Summer 2 week 7 

It’s the final week before the summer holidays begin!  What a busy week the children have had in Pre-school.  We have re-capped our knowledge of this term’s focused learning.  We discussed the key vocabulary rivers, lakes, reservoirs, streams, water, rain.  In our phonics lessons this week the children re-created a ‘river’ and they had to listen and recognise the correct sound at the beginning of their object to be able to jump safely across the river.  

The children enjoyed painting ice-creams, using scissors to cut out triangle shaped cones, sponges in different coloured paint for the scoops and they used sequins and pom poms to decorate them.  The children continued to role-play in the village shop and the ice-cream parlour outdoors.  The children practiced their fine motor skills, threading pictures of different types of weather. 

In the writing area the children enjoyed drawing their own flowers and rainbows and using the different coloured pencils.  The children this week continued to practice writing their own name in preparation for Reception class. 

On Wednesday afternoon the children explored the trim trail on the large playground, building their gross motor skills by climbing and balancing on the equipment.  In the outdoor area this week the children enjoyed making their own bubble mixture and using straws to blow big bubbles! 

In preparation for some of the children leaving Pre-school, we had our graduation photographs taken to surprise our grown-ups!  The Pre-school team are so very proud of what you have all achieved and we wish you the best of luck on your next chapter!  

I hope you all enjoy the summer break and we look forward to hearing all about your adventures in September and we can’t wait for the new starters to begin their Pre-school journey with us. 

Summer 2 week 6 

It has been another busy week in Pre-school.  We have focused on the season of summer this week and re-capping our knowledge of the weather, environmental changes and the local area.  We focused on the story ‘Seasons’ and discussed what happens during the season of summer.  Children shared their experiences of summer and commented on the images in the story and compared them to other seasons. 

During the creative area the children practiced their fine motor skills to cut out triangles and paint sunshine pictures to represent the weather during summer.  In the malleable area, the children explored making ice cream and ice lollies with the playdoh.  They counted how many scoops of ice cream and compared the sizes using language such as biggest and smallest.  The role-play area included the enhancement of an ice-cream shop.  The children have also practiced writing their names in preparation for Reception class. 

In the outdoor area the children explored with capacity, weight and measure in the water area.  The children used the jugs to pour and fill bottles to experiment and use language to describe and compare amounts of water.  Children used their gross motor skills during throwing and catching games. 

This week we had new starters settling in who will be joining our Pre-school in September.  We can’t wait for them to join and begin their journey with us.  We also had a celebration party for the school leavers which was a wonderful experience to share with them all. 

On Friday the children joined in with their last French lesson of the term with Madame Wardle.  The children re-capped their knowledge of colours and read a monster story recognising all the colours in French. 

Next week is the last week before the summer holidays and we will be re-visiting our learning from the past term. 

Summer 2 week 5 

Another busy week in Pre-School!  The children have continued with their focus topic of ‘Water through Hoddlesden’ exploring all aspects of rivers, lakes, streams and discussing features of their local community.  The children could re-call the story ‘The River’, spotting features of the environment and discussing the different seasons, the changes in the weather and the different feelings of the main character. 

During provision the children enjoyed painting pictures of the weather in the creative area, focusing on the different colours of the rainbow, rain, sunshine, clouds, storms etc.  The children in the fine motor area explored threading and making patterns with different coloured beads.  In the malleable area the children explored making different shapes using the playdoh, recognising familiar 2D shapes and counting the sides, corners and comparing them to other shapes.  The children in the construction area used the 3D bricks to build and recognise each 3D shape.  They recognised shapes such as cylinders, cuboids, cubes, spheres within the provision.  In phonics this week the children have explored body percussion, making sounds with their bodies, counting the beats and following direction and instructions.  The children moving to Reception class explored oral blending and segmenting sounds in words. 

During the outdoor area the children used chalks to form recognisable shapes and marks to represent different 2D shapes.  The children continued to role-play in the outdoor ice cream parlour, using their imagination and developing their language and social skills.  They also incorporated mathematical language, counting how many scoops of ice-cream, using ‘more’ or ‘less’, using ‘big’ and ‘small’.    

This week the children moving to Reception class in September have joined in with their transition days, meeting their new teachers, friends and exploring the provision.  They had a wonderful time and enjoyed sharing their positive experiences with Pre-School when they returned! 

On Friday the children continued with their weekly French lesson with Madame Wardle.  The children played a game with a coloured dice and had to move their coloured snail in the race to see who reaches the finish line first.  The children cheered "Allez Bleu" meaning "Go team blue".  A lovely turn taking game and re-calling the different colours in French.

Next week we will be focusing on the season of Summer and school readiness.

Summer 2 week 4 

The Pre-school children have had another busy week.  On Monday we had a visit from a Dental Nurse, talking to the children about the importance of good oral health, how to keep your teeth clean and sharing positive experiences about visiting the dentist.  The children had lots of questions built on their prior knowledge of last term’s topic of people who help us.  They all received a new toothbrush to take home and use daily! 

 
This week the topic continued of ‘Water through Hoddlesden’ and the children listened to the story ‘The Little Raindrop’.  We discussed the journey of a raindrop throughout the story and looked at how rainbows appear when it is sunny and raining.  The children in provision enjoyed painting their own rainbows, looking at the seven different colours of a rainbow and exploring mixing the primary colours. 

During the maths input and throughout provision the children focused on 2D and 3D shapes, using mathematical language to describe their properties.  Children found matching shapes in the environment and practiced drawing shapes in the writing area and on the interactive whiteboard. 

In the outdoor area, the children explored with spray bottles filled with water in the sunshine to create their own rainbows.  The children experimented and discussed the colours they could find in their rainbows.  The outdoor role-play area has been enhanced into an ice-cream parlour.  The children have enjoyed using their language and vocabulary skills in the role-play area and linking their experiences. 

On Thursday the parents/carers were invited to watch the Pre-school gymnastics performance.  The children performed their practiced routine in front of an audience and did an amazing job!  They should be so proud of themselves!  After the performance the parents/carers had the opportunity to join the stay and play session in Pre-school.  Many parents/carers stayed for the afternoon and it was wonderful to watch them sharing these experiences and creating memories. 

On Friday the children joined in with their weekly French lesson, naming colours and numbers, then Madame Wardle introduced the children to a new song and the children copied the actions with the words.  Amazing!

Next week the children will continue with their learning and development based around the termly topic.    

Summer 2 week 3 

Another busy week in Pre-school! We have continued to focus on the termly topic of ‘Water through Hoddlesden’.  This week we read the story ‘Float’ and the children told the story through observing the pictures on each page.  We looked closely at what was happening on each page and told the story in our own words.  The story is based around a boy making a paper boat and watching his boat float in the puddles outside.  After reading the story the children created their own boats using a variety of tools and materials, painted them and tested them on the water outside in the paddling pool to discover if they floated or sank. 

This week the children explored 2D shapes, matching the different shaped sails to boats in the maths area using mathematical concepts to describe their properties such as sides and corners.   During a focused activity the children were introduced to 3D shapes such as cylinder, cube, cuboid.

The children have continued to role-play in the Hoddlesden shop, improving their communication, language and social skills with their peers and practicing their number recognition and counting the correct amount of objects. 

In the outdoor area the children used the resources to build bridges and walk across them balancing carefully and taking turns.  The children also explored building towers and making ABAB patterns with the different coloured bricks.  They also used the large chalks to draw their own rivers/streams.   

This week the children joined in a music and movement session, following instructions, listening to music and copying actions.  They explored moving their bodies in different ways and travelled around the space negotiating their spatial awareness.  On Friday the children joined in with their weekly French lesson, re-capping the different colours and counting up to 10 in French. 

Next week the children will continue their learning and focus on the story ‘The Little Raindrop’.    

Summer 2 week 2 

What a fantastic week the Pre-school children have had!  We re-visited the story that was introduced last week called ‘The River’.  We re-visited key vocabulary and talked about the changes in the river and how our own feelings can change.  We then focused on the story ‘Water can be’ and discussed rivers, streams, ponds, puddles and sea.  In the story the character can see her reflection in the puddle, we looked at our own reflections in the mirror and described what we look like and how we are feeling.  

The children this week explored ‘ice painting’, creating pictures using frozen coloured ice cubes on lollypop sticks.  We talked about how water freezes and turns into ice.  In the playdoh area the children used their fingers to manipulate the playdoh into different shapes and created ‘tadpoles’ that they might find in a pond or lake.  The children continued to role-play in the Hoddlesden village shop, using the money to count and the till to recognise numerals.  In the maths area the children matched the numbered frogs to the correct numbered lily pads and practiced subitising with up to 5 objects. During phonics the children joined in with activities exploring voice sounds and oral blending and segmenting.  In the construction area, children explored building bridges and using language such as ‘over’ and ‘under’. 

The children have loved the glorious sunshine this week!  The children enjoyed using the ‘ice paints’ to create marks outdoors and watching the ice melt in the sun!  We also filled up a paddling pool to dip our feet into the water to cool us down whilst singing ‘5 Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day’ and '5 Little Speckled Frogs'.

The children continued their learning with the weekly French lesson with Madame Wardle.  They re-visited the colours in French, Rouge (red), Jaune (yellow), Bleu (blue), Vert (green), Orange (orange) and Rose (pink). The children also joined in with their gymnastics lesson, practicing their routine for their performance in two weeks. 

Next week we will continue with our learning of ‘Water through Hoddlesden’ and look at the signs of summer. 

Summer 2 week 1 

Welcome back to all our Pre-school children after half term.  This term we will be focusing on the topic of ‘Water through Hoddlesden’, exploring rivers, streams, reservoirs and looking closely at our local area and the changes of season.  The children enjoyed sharing their news of what they have been doing during the half term holidays.  We read the story ‘The River’ and focused on the key vocabulary and what happened in the story.  We discussed the variety of describing words for the changes in the river and how the boy in the story related these to his own feelings. 

In the creative area the children explored with water colours and used different sized brushes.  In the playdoh the children made their own tadpoles and frogs after our group discussion of finding frogs in rivers, ponds and streams.  In the writing area the children explored making wavy lines using a variety of mark making tools.  The role play area has been changed to replicate the ‘Hoddlesden Village Shop’, allowing children to improve their language and communication skills and imagination through the role play of shop keepers and customers and improving their number recognition using money and price tags.  The children have enjoyed creating bridges over rivers, streams etc using the construction resources. 

In the outdoor area the children have explored in the water area, using the measuring jugs to pour and weigh and experiment with objects that either float or sink.  This week the children joined in with their Outdoor Learning session and they went on an adventure into the woods and found a stream for them to paddle in and collected natural items such as leaves, sticks, stones to throw into the stream and observe them either floating or sinking.  We then used fishing nets to see what creatures they could find living in the stream!  The children absolutely loved the adventure and they enjoyed having an ice lolly whilst listening to the key text, ‘The River’ and then recreating the different feelings in the story using their bodies.   

On Thursday the children continued to join in their gymnastics lesson, re-capping the sequence and practicing the transitions for their performance.  On Friday morning the children joined in with their weekly French lesson and then the Outdoor Adventure Learning.

Next week the children will continue with the learning of ‘Water through Hoddlesden’.  What a fantastic start to the Summer term! 

Summer 1 week 6 

The last week of term has been very busy!  We focused this week on our prior learning throughout this term of ‘People who help us’ and their important role in society.  The children re-called key vocabulary linked to the specific jobs.  The children shared their ideas of what they would like to be when they grow up and we read a story with different occupations.  During provision the children painted pictures and created drawings of what they would like to be when they are older.  Lots of wonderful ideas such as police officers, firefighters, teachers, astronauts!  In the maths area of provision the children played ‘I spy’, finding the different people who help us and counting them correctly.  The children continued to role-play the different occupations and used their communication and language skills to improve their personal, social and emotional development.

Throughout the small world and construction area the children explored with different emergency vehicles and made buildings using the different open-ended resources, enabling them to be creative and think critically. 

In the outdoor area this week the children have enjoyed the wonderful sunshine!  They have explored role-playing and dressing up as different people who help us and using the outdoor resources to enhance their imagination. 

This week Pre-school have had a few special visitors.  On Tuesday morning we had two police officers that came to talk to the class all about their important role in society and how they keep us safe.  The children had lots of questions!  They showed the class the special uniform and equipment they use and the children even had the chance to sit in a real police car and press the special siren button! They were so excited and it was very noisy!  In the afternoon we had another special visit from two ladies from Specsavers, talking to the children about their important job as an optician and the special equipment they use to check people’s eyes.  The children tried on different glasses and checked to see if they could recognise any letters and pictures! 

On Thursday the children continued with their weekly gymnastics lesson, practicing their skills they have learnt over the term.  The children are becoming very confident and wonderful gymnasts.  On Friday they continued to listen to Madame Wardle and re-capped all the French words for different body parts they have focused on this term.  Amazing Pre-school!  In the afternoon we had a special visit from a Nurse who talked to the children all about her important role at the hospital and how she looks after people to make them feel better.  She showed the children all the equipment they use and the uniform that they have to wear.  The children had a chance to use bandages, put plasters on, take temperatures and use a stethoscope!

I hope you all have a lovely half term and we look forward to seeing you all after the holidays! 

Summer 1 week 5

Pre-school have continued to develop their learning this week of ‘People who help us’.  We focused on the role of a dentist and discussed the importance of oral hygiene and healthy foods.  We read the story ‘Visiting the Dentist’ and talked about what happens when you visit the dentist and what you might see.  The children shared their experiences of visiting a dentist and we discussed the importance of brushing your teeth twice a day.  We looked at healthy and unhealthy foods putting them into correct categories and drinks that are good for your teeth such as water and milk. 

In the maths area the children counted the correct amount of teeth and matched them to the numeral.  In the creative area the children used toothbrushes to paint teeth with white paint and used playdoh in the malleable area to creative own toothbrushes and different healthy foods for their plates.  The children continued to role play in the ‘doctor’s surgery’ and develop their communication and language skills and apply the key vocabulary for the term. 

During the week the children received a letter from the tooth fairy asking the children to collect the missing teeth that were hiding in the outdoor area.  The children enjoyed searching the outdoors and collecting and counting the missing teeth.  The children then wrote letters and pictures to send back to the tooth fairy, developing their fine motor skills and pencil control.

On Wednesday we had a special visitor from a Pharmacist who shared information about how they help people to get better by prescribing the correct medicine after they have visited the doctors.  They discussed different types of medicines, liquid, tablets and cream and how an adult should only give you medicine if you are poorly or have seen a doctor.    

On Thursday morning the children joined in with their weekly gymnastics lesson, practicing balancing, rolling and stretching for their performance in a few weeks.  In the afternoon the children joined in with their Sports Day activities, running races, egg and spoon, javelin, obstacle course and sack racing.  They did a fantastic job and all the children received a certificate for their amazing achievements!     

On Friday the children continued with their French lesson with Madame Wardle, practicing the names of different parts of the body for head (la tete), nose (le nez), knees (les genoux) and feet (les pieds) and introducing the new learning of the French word for arms (les bras) and hands (les mains). 

Next week is the last week of term and will continue with our theme of ‘People who help us’. 

Summer 1 week 4

Pre-school have had another busy week.  This week we have continued to focus on the termly topic ‘People who help us’ and looked at the role and responsibilities of Doctors/Nurses and Paramedics.  We read the story ‘Nessa Nurse’ and discussed own experiences of visiting a doctor and how they help us feel better.  The children counted the correct number of plasters to each character in the story from 1 to 10.  The children then continued their learning in the provision as the role play area has been enhanced into a doctor’s surgery, allowing the children to develop their language skills, key vocabulary and imagination. Writing opportunities for the children in the role play as they made doctor’s notes on their clipboards.

In the construction and small world area the children used the resources to build hospitals, police stations, fire stations to enhance their play.  In the creative area the children used different shapes of pasta to represent skeleton collages and the children named different parts of their bodies.  The children continued to use the playdoh to develop their fine motor skills. 

During phonics the children practiced initial sounds in words and voice sounds alongside listening and attention games.

In the outdoor area the children used the bikes and scooters as emergency vehicles to enhance their role play and the large bricks, wooden crates and tyres to re-create their own vehicles.  The children also practiced for their Sports Day next week, balancing bean bags, egg and spoon race, obstacle races and running. 

On Thursday the children continued practicing their routine in the gymnastics lesson, remembering different movements in sequence and using their listening and attention skills.  On Friday the children joined in with Madame Wardle for their French lesson focusing on the names of different body parts such as ‘head’, ‘nose’, ‘knees’ and ‘feet’ and played a listening game.

Next week we will continue to focus our learning on ‘People who help us’ and look at the role of a dentist. 

Summer 1 week 3

This week the children have been very busy learning all about the Coronation of King Charles III.  They listened to the story ‘King Charles III Colourful Coronation’ and we talked about his important role and the events on the day of his Coronation.  We noticed police officers, doctors, nurses, postal workers appear in the story and linked this to our prior learning of ‘People who help us’.  We also focused on famous landmarks in London and the children shared their experiences of visiting the capital city.  During the provision the children in the creative area used finger painting to re-create their own Union Jack flags and in the malleable area they used playdoh to design their own crowns.  The children in the construction area used bricks to build castles and in the role play they continued to role play postal workers and post letters to the King and deliver invitations for a Coronation garden party.  In the maths area the children matched different patterned crowns to the corresponding pattern and used key vocabulary to describe them.  During phonics this week, the children focused on voice sounds and identifying initial sounds in words.  Throughout the week the children baked their own Coronation cupcake, measuring and pouring ingredients and decorating them with blue icing and red, white and blue sprinkles. 

As part of the Coronation week, each class chose a Commonwealth country to focus on and an artist that inspires the children to paint a portrait of King Charles III.  The country that Pre-School focused on was India.  They looked at the different clothing, food, culture of India and they listened to the story of ‘Chapatti Moon’ and had the chance to make their very own chapatti.  The children enjoyed dressing up in the different clothing and looking at photographs of Indian culture.   

During the outdoor provision the children explored making their own flags, finding sticks and using the red, white and blue pipe cleaners to wrap around them to represent the colours of the Union Jack flag.  The children also created portraits of King Charles III using paintbrushes to splat paint and create their collages influenced by the artist Jackson Pollock. 

On Friday morning the children joined in with their French lesson focusing on learning the names of body parts and singing songs in French, then children had a special Coronation lunch and parents/carers were invited to join in the celebrations.  During the afternoon Pre-School had their Stay and Play session were parents/carers explored the provision and joined in the Coronation themed activities and shared experiences with others in the classroom.

Next week we are continuing to focus our learning on 'People who help us' and looking at the important role of doctors/nurses and paramedics.

Summer 1 week 2 

This week in Pre-School the children have continued their learning about the people who help us and their important role in society.  The children looked at stories involving police officers and we discussed their job role and how they keep us safe.  We also talked about the uniform they wear and the special equipment they use and carry with them. 

In the fine motor area, the children used playdoh to create their own police cars.  In the creative area, the children used their imagination and creative minds to build their own emergency vehicles with a variety of tools, resources and materials.  They counted how many wheels they needed and thought about the detailing on each vehicle and the colours they needed to paint with.  In the construction area the children built a police station to enhance their small world play.  The role play continued to be enhanced as a post office including language development and writing opportunities.  During maths the children focused on recognising patterns and making marks on the interactive whiteboard and continuing this skill in the writing area using pencils to create patterns and mark make. 

In the outdoor learning, the children joined in a detective hunt through the role play of police officers to find ten missing police cars.  They searched high and low and worked as a team to find them all.  The children developed their gross motor skills on the bikes and scooters and imaginative play pretending to drive fast police cars around the track.  

On Wednesday we had our wonderful Outdoor Adventure Learning with Mrs Louise our Forest school teacher. They used their imaginations to become detectives and look for clues to find the missing ‘Highway Rat’. They climbed steep hills and paddled through the stream and roasted marshmallows on a roaring fire! Very exciting! 

The children continued with their Gymnastics lesson on Thursday, practicing skills such as rolling, jumping, balancing, stretching and using their listening skills to follow directional instructions.  The children also took part in World Daily Mile Day and walked/ran as fast as they could around the large playground.  On Friday morning the children had their French lesson with Madame Wardle, learning the names of body parts and joining in with numbers from 1-10 and French songs! Fantastic! 

Next week we have a special week, focusing our activities on the celebration of King Charles III Coronation!   

Summer 1 week 1

A huge welcome back to all the children after the Easter holidays.  They have loved sharing all the exciting and wonderful adventures they have been on and came back to Pre-school with huge smiles on their faces!  This week we have introduced the new focused topic of ‘Local Heroes’, identifying all the key people in the local area who help us and their roles in society.

Our focused text this week was ‘Busy Post Van’, we looked at key vocabulary and described the role and responsibilities of a postal worker.  The role play area has been enhanced into a post office, with opportunities for children to express their imagination and develop key language skills alongside opportunities to mark make through writing letters.  The children enjoyed exploring in the maths area, sorting the correct shaped letters to the corresponding post box.  We also focused on patterns using describing words such as ‘stripey’, ‘spotty’, ‘wavy’. 

The children enjoyed using their fine motor skills in the playdoh area using a variety of tools and enhancements.  In the creative area the children painted pictures of their own houses, describing what they look like and who they live with.  Children also explored building houses in the construction area using a variety of construction materials and tools.

In the outdoor area we practiced skills such as hopping, skipping and jumping in preparation for a charity event that children took part in on Friday.  We also completed the trim trail on the large playground, developing our gross motor skills through climbing, crawling and balancing.  The children were so excited to set our butterflies free after they hatched from their cocoons.  We looked at the patterns and colours on their wings and watched them fly away! 

This week we also talked about the celebration of Eid.  We had a taste of some dates that are traditionally eaten during the holy month of Ramadan and joined in with making different Eid decorations.  On Thursday the children joined in with their gymnastics lesson.  The children are learning a routine in preparation for a small performance.  On Friday morning they practiced naming parts of the body and songs in French with Madame Wardle. The children then completed their charity event, hopping, skipping and jumping to raise money for the East Lancashire Hospice. Well done Pre-School!  

Next week we will continue with the topic of ‘Local heroes’ and focus on the role of police officers. 

Spring 2 week 6 

It’s the last week of term and the pre-school children have been very busy! We have focused on ‘Spring’ and ‘Easter’ this week, reading stories about the changes in the environment during spring and the religious meaning of Easter.  We have noticed our caterpillars are growing bigger they must be ready to build their cocoon around themselves soon.  The children have sent photographs of their sunflowers growing at home, they must be doing a great job at watering and looking after them. 

During provision this week the children enjoyed observing daffodils and painting their own wonderful Spring pictures.  In the fine motor area the children used tweezers to match the correct coloured pom poms to each flower.  They also explored making Easter cakes in the playdoh and counting them individually.  The children continued to role-play in the enhanced Florist area, developing their imagination and language skills.  In the writing area the children made patterns on their paper with different colours to decorate their own Easter eggs.  The maths focus this week involved the children counting the correct number of eggs into the numbered baskets.  In phonics this week the children focused on the initial sounds in words using objects starting with the same sound.  They played the game ‘I went to the shop and I bought…’ remembering all the objects beginning with a ‘p’ sound.  We also looked at instrumental sounds, taking turns to use and name the instruments correctly. 

This week the children enjoyed making their own hot cross buns, spreading the butter with a knife and tasting them.  We talked about the cross on top of the bun and how it relates to Jesus and the special time of Easter for Christians.  The children thought they were delicious! 

In the outdoor area the children joined in with an exciting Easter egg hunt!  We had a competition to see if the boys or girls could collect the most eggs, we counted them all at the end and then the children each took one egg home as a treat. 

The children continued to join in with the gymnastics lesson on Thursday and they joined in games involving turn taking and the skills they have learnt over the term. 

What a wonderful Spring term it has been! I hope you all enjoy the Easter holidays and we look forward to hearing all about your adventures.  Next term we will be focusing on our new topic of ‘Local Heroes’, looking at the different people who help us.  

Spring 2 week 5 

Pre-school have had another busy week.  This week we have read the story ‘Superworm’ and the children sequenced the events in order using images from the book and discussing what happens next.  The children enjoyed observing our class caterpillars and noticing the changes!  We also had a lovely surprise from the baby chicks that have hatched in the Reception classroom.  Pre-school loved meeting the baby chicks and gently holding them and making sure they were safe. We also talked about the changes in the environment as the season of Spring begins.

In provision this week the children explored using tweezers in spaghetti to find the hidden mini beasts and making ‘long’ and ‘short’ worms with the playdoh.  In the mark making area the children enjoyed drawing bugs, looking at the features and counting how many legs/wings they had.  In the creative area the children made string patterned paintings, making worm trails and collages.  The role-play area continued to be a ‘Florist’, being imaginative and enhancing their communication and language skills.  The small world/construction had open ended resources for children to build their own habitats for bugs.

During maths this week, the children counted single amounts of cheerios onto pipe cleaners to create their own ‘Superworm’ and practice their numbers.  The focus for phonics this week was identifying initial sounds for animals and matching the ones beginning with that same sound.  We also looked at nursery rhymes and copying actions in the correct order, children took turns to create their own patterns using body percussion and listening skills.  This week the children enjoyed a baking activity, mixing and weighing ingredients to make their own ‘muddy crispy cake’ with a chocolate worm on top.  Very exciting and yummy! 

In the outdoor provision, the children used chalks on the floor to draw their own ‘Superworms’ making them ‘long’ and ‘short’.  They then measured the worms using natural resources such as leaves, sticks and counted how many they needed and used language such as ‘more than’ and ‘less than’ to make comparisons.  The weekly gymnastics lesson on Thursday the children continued to balance, roll and stretch and they had a chance to climb up the ropes, developing those gross motor skills.  In French with Madame Wardle this week the children learnt the names of different colours and matched objects around the room to each colour. 

Next week is the last week of term, we will be focusing on ‘Spring’ and ‘Easter’ theme activities.  

Spring 2 week 4 

Pre-school have had another busy week.  This week the children enjoyed listening to the story ‘Supertato’ and recognising the vegetables and comparing them to the ones that appeared in our story last week ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’.  We looked at key vocabulary and the events in order they appear in the story.  The children had a close look at the cress seeds they planted last week and noticed them growing.  As part of our core text ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, Pre-school had an exciting delivery of five real caterpillars!  The children can’t wait to watch a real-life cycle of a butterfly, they are carefully looking after them. 

The role-play area has been enhanced as a ‘Florist’, talking about the signs of spring and the different types of flowers and plants and their colours.  During maths the children explored counting flowers and matching them to the correct numeral.  In the fine motor area the children used pegs to add to stems to represent petals.  Petals were used as enhancements in the playdoh and other loose parts.  In the mark making area, children enjoyed drawing flowers noticing shapes and colours.  The creative area was busy with children painting their own flower collages using toilet roll tubes to print petals and paintbrushes for their stems and leaves. 

During phonics this week the children focused on farm animal sounds and matching them to the correct picture.  The children created sequences of sounds using the farm animal images.  Children also explored the initial sounds in words of the different farm animals and correctly matching the animals that have the same initial sound.  The children applied their knowledge during provision and practiced forming the letters they could hear. 

In the outdoor provision the children explored planting their own sunflower seeds, talking through the step-by-step process and using the different gardening tools correctly.  The children also enjoyed creating their own transient art collages using natural objects such as leaves, petals, sticks etc.  On Wednesday afternoon we went on an exciting welly walk with the Reception children.  We walked past the woods and onto a big field, it was muddy and we had to be careful on the stepping stones! We listened to the environmental sounds and spotted some chickens!  

On Thursday the children joined in with their weekly gymnastics lesson, using different types of equipment to complete a circuit.  All the children were so confident and brave!  On Friday in French with Madame Wardle they explored the colours of the French flag and played a listening game.  The children came to Pre-School dressed in something red, raising money for Comic Relief.  In the afternoon the children designed a habitat for bugs for Science week, they enjoyed talking about the different bugs we find outside and what their habitat might look like.

Next week we are continuing with our ‘Growing and changing’ and ‘Spring’ theme, observing the progression of the caterpillars and cress and focusing on the text ‘Superworm’. 

Spring 2 week 3

Pre-school have had another busy week!  This week we have read the story ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’ and discussed all the vegetables that appear in the book and if they grow under or over the ground.  We had a look at some real vegetables and used our senses to feel and smell them.  We talked about our favourite vegetables and other healthy foods that we could eat.

Following from this term’s topic of ‘growing and changing’ the children have enjoyed planting their own cress seeds and are excited to watch them grow over the next couple of weeks!

On Monday the whole school celebrated a ‘Spirituality Day’ and in Pre-School we talked briefly about Easter and its meaning within Christianity.  The children also joined in with a mindfulness moment, practicing breathing techniques and calmness. 

During indoor provision this week in the mark making area the children have been following caterpillar trails using mark making tools to practice pencil control.  In the fine motor area, the children have used hammers and pegs to hammer them into different vegetables using lots of concentration skills.  The children have continued to role play in the green grocers, counting the fruit and vegetables and using the till to recognise numbers.  The creative area has been busy with children printing patterns using vegetables, looking at the different shapes and patterns that they create!

This week during the maths input the focus was to recognise 2D shapes and sorting and counting different fruits and vegetables.  During phonics, the children had to recognise different environmental sounds and match them to the correct picture.  We also focused on initial sounds in words and played ‘What’s in the box’ to discover objects beginning with the same sound.

During the outdoor provision the children enjoyed planting their own cress seeds and beginning to notice seasonal changes with a few flowers appearing.  The children enjoyed riding on the bikes building their gross motor skills and digging in the soil and sand.

On Friday the school was closed due to bad snow.  The children enjoyed exploring in the snow and sending photographs to share with the rest of the class next week.  Lots of lovely outdoor learning had taken place, building snowmen, counting stones and finding footprints. 

What a fantastic week the children have had.  Next week we will be focusing on the story ‘Supertato’ and begin to look at the different signs of Spring.

Spring 2 week 2

What another busy week in Pre-school!  On Monday we had our Outdoor Adventure Learning and focused on our story ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.  We listened and re-called parts of the story and went on a butterfly hunt in the woods. We found 10 hidden butterflies and counted them all!  We sang our ‘Days of the week’ song and listened carefully to the environmental sounds.  At the end of our adventure we talked about the fruits that appear in the story and had our own fruit tasting session.  We tried some fruits that we have never had before in Pre-school such as plums, strawberries, pineapple and mango! They were delicious and very juicy.

Throughout provision this week the children enjoyed making caterpillar hats in the creative area and threading pipe cleaners through different fruits to improve their fine motor skills.  During maths we focused on 2D shapes and their properties.  The children continued to role-play in the greengrocers and sorted the vegetables and fruits into two groups! During phonics we focused on instrumental sounds and body percussion, creating our own rhythms and noticing patterns.  We also looked at initial sounds in words with the same grapheme and grouped them accordingly.

During outdoor provision the children enjoyed completing a mini beast hunt, using binoculars and a tick list to find all the hidden bugs!  We talked about the features of each bug that we found!  The children also explored their senses in texture kitchen, using lemons, limes and herbs to smell, touch and feel the different ingredients.

On Thursday, the children continued to join in with their weekly gymnastics lesson and Friday morning French lesson with Madame Wardle learning the colours of the French Flag!  On Friday it was our World Book Day celebration and we came to Pre-School dressed as our favourite book character.  We enjoyed listening to some of our favourite stories and joined in with activities.  We also had our Stay and Play session for parents/carers during the afternoon.

Next week we are looking at ‘growing and changing’ and the story ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’.  Looking forward to another exciting week in Pre-School!

Spring 2 week 1 

A huge welcome back to all the children after the half term holidays!  The children have loved telling us all about their exciting adventures.  They have settled back into the Pre-school routine fantastically and have enjoyed a busy week.  This week we have introduced our new focus story of, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.  The children listened and joined in with re-telling parts of the story. 

The role-play area has been transformed into a ‘Greengrocers’ and the children have enjoyed role-playing shop keepers and customers, buying and selling fruit and vegetables with real money! 

In maths we counted the correct amount of fruit for each day of the week that featured in our focused story and matched them to the correct numeral.  During phonics the children have played listening games using the instruments and making patterns with body actions, we also looked at rhyming words, matching sounds and singing nursery rhymes. 

In the fine motor area, the children created simple ABAB patterns, using red and green pasta to thread onto pipe cleaners.  The creative area was busy with children using tubes to print circle shapes with paint to create their own caterpillars.  They looked amazing!  At the mark making table the children used pencils to follow the trails of a caterpillar.  The children in the construction area made ABAB patterns with lego. 

In the outdoor provision the children collected different sized leaves and compared the sizes.  They used language such as ‘smallest’ and ‘biggest’.  The children have also enjoyed building their own obstacle course using planks of wood and tyres and working together as a team. 

On Tuesday it was pancake day and the children explored mixing the ingredients, looking at measuring and weighing and the step-by-step process of how to make a pancake. This week the children continued with their weekly gymnastics lesson on Thursday and Friday morning French with Madame Wardle. 

Next week we will continue to focus on the story, ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’.  Have a lovely week!  

Spring 2 week 1

Spring 1 week 6

It’s the last week before half term and the children have been very busy!  We have explored all the signs of winter this week and looked at books with animals that live in the Arctic.  In the maths area the children sorted the correct amount of buttons for the snowmen and completed winter jigsaws.  In the fine motor area, children experimented with blocks of ice, seeing how the ice began to melt as it became warmer and they used hammers and sticks to chip the ice and discover what was trapped inside!  In phonics this week we focused on different ways to use our voice to make sounds focusing on our different mouth movements for a range of voice sounds.

We have also enjoyed creating our own Valentine’s Day Cards.  We talked about the people in our family that we love and our friends.  In the writing area, we have been drawing pictures of our family and friends and the things we love about them.  The children also enjoyed exploring with the red playdoh, making hearts, flowers and chocolates!  In the outdoor provision, the children joined in with a ‘Winter detective hunt’, finding the signs of winter in the environment and using a tick list to tally their results.

For Children’s Mental Health Week, we discussed how we are similar and different to our friends in Pre-School but we are all connected as a class.  The children placed their handprint onto the Pre-school kindness tree to show how we are all connected to each other no matter our differences.

On Thursday, the children joined in with their weekly gymnastics, building their listening skills, confidence and balancing ability.  On Friday morning with Madame Wardle, the children joined in with their weekly French lesson, learning numbers and counting boys and girls 'fille or a garcon'.

I hope you all have a fantastic half term break and I will look forward to hearing all about your adventures.  Next term we will be exploring ‘Spring’, ‘New life’, ‘Life cycles’ and our literacy focus for the first week back will be ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’.

Spring 1 week 5

Pre-school have enjoyed another busy week! We have continued with the topic of ‘Pets’ and read our focus book this week, ‘The Big Book of Kids Pets’.  During the week the children explored in the maths area using tweezers and pom poms to match them with the correct coloured pet bowls, which encouraged counting and fine motor skills.  The playdoh was enhanced with pet themed mats, the children used their imagination to add whiskers, tails etc to the pets.  The construction area was very busy with children building homes for their pets, thinking about the resources they needed and sharing ideas before they began. The home corner continued as a ‘Vets surgery’, lots of vocabulary and imaginative play was used during role play.  The children practiced their cutting skills, following the straight and wavy dotted lines leading to an image of a pet.  

During phonics this week we used our listening skills to repeat patterns made with our bodies and listened to music to follow actions in time with the beat. 

In the outdoor provision, the children had to find numbered bottles and collect the equivalent number of natural objects in the environment.  They did a fantastic job!  The children also had an interest in making ‘big’ and ‘small’ bubbles with the wands and mixture outdoors, experimenting independently and having fun! 

Thursday afternoon the children joined in with their gymnastics lesson, exploring balancing and roly poly’s and showing amazing listening skills.  On Friday we had a special ‘Number Day’ to raise money for the charity NSPCC.  In the morning we joined in with Madame Wardle to sing number songs in French and throughout the day the children enjoyed lots of different and exciting number games, such as snakes and ladders, number hunts and number songs. 

Fantastic work Pre-school, see you all next week for the last week before the half term holidays. 

Spring 1 week 4 

What another busy week in Pre-school!  This week we have been focusing our learning on the topic of ‘Pets’.  The children loved sharing their photographs of their pets.  We talked about our pets names, how we look after our pets and what they like doing with them.  The focus story this week was ‘I’m Thinking of A Pet’.  We talked about each pet in the story and which animal the children would like to look after and the different ways to care for a pet. 

The role play area has been changed to a ‘Vets Surgery’ and the children have loved playing doctors and nurses and looking after all the poorly animals.  In the fine motor area, the children have practiced threading using pipe cleaners on different animal masks to create whiskers, feathers etc.  The creative area has been busy with the children painting with feathers.  In the maths area the children explored counting the correct number of bones for each dog and enjoyed ‘feeding’ them the correct amount!  During phonics this week we have been exploring the different sounds of instruments and recognising ‘quiet’ and ‘loud’ noises. 

In our outdoor provision this week, the children found bones hiding around the area and we used positional language such as ‘behind’, ‘in front of’, ‘under’ to describe their location. 

On Wednesday we had a special visit from Ivy and Coco the rabbits! This enabled us to enhance our learning about pets and continue to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit!  The children helped to feed them apples and carrots and gently stroked them with caring hands. 

During gymnastics this week the children explored balancing and travelling across the mats in different ways and climbing up ropes.  During French lesson this week the children focused on numbers and counting how many boys and girls we had in Pre-School.

Next week we are continuing with our theme of ‘Pets’ and next Friday we are having a special ‘Number Day’ to raise money for NSPCC.  

Spring 1 week 3 

This week in Pre-School the children continued to enjoy ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’ story and ‘Dear Zoo’ to see if we could recognise other jungle animals and be able to describe what they look like.  This week we also looked at the celebration of Chinese New Year.  We read a story relating to all the animals that appear in the Chinese zodiac.  We also talked about the Chinese culture and how they celebrate the New Year with their family and friends.  The children loved joining in with a music and movement session, copying actions to create a ‘Dragon dance’. 

The children used chopsticks to form numbers in the rice and tweezers in noodles to develop their fine motor skills.  The creative area was very busy this week with children making Chinese lanterns!  Lots of practicing cutting with scissors and managing tools correctly. 

During phonics this week the children joined in with listening games exploring indoor and outdoor environmental sounds.  Our focus in Maths was counting quantity from 1-5 and matching to the correct numeral.  This was explored using gold coins and red number bags representing Chinese good luck bags. 

This week we had a wonderful snowy surprise!  The children loved wrapping up warm and having fun in the snow.  They built snowmen, made snowballs and snow angels and made marks in the snow with their fingers.  The children created an obstacle course moving planks of wood onto tyres and carefully balancing from one side to the other. 

On Thursday the children joined in with their weekly gymnastics lesson and Friday morning explored numbers and enjoyed singing number songs during their French lesson. 

Next week Pre-School will be focusing on a new topic of ‘Pets’ and the literacy focus book is ‘I’m Thinking Of A Pet’. 

Spring 1 Week 2

What a fantastic week in Pre-School! The children have loved listening to the story ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’.  We talked about the characters in the story and used story puppets to re-call the events and thought about ‘What happens next?’ in the story.  The children loved role-playing in the home corner, hosting an afternoon tea party for the Tiger! In the writing area the children enjoyed making ‘shopping lists’ for the afternoon tea and writing invitations.

In the fine motor area, the children explored making Tigers using orange and black playdoh and lollypop sticks to create the stripes!  The children have been very busy in the creative area, making Tiger masks, using the resources and tools such as scissors and paintbrushes.  In the small world area, the children enjoyed matching the jungle animals to the correct patterns.  We also explored counting animals and matching the correct numerals 1-5.  During phonics we focused on the initial sounds we can hear in the names of the jungle animals.  The children also practiced clapping the sounds they can hear in their names, they did a brilliant job taking turns to listen to each other.

In the outdoor provision the children explored their fine motor skills, pouring and filling containers with the orange and black rice.  They used their gross motor skills to build a marble run and they compared which marble went the furthest or shortest distance.

On Thursday the children joined in with the weekly gymnastics lesson.  They practiced climbing a rope and using their upper body strength to hold on tight!  They also practiced balancing, jumping and using their listening skills to follow instructions.  Fantastic learning!

On Friday morning the children had their French lesson, learning how to count from 1 to 5 in French with actions.  Then the children got ready to go outside for their Outdoor Adventure Learning!  We went on a Tiger hunt in the woods and counted how many Tigers we could spot hiding!  We then listened to our focused story this week ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’ and enjoyed our own outdoor afternoon tea.  We had yummy hot chocolate and marshmallows.  It was so exciting! 

Next week we will continue with ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea’ story and we will also be learning all about Chinese New Year!   

Spring 1 Week 1

A huge welcome back to the Pre-School children after the Christmas holidays and a warm welcome to the new starters this week.  You have settled in amazingly to the Pre-School routine and myself and Miss McDermott are so proud of you all!

This week the children enjoyed sharing their news to their friends about all the exciting things that happened over the Christmas holidays.  We enjoyed looking at the photographs and videos and in the writing area the children enjoyed drawing and talking about their experiences.

In literacy we looked at stories based around making new friendships and enjoyed painting pictures of our friends in Pre-School.  In Maths we focused on the language of 'biggest' and 'smallest' and used Christmas presents to order them correctly by size!

In the outdoor provision the children have enjoyed searching for worms, counting conkers and making splashes in the puddles!  The children also enjoyed mixing the rain water with paints to make marks on the outdoor easels.

On Thursday afternoon the children joined in with the weekly gymnastics session with Mrs Winward.  The children followed instructions and took turns to jump, run, hop and crawl across the mats.  The children also explored balancing with bean bags and they all did an excellent job!

On Friday morning we had our French lesson with Madame Wardle.  We practiced how to say 'My name is.....' in French and sang lots of songs with actions.

What a fantastic start to the New Year!  We will be focusing on the story, 'The Tiger who came to tea' next week.  Well done again to all the children settling back into Pre-School.  I'm very proud of you!

Autumn 2 - Week 7 

What an exciting and fun filled week we have had to finish this half term. This week we have been looking at everything Christmas, in the mark making area the children have been busy writing letters and making Christmas lists to father Christmas by independently cutting out pictures of toys they like and then sticking them onto their list or letter with glue. The children have enjoyed decorating Christmas trees in the fine motor area by using their pincher grip and tweezers to pick different items up independently and sticking them onto their Christmas tree. The children have loved using their creative skills to paint what they would like to do over Christmas or paint what they did at the weekend. In maths this week the children have been looking at numbers to 5 and the children have enjoyed recognising the number and adding that many snowballs to the pots and pans. The children have enjoyed making a chimney for father Christmas both out of cardboard and blocks and used language such as “tall” and “short” or “big” and “small”. In the outdoor area the children have enjoyed exploring the snow, talking about the weather and making snow angels.

On Tuesday the children had a wonder surprise, Father Christmas came to visit Pre-School and the children were absolutely amazed and super excited. Father Christmas gave them all a present and the children were so excited to find out about Father Christmas and how he got here. The children asked lots of questions and Father Christmas was very impressed with the questions asked and told Pre-School to carry on being good as they are all on the nice list.

Pre-School what an amazing half term you have had; it has been amazing to watch your personalities grow and to see you develop. The staff in Pre-School are looking forward to seeing you all again in January and to welcome all our new friends who will be joining us in our journey. I hope you all have an amazing and magical Christmas.

Autumn 2 - Week 6

What a lovely week we have had in Pre-School, this week in Literacy we have been looking at the story ‘Stickman’ from this the children have looked at the stickman’s family and drew their own family and spoke about who they live with. The children have made stickmen out of different sized sticks and during this activity the children used different tools to stick their sticks together and some fantastic mathematical language was used such as ‘short’ and ‘long’ when the children were making their creations. The children have loved revisiting the story ‘Stickman’ in provision and talking about what happens to the stickman and were he goes on his adventure. In the indoor provision the children have also enjoyed making Christmas crafts, making a Santa’s grotto, looking at different patterns on animals and in the environment and the children have also been interested in finding out about the Christmas Story and using props to act the story out.

In the outdoor provision the children have been using wooden hammers and long golf tees to break open the stick man that was frozen by Buddy the Elf. The children have enjoyed exploring the ice and frost and asking questions all about the weather and how ice is made. 

This week has also been exciting as some of our new friends that are starting in January have come in for a visit and all the Pre-School children were fantastic with them and made sure they felt welcomed. Miss Easton, Miss McDermott and the Pre-School children are so excited for the new children to start and join our Pre-School classroom in January.

Autumn 2 - Week 5

What a brilliant and busy week we have had in Pre-School, this week in Literacy we have continued to look at the story ‘Were Going on a Bear Hunt’. From this the children have looked at different books, fact sheets and pictures of bears and have learnt different bear names and their habitats. The children have loved making bears independently in the creative area with different materials and tools. The children have done fantastic at retelling the story ‘Were Going on a Bear Hunt’ and have looked at what happens first, next and at the end of the story. Christmas has also arrived in Pre-School this week, Buddy the Elf came and has decorated our classroom and it looks fantastic! In the indoor environment the children have enjoyed making Christmas cards and crafts, writing letters to Father Christmas, dressing up as Elf’s from Santa’s workshop, decorating the Christmas tree and counting how many baubles we have and practicing the songs for our EYFS Christmas production. In the outdoor provision the children have enjoyed pretending to be a bear, some children have made caves for the bear and some children have been interested in acting the story out with their friends and discussing which part comes next and used lots of language from the story.

On Friday we got to continue our Christmas celebrations by performing to our families are Christmas production ‘Born in a Barn’. The EYFS children have been trying so hard to practice their lines and songs and they all did an amazing job. We are all so proud of you! Thank you to all the families who came and who have been practising the songs with their children.

I am so excited to see what Christmas fun we get up to next week and introduce our new book of the week ‘Stickman’.

Autumn 2 – Week 4

What another fantastic week we have had in Pre-School, this week in Literacy we have focused on the book ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’. From this we built a house/cave for the bear to live in. We practised our scissor skills in the fine motor area by cutting the long wavy grass, we then used the tweezers to add snow balls to the snow storm. The children used fantastic language from the book. In the home corner the children dressed up as a bear and discussed how the bear might feel when the children ran away from him. In the mark making area a lot of the children enjoyed drawing their favourite part from the book or looking at different bears and colouring them in. In literacy we also looked at different parts of the story and we spoke about what happened first, next and at the end of the story and we used stick characters from the story to act it out.  The children did a fantastic job at retelling the story. As well as this, in the indoor area the children have enjoyed playing with the 2D shapes and matching them to shapes in the environment, drawing and writing letters to Father Christmas and the children have enjoyed making Christmas crafts and practising our Christmas songs for our Christmas production.

In the outdoor area the children have been on a bear hunt, they have enjoyed playing hide and seek and using their voices to help find their friends and the children have looked at different sized footprints and measured them to objects in the outdoor area and discussed the size and which object is the longest and shortest.

Autumn 2 - Week 3

What a fun filled and exciting week we have had in Pre-School, this week we have been learning all about birds. After looking at ‘Owl Babies’ in Literacy the children developed an interest in owls and what type of animal they are. On Monday Pre-School went on a bird outdoor adventure, we began first by speaking about the different birds we knew and what they looked like. We then went on a bird hunt, during our walk we used our hands as binoculars to see if we could see any birds, we tried to find nests and we looked up high. The children also used their fantastic listening ears to see if they could hear any birds. On our walk we seen a Blackbird, a Crow, a Robin, a Magpie, a Duck and a Seagull. Each time we seen a different bird we spoke about what it looked like and the colours of the bird. In the indoor provision the children have been very creative this week the children have made binoculars out of cardboard tubes, tape, glue, string and glitter, the children have made birds out of playdough using feathers and twigs. The children have drawn their favourite bird or drew a bird they have seen on our bird outdoor adventure and focused on what colour/colours the bird was. The children have made nests and have enjoyed reading the book ‘My First Book of Birds‘ and finding out about different birds.  In the indoor provision the children have also enjoyed reading in the den with their torches and looking at the different resources we found on our nature walk and discussing in Maths which resource is the longest and shortest.  In the outdoor provision this week Pre-School have enjoyed looking for different birds by using their binoculars and making a bird watching station, the children have been moving like a bird and making noises like a bird and have loved going on a nature hunt to find different resources to use in the classroom to make comparisons with them to see which resource is the longest and which is the shortest.

Autumn 2 - Week 2

What another fantastic week we have had in Pre-School, this week in Literacy we continued to look at the story ‘Owl Babies’ from this the children have drawn their favourite part of the story, acted the story out, spoke about their families and who they live with and have made owl babies in the fine motor area out of clay and feathers. As well as looking at the story ‘Owl Babies’ the children have been exploring the difference between light and dark and have been looking at different nocturnal animals. This week the children have learnt about foxes, bats and their habitats and the children have learnt new vocabulary such as ‘pup’ which is the name of a baby bat. In the indoor area the children have enjoyed creating different paper models in the mark making area with paper and sellotape, the children have loved drawing features on the different nocturnal animals and colouring them in and the children have made rockets and fireworks from 2D shapes which is what we have been focusing on in Maths. As well as this the children have painted poppies, made fireworks, wrote letters to Father Christmas and have enjoyed going in the dark den in the reading area and have been using torches to read books and to make different shadows with the different nocturnal animal puppets. In the outdoor area the children have loved exploring the new music wall and making loud and quiet sounds with the instruments and household objects, the children have played in the mark making area, the water and the pumpkin cafe were the children have used pegs and wooden hammers to hammer the pegs into the pumpkin.

Autumn 2 - Week 1

What a fantastic first week back we have had in Pre-School, the children have settled back in beautifully. This half term we are focusing on the theme Light and Dark and linking this to nocturnal animals. This week in Literacy we have been looking at the story ‘Owl Babies’ from this the children have drawn owl babies, built a nest for the owl babies, acted the story out and made owl babies out of pinecones and cotton wool. From the story Owl Babies, the children have started looking at nocturnal animals and their habitats. This week the children have learnt about owls and hedgehogs and have been using language such as ‘nocturnal’, ‘habitat’, ‘owls’, ‘hedgehog’ and ‘hoglet’ in their play. In the indoor area the children have also enjoyed playing mums and dads, reading with the torches, looking at 2D shapes in Maths and making Diva lamps for Diwali. In the outdoor area the children have loved exploring the mark making area, the pumpkin café in the mud kitchen and exploring the paddock and making hedgehogs with clay and using sticks as the hedgehog's spikes.

Fantastic work Pre-School!

Autumn 2

Autumn 1 – Week 7
 

This week in Pre-School we have focused on the book “Everybody feels Happy’ in Literacy. From this we discussed what makes us happy, we drew what makes us happy and we also had different photographs which showed different emotions and the children had to distinguish whether the emotion was sad or happy and discuss why they thought the person might be feeling this way. In the indoor environment this week the children have looked at Diwali, Diwali is the festival of light and is one of most popular festivals of Hinduism. After looking at Diwali and how it is celebrated the children practised drawing fireworks with different coloured chalk. The children made diva lamps out of playdough and clay and the children made Rangoli patterns out of different 2d shapes. Outdoors in the EYFS area the children have enjoyed making soup in the mud kitchen, playing in the new mark making area where the children have enjoyed choosing a range of different mark marking materials to make marks with, the children loved the fine motor activity where they had to use their fine motor skills to pick numbers 1 to 5 out of the box with tweezers and the children enjoyed going on a shape hunt after looking at 2D shapes in Maths linking it to the nursery rhyme 'Wheels on the Bus'. 
 

Pre-School what a fantastic first half term you have had, you have all settled in so beautifully and it has been lovely to see how confident and independent you have all become, I am so proud of you all. Have a fantastic half term break!

Autumn 1 - Week 6
 

This month it is Black History Month and in Pre-School we have been learning about all the achievements that Black American people have made and the impact they have had on the lives of millions around the world. Two of the people we have focused on is Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. We learnt who they were, where they lived and what they did to make a name for themselves as well as understand the reasons why they did what they did. To continue our celebration of Black History month we decided to base our learning around a book called Handa’s Surprise. We have looked at where Handa came from, the fruit and vegetables they grow and eat, we have painted different fruits from the story, acted the story out with story puppets, we have pretended to be animals in the story by using our large muscle movements, we made different fruits from playdough and finally we used our senses and spoke about textures and the tastes of the different fruits from the story. In Maths this week the children have enjoyed learning the song 5 currant buns and the children have enjoyed making the currant buns out of playdough, singing the song and playing shop keepers in a baker's shop.

Autumn 1 – Week 5

This week in Pre-School we have continued to focus on the book ‘The Colour Monster’ in Literacy. From this in the indoor environment the children have painted a colour monster based on how they feel. The children have been looking at patterns and arranging the colours into a pattern. As well as this in the indoor environment there have been many child-led activities such as acting out "five little speckle frogs" which we have been looking at in Maths. The children have enjoyed playing shops, hairdressers, building houses, phones and jungles for the dinosaurs. The children have enjoyed playing house, making playdough, taking part in wake and shake and yoga. Outdoors in the EYFS area we have been making soup and milkshake in the mud kitchen, we have loved exploring the nature area where we have been looking for different insects and creatures and exploring our mark making area by practising drawing numbers with mud. This week we have also explored the paddock and went looking for frogs. We have enjoyed singing "five little speckled frogs" in Maths and thought we might be able to find some in the wet grass, we didn't find any however we did find slugs, we saw a car, we found conkers and we had lots of fun in the puddles. 
 

Another fantastic week in Pre-School, next week we are looking at Handa's Suprise.

Autumn 1 - Week 4
 

Our fourth week in Pre-School has been very exciting in Literacy we have been focusing on the book ‘The Colour Monster’ and we have loved exploring and learning about different emotions and the colours linked to the emotions. In the indoor environment the children have enjoyed matching the colour pom pom to the correct colour monster by using their fine motor skills to pick the pom poms up with the tweezers. The children have enjoyed recognising different emotions and matching them to the correct colour monster. The children have also enjoyed making a colour monster based on how they are feel.  As well as this in the indoor environment there have been many child-led activities such as acting out the Three Little Pigs which we have been looking at in Maths. The children have enjoyed playing shops, making patterns with the conkers, building houses for the 3 little pigs, looking at milk and where it comes from, mark making and making cakes with the playdough. Outdoors in the EYFS area we have been making soup in the mud kitchen and cakes, practised pouring water with different sized jugs, we have enjoyed playing in the maths area and practising our gross motor skills by balancing.

In Pre-School our experiences have continued this week on Thursday we had our gymnastics session and what a wonderful session the children had. The skills that the children have developed in 4 weeks is amazing, the children’s understanding, listening and instruction following has come on immensely and the clear development in physical abilities such as landing on their pretend chairs, keeping upright when jumping and balancing beanbags on their heads is fantastic to see. The children are very proud of their accomplishments. On Friday we had a stay and play in Pre-School and the children loved having their parents/grandparents/carers in the environment, the children were so proud and excited to show off their work, their classroom and the new skills they have learnt. On Friday we also had our third French lesson with Madame Wardle were we recalled what we previously learnt and this week we met Marcel and told him our name.

Keep up the amazing work Pre-School.

Autumn 1 - Week 3

This week we are starting to show more confidence in our new environment.  We have continued to explore and play in both our indoor and outdoor environments and we have been developing and forming some special friendships with our friends.
 

This week has been filled with lots of excitement and child initiated play. Last week the children were interested in their homes and who lives in them so this week the children have been busy building their own house out of blocks and talking about what their house looks like, the children have been talking about their family members and who lives at their house and the children have been designing a house by using paint. As well as this in the indoor environment there have been many child-led activities such as role-playing mum and dads, doctors and spider man, building different houses and towers in the construction area and creating cakes and food in the fine motor area.  Outdoors in the EYFS area we have been making soup in the mud kitchen and cakes, practised pouring water with different sized jugs, we have enjoyed our new reading area and listened to the adults read a book we have chosen to us, we have enjoyed exploring our new maths area and spoke about how many conkers etc we can see and finally we have been busy exploring the paddock were we practised our physical skills by jumping, running, walking and rolling. The children have also been on an Autumn hunt were we collected lots of different leaves and conkers and discussed the different textures.
 

In Pre-School our wonderful experiences have continued this week we have had our first outdoor adventurous learning with Louise, were we all listened so wonderfully. On Thursday we had our gymnastics session were we used our physical skills to move in different ways, we jumped, balanced, shuffled and used our muscles and strong arms to pull ourselves across the bench. On Friday we had our second French lesson with Madame Wardle were we recalled the words we learnt last week such as Bonjour, Madame and Au Revoir then we learnt the greeting song with actions and the goodbye song.

What a fantastic week Pre-School, next week we will be exploring the story ‘The Colour Monster’ and looking at our feelings.
 

Autumn 1 - Week 2
 

What another fantastic week we have had in Pre-school. We are settling in well to our new routines and becoming more involved in our classroom.  We have continued to explore our environment both inside and outside and have been enhancing our personal, social and emotional skills by playing with our friends in the different areas of learning. This week we have been interested in making different marks on big rolls of paper, we have enjoyed playing with the nursery rhyme puppets, sharing our weekend news, playing house and talking about our own houses, what colour they are and our families. The children have enjoyed playing in the mud kitchen, making creations using collage materials, playing in the small world area and exploring the interactive whiteboard and playing games such as phonics play. https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/1
On Tuesday Life Education Visit came into our class to help us learn all about 'Taking Care of Myself'.  The children learnt about different parts of the body and what we use them for. The children were very excited to meet Harold the Giraffe, Harold helped the children learn how to get ourselves ready and the children helped Harold get ready for Nursery and they did an amazing job. On Thursday we took part in another exciting gymnastics lesson where we all got involved in moving and stretching in different ways to support the development of our gross motor skills. Pre-School tried really hard and did fantastic listening. Then on Friday we had our first French lesson and we learnt how to say hello and how to introduce ourselves. 

Fantastic week Pre-School, well done!

Autumn 1 - Week 1

Well what an amazing first week we have had in Pre-School. The children have settled in so nicely and have been so happy and excited exploring their new environment both indoors and outdoors. The children have been really busy getting to know each other and their new teachers. This week we have been spending a lot of time getting the children used to their new experiences and routines. The children have spent their first week at Pre-School having tea parties, playing doctors, playing with the dinosaurs, exploring our local woodland collecting conkers and leaves, playing in the rain, riding the bicycles, taking part in gymnastics, getting messy making play dough and taking part in circle times were we have discussed our families, our favourite nursery rhymes and have read our favourite books. 
 

Well done Pre-School, Me and Miss McDermott are so proud of you all and cannot wait to see you all again next week.