Spring Term Week 4

Winter sunshine and new toys! We have new equipment this week which has been funded by the money from the Tesco book stall and is providing some great challenge in the garden, we are really noticing that lots of the children have really strong legs from all their lockdown walks but arms are not so strong as the parks and soft play areas were closed. It is so fascinating to see the effects of the pandemic on the children but we will be identifying any little areas to work on over the coming months to ensure all of the children are ready for the next stage in their learning.

We will be exploring the wider world over the coming weeks – Chinese New Year, the Winter Olympics and a festival that one of our families celebrate in the Dominican Republic – The Carnival which is celebrated through February into the Holy Week in March. We will also learn about Holi when we come back after half term and our theme of colour will bring it all to life. During these themes we add in all our learning and our over riding aim to to create awe and wonder about the world around us and beyond – we use our ideas to teach the children, to cover all aspects of the areas of learning within each idea and extend and support where needed. Our globe will be on the table next week while we look at different countries, music, food and climates.

We have had a brilliantly colourful week, enjoying so many different activities that have promoted listening skills, turn taking, science, maths, speech, new vocab and processes and individual ideas. There are some lovely pics of the week on facebook, including a mini Forest School album to look at and Andrea’s Story Sack week too. Our learning will focus on adding Maths and Literacy as well for key workers to check their children are on track in these areas and we can share some home learning ideas for you as well.

Circle times this week:-

Sun and Moon groups – have learnt about the natural world locally, compared summer hydranga blooms with the cuttings from a shrub that are now crispy and brown due to winter, we are working hard to learn to draw and use colour, the children have been engrossed in learning their letters and writing their names and learning how to recreate patterns (maths).

Star group – the children have been sorting items by colour, matching brick shapes, enjoyed a number hunt in the back garden and learnt nursery rhymes and played listening games with musical instruments.

We are planning the next few months at the moment, looking at getting out and about in our community so that we can learn about our town and experiences and compare those to other children and families around the world. Please do help with walking with us if you can, we always need extra hands as we like to have a high ratio when we go out on a trip to ensure everyone is safe and can relax and enjoy the outing.