The children at preschool have been exploring shapes this term, completing activities that promote shape recognition, building with shapes and going on shape hunts. Lots of the children have enjoyed creating dinosaurs out of different shapes, exploring the qualities of each shape while sticking them down to create a fun outcome!!.
From an early age, children notice different shapes even if they do not yet know that the shapes have names. It takes longer for young children to learn the specific properties of each shape, such as the number of sides it has or what colour it is. Giving children lots of practice with shapes helps them solidify their understanding of the two-dimensional structures. Learning the differences in shapes requires children to focus on the specific characteristics. Children learn to use observational skills to identify the different shapes. They also learn how to compare different shapes and group similar shapes together. Shape activities can also help children develop problem-solving skills. Shape sorting toys are one example. When a child recognizes the characteristics of a square, he can match it with the square hole on the toy. Shape recognition can also help when putting together puzzles. If he pays attention to the shapes of the pieces and the shapes of the openings in the puzzle, he can determine the correct spot for each piece. Children have also really enjoyed playing with and exploring dinosaurs. They have been creating and exploring dinosaur swamps, adding water and leaves to a tuff spot to create the habitat that dinosaurs lived in. This has supported children to explore textures and ask further questions relating to dinosaurs such as the things that they eat and their names.
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We would like to welcome everyone back to Term 1. We hope you all had a lovely summer holiday. This term at preschool lots of the children are settling in and creating new friendships, sharing experiences and engaging in lots of lovely play routines.
During the preschool day, we like to follow the children’s interests in regards to activities/games to complete and recently the children have gone dinosaur crazy! The dinosaurs were set up inside of the playroom where children re-created a dinosaur land demonstrating some lovely imaginative skills, they also enjoyed creating lots of loud ROARS to allow practitioners to become aware of what noise each dinosaur makes and we have learnt a new dinosaur song. It is important to value the children’s interests and experiences as it shows the children we are listening to them; it helps them to become their own individual person and allows their self-esteem to grow. We have also created a new weatherboard at preschool which lots of the children enjoyed making, using various materials to do so “We have sun, rain and snow”. They really enjoyed exploring different materials to make the clouds “This soft, clouds look soft” and painting the sunshine in the colour yellow. Creating the weatherboard allows children to observe what is going on around them and engage with each other about their observations. This allows children to build relationships and develop their understanding the world skills. Over the past 2 weeks we have had lots of fun at forest school; building shelter from the wind using a variety of materials, building a den, riding on an imaginary train stopping at different locations around the world and following on from the children’s interests we have built woolly mammoths using sticks and leaves “Woolly mammoths are really woolly so we need to put leaves on him to make him have woolly fur”. Forest School helps children to grow in confidence as a result of the freedom, time and space they are given in their learning. Activities such as sharing tools and participating in play helps to teach the children to work together as a group, which strengthens their bonds and social ties. “ This is the baby woolly mammoth, he is a small one” Top tips for talking:- Give your child time to talk to you.
Children often need time to put their thoughts together before answering, so give them longer to respond than you would with an adult. Make sure to maintain eye contact as you wait for them to complete their remark. Makaton - Names, Fruits, thank you 3 Little pigs is our story for the term. Some very good actions and great little story tellers, incorporating some yoga moves. So not just a sit down and listen story but get up and get active. Plenty of water play, sinking and floating, the ducks out to play and our sea life animals, even the safari animals have taken a dip. Trying to remember not to splash ourselves and our friends. #projectgarden - looking to spruce up our garden area, making it more inviting to explore. This is an on-going project that we want parents and children to have their say, what would you like in your garden? Some of the ideas so far are sensory such as bubble wrap and mirrored bubbles, wildlife, waterslides for objects - not children hahaha. Things that you can turn and pull, post things through. Please ask your child what things they may like to find in our outside space. What kind of things do they want to see.....and let us know! Forest club - what bugs can you see, which ones can you find, woodlice, earwigs, centipede, spiders, ants. The trees are changing with lots of buds and leaves appearing and the weather is getting warmer, well sometimes....we do still need our wellies and waterproofs as it is quite wet to begin with because of all the dew. But as it gets warmer throughout the day we can take off our waterproofs if we have full length trousers on and change out of our wellies and put our daps on so long as they are in our bag. Up to the allotments to plant some potatoes and some edible flowers. Sorting out the soil, getting rid of weeds, raking over the soil, planting them apart and in a line, cover over with soil and importantly water. Looking forward to the fruits of our labour. Pets and vets - lots of caring for the animals, giving them cuddles, walks, feeding, water and some are poorly so a visit to the vets. We had a visit from a real puppy called Maggie and a kitten called Cooper, oh so cute! The owner wanted them to be socialised and the children were more than happy to give them some social time. Weekly Makaton signs: Hello, Thank you, fruits and names.
The story for this term is the 3 little pigs. Lots of actions, "I'll huff and I'll puff" and my "Chinny Chin Chin" Some good voices for those pigs and that wolf. The props are out to promote some good story tellers. Forest club We went on a walk in the afternoon, pointing out lots of signs of Spring/Summer, changes in the leaves on the trees, flowers emerging, Spring lambs. We were looking at house names, the children were recognising letters of significance to them because they were the letters in their name. Experimenting with different forms of mark making. The children were using paint brushes, dipping them in muddy puddles and swirling it over the walls. It was explained that this was only ok if the adult said so. The walls were washed afterwards and why explained to the children. Obstacle course involving balancing, climbing over, crawling under, stretching our legs reach the next stepping stone. Once the children had tried this a few times, alterations were then made by the children themselves, extending what was already there, changing it around. Some things did need to be altered slightly for our little ones. Top tips for talking:
Use simple repetitive language - Keep sentences short: Describe your everyday activities. As you talk about what you are doing ("I'm washing the cup"), repeat your words for slowly and clearly. Saying things more than once helps children to join in and pick up new words. Makaton - Hello, Thank you, Children's Names and Fruits. The story of Little Rabbit Foo Foo - lots of good storytellers and great actions too. It's a good story that's easy to pick up due to the repetitiveness of the story - Have you heard it yet? Messy play: Moonsand - a mixture of sand and shaving foam. This makes the sand easier to mould. You can squeeze it, gather it up to make a mole hill or a volcano, swirl it around and oh it smells so lovely. Hide and seek with the ducks - Ducks (of the plastic variety) were scattered around and each one had a number on the bottom, when a duck was found the child had to recognise the number and then find the hoop with the correct number in it. Good for number recognition. Then it was time to find out which hoop had the most ducks in and which had the least. Good counting skills and lots of fun. Forest club - Collecting flowers for Mothers Day, it was explained that flowers are not to be picked unless given permission and this time the adult says it's okay. Talking about flowers - what they need to help them grow, some flowers were open and some were closed, we talked about how the sun makes the flowers open. A visit to the church to watch Stanton Drew Primary School children and their Easter celebrations. Lovely to see some of our old friends and good for our little ones to say hello to who will be some of their new teachers all too soon. Thank you for the invitation and once again our little ones were on their very best behaviour and did you all proud. Lots of bubbly water play inside, pouring, scooping, sinking and floating and trying to keep the water with in the tub - nearly successful, although some of us ended up looking like we had got in! still it was lots and lots of fun:-) Many forms of weather lately - Rain, sun, wind, snow and ice! Just remember to wrap up warm, its always easier to take off layers than not have enough and we are more than happy to help putting on boots and having spare shoes. As for the older children who will soon be attending school, Velcro shoes are best in enabling them to have a go themselves in readiness for school. Weekly Makaton Signs: Thank you, Good, Names and Fruits
Top tips for talking: Join in with your child's play. A Language and thinking will develop through interactions with others. The arises naturally from a shared activity which provides something of interest to talk about and gives a clear context for words and meanings. Top tips for 2 year olds: I can do it myself! Even though it may take me ages to do something and I may not get it right; its really important I have a go. I may become frustrated if everything is done for me. You'd be surprised how much I can do given the chance. Chinese new year: Thank you to all those that came to join us in our celebrations with noodles, rice, spring rolls, trying out chopsticks. We hope you all enjoyed our story of the Chinese Emperor and how the animals had a race to become which year. It is the year of the dog. This term we are looking at the story of "Little Rabbit Foo Foo" The story will be told firstly with the book, but this will progress onto telling the story without the book and using actions. The story and the props for this will be out so the children can access the story as and when they want to, being able to share it amongst themselves. The children have also been adding to the props by making additional items, such as a hammer, a bike and a wiggly worm. However this has also led onto making other things such as tools for the toolbox. Stories are such a great way of inspiring the imagination, leading into other areas for their creative thinking. Forest Club: Lots of tree rubbings and footprints using crayons in many colours, learning how to hold the crayon on its side works best and with our muddy boots stepping onto paper to see the many different patterns our boots make. We then played hide and seek. We teach the children about "1, 2, 3 Where are you?" When the finders call this out, the hiders shout back "we're over here" This helps the children to understand that although it is ok to hide, sometimes when parents can't find them and call out, they need to help in being found. It also encourages good listening skills, as those finding have to listen and follow the direction of voices. Lego - good for fine motor skills, managing to construct by pushing the small bricks. Lots of chatter, discussing what they are building, what pieces are needed, asking one another for help and to pass things. Good imagination creating airports and hangers to put planes in, because the airport is for people and not for planes. Creating houses, for this we had to have doors and windows, oh and don't forget the roof otherwise the rain will get in - Good idea! Top tips for talking:
Get your child's attention first - Get down to your child's level and engage their attention before speaking or asking a question. Young children find it difficult to listen and carry on with an activity at the same time. Saying their name first encourages them to stop and listen. Makaton Signs: Hello, Thank you, Good, Signs for fruit and names The story of the Chinese New Year and the year of the dog. The children learning how the animals became which number of the zodiac. The animals all had a race. Lots of remembering who came first and then in which order. Numbers up to 12. Lots of actions and practicing how to become a good story teller. To go alongside this we have been making Chinese Lanterns, good cutting skills and lots of expression in the form of art, wiggles, squiggles, dots and even glitter. Lots of good drizzling of the glue making like spider webs across the page. Good work! We have been playing group games using the name cards of the children. This is to help the children to recognise their own names, when the children can recognise their names we remove the picture from their card. This helps them on their journey through to school. So please help us in helping your child to recognise their own name as written in print. Dried rice another alternative to use to practice writing and drawing. Children can use their fingers to draw and make patterns in the rice. Forest club - Rebuilding our dens which have blown down again due to all these strong winds. Team work needed to work together to carry those heavy logs. For some if was a den for others it was where the piggies were staying out of the cold. Later off to the allotments to see what's been going on. There was a large piece of carpet over the ground. The children understood this was to keep the ground protected from the frost. There were some new shoots and lots of daffodils and snow drops showing their heads. The children were reminding one another to not walk on them as soon they will be flowers. Top tips for talking:
Observe and comment on your child's current interests; Describe what is happening. Think of 'commenting' like 'commentating' - as in what sport presenters do! Watch and describe what you see your child is doing. Commenting does not mean that there should be no silences when a child is playing. Pauses will help your child think about what they are going to say. Weekly Makaton Signs: Thank you, Hello Open end resources - promotes team work, building upon ideas, listening to others ideas, role playing, building friendships. Lots of ideas of what to use, how to use, extending the play and ideas. Creating with the planks, crates and other items available. Come on Daisy - is the current story with props that are out in order that the children may use them to retell the story either to themselves or to their friends. This helps children to realise how stories are constructed. That there is a beginning, middle and end to a story and about sequencing. That there is an order of events to the story and that if the sequence of events is not followed it sometimes does not make sense. However it can be fun to change things around and make a story silly and see where it can go with their imagination. Playdough - as always a fun and familiar activity for children to turn to. There is no right or wrong way to play with it. It can be whatever they want it to be. Playdough helps in building up a child's muscles in their hands which is an important aspect when learning to mark make. Playdough also promotes creative thinking and lots of language, as there is always of conversation around playdough, explaining to each other what they are making and helps to promote sharing and bouncing ideas off one another. Forest club - With strong winds and storms we now have a few trees that have fallen down and with all the rain a small river where we sometimes walk. Having lots of fun collecting sticks to build into our pretend fires to make hot chocolate, and finding big sticks so we can rebuild our new improved den. Making splashes by throwing sticks and pebbles into the small river created by all the rain, lots of tree climbing too! Always lots of dressing up taking place, and we are looking for 'putting on your own coats' Thus promoting independence and the children realising the best way to put on certain items. Sometimes its best to start from the bottom and pull up and sometimes start from the top and pull down:-) Makaton signs:
Hello, Goodbye, Thank you and learning their names at snack time Top tips for toddlers: I am only 2 - Remember I am only 2 years old; I may have only been walking for a few months or just started to talk. Please remember to have realistic expectations of what I should be doing. Top tips for talking: Try not to ask your child too many questions, especially ones that sound like you're constantly testing the child. The best questions are those that challenge the child to think rather than give an instant answer, like yes or no. Too many questions can easily block the flow of natural conversation. Fireworks - leading up to and following on from the fireworks displays we have been making lots of chalk pictures on black paper and drawing chalk pictures on the ground outside. Swirling, whirling pictures just like some of the displays that we went to see. Rhymes - Looking at different rhymes, Hot cross buns, Old MacDonald and now 5 little ducks, the props of which are left out so the children can then choose to use them as they sing. The children have ben asking for lots of different songs to sing. Noisy Neighbour - Four different instruments are selected and the children hear the sound they each make. One child then goes off to hide, whilst the other children sit and wait to hear the sound that the child hiding makes. They have to guess the sound and what instrument made it - Good listening skills Babies - Lots of caring and sharing. Taking the babies for walks, dressing them, bathing, changing nappies, feeding. Playing Mum and Dad and even singing to get the babies to sleep. Spaghetti - Lots of lovely spaghetti to squish, squeeze, squidge, smell, gather up and swirl around. They are like worms, some thought they were like snakes. Its sticky, like glue. This encourages lots of chat, discussion, thoughts and getting messy. Weekly Makaton Signs: Thank you
Top tips for talking: Use open ended questions: Open ended questions can give you opportunities to continue a conversation. For example, "I wonder what the little boy wants?" Can encourage children to respond in full sentences. In contrast, the closed question "Does the little boy want the car" leads only to a Yes, No or I don't know answer. Welcome back for some and Welcome to our new children. 3 Little pigs is our story for this term, where we will tell the story either using props or actions. By keeping the story the same for the term the children can become very familiar with it and in turn build upon their confidence to carry out the story and actions to themselves and others. Monday's we also tell the story through words and actions during our yoga activity. Playdough - Some say it smells of vanilla, some of coffee. Have you smelt it yet? Playdough is something that everyone is familiar with. There is no right or wrong way to play with it, it can be whatever you want it to be. You can roll it, pat it, squish, squash, squeeze. It is good for building up the muscles of the hand and wrist which is good for later when holding a pen or using scissors. Climbing Frame - Good for promoting physical development, hand eye coordination whilst climbing up the various sides. Learning where best to place your feet as well as your hands to climb and then the end result of getting to whizz down the slide. Also helps to promote sharing and turn taking and helping our friends. Forest Club - Our outdoor experience. Finding bugs, climbing trees, building dens, collecting sticks to build a fire, tyre swings, hide and seek, stories, hot chocolate, lunch and so much more. |
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