Term 6 blog 3rd-14th June

A very warm welcome back to Term 6.

Top tips for talking:
Join in with your child's play - A language and thinking will develop through interactions with others.  This arises naturally from a shared activity which provides something of interest to talk about and gives clear context for words and meanings.

Top tips for two 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.

Makaton signs for the term;
Good- thumb out in-front of body 
Thank-you- place hand on chin, move directly forwards in-front of self

Enjoying the Great British weather at Forest Club
Our last few Forest club sessions have been very wet! However this hasn't stopped us from having lots of fun, putting on our waterproofs and welly boots to embrace the weather. First of all the children enjoyed splashing in the puddles on the walk down to Forest club, jumping in with 2 feet, creating mighty splashes "Stand back, I'm Splashing, 1,2,3 go" . Once we arrived at Forest club the children enjoyed playing lots of games, such as tag, finding it very funny when they were slipping and sliding on the wet grass. 
When we ventured to our exploring area, the children had a bank to climb and every single one of them done a fantastic job, stabilising themselves, by using their hands and reaching/holding onto near by branches. While at the exploring area the children enjoyed hiding in dens and behind the tree's waiting for adult to find them, giving them clues by shouting "We're over here". 
"Guys I'm going to slide down the bank, watch me, wahoo" the children were very excited to be able to slide down the bank on the way back down leading them to hot chocolate and marshmallows much quicker! Lynne very kindly built us a shelter from the rain, where we could listen to our stories while enjoying hot chocolate.

Shops
To coincide with week 4 of our Early Years Public Health programme, we have created a shop at pre-school with real produce, tills, money and mark making to create our very own shopping lists. All of the children have enjoyed selecting different foods and produce to fill up their baskets with, engaging in detailed conversations about why they have chosen specific things. They have also been demonstrating their brilliant knowledge and understanding of the different food groups, telling each other which food group they thought some of their products came from "This is fruit so that will be green stickers, green things are good for our eyes".
We have also been exploring and making our own money, using mathematical language related to money to talk about the value of different notes and coins and how much things might cost.
To extend some of the children's mathematical skills adults were asking about how much change they might need if they paid for something with more money than the cost e.g. "If I pay with £5 and it costs £4 how much change will I need?". 

Mark making, cutting and sticking
​All of the children have loved cutting and sticking over the past couple of weeks, demonstrating great hand to eye co-ordination skills using the scissors to cut out paper cut outs and to make snips in their art work and to carefully place and stick cut outs in the places that they desire. 
It has been great to see the children engage in lovely conversations while taking part in this activity, working together as a team to support each other cutting around objects and to hold the paper still while the other person was cutting.
The opening and closing motion of cutting with scissors helps children develop the small muscles in their hands otherwise known as fine motor skills. These muscles are crucial for holding a pencil or crayons and gripping and manipulating other objects. 
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This has also been great for our younger children, developing those early fine motor skills by  exploring the chunky felt tip pens to make marks on their paper, really grasping the feel of the mark making resource in their hands. Developing fine motor skills will support children in later life  to perform basic everyday tasks such as dressing, tying shoe-laces, preparing food, and other self-care tasks.

All of the children have created beautiful pieces of art work, which if they haven't been taken home already, can be displayed around pre-school.