A huge thank you to all our families, staff and the local community for supporting your school at our annual Rachel Keeling Nursery School Summer Fete. You helped to raise over £1290 for our children and exciting trips they can all enjoy in the coming year.
Families, staff, local businesses and friends donated their time, cooking, toys, prizes and money. The sun shone and the whole community came out to support us. Thank you so much. Special thanks to donations from: Diane, London Eye, WHSmiths, London Transport Museum, Massinghams, Ginger Whites, Simply Fresh, Jus Cakes, Paradise Wildlife Park, Discover Centre, Half Moon Theatre and Nandos. At Rachel Keeling we pride ourselves on really listening to children and enabling them to lead their own learning. Staff are co-collaborators in the learning journeys of our children.
Recently some of the children have been interested in volcanoes and used books and iPads to research, sharing what they knew and questions they had. Together, they were supported to create a volcano (which led to two or three further volcanoes!) and along the way problem solved, made mistakes and discussed their ideas, developing their language for thinking. This journey took place over nearly two weeks and is continuing still. Once constructed, the children decided it needed to erupt (one of our new pieces of vocabulary) and went to the shops to buy the ingredients (bicarbonate of soda and vinegar). Emilio used his knowledge of letters and sounds to write a sign saying "Come to see a volcano erupt after lunch." On the hottest day of the year, the children gathered with cooling ice poles in the garden and with Urzsula's help, Mount Bethnal Green erupted! One of our teachers, Linda, announced that she used to live on a volcano in St Helena. Children are still creating volcanoes and their understanding and knowledge of volcanoes is being developed. Please watch out for the children's volcano film coming soon. The recent sunny weather and heat has helped our garden to grow and bloom.
At Rachel Keeling children are part of the routines of school life and caring for our garden and the flora and fauna there is central to that. On Tuesday children noticed strawberries were looking red and juicy - ripe to be picked. Children worked collaboratively to harvest the strawberries. There was much excitement and more and more strawberries were gathered in the colanders. As the children noticed the amount, Conor estimated "There's over 100 strawberries!" Together, with support, they counted a whopping 80! The children washed them and checked for holes where worms might have had a nibble. Layla commented "This one is not cooked yet" - a lovely way to refer to an unripe strawberry! The children decided they would like to share the fruit on the hill in the shade. A fine reward for a busy morning where children sustained concentration, used language, noticed and commented on their environment, cooperated with their friends, counted meaningfully and experienced the taste of a locally-grown, organic, Bethnal Green strawberry! We at Rachel Keeling we always try to appreciate we live in such a wonderful city with access to incredible parks, museums, galleries, restaurants and a rich, diverse and warm community. The only thing we are missing is a natural beach and mountains, but you can't have it all.
We encourage our families to explore London regularly by inviting them on our weekly trips. Recently some families enjoyed a day out in the south London gem which is the Horniman Museum. It houses a diverse collection of art from around the world, musical instruments, a huge hall of taxidermy, an aquarium and beautiful gardens. The special exhibition the children visited was the Robot Zoo, where children and families explored robotics We are certainly not complaining about the hot weather but it can mean we are all feeling tired by 2pm. Staff have been supporting the children in thinking of new, tasty and, of course healthy snacks and drinks to keep us awake!
At Rachel Keeling we always consult with children, listening the their ideas, noticing their interests and trying to build upon them. Groups of children have explored and researched snacks online and using books, as well as their own ideas. Children developed skills using one handed tools such as graters, sharp knives, juicers, garlic presses and other utensils to create a range of very popular, refreshing snacks. Tzatziki, hummus and beetroot hummus were shared as well as some drinks using mint, grown and harvested by the children in our garden. Refreshing mint and lime water as well as cucumber ice cubes ensured we could carry on learning and feeling cool all day long! |