Mrs Armitage on Wheels 

This week we have been looking at the story, ‘Mrs Armitage on Wheels.’ We have loved learning all about bikes and bikes through the ages. We have looked at the penny farthing and bikes nowadays. We were amazed at how people rode the penny farthing! We have then learnt all about shapes using the bike tyres and built our own pretend bikes outside. 

We have spent a lot of time on the bikes outside, learning how to pedal and manoeuvre around different objects including cones and multicoloured spots. We have had races and learnt how to win gracefully and accept that not everyone can win. 

We explored the different flowers that were in the outdoor tuff tray. We used scissors to cut them up, practising our fine motor control. We smelt them to see what they smelt like. It was lots of fun. 

Racing car is roaring 

After sharing the story we have looked at racing cars and talked about how they are different to cars on our roads.   We know that they go really fast,  they are driven on race tracks,  the driver sits in the cockpit, the driver wears a helmet and overalls and that they have a team of mechanics who use lots of different tools to get the racing car ready for a race! 

We made race cars by moulding modelling clay and used buttons for the wheels. 
 

We have drawn tracks for cars to race around on large paper,  looked at the shapes of different tracks,  (our favourite was the ‘figure of 8’ track), raced cars down tracks on the grassy hill and looked at some pictures by the artist Tim Lazelle of some fabulous racing cars and race tracks. 

We practised our fine motor control and coloured in pictures of cars and race tracks. We also drew our own cars and practised our tripod grip. 

We went exploring and enjoyed looking at the new pond. We counted the fish when they came out from the shade and we found 5! We also talked about the plants and how frogs use lily pads to sit on. We cannot wait to get some frogsprawn so we can get some frogs.

Outdoor Play

We had fun playing outside today, it was quite wet and rainy so some children wore the waterproof suits.  They all did a great job at trying to put them on themselves with only a little help from an adult and then helped each other to fasten zips and put the hoods up.   We danced in the rain, splashed in puddles and found places where we could shelter from the rain. 

We have strawberry plants in our nursery garden and keep a look out for any that have turned red and are ready to eat.  Today there were some to pick, which we all enjoyed alongside other fruit at snack time.

The wheels on the bus

This is a great song that the children can all sing together.                  We know about the different parts of the bus and can talk about what 

they do.  

We took a ride on a bus!  We waited at the bus stop, asked the driver for a ticket to Asda, white rose, the park, the beach and even to Never land! When it was time to get off we rang the bell and waited for the bus to stop.  The driver did a great job at starting the engine and driving us to where we wanted to go . 
 

We made some fabulous buses!

We drew the maps and routes for a bus journey.  The buses went to the park, the hospital, the bus station and lots of other places .

We put people on the bus. When the bus was full, there were ten people on the bus.  We put some on the top deck and some on the bottom deck.  As we played we talked about how many, we looked at numbers and put the right amount on the bus.  At the bus stop, some people got off, so we said how many we could see still on the bus. 

Brilliant Boats

This week we have been looking at boats as our form of transport. We have looked at lots of different types of boats from speed boats to kayaks to cruise liners and more! We have loved exploring them and the different parts they have. They are all so different and they move differently too. 

We have looked at floating and sinking and predicting what will float and what will sink. We thought the heavy block would sink but it actually floated on the surface. We made predictions about it and enjoyed putting the objects in the water to see if we were right. We put in a plant pot which floated but when it absorbed the water, it sank!

We made our own boats and tested them to see if they sank or floated. I started making one and the children came over and wanted to see what I was doing. They loved making their flags and working out how to attach them to their boats. We then went over to the water tray and put them in. Most of the boats floated. A few that were made of cardboard floated initially then sank once they had soaked up lots of water.  

We made a boat using different materials from outside. We used planks and crates and even made our own flag. We talked about the different parts of the boat. We loved riding in our boat and going out to sea. We travelled to a private island and sunbathed!

We did potato printing with potatoes and made our own boats. We loved using different shapes to make a lovely patterns. We were able to identify 2D shapes. 

We made boats using different shapes. We used triangles, squares, rectangles and circles for the portholes. We had a really good go at naming all of the 2D shapes and enjoyed sticking them where we wanted. 

Construction Vehicles

The children love the book and enjoy seeing what the clever vehicles and machinery can do! 

They chatted as they played with the construction vehicles. 
                “It’s loading”. Said Elliott 

                   “It’s full now,  lots to carry” said Helius

                                                 “ Get ready, gonna tip it,” said Rosie 

Emergency Vehicles

We have been looking at the different modes of transport that are used to help save people or rescue people from dangerous situations. 

We looked at some wooden emergency vehicles and made our own.  Bailey knew exactly what he needed to make his police car.  We looked at a picture in a book of a police car and Bailey said “I need a stripe, I know what I can use” and went off to find what he needed.  We discussed the flashing lights on the top.  He used a bottle top but wanted something blue.  When he found a lovely big blue Pom Pom, he grinned saying “ this is good, I like this “ .

After reading a book about fire engines and how the firefighters use the engine to help them get deal with an emergency, we built our own fire engine outside. 

We have talked about different modes of transport and had a go at putting them on the correct place on the picture. We talked about how submarines go underwater whereas boats float on top of the water. We also talked about hot air balloons flying in the sky and trains going on train tracks. We had lots of fun and good discussions. We also discussed whether a bike should be on the road or pavement. 

We talked about why policemen take criminals fingerprints and had a go ourselves at drawing around our hands then making our own fingerprints. 

All Aboard!
For the final half term of this school

year, we are learning about different types of vehicles and transport. 
To begin we are sharing the book

‘The Train Ride ’ - A little girl and her mummy board the train in the town and set off on a journey through the countryside. As they travel on the steam

train, the girl looks out of the window, asking "What shall I see? What shall I see?" And what does she see? Sheep, cows, horses and much more! This is a great book because children can begin to hear the rhythm as we read and join in with the repetition. 

All Aboard!  Anyone fancy a ride on our train? It’s going to the seaside! 
 

We drew some train tracks, talked about the different lengths, using words like, short, shorter and longer, longest etc. We then lined trains and carriages up along the track and counted how many could fit on the tracks.  We used number names to count in order and were learning that which ever number we stop counting on, that tells us how many there are. 

We are doing really well at learning how to write our own names.  We use the letter formation rhymes on the picture cards to help us write each letter. 
The children enjoyed writing the letters of their names on paper and stuck them in order to make a train pulling carriages. 

We made our own road signs to add to our small world play resources. 

We are making the most of our outdoor space too, we have been practising our scissor skills, singing and performing, making ramps for the vehicles, small word play using vehicles and much more. 

The children found a very long worm and all sat in a circle singing “there’s a worm at the bottom of the garden.” They loved singing altogether and inspecting the worm.