We have had another wonderful week, practising for our graduation next week – we are hoping to perform two songs for you – one which has been a real favourite from our Disco Thursday and a good bye song – I am just hoping that the children join in as much as usual and it won’t just be me at the front dancing!!

We have all been learning all about the world and have covered that in so many brilliant ways this week during circle times.

Sun and Moon groups have been exploring henna tattoos, learning about different languages and songs and stories and how to say hello around the world. We have used google earth to choose someone to go on holiday and have made volcanoes, passports and flags!

The Star group have played instruments from around the world, listened to aboriginal music and aboriginal art, talked about animals from around the world and learnt about different flags and their colours and shapes.

Outside we have been promoting a sonic challenge week! Ending with face paints as a reward for taking part in and completing all of the challenges each day, incentives with stickers and a chart and the children have been amazing. We have little certificates for them and have been really proud of how they have taken part, persevered and completed each physical challenge – well done all!

Next week is our last week at pre-school apart from Monday 21st July and then Holiday Club opens on Tuesday 5th August and is open every Tuesday and Wednesday from 8am – 4.30pm for children aged 2-7 for 4 weeks. There a couple of spaces left at the end of the month so if you are interested please contact the office.

We look forward to having a really fun week to end our term and can’t believe how quickly the year has gone!

The sun has been shining and we have been playing with the water a lot to keep cool! Lots of changes on clothes and lots of water play planned for next week as well as the children absolutely love it. We have been washing all the bikes in our garage and the tractors, enjoying bike races outside and fixing the bikes and scooters too – looking at car manuals and magazines and making big bike ramps to cycle up and conquer!

We have also been playing some fete games to get us all excited ready for next Saturday! We have practised knocking skittles down, hoopla, hook a duck and face painting too.

Our sun table has been a mini beast learning zone, full of making new sets about each mini beast, we will pop the photos on facebook later but we have learnt about ants, spiders, slugs, snails, dragonflies, ladybirds and bees. Lots of new vocabulary and craft ideas and a lovely respite from the hot sun outside!

We have also had a jobs tray out and we have worked hard together to complete the big floor puzzles, great teamwork.

Our circles have been based on transition – moving to Sun and Moon for the stars and they started two weeks of Forest School sessions to familiarise them with the rules and experience which they will start in the Autumn! The Sun and Moon children will have their last forest school sessions on the 3rd (Moon) and 4th July (Sun) and 10th (Sun) and 11th July (Moon).

The Sun and Moon groups have been talking about school and which schools each child is going to, and the names are on our display board now with lots of info on our school transition section on Tapestry too. The children have drawn pictures of their schools, coloured in jumpers, practiced school skills, pen grip, lots of chatter, looking at the school uniform together and the schools on their websites, and also writing All About Me forms too.

Next week we will have another busy week – we think our caterpillars may emerge from their chrysallises over the weekend and that will mean we may have our Hungry Caterpillar Picnic Party towards the end of the week!

We are getting on well with our Pick your own Prize raffle totaliser! We are up to the yellow level of the rainbow – £308 raised so far, please buy lots more tickets to help us get to £1000! We would love people to make cakes please and deliver them to pre-school on Saturday am and donations of toys and prizes for the tombola please!  The fete opens at 11.30am and finishes at 2pm.

We have had a wonderful week, albeit a very wet one – sorry about all the wet clothes coming home but it has been worth it, the children have absolutely loved playing with the water in the exciting set ups that the staff have helped them create! We added in lots of height to help build strength lifting the cylinders and jugs of water up high! The children showed brilliant “characteristics of learning” which show us the different ways in which they explore and learn and join in with lots of imagination, working out how to move the water and how to create different runs with the gutters and the tanks and the barrels. One group worked out that they could use the big gutter and put a cylinder underneath so that when the water gushed out it sprayed them! The solar fountains are also really popular so we will be ordering more of those, a lovely way to discuss solar power and hard work to collect the water as it sprays up into the air.

Inside we have been enjoying hairdresser role play and nail salon role play and there are some lovely photos of the children playing really well together, we have also been looking at feelings and talking about them using books and other resources that we have.

Our tennis coach Nigel came back in on Monday morning for another fun session and we also had two beautiful Forest School sessions with Sophie, Eva and Louise. The Sun group will swap to going out on a Friday and the Moons will go on a Thursday after half term but just for a couple of weeks before we give the Star group a turn and then one final session before we finish where will be probably alternate over two weeks so all of the Thursday/Friday children have a “last” session out there.

We have been exploring weather in circle times this week using a mini focus of fine motor skills too so lots of brilliant learning about usual and extreme weather, great vocabulary development and craft, wonderful turn taking and painting with water outside to watch it evaporate, drawing around our shadows, making big collages and hanging out washing to dry, bumble bee craft, making bird feeders, painting with cotton buds in the star room as well as their focus has very much been on fine motor skills as well.