Evil Pea is on the loose!!!

What a fabulous start back to The Ark after a much needed half term holiday! The sun has finally appeared and remains beaming down and The Arklets have definitely grown some more!

We came back to nursery on Monday to find Evil Pea, from the stories of Supertato by Sue Hendra, hiding within the classroom. On Monday we did not spy any funny goings on but as the week progressed that Evil Pea started to become more and more mischievous! Poor Pear was taped to the sink in the hairdressers' roleplay, then Carrot was hung upside down above the recycling bin... and then Tomato was trapped within a cellotape reel with a potato mashed looming above his head! Luckily we did not have a squashed Tomato!

Whilst all of the evil doings of Evil Pea have been happening, the Arklets have been creating their own Supertato potatoes! The children have loved making them and are extremely eager to take them home...just in case an Evil Pea should escape from their freezers too.

We have also introduced 'Big School' reading records and reading books. This is to further help foster a love for reading as we are being like 'Big School', whilst developing early comprehension skills. The books we have sent home and will change weekly are wordless books. Many adults are unaware of the amazing benefits these have as they encourage and develop so many key skills including; vocabulary (learning new words), fluency in telling stories, prediction, inference and deduction skills (I know it's night-time in the story because the sky is dark and I can see the moon) and overall confidence as the children are not focussing on decoding words (yet). We have had some very excited children who have 're-read' their picture books at home already!

This half-term we are going to look at. lots of our favourite stories as part of our "In a land, far, far away" topic. Some of the stories may be new to us or some may be some of our favourites that we know well...so stay tuned to see what new adventures we have!