mixing - now taste the chocolate.  Meanwhile, Freddie was making frogs!  They found each other and became best of friends.  We made boats, fairies and butterflies.  Any other ideas for what shapes we can create?

Outside we were cooking up a storm - baked beans, tea and coffee with plenty of milk.  There was lots more stirring and mixing.  What can we find for our saucepan?  Mud, sand, stones, weeds, sticks and a lot of luck!

Football was popular outside and there was great team spirit with the children cheering each other on.  Some really good kicking, dribbling and stopping the ball skills were displayed.  There was lots of discussion about football teams and which team their families supported.

Please "Mr Crocodile can we cross your water?"  There was good team games being played outside and lots of co-operation with the children helping one another out.  There was lots of ideas as to who could cross and why and those that needed to could find a way across without being caught.

There was plenty of caring and sharing for the babies.  Feeding them, bathing them, wrapping them up warm and taking them for a nice walk in the buggy.  Don't forget though, we need to go to Asda and get the shopping in before dad gets home from work.  There was lots of talk about Dads and what they do - some build houses in Bath, some work at home, some work on a computer - Come on dad's what do you do?  Let's find out.

On Thursday afternoon we went for a walk to the allotment - we did some more digging and found potatoes and worms!  Then we found chocolates left around the orchard.  What fun.

In Yoga this week we did the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  Lets see everyone's angry troll face.  Who's that trip trapping over my bridge?  We played some new group games "In and Out the Dusty Bluebells" and "Farmers in his Dell."

We went to Stanton Drew Primary School to teach them our story of "Little Rabbit Foo Foo".  The children confidently told our story and enjoyed signing with the class and the class shared the story back to us.  The children were really pleased to have break time there and played with the older children and watched them play.

The children have been busy making Mother's Day crafts, they've all enjoyed doing their cards independently and lots showed good concentration and creative skills.

The pets have been popular this week, lots of children have been taking them for walks, feeding and making them homes from boxes.  We spoke about the importance of exercising animals and them eating only their own food as different foods can make them ill.  The children showed a huge amount of care for their animals.

Outside we had an obstacle course.  The children took turns to step through a funnel, under a table and around the cones.  This gave the children an opportunity not only for physical skills but to learn positional language too.

On Wednesday afternoon, the children enjoyed our warm up song and moves and they even made up some of their own.  We played a game of  "dressing ourselves" with a hats & scarves in teams - practicing helping and supporting each other.

On Thursday afternoon we walked to the allotments to see what has changed.  Lots of weeds needed digging up but with all of us getting stuck in, we soon had it cleared.  We found the scarecrow and put him back the right way up ready to scare off the birds when the strawberries and potatoes start to grow. 

On Friday we enjoyed football games which was run by Julie's husband.  The children showed good listening skills and followed instructions and controlled the ball brilliantly.