Term 3; 20th-31st January

 Top tip 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 slowly and clearly.  Saying things more than once helps children to join in and pick up new words.

Makaton sign: Glasses- start at the inside corner of your eyes and move outwards circling around your eyes

Name Game
We have welcomed several new children and Liz our bank staff to our pre-school over the past term and we have been playing the name game in order to help them learn both the adults and children's names at preschool "Names, Names lots of names, you tell us yours and we'll say the same". This is a great way for the children to feel confident in establishing relationships and feeling confident in approaching each other at pre-school. We have also been introducing lots of Makaton into our routine/games and all of the children have enjoyed learning which sign represents the first letter of their name.

Role Play
The children have been demonstrating their fantastic imagination skills recently, taking part in several group role play activities, stemming from their interests and previous experiences from outside of pre-school. We have built an aeroplane from the open end resources, flying to Disney land to meet Mickey Mouse, flying to Butlins to swim in the really big pool and slide down the water slides and going on a really long flight to a far away place "Lets fly all around the world" so that we could play football on the back of the aeroplane where there was a real life goal net and football pitch. When children are supported to use their imaginations during play, they are developing psychological and emotional capacities which help them understand the world in which they live, solve problems, create new possibilities and finding new ways to do things, all of which are critical elements of the Characteristics of Effective Learning.

​Changes of clothes/ Wet wipes 
This time of year tends to be very wet and cold however this does not stop us from going out and having lots of fun, splashing in the puddles and exploring the mud kitchen. We provide waterproof trousers to help children remain dry but can we please ask that a bag with spare clothes is provided for all children while they are in session with us, we have a few spares at pre-school to change into however these are becoming very limited.
Having a change of clothes also helps out if your child has an accident while at pre-school, allowing them to get changed into their own clothes, feeling comfortable.
​If your child is potty training or in nappies can we also please ask that you provide nappies and wet wipes to support them being changed.

​Chinese New Year
The children have enjoyed learning about and celebrating Chinese New Year over the past two weeks, engaging in several activities based around this. First of all we learnt a song which we could sing "Gung Hey Fat Choy" and the children picked this up really quickly and enjoyed singing it as a group, with no adults joining in!!
We then learnt a Chinese New Year story where 13 animals took part in a swimming race, each trying to gain a number by swimming to the other side of the water and climbing up the bank. First of all we used props, using small world animals to become familiar with the story and learning the moral behind it; Its not kind to make someone else sad, in order to win something. Once familiar we acted out the story, with each of the children taking on a role of an animal. They all played a great part and swam across our invisible water, climbed up the bank and achieved a number. We enjoyed sharing this with the parents who came to visit us last week.
On Thursday the children got to use several of their senses, sight, smell and taste to explore a variety of Chinese food, helping to prepare a stir fry, rice and prawn crackers. We were also very kindly provided  with some prawn toast, chicken skewers and home made spring rolls to share together at lunchtime "I love this food, its yummy".
Lots of the children explored using chop sticks for the first time to eat their Chinese lunch, using their fine motor skills to pinch them together and hold their food and they all enjoyed learning about a different culture.
A huge thank-you to those parents who joined our lunch on Thursday, we all enjoyed sharing our lunchtime experience with you.