Make a branch full of spring cherry blossom that can be displayed in a vase or by the side of a pot plant. You’ll need clean twigs about 30 cm long, with several branches off the main one. Make simple blossom with twists of pink or white tissue paper, touched in PVA glue before being popped on a branch. Stand the twig in a pot of sand or similar for easy handling and place the blossom in clusters to look real. Try to find an almond tree, jasmine or forsythia in bloom so that your child can see how they grow.

Estimates of the geostrophic drag coefficient and the Rossby similarity functions, A and B obtained from data collected by an instrumented aircraft over the sea are presented. The average value of the geostrophic drag coefficient is 0.027 and is independent of the geostrophic windspeed. The dependence of the similarity functions A and B on boundary-layer parameters is investigated. The function A is found to depend on baroclinicity parameters, while B depends on the parameter u t /fh (where u + is the surface friction velocity, f is the Coriolis parameter, and h is the boundary-layer depth). Using the geostrophic drag coefficient found here and the results of surface drag coefficient studies, a relationship between geostrophic windspeed and surface windspeed is obtained which shows good agreement with empirical data.

In the first of a series of articles, Rhona Whiteford interviews one outstanding nursery teacher

Rhona Whiteford interviews an inspirational reception teacher, Rebecca Mellor, about why she enjoys working in the early years

This sort of structured art work, which has a series of steps to follow, helps the children develop their concentration. It is also a great opportunity to talk together about the task in hand, to develop dexterity and that difficult skill of hand-eye co-ordination.