News from the Early Years 2 Room - May 2025 - St. Pauls Nursery School and Children’s Centre

Researching Children Researching the World!

Here at St. Paul’s we are fascinated by children’s fascinations!

Their curiosity is compelling!

Their explorations exciting!

A significant part of our thinking, learning and teaching here is REFLECTIVE NOTICING.

This means that we think about and explore how we deepen what we are noticing about children’s mastery of learning.

This means we draw on what we know about emotional patterns of play, behaviour and schemas to help us understand children’s learning.

REFLECTIVE NOTICING means we “stand aside for a while” and “leave room for learning”.

REFLECTIVE NOTICING means we observe carefully, reflect deeply, respond creatively to children’s play and talk, explorations and questions.

We are “researching the children researching the world”!

Did you know that each room has a Research Question?

Here in Early Years 2 our RESEARCH QUESTION is “How are children engaging in scientific enquiry?”

Our St. Paul’s Promise “I use all my senses to engage in scientific enquiry” helps us plan and support children’s curiosity as they explore, examine and wonder about their many worlds.

Volcanic Explosions!

Volcanoes are so interesting aren’t they!

We have been designing and building and thinking and experimenting!

Volcanoes in the sand!

Volcanoes from clay!

Volcano lava!

Watch out for the volcanic hot spot!

We have researched volcanoes through modelling, reading, watching, talking, questioning, noticing.

There are so many fascinating books and videos on volcanoes.

Did you know that magma is the hot rock and gas that builds up inside the volcano?

And when it’s ready to POP then lava comes catapulting and rocketing out of the volcano mountain!

Have you ever made a volcano explode?

We have even attempted to make our own volcanic eruption with bicarbonate of soda and vinegar.

Watch out! The volcano is ready to explode!

Whoosh! Up goes the lava!

Natural Scientists – In Nature, In Our Garden

Bugs and bees and birds and beans!

Seeds, weeds, stalks and pods!

We do love our Garden.

Our St. Paul’s Promise “I use all my senses to engage in scientific enquiry” helps us think about how to explore nature and habitats and living things.

Children have also been noticing and observing the lavae in the garden.

Using magnetifying glasses to look closely, sparking curiosity and conversation.

“What do they eat?”

“Where is there home?”

“It’s mummy one and daddy one?”

We have been thinking about life cycles, how animals and plants go through interesting changes as they grow.

In our GARDEN CLUB we have been looking after the worms in our wormery!

In GARDEN CLUB some families have been helping us care for plants and sow seeds.

And we have been thinking about how those seeds and plants change and grow.

Will we see them germinate?

Will we see the roots?

Will we see them flower?

We know how to look closely and observe.

We know how to question and communicate.

We know how to wonder and speculate.

Come along into our garden and take a closer look!

We wonder what you will find?

We do love our garden!

Painting and Printing – Using All Our Senses

Our St. Paul’s Promise “I use all my senses to engage in scientific enquiry” helps us think about and support children as they wallow in resources and become immersed in their explorations with so many different materials, resources, sensations.

We have created space for large-scale painting.

Painting hands and feet to notice and observe, test and retest, question and wonder.

How can I use this paint?

How does it feel?

What can it do?

Painting hands and feet to print and pattern, to make shapes and marks.

Children have been collaborating with each other, asking permission to paint hands and feet, communicating ideas and observations as they look for similarities, differences, patterns and changes.