Monday was a very exciting day because our new toddler group called Little Squirrels opened for the first time in the large hall. We took the children in to meet the new younger children and we joined them on the mat to teach them some of our songs. The children were very well behaved and earned themselves a round of applause from the new parents.
The pirate ships were out on the mat this week and this led to a whole variety of activities including map making for finding the treasure, using a compass to navigate around the room and cardboard telescopes for identifying approaching pirate ships.
We have enjoyed maths this week by looking at different ways to count and identify shapes. We played jumping on number mats, running from one shape to another and counting objects around the room. The shape mats were then used for a lively game of
musical shapes. We danced around and when the music stopped the children had to jump onto a shape. We then removed the circles and started again, then the triangles, squares and so on until there were no shapes left.
Autumn has many festivals and as the nights become longer and the days often seem rather dull it is lovely to celebrate these festivals with colour and light. This week we have focussed on bonfire night and Diwali (which we will continue next week). We produced firework pictures using lots of coloured paint and glitter. We tried different techniques such as blowing paint with a straw and dipping shaped cardboard tubes into thicker paint. Dipping used teabags into paint and throwing them from a height onto
paper creates a wonderful explosive effect. I'm sure you will prefer to be an activity confined to Pre-school as it is rather messy!
The children have been creating a large poppy in preparation for the commemoration of remembrance Sunday. This can be a difficult subject to explain to young children, so we talk about how we can help people who are hurt or unable to look after themselves. We also like to remember people who we cannot see any more. For most children this is related to family members or friends who live away but it forms the beginning of understanding the meaning of Remembrance day.
Words we have learned this week:
Remembrance
Shape
Ideas to continue this weeks fun at home:
Talk about your family festivals and create some pictures for our gallery. We love to represent all our children's celebrations.
Help your child to create their own snack:-
Pirate ship made from a banana with a flag
Ice some biscuits with a picture of a poppy on
Have a pirate picnic under a home made tent.