Pre- School News
Throughout the term we have supported the children to develop strong relationships and build on social skills to play with others and share resources with less support. We have provided challenging tasks, where the children have been encouraged to use the skills and knowledge which they have learnt so far to carry out tasks independently. We aim to ensure the daily routine and classroom environment is set out in a certain way for the children to gain access to all resources. We hope this will continue to encourage their independence and perseverance with challenges and activities. They have also gained an understanding of the need to stay healthy; they will have opportunities to see and taste fruit and vegetables. The children have taken part in group tasks where they learnt to work together and support each other to promote teamwork.
In the term children have developed their fine and gross motor control through using tools, scissor, small cutters, rolling pins and pens. Building with large construction blocks in the outside area improves gross motor development. These skills are vital for developing hand writing and eye hand coordination. In our Physical Education sessions the children are learning to skip, hop, climb, and travel in various ways crawling, sliding and rolling. The children have taken part in team activities passing balls, races, parachute games and obstacles. Yoga classess on ‘Work Out Wednesday’ being a faviourite. Healthy Eating also comes into the physical development area, as the children are learning why it is important to eat healthily, what role fruits and vegetables play in staying healthy and how this affects our physical development and growth. Cookery Club has consided of home made soup, vegetable muffiuns as well as homemade quiche to name a few.
The children have continued to develop their communication and language skills. We have been singing Nursery Rhymes, listening to stories and poems daily to encourage an understanding and model new vocabulary. The wall displays topic related key vocabulary that children will become familiar with and use during activities. As many of the children’s English speaking levels have greatly developed over the past term, we would like to continue to develop their speaking skills by encouraging full sentences to communicate meaning as well as learning our Phonics letters, and sounds.
We are following the Read Write Inc Phonics programme, where by the children are encouraged to learn sounds of letters in the alphabet, learn to write them and recognise them in words. I will be providing you with a chart detailing the letters we will learn and the order they are taught. The captions next to the letter are said whilst writing the letter. If we notice any children who need extra support, we will speak to individual parents if necessary.
We will continue to carry out activities which help to recognise numerals 1-30 and use their counting skills in a range of problem solving activities. We will also introduce ‘adding’ and ‘taking away’, by providing activities where the children need to find ‘one more’ and ‘one less’. We will then encourage the children to add together progressively larger numbers. Understanding the difference in quantity is still an area that many children to need to develop. Therefore encouraging language such as ‘which has more, less’ at home would help the children greatly. Noticing objects in the environment is a great way to do this as it makes it contextual and fun for the children. We will continue to use vocabulary focused on shape and space, recognising and naming familiar shapes in the environment.
Colder Weather
As the weather gets colder our enthusiasm for playing outside does not change! Please send your child to Pre-school with a warm coat, hat, scarf and gloves as they are able to continue to enjoy playing on the garden balconies. Please remember to label every item that comes into Pre-School.
Labelling
To ensure that children go home with everything they bought to pre-school, please label EVERYTHING! The website my nametag.com sells sticker labels which are dishwasher and washing machine proof.
Home times
Can we politely remind parents that our morning sessions run from 8.45 - 2.45 and, that if you are not staying for wrap around care the children do need to be collected by 2.45. Should you be running late or need the child to stay later please can we ask parents to contact the setting to inform them.
Changes of Address and Contact Numbers
It is very important that you let us know immediately of any changes of address, telephone or mobile contact details. Forms are available should you need us to update are records.
Information Sharing
If your child has done anything exciting during the weekend or holidays or has achieved a particular milestone, we would like to know so we can talk about such an event with them. We have “WOW Moments” - Parents voice slips for you to complete available in the nursery. If you wish to include photos with some of these we would love to see them and they will be added to your child’s profile to give a complete overview of your child’s learning experience at Pre-School and at home, on outings and holidays.
Please find attached ideas for things you can do at home with your child to extend their learning and development. The link between school and home learning is vital; we would like to see photos and observations of the new and exciting things that are happening at home. If you have any photographs with annotations of what your child does and says, we will have a place in the nursery where these can be left in the mornings at drop off time. Following this, the staff can talk about these with the child and where appropriate these will be put into their learning profiles. Attached is an observations template for you to record this on if you wish. These templates will also be permanently available in class for you to take home at any time.
Happy Birthday
Happy 3rd Birthday
From
Everyone at Hartes of Henley
Working at home with your child
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
-Encourage your child to say please and thank you
-Encourage your child to independently take off and put on their coat, hat, gloves, shoes and socks.
-When playing with your child support them in sharing toys.
-Allow them to choose some toys themselves and reflect on options about these toys (eg. This is my favourite car because it is blue)
-Ensure your child is able to go to the toilet unaided, flush chain and wash hands.
-Try to support your child in taking turns with other children
- Encourage your child to talk about their feelings.
Physical Development
- Encourage your child to handle small and large equipment.
- Allow your child to use scissors and develop their skills.
- Allow your child to run, hop, skip, jump and find different ways of travelling.
- Play games such as ‘Follow The Leader’ and change actions to develop motor skills and coordination.
-Discuss changes to their bodies after exercise e.g. heart beating faster, feeling hot.
Communication &Language
-Encourage your child to say the word for the thing they want rather than pointing at choice of object.
-Support your child with sentence structure by you saying “I want....please” and them saying the name of the object. Extend as appropriate.
-Help your child describes what they see, eat or do. ‘My Ice lolly is cold and sticky.’ ‘ The motor bike is loud and fast’
-Encourage your child to sing/say songs and rhymes and tell you their own stories.
-Ask your child about works that rhyme e.g. (house and mouse).
Literacy
-Allow your child to select books themselves; ones that interests him/her. Picture books with repetitive language such as those by Julia Donaldson.
-Encourage your child to read what is happening in the pictures. Prompt them to tell a sentence about what is happening. ‘The gruffalo has a wart on end of his nose’.
-To increase vocabulary and identify sounds; play word games such as i spy.
-Sing phonetic alphabet sounds and talk about the sounds they make.
-Make shape sofa letters out of play dough.
- Write their own name in sand and in the air with their finger.
-Practise writing different letters and letter formation. ‘S’ start with pencil at the top, sliver down the snake.
Mathematics
-Practise counting from one to ten
-Practise counting groups of objects in pictures, pose questions such as How many spots on the lady bird?
-Count out loud with your child saying the number names clearly, show them anything can be counted, claps, steps, fingers, pencils, chips on their plate.
-Show numbers to your child, on number cards. Support them in recognising numerals.
-Sing fun number sings with them, ‘10 in the bed’.
-Read number stories, such as ‘The very hungry caterpillar’.
-Use mathematical language such as one more or one less.
-Point to and say numbers around the house or local environment. Encourage children to identify shapes around them, circle or square spotting etc.
Expressive Arts and Design
-Allow your child to listen to and sing rhymes and songs.
-Engage in imaginative role play with your child.
-Explore different media, paint, pencils, crayons?
-Use scissors and glue and encourage cutting and sticking with various materials.
-Dance to songs and make up actions to complement eg. Wheels on the bus.
Knowledge and Understanding
-Talk to your child about special times, birthdays, religious celebrations and other key events in their life.
-Encourage them to explore their surroundings, particularly outdoors.
-Allow your child to observe animals and describe them.
-Allow them to use tools, DIY, gardening, sand castle making.
-Encourage them to feel different textured objects and describe rough, smooth, hard and soft etc.