The start of a sparkling new term

My guess is that come Monday morning we will all utter exactly the same words…

Good holiday?

Yes thanks

Just went far too quickly!

I didn’t do half as much as I’d hoped

The weather wasn’t too bad was it

Could do with another two weeks off

Only 7weeks till half term, yeah and one of those weeks is a 4 day week due to May bank Holiday… You will then walk away and probably High 5 the air!

This term I’m approaching things a little differently.

I can see time slipping through my fingers like sand in an egg timer

How can we already be 2/3 of the way through the year already? We only have 1 term to continue to make a difference in the lives of these little munchkins. These little peeps who came into our lives only a few months ago as a crazy box of escaping frogs, now are able to problem solve, share, solve conflicts, investigate why things occur, visit the bathroom independently, change for PE in less than half an hour (only a reception practitioner will truly understand the achievement of this!)

Yet as we walk into school on Monday will be thinking only 7weeks to go!

So there we have it my friends here is my pledge to you, to look at the next 7 weeks as an opportunity to continue to grab the opportunities wih two hands!

Go hunting for bugs with a magnifying glass,

lie on your backs and make pictures out of whispy White clouds,

walk through long grass that tickles your legs, collect wild flowed and make daisy chains!

Enjoy every second with this little lot! 🌼🌼 9937cfbe078c110aa71cca5b456d527c9b519feea9f5c7aa87

Progression in Writing

My lovely year group partner shared this from Heidi  Song with me yesterday. 

 
We have lots of parents mid year getting anxious about the quality of their children’s writing. 

However much we try to reassure them about the process, and that how all of the lovely things we do in our setting have a huge impact on writing, I’m not convinced that they truly believe their children will get there. 

I try to always back this up by explaining about my youngest, who in reception wouldn’t even pick up a pencil by choice! I probably couldn’t even tell you whether he was left or right handed before he was 6!?!!!?!! 

However because of the rich experiences he received in his EYFS he is now a proficient writer who loves nothing more than sitting down with a pad and pencil and allowing his imagination to flow freely on the page! 

Egg rolling- a tradition

I have the fondest memories of egg rolling as a child. 

We would always take a BBQ and head up to Grizedale Forest in The Lake District, with a basket of freshly painted eggs and big smiles a plenty. 

I have always wanted to recreate this magic with my own children, and today we did! 

 We started the day with dippy eggs and soldiers (of course!) 

  
The kidlets then decorated their eggs 

    
    
   
Once all the eggs were good to go, we packed the kitchen sink (literally ) and headed north.

Only a few loo and “I’m gonna be sick” stops and we arrive at our woodland retreat. 

It was just as I remember, even down to the sound of the rushing water fall splashing over the mossy rocks! Isn’t it funny how evocative smells and sounds are. I was suddenly transported back to being a pickly 6 year old! 

   
  
There’s something quite special about eating in the great outdoors even if at times we had to flick a few bugs off the colslaw that dropped in for a nibble 

   
 
So everyone is fed and watered, and so we go in search of an “eggcellent” (sorry) rolling hill. 

    
Enroute we find a very lonely wood cutter and a money tree (I’m sure my folks always said money doesn’t grow on trees- well here is the proof that they were wrong!

  

  
And so the rolling competition began, although I use the term rolling very loosely… It was more of lobbing! I pulled the short straw and had to be at the bottom of the hill- I’m sure they hatched a plan and were aiming directly at my head! 

Despite their best efforts I came away egg free, the kids shrieked with laughter, argued about who won and who didn’t, ran around in the fresh air, but best of all made memories that I hope like mine… Will last a lifetime!