What a wonderful week we have had, the children have been fantastic despite the heat and we have been talking about how to stay cool, to drink lots, have sun cream on and sit in the shade and wear a sun hat outside. We have created some shade in the garden and we have the back garden shelter as well and all our doors and windows are open and we have lots of fans but the pre-school does get quite hot on a very sunny day. It is great weather for our caterpillars who are now turning into cocoons as I write so our Hungry Caterpillar party will be happening a few days after they turn into butterflies.

All 3 groups have been learning about fairy tales and we have also linked our growth/life cycle theme into literacy by reading Jack and the Beanstalk – we even have the Giant’s Boots coming down from the ceiling! The work the children have put into the craft and artwork and chatter is fantastic and we can’t wait to see how high our magic beans will grow! We watched a time lapse video of a bean growing and the groups were fascinated.

The Sun and Moon groups are working well on all their topics and have made progress in blending sounds and hearing sounds of letters, they have developed their rhyming skills, and linked numerals to quantities and will enjoy a visit from Robot Reg this Friday afternoon.

The Star group have been counting ladybirds, identifying shapes, matching cars and a race track using numbers on the track and on the car and the Stars have loved their Forest School experience on the Thursday and Friday morning, exploring free access to the water tap and the hot chocolate mainly!!

Outside we have our own garden centre and cafe role play which has been really popular, lots of play and language and money and tills and shopping and a lovely moment where we were pretending to order in the cafe – “Can I pay by cash please?” I said – “No we only take cards” a child said…”Oh no I haven’t got my card! How can I pay for my lunch?” “Don’t worry said another child, I’ve got my card I can pay for you!” – so sweet!

We are racing towards the end of term already – only 4 weeks to go and a lot to fit in! We have our first ever grandparents coffee mornings next week on a Tuesday and Wednesday and you will all have had an invitation to pass on, please RSVP so that we know how many biscuits to buy! Graduation photos have gone really well, there are some gorgeous pictures – we take the photos here using a nice camera so while they are not taken by a professional they certainly capture your child’s personality which we love! We hope you will enjoy seeing the proofs as they come out to you and all money raised goes straight into the fundraising pot for us to spend on the children and resources.

Next week we would love donations of little plants please as we are going to make mini fairy gardens to decorate the preschool ready for graduation, large flowers pots for them, plain flour, food colouring and pompoms please!

We are now full for September 2022! We can’t believe it but things do often change around at the last minute but we are very surprised to be so busy this year. Please do encourage anyone you know who may want to come to complete a registration form so that they can be placed on our waiting list.

our week has been full of weddings and party celebrations and there have been some wonderful photos from our construction play outside. Large scale construction is brilliant for imaginative play and solving problems and conflict when working together in a small space that you have made!

We have also been playing games outside and have only had the bikes out a few times – we have followed a long line to develop our balance, we have been tyre rolling, scooping and carrying balls with ladles, painting the fence and obstacle courses with lots of climbing.

The Star group have been planting peas for our garden and have enjoyed lots of physical exercises and a feely box, guessing the objects in it and paying listening and attention games.

The Sun and Moon groups have swapped over and Suns are going into the circle time first at the moment while the Moons enjoy some free play before snack and have their circle time after snack. They have learnt about clothes from around the world, adding some amazing drawings to Andrea’s display. They have also done some planting choosing from different seeds, talking about the size and colours of the seeds and our cress is already growing! Music from around the world and some brilliant hula hoop skills and talking about feelings have all contributed to a busy week of learning.

We have really enjoyed welcoming parents to the Forest School sessions and the groups have loved the Bear Hunt theme.

Next week we will be having two Jubilee tea parties for the children – please send them in wearing red/white/blue or a combination or just in usual pre school blue! We will be doing face paints and having a street party with games in the garden, dancing and then our snack street party style along our path for a change (with the gate firmly locked)!

Donations wise we would love any lollipop sticks you can buy at Tesco in the craft section, plain paper plates, rice, any jubilee celebration party items you see around and doilies please!

Welcome back to pre-school for our summer term! We hope it will be filled with sunshine and fun and learning and getting ready for the move to school and the move for the Stars to sun and moon groups!

We have so many exciting events this term with the end being our graduation ceremony for all our school starters! We have missed two years of this special event so we can’t wait to share this with you all.

We are planning sports coaching, trips to the CCA fields for a teddy bears picnic, we will have Robot Reg back again for the Friday groups next half term and we will also be going to the Walronds again for a picnic in their garden.

Our first week back has been full of pirate fun in the garden, we have made a pirate ship, collected treasure, made telescopes and enjoyed treasure hunts and making our own gold and silver nuggets!

On our sun table in the morning we have been learning about different artists and learning about their style and how they create their masterpieces. We will be putting some of the creations up on our display so do have a look! We explored the art of Van Gogh, Mondrian, Seurat and Picasso.

The children have settled back in brilliantly and have loved Science week and water play outside. Next week we will have sand play and will be learning about our senses on the sun table.

Forest School – this week has been bathed in sunshine and the focus has been dandelions! The groups have made the most beautiful dandelion playdoh in the garden, whizzing the dandelions they have picked in water and adding it to the flour mixture. The children enjoyed sticking fir cones into it, cutting up oranges and lemons for the mud kitchen. After the fire and snack time they blew their dandelion seeds and made a wish each and the children thought blowing the seeds far away was hilarious!

We would love donations of food colouring and food flavourings please and any fancy fruits and vegetables for us to explore with our senses!

Circle times –

Star – they have learnt about the concept of heavy and light/long and short, explored making pictures with beads and wood and learnt about the sounds of letters at the beginning of words. They are working on independence too, building up skills they will need for the move to their school starter year – lots of practising putting on their own shoes and finding their bag. The stars ended the week with music and movement and a technology based circle recording their own voices!

Sun and Moon – a very busy week of learning! Lots of chatter about Easter Eggs and Egg hunts at the start of the week! We moved onto answering questions about interesting objects – what does it look like, smell like, feel like, what is it used for, what does it sound like, where will we find it? Amazing conversations about the items – fencing foil, a chocolate covered spoon in pretty wrapping, a candle in a tin and a lint roller! We have used the pirate theme for more learning – counting treasure, making up pirate names and drawing maps.

During free flow we have made playdoh every day and explored that with loose parts – adding different bits and pieces to it over the week. We have brought out our Talking Turtles speech and language programme onto the carpet as well and the popular animal recue tray out after lunch!

The Moon group visited Orchard Lea on Thursday afternoon to go along and sing to the residents there! They were so happy when they came back, full of chatter about the trip and had walked and behaved beautifully – well done Moons!