Our farming theme is great fun and we are really enjoying learning about harvest and where our food come from and we have been cooking, making mini pizzas, making soup and roasted veg and also made smoothies together and the children here really enjoy taking the time to sit and talk and learn and practice their new skills using the knives.

Our farm shop is now empty of all its goods and has been tidied away in preparation for next week’s fun and games and we will be exploring the theme of transport after watching some of the children pretend to go on a bus! The children have been really settled this week and we are really pleased with how the sessions are going. We have a long list of reminders for the toilet so we will be working really hard to ensure there are no wee accidents as we get to know the children more and know their timings a bit better – who needs a reminder before snack and who needs a reminder during their play. It is completely normal for children to regress a little given new surroundings and timetables and very hard to leave a lovely activity where someone else may take your spot if you leave to go to the toilet!

Forest School is such a wonderful experience for the children, the Sun group go on a Thursday and the Moon’s on a Friday and after half term we will swap around so that all the Sun and Moons have that experience. There are some gorgeous photos on the blog this week as well, and I have added the Friday photos in so each week the pics from the previous Friday will be on the blog.

Circle times have been wonderful, we have a routine which allows the children choice and free flow time to extend their games and activities and learning but we still really value those small group times and we will be starting nurture groups as well with children to focus on different areas. Your key person has been completing an on entry assessment to help us decide which children may need nurture – often it is just a different way of us spending time with a smaller group of 3 children to work out what they know and where they are developmentally. Some children find it hard to share in a larger group so nurture work is key to ensuring we know where each child is individually.

The Star group are doing brilliantly, lots of great photos of them this week. They have used lots of building towers and learning names and getting settled into the routine of the circle time.

Other free flow activities have included spending some fantastic time in our sensory garden enjoying potion making, natural craft and a wonderful Teddy Bear’s Picnic. We have rescued animals from being wrapped in wool – it was truly amazing to watch how carefully and delicately children were snipping and unravelling the wool around the figures!

Next week we have a transport theme and will have a story reading focus so if you would like to come in and sit for 15 mins and read a story that would be wonderful! Please let Mandy know if you would like to do that – usually at 2.50PM in our Sun and Moon groups.

What a wonderful first week we have had, we have been so happy with how the children have settled in. A few tears on the door are completely to be expected and understood and the team here are experts at nurturing and settling and ensuring your child has a lovely time with us. We have been getting to know the children and their interests and have listened carefully to all the info you gave us during home and session visits too.

Our week has been very wet! We have had water play out when the weather allowed which is a very calming activity and always works well in the first week, the children have been exploring the garden, learning the routines of the day and taking part in an adult led circle time. The circle times are a brilliant part of the day which allows us to spend time in small groups, learning each others names, making friends, learning about our day at pre-school and we move through our curriculum, teaching specific skills and areas through games and activities led by an adult.

We have had lots of small world toys out this week, castles, dinosaurs, cars and the farm. We have had baby role play, the bikes out on some days (we have no-bike days we all to support collaborative play) and sensory activities, lots of mark making and painting and number trays and story and song time too. There are some lovely photos in the gallery!

We plan really carefully to ensure all children make really great progress with us in all the areas of learning – you will learn more as the weeks pass and we will be sending you info on our curriculum and ideas to help learning at home over the coming weeks. Please have a look at the link below for more info now.

A parents guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) | Family Corner

We also have lots of links on our website under the heading Home Learning.

We create a paper learning journey for each child and as this grows it will be available for you to look at, we will write an on entry sheet so that we know where your child is developmentally in all areas and we will share that with you – if you have any questions or worried we are here for you so get in touch via email or phone or stay for a chat at the end of the day – sometimes it is better to talk without your child listening so you are always free to come back at 2.50pm while they enjoy a story and you can chat to your key person or Amelia or Andrea any day.

We are always asking for donations as we are a charity – to support our planning for next week we would love donations of empty plastic bottles (for fire extinguishers!), string and pretty sellotape, bull dog clips and big paintbrushes (we are going to paint the fence with different colours – good for arm strength!) – thank you!

The Hungry Caterpillar has been very much part of our week! We have waved goodbye to our lovely butterflies and there is a video on facebook if you would like to see it, we have made caterpillars in many different forms and we have also learnt about the snail, frog and worm life cycle with some very realistic new models!

Part of learning at preschool is also about how to take care of things and with the new toys we have been teaching the children about putting them away carefully and keeping the bits together so I have had a few moments when a child was worrying about where the frogspawn has been taken and another wanted to know why the worm eggs were missing already so a good reflection of the fact that our new toys are special had sunk in and I am pleased to say that the missing items were located! We have had training this week from Andrea who went on a brilliant course – lots of good ideas about how we give instructions and how many words we use. A good example here is we often say “lunchtime – go and wash your hands” and then wonder why the children are running off to get their lunch bags – now was say “wash your hands and then go to lunch” so simple and so we are practising – we also say “go to the toilet” and in they go and out they come! Now we say “got to the toilet and go for a wee”! Much fewer child now need a wee while eating their lunch!

Our Sun and Moon circles have also been working on blending letter sounds as this is a key skill for reading and Robot Reg has certainly helped prepare them with some excellent letter work. They have worked to make patterns and written their names and enjoyed caterpillar and butterfly craft.

The Stars have used shapes to make houses and rockets with some fantastic results and have worked hard on counting and they are all really settled and doing well in their group.

Outside we have been building a castle and have moved away from the digging pit to concentrate on creativity in a different way. Next week more castle play, fairy tales story telling and acting, home corner play inside and lots more letters and sounds work and a few visits to primary schools as well for some children. As always please do get in touch if you have any worries about your child or home life or starting school, we have lots of answers and advice and can often help or find help if you need any.