The Willow Tree day
A typical day at the Willow Tree begins either with free play or joining in with a teacher led activity; this could be preparing food for snack, cleaning and mending or making something to celebrate the season.
​
We then tidy up and put away our toys before washing our hands and sitting in a ring to play some finger games and sing songs and rhymes. Our songs reflect the changing seasons and festivals, teaching the children about the cycle of the year.
We then sit down for a shared snack that the children have helped to prepare. The snack is based on a different grain for each day of the week, and are healthy, dairy free snacks. On Monday we have rice and vegetables, Tuesdays we have vegetable soup with barley, Wednesdays is millet or quinoa with golden gravy, Thursdays we have rye bread and jam and on Fridays we have apple crumble and custard. We will always have fruit for snack as well. During snack time there is an opportunity for children to share their news and listen to each other.
After snack time we dress for the garden and spend time playing outside where we have a mud kitchen, a playhouse, a climbing frame, a sandpit and much space for running or building obstacle courses or simply playing with chalks.
We finish the morning with a puppet show, this will be a story that has been learnt by the teacher and is repeated daily for the course of the week so that the children can all hear it and benefit from the messages the stories contain. Stories are chosen with themes that can support the children with social and emotional understanding. Often puppets are used for the telling of a story.
Opening Hours:
​
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
8.30 - 12.30
8.30 - 3.30
8.30 - 3.30
8.30 - 3.30
8.30 - 12.30
Children staying for lunch and afternoon care should bring a packed lunch. After lunch they will have a rest and a story before an afternoon of free play. Please see the parents handbook for a guide to suitable packed lunch items.