Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....

Hello everyone,

Last week we have been enjoying lot's of seaside stories. On Monday Arthur bought in some lovely books about the seaside including one about a digger rescuing a whale. We read the story at group time and after the story I asked the children what props we would need to make our small world play. The children came up with all the different props and then we went and found all the props for the story. The children then used the props to act out the story.  

On the drawing table this week we have had some green and blue foil out along with some sea creature outlines. The children have been creating some fantastic underwater pictures. 

On Thursday morning we went to the beach. It was a fantastic trip and we all had lots of fun. We were all so proud of the children as they were amazing. We did 4 different activities at the beach including painting pebbles, collecting objects e.g. shells, stones, sea weed, making pictures using seaside objects and digging and making sandcastles. We sang some seaside songs on the beach and had a snack. After snack we climbed the rocks, made dames, played in the sand and dodged the waves. In the afternoon when we came back we talked about what we liked doing on our beach trip. In the afternoons last week the children have been making salt dough underwater creatures. The children have been using different tools and techniques to create their underwater creatures. We will be painting these and bringing them home. 

On Friday we visited Harold the giraffe in the Life Education Van. The lady talked about different parts of our bodies and what each part does. We then met Harold who showed us how to keep clean. We helped to make Harold clean by washing him, brushing his hair and teeth. We sang head, shoulders, knees and toes. We learnt about why it is important to sleep at night and we pretended to go to sleep under the twinkle stars. We watched a video of Harold going to pre-school and the things he enjoys doing at Pre-school. When we got back to pre-school we talked about all the things we learnt about our bodies. We coloured in some pictures of Harold and recalled our learning about how to look after our bodies. 

We have been doing some gardening this week and continuing to look after our chickens. 

This week we will continue our learning of the seaside. We will be sharing lot's more stories, poems and songs. We will continue our salt dough underwater creatures and paint them. The children asked to make ice cream so this week we will be making different ice cream flavours and making a tally of our favourite flavours using purple mash. In the number area this week we have got an ice cream parlour role play. In the water tray this week we have got underwater creatures and boats. Also lot's more seaside activities based on the children's interest. 

Letters and Sounds

Last week we played the game I spy my little eye someone name beginning with..

By the end of the week the children were really good at playing this game. 

This week we will be playing...

Musical corners

Put a chair in each corner of the room, or outdoors. Collect four sets of objects, each set containing objects with names that start with the same sound. (Four different initial sounds are represented.) Keep back one object from each set and place the remaining sets on each of the four chairs. 

 The children sit in a circle or facing you. Name each of the four sets of objects, giving emphasis to the initial sound. 
Explain that now there will be music to move around or dance to and that when the music stops the children are to listen. You will show them an object and they should go to the corner where they think it belongs. 

Jennie Jigsaw
We will continue to talk about families and friends.

Home Learning

Can you make a seaside picture using objects from the seaside?

Notices 

As the weather is starting to warm, please could all children bring sun hats to school. We do have a box of spares if needed. If you have applied suncream to your child before school please could you let a member of staff know. If you have ticked to supply your own suncream, please could you make sure children have this when they come to pre-school ready for us to apply.

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Friday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Wednesday 16th May from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

Thank you for all your support and sponsorship for the bike and scooter rides. The children were fantastic at using their bikes and scooters and were able to complete a number of laps. If you have any remaining sponsorship money please bring it into pre-school next week. 

On Friday 18th May it is the POWSA Summer bingo evening. Doors open at 5.30pm and eyes down for 6.00pm. It's a great family evening. 

On Saturday 19th May from 2-5pm we have got a community make over afternoon in the wildlife area. We will be working on getting the raised beds up and running. 

On Tuesday 22nd May at 7.30pm in the main school staff room is a POWSA meeting to discuss further fundraising events. If you would like more information please come and see Julia.

Don't forget to bring in your child's WOW moments. We love to share and celebrate these with everyone. There are spare WOW's by the WOW board in the corridor. 

Looking forward to a great week.

Julia and Pre-school team

The seaside

Hello everyone,

Last week on Monday we continue with mixing colours and making our butterflies. The children have independently explored mixing colours throughout the week on the tuff spot and have taken their own prints from their mixing of colours.
On Tuesday morning our grandparents joined us for snack. The children really enjoyed having snack with them and then taking them on a tour around their learning environments including inside and outside. It was lovely to see different games being played involving grandparents. The pictures of this event is up on the corridor display.
On Wednesday another group made sandwiches for our friends. They made a tally of each of their friends choice of sandwich and then went to the kitchen to make them.
On Wednesday we talked about what we knew about the seaside and what activities we would like to do. The children came up with some wonderful ideas.
On Thursday we talked about how to keep safe in the sun. In a group the children came up with how to stay safe in the sun. We then made posters about staying safe in the sun. This our now displayed in the pre-school playground to remind the children.
On Friday a small group of children went to Year 4 class assembly which they enjoyed.
We have spent some great time learning outside this week and have been busy digging out the soil in the borders ready to make digger world!! We have also been unto the wildlife garden to look after the chickens but also digging over the beds.

This week we be continuing our theme of the seaside. We have our trip with Reception this week to the beach. We will be doing different activities at the beach e.g. digging/sandcastles, collecting objects etc. We will sharing lots of stories and poems about the seaside. We will be doing lot's of the activity ideas the children came up with. We will also continue with our digger world and gardening.

Letters and Sounds
Musical corners

Put a chair in each corner of the room, or outdoors. Collect four sets of objects, each set containing objects with names that start with the same sound. (Four different initial sounds are represented.) Keep back one object from each set and place the remaining sets on each of the four chairs.
At rst, the children sit in a circle or facing you. Name each of the four sets of objects, giving emphasis to the initial sound.
Explain that now there will be music to move around or dance to and that when the music stops the children are to listen. You will show them an object and they should go to the corner where they think it belongs. 

I Spy... Names- Children to take turns playing I spy with children names in the class.

Jennie Jigsaw
We will continue to talk about families and friends.

Home Learning
Can you bring an object you have found at the seaside?

Notices

As the weather is starting to warm, please could all children bring sun hats to school. We do have a box of spares if needed. If you have applied suncream to your child before school please could you tick the names list on the notice board. If you have ticked to supply your own suncream, please could you make sure children have this when they come to pre-school ready for us to apply.

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Thursday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Friday 11th May from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

Thank you for all your support and sponsorship for the bike and scooter rides. The children were fantastic at using their bikes and scooters and were able to complete a number of laps. If you have any remaining sponsorship money please bring it into pre-school next week. 

On Friday 18th May it is the POWSA Summer bingo evening. Doors open at 5.30pm and eyes down for 6.00pm. It's a great family evening. 

Don't forget to bring in your child's WOW moments. We love to share and celebrate these with everyone. There are spare WOW's by the WOW board in the corridor. 

Julia and Pre-school team

Munchkins Play Cafe

Hi everyone,

Munchkins cafe are offering some School Meet up sessions for all the schools in Dorchester. Below is the poster with all the dates for different schools.
These events are free.

Thanks

Julia

The sea side

Hello everyone,

Last week we read the story of The Hungry Caterpillar.  By the end of the week the children telling the story themselves using the pictures in the book. Julia got the five different fruits from the market and we counted out the correct number of each fruit and had a go at writing the numeral to match. 
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we made our own fruit salads using the fruit from the story. The children showed some great skills using the knives to cut up the fruit and also trying different fruits. 
We have also been exploring colour mixing this week using the prime colours and white to see what happens when you mix different colours together. We then put paper on top of our colour mixing and then we have cut them into butterflies. Please see board in the classroom for our bugs, insects and hungry caterpillar work. 
On Tuesday and Wednesday Sharon took some of us to make sandwiches for our friends for snack. We went around the classroom asking each child what sandwich choice they would like to make and we made a tally. We then added up how many  of each sandwich and went and made them in the kitchen. 
On Friday we made a graph using Purple Mash 2count about our favourite fruit from the story. The children were very good at reading the results from the graph and could tell me the most popular and the least popular. We also watched the animated version of the Hungry caterpillar on the whiteboard. We really enjoyed this. 
Also on Friday the fire engine visited the school to take part in the daily mile. We joined in with the school daily mile. The firemen also ran with us. We also got to sit in the fire engine and see what it is like inside. The firemen also put the blue lights on and the sirens. 

This week at the beginning we will be finishing off our butterflies and bugs on the computer. On Tuesday it is grandparents snack, so we will be all having snack together and showing our grandparents all around our classroom and outdoor space. 
We will also be starting to talk about the seaside and asking the children what they know, what they would like to find out and what activities they would like to do. 

Letters and sounds

Last week we played metal mike which the children really enjoyed doing and also making noises with our voices. We will continue this week with Metal Mike and musical instruments. 

Metal Mike

Encourage a small group of children to sit in a circle or facing the front so they can see you and Metal Mike (a toy robot computer). Have ready a bag of pictures of objects (e.g. cat, dog, mug, sock) and sound out and blend the phonemes in their names. Ask each child in turn to take out a picture or an object from a bag. Hold it up and tell the group that Metal Mike is a computer and so he talks with a robot voice. Ask the children to name the object as Metal Mike would and demonstrate it for them in a robotic voice (e.g. ‘c-a-t’). Feed the object or picture into Metal Mike and encourage the group rst to listen to you and then join in as you say the word exaggerating the sound of each phoneme, followed by blending the phonemes to make the word. 

Home Learning

Can you bring a picture in of your family and extended family? We have been sharing these at Jennie Jigsaw time. 

Have you got a favourite sea side story you would like to share with your friends?

Jennie Jigsaw

This week we will be talking about the people in our families and what jobs they do. It would be great if you could bring in a picture of your family and extended family. 

Notices

As the weather is starting to warm, please could all children bring sun hats to school. We do have a box of spares if needed. If you have applied suncream to your child before school please could you let a member of staff know. If you have ticked to supply your own suncream, please could you make sure children have this when they come to pre-school ready for us to apply.

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Wednesday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Thursday 3rd May from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

Continuing this week is the Big Pedal. Children are encouraged to scooter or bike to school. We are keeping a tally of how many each day.

On WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY AND Friday this week we are having our sponsored bike and scooter ride. Please see letter to see which day your child is taking part. Children can bring in their bikes or scooters and helmets. We will be counting how many laps of the island they can do. Each child will get a certificate at the end. 

On Friday 18th May it is the POWSA Summer bingo evening. Doors open at 5.30pm and eyes down for 6.00pm. It's a great family evening. 

Don't forget to bring in your child's WOW moments. We love to share and celebrate these with everyone. There are spare WOW's by the WOW board in the corridor. 

Have a great week

Julia and Pre-school Team

The very hungry caterpillar

Hello everyone,

Wow, what a fantastic first week back. We have had an amazing week exploring our extended outside area. The children have really enjoyed the new climbing tree and the stepping stones. We have planted our potatoes outside. We have planted some plants and sown some seeds in our large flower bed. The children have really enjoyed watering all our plants. On Monday morning we talked in small groups about what we did in the Easter holidays. On Monday afternoon we went pond dipping in the wildlife garden. We found some pond bugs. We used magnifying glasses to look at them. On Tuesday we went bug hunting and found lots of different bugs like worms, slugs, snails, spider and woodlice. We took pictures of them and drew them. It was great fun. On Wednesday we went on a bike ride around the school grounds on the balance bikes. On Friday we went to the roundhouse and listened to some stories and sand some songs. Everyday we have been looking after our pet chickens. We have been feeding them and collecting the eggs. The children have really enjoyed this.  We have also been colouring in our own bug using Purple Mash on the computer. Sharon bought our tadpoles back and we have been looking how big they have got and now they have 2 feet. We have been sharing some bugs stories and information books and singing some songs. 

This week we will be sharing the story of The hungry caterpillar and looking at the life cycle of a caterpillar. The children will be making their own butterflies using paint. The children will be exploring mixing different colours together and to see what happens. We will be talking about the prime colours. 
We will also be making fruit salad to bring home using the different fruits in the story. We will talking about which food are healthy and unhealthy in the story. 
We will be finishing our bugs on Purple Mash this week as well. The children will also be making sandwiches for snack and making a tally of which sandwich each child would like.  We will continue to plant some more vegetable seeds and watering all our plants. 

Letters and sounds

Last week we played the odd one out, the children were very good at telling me the odd one out when rhyming with some pictures. The children have come up with some more rhyming words for our door. 

What noises can you make with your voice?
Children to think of different noises they can make with their voice.

Metal Mike

Encourage a small group of children to sit in a circle or facing the front so they can see you and Metal Mike (a toy robot computer). Have ready a bag of pictures of objects (e.g. cat, dog, mug, sock) and sound out and blend the phonemes in their names. Ask each child in turn to take out a picture or an object from a bag. Hold it up and tell the group that Metal Mike is a computer and so he talks with a robot voice. Ask the children to name the object as Metal Mike would and demonstrate it for them in a robotic voice (e.g. ‘c-a-t’). Feed the object or picture into Metal Mike and encourage the group rst to listen to you and then join in as you say the word exaggerating the sound of each phoneme, followed by blending the phonemes to make the word. 

Home Learning

Can you bring a picture in of your family and extended family?

Jennie Jigsaw

This week we will be talking about the people in our families and what jobs they do. It would be great if you could bring in a picture of your family and extended family. 

Notices

As the weather is starting to warm, please could all children bring sun hats to school. We do have a box of spares if needed. If you have applied suncream to your child before school please could you let a member of staff know. If you have ticked to supply your own suncream, please could you make sure children have this when they come to pre-school ready for us to apply.

We raised an amazing £705.20 at Spring Fest on Friday. It was lovely to see so many of you there and everyone having lots of fun. 

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Friday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Wednesday 25th April from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

On Saturday 28th April 10.00-11.30am, it is our Saturday stay and play morning. Older and younger siblings are very welcome to come too. We hope to see lots of our families there.

On Tuesday 24th April at 7.30pm in the main school staff room POWSA are having a meeting about future fund raising events. If you would like to get involved, please do come along. If you have any questions come and see Julia. 

Have a great week

Julia and Pre-school Team