Week commencing 10th March 2025!

This week the children have continued to learn about how to look after different animals and how they adapt. The children have been looking at hamsters, and have enjoyed doing many fun activities relating to this.

In the tuff tray the children have really enjoyed using all their senses to explore a hamster discovery tray, this involved feeling the soft wool hamsters, using tweezers to pick up the little pom pom hamsters and learning about sizes. 

On the maths table the children continued to learn the name and properties of 2d shapes using a hamster wheel. 

To celebrate science week the children learnt that hamsters adapt to their surroundings by hibernating, do you know what that means? And that snakes shed their skin when they grow.

Week commencing 3rd March 2025!

What another fun and exciting week we have had in Preschool this week. The children are continuing to learn about how to take care of different animals and this week we are looking at cats. On the maths table the children have been matching the correct number of fish to the number on the cat. In the water tray the children have gone fishing for different size, coloured and textured fish, which if you didn't know cats like to eat. On mark making the children have been working on their number recognition and fine motor skills to complete cat dot to dots. In the tuff tray the children have been busy making cats using playdough and different shapes to make the face, ears and tail and using different textures for the features. On Tuesday we had a very special visitor called Benji the dog and all the children asked very nicely if they can pet him, Well done children. 

Week commencing 24th February 2025!

Firstly we would like to say a BIG welcome back to all our preschoolers, we hope you had a fun restful week off. A  new term brings a new topic and this terms topic is 'Playful pets'. For the first week we have been looking at how to look after dogs/puppies, looking at what they eat, how to take care of them and what they like to play with. To support the children's learning we have done many fun and rewarding activities. On the creative table we have worked on our fine motor skills by folding paper to create a sausage dog. On the maths table the children have been matching numeral to quantity using dogs and bones. In the tuff tray we have had the vets role play to help us to take care of the animals, we looked at x-rays, different foods and used bandages to help them feel better. 

Week commencing 10th February 2025!

The children have continued to learn a new Nursery Rhyme and this week was the classic 'The wheels on the bus.' To help the children learn about this song they have been doing many fun and exciting activities including learning how to form the letter 'b' for bus, match the correct number of people to the bus number and seeing which bus is the quickest in the water tray. In the tuff tray we had a lovely village set up with villagers and buses which they took to take them to various places. For creative this week  we have been making some lovely hearts to celebrate Valentines day, we created them by doing something magical called symmetrical printing, have you ever heard of it or done it yourself? We hope you have a fun and restful half term and we will see you in a weeks time. 

Week commencing 3rd February 2025!

This week the children have been learning a classic Nursery Rhyme 'Row, row our boat', did you sing it when you were little? To help with the children's learning they have been counting and colour matching the various boats and talking about their size. In the water tray, the children have been learning to use water spray bottles to move the boats across the water. In the tuff tray, the children have been fishing for treasure and different sea creatures, it was interesting to see how many they could name. And on mark making, the children have been busy enclosing space by drawing around the letter 'b' for boat. 

Week commencing 27th January 2025!

'Twinkle Twinkle little star' do you know that Nursery Rhyme? This week the children have been enjoying learning the words and actions to that song. On maths the children worked on their fine motor skills using tweezers to pick up pompoms and placing them on the different pictures. We have been doing many prewriting skills activities from making large marks in flour using our index fingers to doing pen control sheets. In the water tray we have enjoyed using the new pippets to collect droplets of water and transferring them into bowls. On creative we made beautiful sparkly stars and did some amazing colour mixing for the display in the hall. 

Week commencing 20th January 2025!

What have we been doing this week? Lets look and see. The children have been learning the Nursery Rhyme "Old Mcdonald had a farm" do you know the song? How many animals can you name? To help with the children's learning they helped to create large animals to put on the display in the room, it has been lovely seeing and hearing the children admire their work. 

In the water tray the children have been showing their caring side by washing the animals and learning how to look after them. On maths we have had different animal puzzles which the children have worked together to put together and had lovely conversations about the animals. 

We had a visit from the lovely lady from Grays library who read some amazing stories to the children, who all sat amazingly, it was a pleasant experience.  

Week commencing 13th January 2025!

This week the children are learning the Nursery rhyme 'Incy wincy spider' and enjoying many activities involving spiders and water. On the Maths table the children have been using multilink cubes to measure Incy's legs, counting how many they needed and identifying what colour they were. On mark making the children have continued to develop their fine motor skills, colouring in lots of pictures that link to the song and trying their best to stay within the line. In the water tray we have worked on our gross motor skills, using jugs of water to wash the 'Incy' out (down the drainpipe). We have been getting messy on the creative table painting our hands black to create spiders and using glue to stick on eyes. In the tuff tray we really enjoyed using tweezers to pick up the different colour and size spiders.

Week commencing 6th January 2025!

The children have settled back into Preschool after their Christmas break amazingly and we are so proud of them. A new term brings a new topic and this terms topic is 'Nursery Rhymes' if you know any maybe you can sing them with your child. On creative we have been listening to some very detailed instructions on how to make a folded mouse, we did amazing. On the maths table we have been matching numeral to quantity mice to the number on the clock, which again we did amazingly. We have manipulated playdough to make mice, using cotton for tails and dots for their ears. In the water tray we used ramps as 'spouts' pouring water down them just like in the song. 

Week commencing 16th December 2024!

What a busy week the children have had in Preschool this week filled with lots of fun and excitement. To start the week of the children have been tying up some loose ends with the topic 'people who help us' coming to a close. We have made Elves on the creative table as they help Father Christmas with making presents, worked our magic on completing Christmas shaped puzzles and enjoyed exploring the Artic tuff tray, we discovered snow, ice and even penguins. To finish the week, we enjoyed our Christmas party, we played pass the parcel, musical bumps and musical statues. For snack we enjoyed some yummy party food and some refreshing juice it was delicious. As a sweet treat we made some delicious peppermint creams. We hope you all have a nice restful break, and look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Week commencing 9th December 2024!

This week has been rather busy for the children in  Preschool and Monday was a rather big deal as they sung their Christmas songs in front of their adults, they did AMAZING! We are so proud of each and every one of them. In class the children have been having fun exploring the polar express tuff tray, playing with snow and talking about where the train is going. On the maths table we helped Father Christmas put his numicon elves back together as they had got all jumbled up. On the creative table the children have been busy making stockings and gingerbread men to go on our display in class. And on the mark making table the children have been developing their fine motor skills by doing pencil control sheets and colouring lots of different pictures. 

Week commencing 2nd December 2024!

The children have continued to learn all about different occupations, this week looking at Dentist. To help support the children's learning they have done many fun and exciting activities. In the tuff tray, this week we have had playdough and beans which we made into mouths. In the water tray, we learned the importance of brushing our teeth by brushing toy teeth. We also explored the marks toothbrushes and paint brushes made, comparing to see if they were the same or different. We enjoyed decorating the classroom Christmas tree, working on our fine and gross motor skills as well as singing songs. In Maths this week, we worked on our number recognition skills, finding the number and identifying the number on the smile. 

Week commencing 25th November 2024!

This week the children have been learning about the important role of a post person and that they don't only deliver letters but also parcels.  In the tuff tray the children have enjoyed being 'Postman Pat' delivering all the letters and parcels to the people in the village. On the creative table this week the children have been busy making candy canes ready to be hung in the hall and the front cover of their Christmas cards. On the maths table the children have been learning to identify numbers on letters then match them to the number on the post box. Mark making this week has been all about learning the sound 'p', colouring different colouring sheets and sounding out the sound. 

Week commencing 18th November 2024!

Carrying on with this terms topic 'People who help us' the children have been learning about Policemen and Police ladies and how they not only keep the community safe but also help us if we get lost. In the tuff tray this week the children have enjoyed playing with the police station, developing their imagination skills. On the maths table the children have been working on their detective skills and putting people who help us puzzle pieces together to make a whole person. Mark making this week the children have created their own police badges and been practising their phonics using colouring sheets that start with that sound ie 'a'. 

In the water tray the children have been having boat races, helping the boats to get into the water quickly to rescue the people just like real police boats. 

Week commencing 11th November 2024!

What another fun and busy week here in Preschool, we are continuing our topic 'people who help us' and doing many fun and exciting activities. This week we are looking at the important role Farmers have in serving our community, what they grow and harvest and how importantly they look after their animals. For activities this week on mark marking we coloured in farm animal pictures, asking questions 'where do they live?" "what do chickens give us?". On the creative table we have been making reindeers, working on our fine motor skills and hand eye coordination to stick the facial features and antlers in the correct places. On maths this week we have been matching animals to their shadows this was a very fun activity. And in the tuff tray this week we have enjoyed playing with the farm role play, naming animals, exploring the texture of grass and sawdust and singing 'Old Mcdonald had a farm.'

Week commencing 4th November 2024!

Welcome back to all our Preschool children you have all settled back into routine amazingly. This terms topic is 'People who help us', we will be looking at different occupations from farmers to dentists and how each one serves our community. This week we have been looking at Firefighters. On the creative table we have been busy painting a paper plate which we turned into a firefighters helmet. On mark making we have coloured in the badge for the helmet and worked on our fine motor skills doing dot to dots pictures. 

In the tuff tray we enjoyed using our senses to explore red and orange cooked pasta, we named the colours we saw,  explored the texture and what it smelt like. On maths we worked on our repeating pattern skills and enjoyed building houses with duplo. 

Week commencing 14th October 2024!

This week the children have enjoyed looking at the book 'Room on the broom'. They have done many activities revolving around the story from making magic potions in the water tray to making mushrooms on the creative table. In the tuff tray the children have been playing a game of 'I spy' using props from the story. 

On mark making we have been using gross motor movements to chalk in the big tuff tray and on the maths table we used multilink cubes to measure broomsticks. Also on maths to help develop our prewriting skills we have been pushing vehicles around shapes drawn on the table, helping to strengthen our gross and fine motor skills. 

Outside the children have enjoyed using the space available to play hide and seek and jump up and down in the leaves listening to the sound they make. 

Week commencing 30th September 2024!

This week has been a busy week, we have been making amazing creations for our new display for in the hall. As the season has now changed to Autumn we made pumpkins on the creative table using orange tissue paper and glue to make our creations. On mark making we coloured some Autumn creatures from Hedgehogs to squirrels and learned where they live. 

Outside we have noticed a change in the insets as the weather as become wet and colder, we are now getting visited by snails, bugs and flies. 

We have enjoyed making hedgehogs using brown playdough which was actually coloured using coco powder it smelt yummy!. 

For maths this week we have been learning the names of 2d shapes and trying to match them to their outlines on the bus. 

Week commencing 23rd September 2024!

We have had another fun and busy week here in Preschool, learning all about each other and talking about our families. 

On the creative table we have been making Autumn trees and you do you know what we used to make the leaves... Broccoli dipped in Autumn coloured paint; they came out fantastic. 

On mark making we have enjoyed doing colouring in sheets, talking about our favourite colour, what characters we were colouring and working on our pencil control. 

In the tuff tray we have been making people using Mr. Potato head, some wore hats, others had big smiles and some even wore shoes with a heel. 

In the water tray we have been working on our fine motor skills, using tweezers to pick up bottle caps then placing them in the large bowl. 

Week commencing 16th September 2024!

The children have done amazing settling into their new environment, we are all so proud of you. The children have been busy getting to know their key person, identifying their name cards and getting use to the classroom rules and expectations. We have seen some beautiful friendships be created and have enjoyed watching them play together. 

Our topic this term is 'All about me', we have been busy talking about what makes us 'us', what we like and who lives with us at home. 

On maths this week we have been enjoying exploring different inset puzzles working on our fine motor skills, lifting the pieces out and placing them back in. 

We have really enjoyed exploring the outside garden, playing on the slide, driving the cars around the road and digging in the soil. 

Next week we will continue to make friendships, work on our fine and gross motor skills and doing some lovely art for our classroom displays.