May 2026 - Walk to School Week
Thank you to everyone who shared photographs for Walking to School Week. The children very much enjoy the fresh air and physical activity as they travel on foot, on a bicycle or scooter. They have noticed different things on the way such as road markings, numbers in the environment and wildlife, trees and plants, arriving at school energised and ready to learn.
May 2026 - Animal Ark
We were very excited to have a visit from Ark Farm. They brought large and small animals for the children to see and touch. We learnt how to stroke and brush some of the animals gently.
It was such a fun learning day for all our Birchwood children. We saw sheep, goats, a donkey, a pig, ducks, a dog, a cockerel, rabbits, guinea pigs, a mouse, a gecko, a chinchilla, a hedgehog and a tortoise.
April 2026 - Jasper's Beanstalk
From the author Nick Butterworth and illustrator Mick Inkpen comes Jasper's Beanstalk a picture book classic - perfect for children finding out about nature and how things grow.
Jasper plants a bean. He waits for it to grow into a beanstalk all week. How long will he have to wait before he can start looking for giants?
We have enjoyed reading Jasper's Beanstalk and learning about how Jasper looked after his plant. We learnt the names of some tools like rake, hoe, lawn mower and watering can then watched as Jaspers seed grew.
We planted some potato chitting and hope they grow so we can cook and eat them. We worked together to fill the bag with soil, bury our potato chitting and water them. The plants soon began to grow and we continue to water them regularly. Will our potato plants grow as tall as Jasper's Beanstalk?
March 2026 - Ducklings
The arrival of the eggs this week created lots of excitement. We viewed the eggs in the incubator and watched the first egg hatch on Tuesday. 🐣 Four more ducklings arrived soon after. By Friday we hatched all five healthy ducklings. 🐥🐥🐥🐥🐥
Many of the children have held and stroked a duckling while others were a little nervous.
The children learnt to be quiet and gentle around our ducklings, showing care and concern for living creatures. We noticed how “fluffy”, “soft”, “yellow”, “cute” and “splashy” they were. We will be sad to see the ducklings return to the farmer, but know they will take good care of them, feeding “pellets” and “water” and letting them “swim in the pond.”
The Living Egg experience offers the children a hands-on opportunity to explore the life cycle of ducks from incubated egg to duck, feeding, holding and swimming them, and learning new vocabulary.
We have also explored other duck related resources and books. We have sung Five Little Ducks together each day and explored our Core Book, 'Duck in a Truck by Jez Alborough (Author and illustrator) This is the tale of a duck in a truck - a truck that was stuck in some yucky brown muck. A sheep in a jeep and a frog in a bush saw the truck stuck and gave it a push. But the truck stayed stuck! What now, can you guess? Could a goat in a boat get them out of this mess?
February - The Tiger that came to Tea
The Tiger Who Came To Tea written and illustrated by Judith Kerr, is the classic picture book story of Sophie and her extraordinary teatime guest. This story has been loved by millions of children since it was first published more than fifty years ago.
The doorbell rings just as Sophie and her mummy are sitting down to tea. Who could it possibly be? What they certainly don't expect to see at the door is a big furry, stripy tiger!
This warm and funny picture book story is perfect for reading aloud, or for small children to read to themselves time and again.
The magic begins at teatime!
The children have loved The Tiger Came To Tea and have interacted beautifully with role play resources to react tea time with the tiger. We have observed wonderful interactions and deep and meaningful conversations between many of the children.
January 2026 - Walking through the Jungle
Walking through the Jungle by Debbie Hartner. Floating on the ocean, what do you see? I think I see a whale, chasing after me.' We joined a fearless young explorer trekking across deserts, climbing up mountains and swimming in the sea in this dual language book. Along the way we discovered weird and wonderful creatures, and made it home in time for tea. We enjoyed spotting exotic animals and learning new animal sounds. Hordes of colourful animals crowd the pages of this vibrantly illustrated adventure story, making it ideal for reading aloud with groups.
The children are able to retell some of the story through the pictures, identify the animals and the sounds that they can make. We have also acted out the story alongside the musical soundtrack.
November 2025 - Autumn
Autumn is a wonderful time of year to really use nature to promote the development of children. Whilst this may seem like an odd statement to make as the wet and dreary weather kicks in, the days grow shorter and everything seems somewhat muddier and duller, it doesn’t take away from the wealth of learning that appears at this time of the year.
All of the above along with the leaves changing and falling off trees, are all very noticeable changes. This may be the first spark of interest in children discovering more about the world around them. Leaves have so many incredible benefits from mathematics, sensory benefits, understanding the world and even literacy.
We are keen to be outdoors talking about the changes, the colours, and following the children’s lead. The outdoors during autumn seems to hold a new level of intrigue for children as they kick leaves, notice new natural objects such as pine cones and acorns, and become more in tune with wildlife. They may notice cobwebs more, spot squirrels and discover feathers on the floor. This makes teaching and learning incredibly easy around this time of year as there is so much to discuss and do. If the children are showing a keen interest the benefits will be even greater.
An autumn scavenger hunt is a fun way to talk to your children about the change in seasons and encourage them to look closely at each leaf's shape, size, and colour, and then tell you what they see, conversation around what's safe to touch in nature (for example not to touch some berries), why the trees drop leaves, and which foods animals eat this time of year.
Thank you for supporting our Autumn Treasure Collection.
The children were very happy to share their contributions and have enjoyed exploring the natural treasures collectively.
We have explored the collection and talked about where they grow and where we found them. Many children found treasures in the garden and some ventured out to the park. We also investigated some mathematical concepts. The children have lifted up pumpkins and various leaves and pine cones to feel and compare weight and size.
November 2025 - The Very Busy Spider
In this multi-sensory book, children can feel the pictures as well as see them, while they hear or read the easy rhythmic text. Early one morning a little spider begins to spin her web on a fencepost and she doesn't stop until it is finished . . .
Alongside the visual excitement of Eric Carle's vibrant collages of familiar animals is the tactile experience of feeling the spider's web as it grows from a simple line into a complex and beautiful creation - a perfect story for reading aloud and sharing.
The children have also explored a range of resources and materials, such as resin bugs and spiders under the light, play dough and felt props to help them match the characters and retell the story independently.
October 2025 - Preschool Pets
Interacting with animals supports children’s learning and development, and gives children the opportunity to learn how to be gentle and responsible for others.
Sensory Development
Young children discover their world through seeing, hearing and touching. Stroking and interacting with animals at close proximity teaches children how various textures feel. The various animal noises will help children identify the animals’ unique sounds.
Motor Skill Development
Motor skills are constantly being developed throughout a pre-schooler’s life. Motor skills are simply anything that uses their muscles. Gross motor skills involve large movements such as running or climbing, and fine motor skills are small movements such as holding a brush to groom an animal, or using tweezers to feed them.
Language Development
Spending time with animals is great for learning lots of new words – like whiskers, snout and paws. Children will usually return home at the end of the day and chatter away to the family about the animals.
Empathy
Young children begin to develop the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, and this includes animals too! When a child is asked questions such as, “Do you think Bijou likes being stroked?” and “Do you think the snail is hungry?” these can help children to consider the animals’ feelings.
October 2025 - Dear Zoo
Core Book: Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
The children have enjoyed listening to Dear Zoo. They have been very excited to guess which animal is next and then to lift the flaps to see if they were correct. The children can match the animals from the book with toy animals and some are beginning to retell the story themselves, exploring the story props to recreate the book and make up their own stories and games.
The importance of reading for children cannot be underestimated. Reading for pleasure can benefit a child’s education, social and cognitive development, their wellbeing, and their mental health.
September 2025 - First week at Preschool
Welcome to Preschool for a new term. The children are settling well as they build relationships with staff, explore the environment and respond to the routine and rhythm of the day.
