🌞 Our Week: Jack and the Beanstalk 🌱🏰
Hello everyone,
We hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend with your families and have been enjoying the beautiful sunshine.
We’ve had a very busy and exciting week at preschool. The children have loved listening to the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and have taken part in lots of wonderful activities linked to the story.
Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to…
Tuesday 🥋🌱
On Tuesday morning, a group of children attended kickboxing, where they practised jumping with two feet together between cones. They also enjoyed stretching and worked on their foot skills, moving their front foot first and then their back foot.
Outside, we drew a giant beanstalk using chalk and played a throwing game where the children tossed beanbags and identified the numbers they landed on. This was a fantastic way to practise both throwing skills and number recognition.
The children planted their own magic beans in pots filled with soil and drew castles for their beanstalks to grow towards. We talked about what seeds need in order to grow, including water, sunlight, and soil.
📸 Please do send us photos when your magic bean starts to grow!
In the afternoon, we enjoyed a lovely play session outside in the sunshine.
Wednesday 🏰🎵
On Wednesday, one group of children visited the care home, where they sang songs, shared a story, and enjoyed some cake together. It was a very special experience for everyone involved.
Another group planted their magic beans and created castles using junk modelling materials. The children practised using a variety of tools and techniques to build their imaginative creations.
In the afternoon, we took part in our Relax Kids session, enjoying calming activities and a peaceful imaginative journey together.
Thursday 🏃♂️🤸♀️
Thursday brought our weekly visit to the YMCA gym — always a highlight of the week!
We started with a warm-up game where the children moved in different ways and found coloured cones when the music stopped, balancing them on their heads like hats.
The children then rotated around a variety of exciting activities, including:
- An obstacle course with rope swings, balancing, roly-polies, backward rolls, stepping stones, and bunny hops
- Bouncing on the trampoline and practising falling safely onto their knees and standing back up
- Walking on stilts and throwing beanbags into basketball hoops
- Balancing along beams using bunny hops
- Climbing on the wall bars
We finished with ribbon games and a fun round of the Hokey Cokey.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed outdoor play in the preschool garden and visited Reception to listen to a story with Mrs Rogers.
Friday 🐞🎨
On Friday, we spent lots of time enjoying the sunshine and playing together in the preschool garden.
We also celebrated David Attenborough’s 100th birthday by exploring the garden to look for bugs and painting different insects we discovered.
🌈 Learning Through Play
Throughout the week, the children explored a wide range of play-based activities, including:
- Constructing with Stickle Bricks, wooden gem blocks, animal blocks, and balancing tree bricks
- Creating beanstalks with playdough, leaves, coloured stones, and pipe cleaners
- Making bracelets and necklaces
- Dressing small wooden dolls in the Finger Frenzy area
- Small world play with our Jack and the Beanstalk puppet theatre
- Water play, using blocks to build castles
- Investigating sound pots
📚 Read Write Inc.
We have continued learning our phonics sounds and focused on:
m, a, s, d, t, i, n
Here are the sounds you can practise at home:
The children were introduced to Fred Frog, who can only say sounds rather than whole words. They loved playing “Fred Talk,” listening carefully to sounds and blending them together to make words.
We have also been enjoying lots of rhyming games and stories throughout the week.
📸 Some Pictures from Our Week
We hope you enjoy looking through the photos and seeing some of the wonderful experiences the children have been part of this week! 😊
🌼 Looking Ahead
Next week, we will continue exploring the story of Jack and the Beanstalk and some of the different versions of this much-loved tale.
We have lots of exciting activities planned, including tasting different types of beans, playing the Bean Game, using Purple Mash, junk modelling, and enjoying immersive storytelling with Now Press Play.
Alongside these activities, the children will continue to take part in their regular sessions, including gym, Relax Kids, kickboxing, outdoor play, and many more fun learning experiences with their friends. 😊🌱🏰
🏠 Home Learning – Jack and the Beanstalk 🌱🏰
Here are a few simple activities you can enjoy at home to support your child’s learning:
🗣️ Communication and Language
Story Sequencing
Talk about the story of Jack and the Beanstalk together.
Can your child remember what happened first, next, and at the end?
- Jack swaps the cow for magic beans
- The beanstalk grows
- Jack climbs to the giant’s castle
- Jack escapes
- The beanstalk is chopped down
Encourage your child to use words such as first, next, then, and finally.
💪 Physical Development
Beanstalk Movement Game
Pretend to be different characters from the story.
Can your child:
- Stretch up tall like a beanstalk?
- Stomp like the giant?
- Tiptoe quietly like Jack?
- Climb safely at the park?
- Carry small beans or pasta using tweezers or fingers?
This helps to develop both gross motor and fine motor skills.
📚 Phonics Fun
We have been learning the sounds:
m, a, s, d, t, i, n
Can your child:
- Find objects around the house that begin with these sounds?
- Practise saying the sounds clearly?
-
Play “Fred Talk” by sounding out simple words such as:
- m-a-t
- s-a-d
- t-i-n
- n-a-p
- Write some of the sounds using chalk, paint, or pencils.
Happy learning and don’t forget to send us photos of your growing magic beans! 🌱😊
🥜 Nut-Free School
Please remember that we are a nut-free school. Kindly ensure that no products containing nuts are included in children’s lunchboxes. Thank you for your support.
👕 Uniform
To order preschool uniform, please use the details below. We also have some second-hand uniform available—please speak to a member of staff if you are interested.
DEP Schoolwear Shop (Dorset Embroidery and Printwear Ltd)
🌐 Website: https://www.dorsetprintwear.com/the-prince-of-wales-school
📞 Telephone: 01305 750292
✉️ Email: sales@dorsetprintwear.co.uk
📖 Dates for Your Diary
Play and Learn is on Wednesday from 9.00-9.30am.
POWSA have got there monthly meeting on Wednesday from 7.30pm in the main school staffroom. Come along and find out whats happening. Everyone welcome.
Please speak to myself or a member of the team if you have any questions—we are always happy to help.
Here’s to another exciting week full of fun and adventures 🌈✨
Julia, Colleen, Lauren and Lauren 💛
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