This Weeks News - 22 February 2010

Open Night

We have decided to have an Open night on March the 1st and 2nd. This will run along Thorner schools Parents evening. Nici and I will be available to speak to for a short informal chat on your child's welfare and development. Five minute slots are available for you to put your name down in (the form is displayed in the cloakroom) and other members of staff will be in the setting to help you look through profiles. The evening is designed to be an informal exchange of information and for you to be able to see what your child is doing in pre-school, if you have any issues or would like to talk to staff regarding matters concerning you, it would be more appropriate to make an appointment at another time convenient to yourself as this is not a suitable venue for this kind of discussion. please fill the form in the cloakroom in before Thursday if possible if you would like to attend.

Tropical World Trip

We have cancelled the trip to Tropical World on the 5thMarch as we are struggling for staff that week. We will rearrange for the end of term.

Weeks Theme - Dinasaurs

Monday 22ndFebruary - 26th February

Key Vocabulary: dinosaur, egg, fossil

Skills: children will make decisions and show confidence and independence. Children will be able to complete their work to their satisfaction, pursue their learning without interruption and return to the activity when ever they want to. They will take part in activities that require collaboration. Children will make choices that involve challenge and develop confidence in their own abilities. Children will understand some talk about past and future and use time related language in conversations such as “past”, “now” and “then”

Attitudes: children will make comparisons when using language of time such as “yesterday”, “tomorrow” and “Next week”. Children will have the opportunity to recall events and times in their own lives and enjoy sharing these with the rest of the group. Children will be able to find out about the world through exploration and a variety of other sources including the media and what they hear and see. Children will be involved in the practical applications of their knowledge and skills which will promote self-esteem through allowing them to make decisions about what to investigate and how to do it.

  • Staff will: support in developing the knowledge, skills and understanding that help them to make sense of the world. Their learning will be supported through offering opportunities for them to use a range of tools safely and work with a range of materials. They will be given accurate information and use correct terms. Practitioners will pose carefully framed open ended questions, such as “How can we…..?” or “What would happen if….?” And encourage children to tell each other what they have found out and describe their experiences.
  • Parent and carers can: use their knowledge to extend children’s experiences of the world. Encourage your children to express their ideas and use time related words in conversation. Look at size in your environment – talk about really big things and really small things, make comparisons in size and weight.

Activities - Knowledge and Concepts.

  • Dinosaur eggs – Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Dispositions and Attitudes children will use marbling ink to create beautiful patterns on dinosaur eggs. This will be a new activity for lots of our children and they will be learning new skills and develop an interest in new processes. We will also look at shape.
  • Count the dinosaur – mathematical Development – Numbers for labels and for counting – children will count a regular and an irregular number of dinosaurs. This helps us identify children’s methods of counting, see if children know that numbers have different names and how children use number names accurately in play.
  • Dinosaur hunt – Physical Development – Movement and Space – find the dinosaur – staff will hide dinosaurs in the most likely place in the outdoor area they would be found

ICT Suite

On Monday mornings we will be taking small groups of pre-school children into the ICT suite in school to do specific tasks on the computers. This will be 1:1 or 1:2 depending on your child’s ability. A theme relevant programme will be practiced by the children for 15 minutes at a time and they will either bring their print outs home or they will go into their profiles. The programme they have followed will be written in the cloakroom area notice board. Two members of staff will accompany the children to the ICT suite and plan activities for the children using the computers at that time.

Library

On Wednesday mornings we will be taking small groups of children into the library in school to make books, read books, make scrapbooks and create their own stories. This will not clash with Jo Jingles. The group dynamics will change each time we use the library ensuring all children take part. Two members of staff will supervise and plan activities for the library session. If your child has favourite stories or books please let us know.

The Hall

The pre-school will use the main hall in the school every Friday morning for an hour to play large group games such as the parachute, counting games and friendship games. The activities we do will reflect the theme of the week and will be child initiated. If there are any games you know your child loves to play please let us know.

Jo Jingles

On every other Wednesday morning Jo Jingles attends pre-school. This is available to all children that attend on Wednesday morning sessions and is differentiated to suit all children’s ages. Children have the opportunity to sing, dance, move, play musical instruments, and improve physical development and co-ordination. Sessions with Jo Jingles correspond with our theme and reinforce the learning within the pre-school.

Baking and Cookery

Every Tuesday and Thursday we have baking or cookery sessions. This is theme orientated and helps to reinforce the theme of the week. Risk assessments are carried out before any baking or cooking activity and safety is paramount at all times. Children do not have access to the kitchen and do not taste food as it is being prepared unless it is part of the activity. 2 members of staff supervise this activity and plan around the weekly theme. All children that want to take part are able to as many times as they want to and if your lucky they might even save it to eat at home!

Spanish

We have a new Spanish Volunteer working with us for the next year so we have decided to teach your children basic Spanish every day during circle time. Issabella will plan activities for a short period of time each day for all children to join in with.

All activities are child initiated, child led and differentiated to suit all stages of development. If you would like to discuss an activity please feel free to ask any member of staff at any time.

  • Belinda - floating
  • Nici -
  • Bryony - nurse jigsaw
  • Jane - funny bones
  • Izzy - hospital role play
  • Tracy - baking
  • Sarah - play dough