Weeks ending 19th May 2023

We have been doing lots of activities involving practicing holding pens and pencils and using one-handed tools such as scissors. The children made snips in paper and in playdough. We also discussed scissor safety, what we should and should not cut and how to carry them if we have to move them. 

Our words of the week have been 'feelings' and 'grow'. We had lots of discussions about feelings, why we have them, our feelings maybe different to someone else and that's ok.

We also replanted our tomato plants because they had grown too big, so we spoke about what was making them grow and how we can keep looking after them.

Down at the Acorn Patch we made nature paintbrushes, using leaves, sticks and petals.

Our numbers and patterns activity was 'what comes next', can you continue a repeating pattern.

Our letters and sounds activity was 'we're going on a listening walk' and then we discussed what we could hear.

In P.E we played movement games and completed superhero training.

Weeks ending 5th May 2023

Preschool has been extremely busy finding out and talking about prepositions such as, behind, in front of, under and on top. We used maps to help talk about where things are and discuss routes.

We visited Reception class who had some 'visitors'. We talked about where the ducklings had come from, what they might eat and where they might live.

Our words of the week have been 'behind' and 'rhyme'. We have been sharing lots of rhyming books and trying to spot the rhyming words.

Our Letters and Sounds activity was 'Voice sounds' and we made lots of different vocal sounds.

In P.E we played instrument games and used the parachute. 

Down at the Acorn Patch we played 'I spy in the garden' and did lots of exploring and looked at the changing trees with blossom and growing plants.

Weeks ending 21st April 2023

We were really happy to be able to invite parents into Preschool again for our Easter Craft morning and so pleased that so many parents were able to join their child in making lots of Easter crafts. Thank you so much for coming.

Our words of the weeks have been 'Easter' and 'Jobs' and so we have been having lots of discussion about Easter and what the children did over the easter holidays. We also spoke about the forms that we sent home about a job someone in their family does and what the children would like to do when they get older.

Our Numbers and Patterns activity has been 'skittles' and we had to guess how many skittles we might knock down and then after rolling the ball, can they count how many they did actually knock over.

Our Letters and sounds activity was 'Socks and shakers' and to do this we put objects in socks and asked the children to touch and feel the sock/object and describe what they could feel inside.

In P.E we went to the hall to play animal games and hoop games.

Week ending 24th March 2023

Our words of the weeks have been 'help' and 'story'. We talked about Comic Relief and how we can help others and who helps us. The children and staff dressed up in red or what brings us joy.

We have been listening to and repeating words and phrases from familiar books and seeing if the children can guess which they're from.

Our Letters and Sounds activity was 'I spy names', can the children identify themselves or their friends.

Our Numbers and Patterns activity was 'What's in the box?', can you guess what's in the box?, is it heavy or light?, is there one or lots?

In P.E we used the parachute to go under and tried moving it in different ways.

When we went down to the Acorn Patch we collected items to imprint into dough to make nature fossils.

Week ending 10th March 2023

In Preschool we have been using story sacks and props to encourage and develop play around our favourite stories. We used 'The Gruffalo', 'The 3 little pigs', 'Room on the broom' and 'We're going on a bear hunt' for example. We had lots of fun retelling these stories our own way, using our imaginations to develop and change what might happen.

It was lovely to see all the different ways the children dressed for World Book day.

We took some bulbs down to our Acorn Patch and planted them. We talked about what they would need to grow and how they might turn out.

In P.E we played movement games and tried to move in lots of different ways and we also played ring/circle games as a large group. The children were fantastic.

Our letters and sounds activity has been 'Rhyming books' and so we had lots of opportunities to read books written in rhyme or having rhymes in them and asked the children if they could spot the rhyme.

Our Numbers and Patterns activity was 'We're going on a number hunt' and we did this around the room and asked the children if they could discover any numbers.

Our words of the weeks were 'Read' and 'Spring'.

Week ending 24th February 2023

We have been talking about our emotions and people that are important to us. As part of mental health week we drew pictures of people we love and have created a giant whole class paper chain of pictures to hang up.

We have also made 'listening ears', giant ears on a headband, to wear when we go on a listening walk.

The children have also been using lots of different materials to make marks on paper, boards and in the sand.

Our Letters and Sounds activity was going on a listening walk to listen for a moment and say what we can hear.

Our Numbers and Patterns activity was 'threading beads' which we did on different lengths of string and we tried to estimate how many beads we could put on the string.

In P.E we played 'snap circle games' and 'instrument games'.

The children helped to make bird feeders to hang down at our Acorn Patch.

Words of the weeks were 'Love' and 'Water'. 

Week ending 3rd February 2023

Our words of the weeks have been 'healthy' and 'food' and so we have been looking at pictures of foods that are 'good for you' and foods that we should only eat sometimes.

we have talked about why drinking water is good for your body and about making healthy choices.

We have also been sorting our small world 'mini fruits' by type and by colour.

In P.E we took part in 'Superhero Training' and played the 'Bean Game'.

Our activity for Letters and Sounds was 'Songs and rhymes' and we sang lots of different new action songs.

In Numbers and Patterns we played a game called 'Lucky Dip' and the children had to pick a box, shake it and then decide if they thought that there was one item in it or lots of things.

We have also been down to our Acorn Patch and we went on a 'bug hunt'. We used magnifying glasses and binoculars to investigate under logs and on the trees.

Week ending 20th January 2023

Happy New Year and welcome to our returning children and to all our new starters. 

We have had a wonderful time talking to and listening to all the children tell us their stories of Christmas, Santa, what they did, what they ate and who they saw.

Our words of the weeks were, 'Winter' and 'Animals'

In P.E we used the parachute, for some it was the first time they had seen our large parachute and they enjoyed going under it and  watching what happened when we moved it up and down.

Our Letters and sounds activity was 'Mrs Tuck has a box' and we tried to identify what was inside by the sound the object made.

Our Numbers and Patterns activity was 'One or lots' and we tried to guess if there was one item or lots of things in cups and we tried to use those words.

We have also been down to our Acorn Patch to explore while it was frosty. We examined the area with magnifying glasses and binoculars and we also used spades and trowels to see if we were able to dig in the hard ground.

Week ending 21st December 2022

Our words of the weeks have been 'colours', 'family' and 'Christmas'.

Our Letters and sounds activity was matching sounds with instruments and our Numbers and patterns activity was making coloured towers.

The children have been using one-handed tools such as scissors to make snips in paper and pizza cutter tools while using playdough.

We have been really busy making Christmas cards, holly wreaths, Christmas crowns and tree angels.

We have been watching with amazement at all the things that Tinsel our elf got up to and this led to lots of conversations with the children and them telling us what their own elves have been doing. Our elf got frozen in ice and the children tried lots of different ways to try and rescue him, including using flour and the children had lots of gloopy and stretchy fun! 

Down at the Acorn patch we went on a scavenger hunt and used magnifying glasses to find lots of things.

In P.E we took part in races and played movement games.

Weeks ending 25th November

We have been looking at the size of things and using language such as 'bigger', 'smaller' and 'little'. We used lots of different animals to talk about this as well as matching compare bears. 

In PE we had an obstacle course and then we played some ring games. In the obstacle course we had to decide if we thought we could balance on the smaller bench and if we could jump off the big step. 

In Acorn Patch we added some twigs and leaves to the bug hotel to make it more comfortable and warm for all of the bugs. 

We have also been working on our independence, especially with putting on our own coats, we can all do this now. 

Week ending 18th November 2022

We have been talking about our emotions and why we might feel happy, sad, angry, frightened. We used emotion cards, pictures and stories to help with this.

The children have been extremely busy exploring preschool for numbers and we found them in lots of unusual places. This was our numbers and patterns activity.

We used talking boxes to discuss 'who', 'what' and 'where' to encourage the children to answer questions.

Our letters and sounds activity was 'favourite sounds' and we asked the children to think about sounds that they like and dislike. The children heard some sounds and lots of us liked the owl hooting.

We have been down to our Acorn patch to hang bird feeders that the children had made in the bushes and trees.

In P.E we played song and ring games and this week we played the game 'hoop cars'.

Week ending 4th November 2022

Our words of the weeks were Autumn and Fireworks and so we talked a lot about the seasons, changes and firework safety. We visited our Acorn Patch and were able to discuss the changing leaves and the different shapes. We also found natural items to make faces, had an outdoor listening moment and used conkers that we had found to make paint pictures.

In P.E we played the 'bean game' and used the parachute.

Our numbers and patterns activity was skittles. We guessed how many we might knock down and then we counted how many we actually did knock down.

In our letter and sounds activity we played the game 'describe and find it'. For this we used farm or jungle animals, describing if they had stripes, spots or how many legs.

Week ending 14th October 2022

Our words of the week has been 'different/same and challenge'.  We challenged the children to 'build a tower of blocks as tall as Mrs Arlott' (photo). We will continue to introduce different challenges every week.

We have been making a paper plate representation of ourselves for our class of 2023 wall. We talked about hair and eye colour, how many eyes, ears, noses and mouths we had. We discussed hair lengths and if we all had the same.

In P.E we played animal games and took on the the challenge of an obstacle course.

Our letters and sounds activity was 'Mrs Tuck has a box' and we had to listen to the sounds the objects inside made and tried to guess what it was.

In our numbers and patterns activity we played 'feely socks' and tried to guess the autumn object.

We went down to our Acorn Patch to do some bark and leaf rubbings.

Week ending 30th September 2022

The children have continued to settle well into our routines and exploring all the activities.

We have been constructing with different kinds of materials to make models and we have used story sacks to retell stories in our own way. 

We have been talking about our words of the week which were 'kind' and 'rules'.

Our numbers and patterns activity was 'one bear all alone' and our letters and sounds activity was a 'listening moment', for which we used a timer and we listened to what we could hear.

In P.E we used the parachute and played ring games with balls and hoops.

Week ending 16th September 2022

We would like to offer all of our members of preschool and their families a huge,warm welcome.

We have spent these first few days getting to know one another and exploring preschool inside and out.

The children have enjoyed activities such as planting plants and bulbs, constructing with mobilo, lego and stickle bricks. We have used small world toys, the fire station and the castle to inspire imagination games. The role play home corner has been very popular with the children where they can 'make meals', 'look after babies' and just socialise.

Week ending 24th June 2022

One of our words of the week was 'shape' and so we have had lots of activities involving using shapes, finding shapes and playing with shapes. We played the 'mystery shape bag' game where the children had to try and guess the hidden shape by seeing small clues, like a corner, a side etc. This was also our Numbers and Patterns activity.

Our other word of the week was 'summer' and so we've had lot of discussions about seasons, weather, what we could wear and what happens.

Our Letters and Sounds activity was 'sound story time' where we tried adding voice sounds, such as growling, squeaking and whispering to stories.

In P.E we played the 'bean game' and used the parachute on the playground.

Week ending 10th June 2022

We have been busy talking about and looking for patterns everywhere, bricks on the wall, on drain covers, on our clothes for example. We have also tried to recreate and make our own patterns. We made jubilee banners in red, white and blue.

Preschool also went over to the school to help make two jubilee felt wall art banners. We had to rub the wool and water on the banner to help turn it into felt. It was hard work but we began to see the Queen and her corgi on one of them.

Our words of the weeks were 'day' and 'pattern'

In P.E we did some sports races and played some ring games.

Our numbers and patterns activity was 'what comes next' and we encouraged the children to continue a pattern.

Our letters and sounds activity was 'singing songs'.

Week ending 20th May 2022

We have been looking at print, in books, at our names and at logo's. We used pictures of familiar logo's and wooden or magnetic letters to help with this.

We have also been talking about our feelings and the feelings of others in Preschool and made pictures depicting how we were feeling. 'Feeling' was one of our words of the week.

The children also used lots of different construction materials to build and construct models and used these to practice our words such as 'behind' to place objects. 'Behind' was also one of our words of the week.

We were able to spend some time on the field, looking at growth, the changing trees and to look at our area there.

Our letters and sounds activity was 'mouth movements' and our numbers and patterns activity was 'one or lots'. 

Week ending 6th May 2022

We have been encouraging the children to talk about their feelings, why we might feel sad, angry or happy. We used feelings puppets and flash cards.

Our numbers and patterns activity was 'greedy puppet', the puppet took too many treats, so we asked the children if they could share the 'treats' fairly and equally, independently or with help.

Our letters and sounds activity was matching sounds. We used instruments and body percussion to make a single sound and asked the children to copy it, then we extended it to 2, 3 and 4 sounds.

In P.E we used the parachute, which the children enjoyed making large and small movements with and going under, and we played animal games and moved like different animals.

Our words of the week were, 'rhyme' and 'animal'

Week ending 22nd April 2022

We have been looking for and talking about numbers. We have sung lots of songs that included using our fingers to represent numbers e.g. '5 little ducks', '1-10 little dinosaurs' 

We also  have been discussing the different jobs people do and we asked the children to think about what they might like to do when they are older.

In P.E we played the 'animal game' and the 'hoop game'

Our Letters and Sounds activity was 'Mrs Tuck has a box' and our Numbers and Patterns activity was 'We're going on a number hunt'.