We set about clearing the leaves and debris and laying new bark down, which has created a wonderful new area for the children to explore and investigate together. We look forward to seeing all the learning the children will experience.

Our week started by going on a book scavenger hunt on the paddock. The children had to carefully listen to the clues to find each book character and were so excited to find each one, including Spot the dog, the Gruffalo, Peter Rabbit and the Very Hungry Caterpillar. We also saw an enormous bumblebee who was basking in the sunshine on the pirate ship.

As it’s Book Week, the children made their own Hungry Caterpillar bookmarks. They had to carefully fold the card, making squares and triangles to make a bookmark for the corner of their books. We are sure they will enjoy using them with their favourite books at home.

This week, the children have been exploring the activities from our story sacks. They have enjoyed completing the puzzles from Tiddler and used the fishing rods to fish for the magnetic fish. There was a lot of investigating of the shells and sea life from the Little Mermaid story too.

For the Special Books this week, the children chose one of their favourite stories and drew a character from the book. We have had some beautiful drawings of ballerinas, mermaids, witches, owls and mummies - some of which are from the library books which the children are enjoying reading. I am sure we will get to choose some more favourite books when we visit Otford Library next Tuesday.

Goodness, what a fun time we had at the drama workshop! We had to sit patiently outside Mr McCarthy’s study while we waited for our turn to go into the Old Hall, where we were met by a funny man who had his swimming goggles on! We then went on a magical under-the-sea adventure as starfish, whales, minnows and turtles, as well as many other sea creatures. The children were amazing at joining in with the different actions and voices of the sea creatures whilst swimming through the ocean. They were all very animated and took on the challenges of the different movements enthusiastically and with enjoyment. Mrs Sayers and I were exhausted just watching them perform all the actions for each creature.

As part of our book week activities, the children had a scavenger hunt in the Nursery! They each had to look at the pictures on their sheets and find books relating to the pictures. They were very busy looking through all the Nursery books to find books that had a pig in it, a story with a happy ending and one with a dinosaur, and many more. Here is a photo showing you all the books which the children found along with their sheets which were beautifully ticked and marked when each book was found!

It was so lovely to see all the children dressed up in their costumes on Thursday. We loved the princesses, the Gruffalo, Posy and Spiderman! We all had a Nursery photo in the garden and then a whole Pre-Prep photo by Russell Hall. The children loved being in their dressing-up clothes and certainly made the most of the beautiful sunshine too with lots of playing together in the garden.

It has been lovely to read the children’s favourite stories from home about unicorns, the Gruffalo, Pip and Posy and Spiderman, along with lots of others. We love reading in Nursery so it has been lovely to see the children share their stories with us. A gentle reminder: if you would like to order a signed book by Sue Hendra, who is coming to Nursery next Friday, please complete the form if you would like one of her fantastic books.

Next week we are looking forward to our trip to Otford library (you are very welcome to join us if your child is not in on Tuesday). It is also science week and we are shopping for our special Mummies at the Mother’s Day Stall on Wednesday. We are looking forward to Sue Hendra who is visiting us on Friday, with a story assembly and a workshop! It’s going to be a busy week!