Autumn Term Week 8

Welcome back after the half term break – we hope you all had a happy and healthy week off. We are back into preschool life – full of Bonfire Night chat, stories from home and learning about space. We use the themes or subject as an umbrella to teach our curriculum – the themes are the HOW and the curriculum is the WHAT – this means we use our imaginations and creativity to plan activities and games and circles and outside play and choose WHAT areas we need to teach because we know where children are with progress and this gives us the WHY!

We are always coming up with new ideas and listen to the children carefully about their interests, while also stretching their experiences and range of knowledge to help us provide lots to engage them.

This week using space as a theme, we have enjoyed role play (making friends, communication skills and turn taking), building a big rocket outside (physical development and planning how to do it and what we need), creating a space control centre (communication, maths, new ideas, technology) and decorating our area with crafts and planets and non fiction books (literacy, creative work, colour, new vocab).

We have also had a literacy focus too – while we are getting to know the children we often write observations to help us see the areas of strength and an area to focus on – we may need more observations or that child may need time away from the larger groups to share what they know.

In our circle times this week :-

Star – took part in firework arts and conversation, learnt a planet song and enjoyed “Whatever Next” the story about a bear who goes off to Space. The Star group have made their own space display and watched a rocket launch too. Covering literacy with story sacks Gingerbread Man and Billy Goats Gruff – also making their own gingerbread men.

Sun and Moon groups – acted out a space adventure story, being astronauts landing on the moon, making up the story as we go and sharing ideas in our groups. The children have been so focused on creating name rockets, recognising letters in their names, looking at space books and the space question book, making space stations from Lego after looking at the ISS photos. They have played letter bingo and were amazing at that and watched and learnt a solar system song and made a rocket and planets.

We will be continuing our space play next week, more literacy work and mark making and we would love donations of the following items – Glass jars with lids, cotton wool balls, foil (we will recycle the foil) and big plastic water bottles and some big cardboard if possible please?

Forest School groups have now swapped so the Moons go on a Thursday and Suns on a Friday. Another wonderful session today with new children taking part for the first time.

Next week we will be learning about the important work that the charity Children in Need do, we keep it simple and talk about how Pudsey keeps children safe and helps children who are unwell. We will be following the Children In Need theme and will be dressing up in pink or spotty clothes and would love to see any children dressed up too! You do not need to buy anything, we will be ready to offer spotty Pudsey face paint in the morning and we will be playing games all day and dancing away.