Library trip

Dear Parents,

Our trip to the library has been cancelled for tomorrow (Thursday 1st March) due to the County Council cancelling all school transport. Pre-school at the moment is still open tomorrow. Please check the school website, Dorset for you website or the school facebook page for an update tomorrow morning from 7.00am onwards.

Thanks

Julia and Pre-school team

Our favourite books....

Hello Everyone,

Last week at the beginning of the week in small groups we talked about what we did during the holidays. It was lovely to hear all about their adventures. The children have drawn pictures of what they did in the holidays. These are up on display in the classroom.  We have celebrated Chinese New Year this week which the children have really enjoyed. We have tried some Chinese food including prawn crackers, noddles, spring rolls, stir fry, fortune cookies and sweet and sour. The children really enjoyed the prawn crackers and noodles. On Friday we had a Chinese Banquet. We used chopsticks to eat our noodles. Cody showed us how to use them. We listened to some Chinese New Year stories and learnt lots of fact e.g. the colour red is good luck. We made some dragon puppets and then went into the hall and did some dragon dancing. We also listened to some Chinese music and then made our own Chinese music up using the instruments at school. We watched some Chinese New Year celebrations on the interactive whiteboard. Henry bought is a Chinese outfit, which we tried on.
We have had a great first week back.

This week we are celebrating World Book Day (Thursday 1st March) by lots activities around stories and books. We are visiting the library on Wednesday or Thursday in small groups. We are going on the bus. Throughout the week we will be sharing lot's of our favourite stories and finding different places to read them. We will be talking about the books we share e.g. what do you think might happen?, recalling stories, describing characters and settings etc. Its going to be a brilliant week.

Home learning

Can you bring in your favourite story ? Can you think of a fun and different place to read your story? Take a photo and bring it in. 

Jennie Jigsaw-

This half term Jennie will be talking to us about how we can keep our bodies healthy.  Last week we talked about how we can keep our bodies healthy. This week we will be naming the different parts of our bodies and whats happens when we exercise. We will be playing lots of games in the hall along with Head shoulders knees and toes.

Letter and Sounds

We will be talking about places we need to be quiet. Also we will be continuing with our rhyming door. We are becoming very good at rhyming. Take a look at all our rhyming words.

Notices 

With a cold snap forecasted... just a reminder about our school closure procedures.

In the event of snow, Mr. Spracklen will make a decision if the school is to close before 06:30am. School will only close in the MOST EXTREME circumstances.

If a decision to close the school is made:

- Mr. Spracklen will officially close the school through the Dorset For You website.

- Mr. Spracklen will update social media and the school website with school closure notice.

All staff, parents and children should check Dorset For You website, social media and/or the school website which by 07:00am will show if the school is open or closed.

We have now got a new noticeboard which is on the wall by the Pre-School Year 2 door. Notices and daily information will be placed on this board. Please still look at the blog as this is where we display what we have been learning about and lots more. The noticeboard is for quick reference or daily information.

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Friday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Wednesday 28th February from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

This week on Thursday 1st March it is world book day. Children may come dressed as their favourite character from a story. 

On Friday 2nd March from 6.00pm-7.00pm in the Main school we are having a bedtime story hour. Children can come in their pyjamas  and bring their favourite teddy. There will be hot chocolate and biscuits.  Please see letter for information regarding this event.

Our Saturday Stay and Play morning is on the 10th March from 10.00-11.30am. After this we are having a community make over afternoon on the pre-school garden. It would be great to see all you. 

On Friday 9th March POWSA are running an Easter Bingo evening. Doors open at 5.30pm and eyes down for 6.00pm. POWSA will be sending home a plate for donations of cakes for the refreshments for the evening. 

Julia and  Pre-School Team

 

Chinese New Year

Hello Everyone,

We all hope you have had a wonderful half term. 

This week at pre-school we will be talking about what we have been doing during the half term holidays in small groups. We will be drawing a picture of something we enjoyed doing during half term. This will then be up on display. I can't wait to hear all about your adventures. Also this week we will be celebrating Chinese New Year. We will be trying lots of different Chinese food and having a Chinese Banquet at the end of the week. We will be using chopsticks as well. We will be sharing some Chinese New Year stories, making dragon puppets on sticks, listening to Chinese music, watching Chinese New Year celebrations, making our own Chinese Music and dances up. 

Home learning

Can you bring in a picture or an object which reminds you of something you did during the half term?

Jennie Jigsaw-

This half term Jennie will be talking to us about how we can keep our bodies healthy. This week we will be naming the different parts of our bodies and whats happens when we exercise. We will be playing lots of games in the hall along with Head shoulders knees and toes.

Letter and Sounds

I spy Names....
With a small group of children sitting in a circle, start the game by saying I spy someone whose name begins with... and give the sound of the first letter, for example ‘s’ for Satish. Then ask: Who can it be? Satish stands up, everyone says his name and he carries on the game, saying I spy someone whose name begins with..., and so on. If any children call out the name before the child with that name, still let the child whose name it is take the next turn. 

Notices

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. 

Its lovely to see so many children taking home library books, they are also able to take home puzzles and games. We try very hard to make sure all puzzles and games are complete. If you receive a puzzle or game which is not complete, please let Sharon know. Also if you have any puzzles and games you no longer want, Preschool would be very grateful for any donations.

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Thursday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Friday 23rd February from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

Please sign up for parents evening which is the second week back after half term. Sign up sheet is in the corridor on the wall.

Next week on Thursday 1st March it is world book day. Children may come dressed as their favourite character from a story. 

We are also visiting Dorchester Library on Wednesday 28th February and Thursday 1st March. If you have not already done so please return permission slips as soon as possible.

On Friday 2nd March from 6.00pm-7.00pm in the Main school we are having a bedtime story hour. Children can come in their pyjamas  and bring their favourite teddy. There will be hot chocolate and biscuits.  Please see letter for information regarding this event.

Our Saturday Stay and Play morning is on the 10th March from 10.00-11.30am. After this we are having a community make over afternoon on the pre-school garden. It would be great to see all you. 

On Friday 9th March POWSA are running an Easter Bingo evening. Doors open at 5.30pm and eyes down for 6.00pm. POWSA will be sending home a plate for donations of cakes for the refreshments for the evening. 

Julia and Pre-school Team

Science Fortnight

Last week we listened to the story of Owl babies which the children were fabulous at retelling the story whilst making their puppets. They remembered the owl babies names. We hope you enjoyed listening to the children retelling the story using their puppets at home. We also read the story of Night monkey and day monkey by Julia Donaldson which explores the different animals that are awake in the day and the night. 
We made a list of all the animals that are awake in the day time and the night time. 
Arthur bought in some home learning where he had gone to woods with his owls to act out the story. On Tuesday afternoon in small groups the children went to the school woods and acted out the owl babies story and discovered what Ivy was. 
In small groups the children took the torches to the sensory room which was black to use the torches to explore what they could find out. Lots of lovely language came from this activity. Also children had to find hidden characters around the room using their torches. 
On Thursday afternoon William bought in a science experiment from home which used coloured containers, torches and a tub of water. We explored what happened when you shone the light through the coloured containers. Can the children tell you what happened. 
On Friday afternoon we played hide and seek in the school grounds in groups. The children really enjoyed this and were fab at counting to 20. 
In the sand tray this week we have had the metal detectors. We used them to find hidden treasure. This was a popular activity. 

This week we will be continuing our science themed fortnight. We have got lots of exciting activities planned which include a visit to planetarium, hands on science workshops, volcano experiment and lots of other science exploring activities. We will be encouraging the children to think what might happen and explain why they think this. Its going to be an amazing week.
On Wednesday children may dress up a scientist.

Home learning

Is there a science experiment you would like to do at home and bring into pre-school to show your friends?

Letters and Sounds

We have begun our rhyming door, the children have come up with lots of words and we will continue to add to this door with lots more rhyming words. The children have become really good at describing an object for the other children to guess. 

This week we will continue with this activity..

Playing with words
Gather together a set of familiar objects with names that have varying syllable patterns (e.g. pencil, umbrella, camera, xylophone). Show the objects to the children, name them and talk about what they are used for. Wait for the children to share some of their experiences of the objects; for instance, some of them will have used a camera. Then encourage them to think about how the name of the object sounds and feels as they say it. Think about the syllables and clap them out as you say each word. Then clap the syllables for a word without saying it and ask: What object could that be? 
As children gain con dence try some long words like binoculars, telephone, dinosaur. 

Jennie Jigsaw

This week Jennie Jigsaw will continue to talk about what we would like to do when we are older.

Notices

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. 

Its lovely to see so many children taking home library books, they are also able to take home puzzles and games. We try very hard to make sure all puzzles and games are complete. If you receive a puzzle or game which is not complete, please let Sharon know. Also if you have any puzzles and games you no longer want, Preschool would be very grateful for any donations.

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Wednesday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Thursday 8th February from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

During the week beginning Monday 5th February 2018 we will be running a special ‘Science Themed Week’ across the entire School and Pre-School. Throughout the week, your child will be involved in a number of exciting Science Themed Activities such as a visit to a planetarium, drone flying lessons and hands on Science workshops!

On Wednesday 7th February 2018, we will be having a SCIENCE THEMED DRESS UP DAY. Children should come dressed as a Scientist. This could be someone such as Albert Einstein, Katherine Johnson or Marie Curie, or they could be an explorer, astronaut, naturist such as David Attenborough or Steve Backshall.  

We are asking for a voluntary parental contribution of £4.50 for your child to take part in these exciting and enriching learning opportunities throughout the week. This is a contribution, so anything that you are able to give will be gratefully received and all children will be involved in the activities regardless of the voluntary contributions made.

Don't forget it is a staff training day on Friday 9th February so the last day of term will be Thursday 8th February. 

Please sign up for parents evening which is the second week back after half term. Sign up sheet is in the corridor on the wall.

There is a POWSA meeting on the 6th February in the main school staff room at 7.30pm. Please ask Julia for more information. 

On 10th February from 2-5pm is another community make over day of the wildlife garden. Everyone is very welcome. If you are able to help, please do come along.

Have an amazing half term and we look forward to hearing all about it when we come back after half term. 

Julia and Pre-school Team

Science fortnight- Night and light

Hello everyone,

Wow what an amazing two weeks we have had looking at the story of The tiger who came to tea. Last week in particular, we have been talking about our favourite sandwiches and fillings. The children made their own sandwiches in the kitchen using knives to spread butter and fillings. The children then cut them in half. We talked about how to make a sandwich and each step needed.  We also made some cakes for our tea party on Friday. We talked about what you would need to make cakes and how to make them. After we had made them we carefully decorated the cakes. The children decorated the cakes beautifully. We have continued to listen to the CD of Tiger who came tea and carried out lots of tiger aerobics!!!! On Wednesday we had our face painted as tigers. The children loved this and couldn't wait to show you all their faces. On the computer we have designed our own plates of food for the tiger using purple mash. There are some great plates of food. The children are becoming very confident at using the computers and have good control of using the mouse. The children have become very good at retelling the story of The tiger who came to tea using the pictures from the book. Some children were able to retell the story without the book along with talking about all the characters and settings in the book. On Friday morning the children prepared for the tiger coming to our tea party. They made sandwiches in the kitchen and decorated cakes. On Friday afternoon we had our tea party and we had a surprise visit from the tiger. It was lovely to see so many of our families join us at the tiger tea party. We hope you all enjoyed it. 

For the next two weeks we are going to be having science fortnight. This week in particular we will be discovering light and dark and reading the story of Owl babies and The owl who was afraid of the dark. We will be talking about what it is like in the day and night, the animals that are awake at night, using torches, exploring shadows and lots more. We will be asking the children what they would like to find out about light and dark. 

Home learning

Well done to all the children who bought in something beginning with Tt. 

Can you retell the story of the owl babies using the puppets you bring home from pre-school? Please fill in a WOW for this. 

Letters and Sounds

We have begun our rhyming door, the children have come up with lots of words and we will continue to add to this door with lots more rhyming words. The children have become really good at describing an object for the other children to guess. 

This week we will..

Playing with words
Gather together a set of familiar objects with names that have varying syllable patterns (e.g. pencil, umbrella, camera, xylophone). Show the objects to the children, name them and talk about what they are used for. Wait for the children to share some of their experiences of the objects; for instance, some of them will have used a camera. Then encourage them to think about how the name of the object sounds and feels as they say it. Think about the syllables and clap them out as you say each word. Then clap the syllables for a word without saying it and ask: What object could that be?
As children gain con dence try some long words like binoculars, telephone, dinosaur. 

Jennie Jigsaw

This week Jennie Jigsaw will be talking about what we would like to do when we are older.

Notices

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. 

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Friday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Wednesday 31st January from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

During the week beginning Monday 5th February 2018 we will be running a special ‘Science Themed Week’ across the entire School and Pre-School. Throughout the week, your child will be involved in a number of exciting Science Themed Activities such as a visit to a planetarium, drone flying lessons and hands on Science workshops!

On Wednesday 7th February 2018, we will be having a SCIENCE THEMED DRESS UP DAY. Children should come dressed as a Scientist. This could be someone such as Albert Einstein, Katherine Johnson or Marie Curie, or they could be an explorer, astronaut, naturist such as David Attenborough or Steve Backshall.  

We are asking for a voluntary parental contribution of £4.50 for your child to take part in these exciting and enriching learning opportunities throughout the week. This is a contribution, so anything that you are able to give will be gratefully received and all children will be involved in the activities regardless of the voluntary contributions made.

If you have not returned your session request for next half term, please could you bring them in as soon as possible to enable us to plan staffing.

Don't forget it is a staff training day on Friday 9th February so the last day of term will be Thursday 8th February. 

Please sign up for parents evening which is the second week back after half term. Sign up sheet is in the corridoor on the wall.

There is a POWSA meeting on the 6th February in the main school staff room at 7.30pm. Please ask Julia for more information. 

On 10th February from 2-5pm is another community make over day of the wildlife garden. Everyone is very welcome. If you are able to help, please do come along.

Julia and Pre-school Team

The tiger who came to schoolFor the next two weeks we are going to be listening to the story of The tiger who came to tea with lots of exciting activities and experiences. We will be introducing the story through a joint morning with Reception on Monday morning. First thing we will be acting out the story in the hall to the cd followed by lots of activities with Reception. Throughout the two week we will be listening to the story, making tiger masks, making plates of food for the tiger, role ply area based on the story, facts about tigers and lots more. At the end of the two weeks we have the finale of a joint tea party on Friday afternoon with Reception and all our parents. Please see letter with all details in pigeon holes regarding this event.

Hello everyone,

Wow, what an amazing week with the story of The tiger who came to tea. The children have really enjoyed the story and have continued their learning throughout the week with lots of fun activities. On Monday we started our morning in Reception. We listened to the drama of the tiger who came to tea and joined in with the acting and singing. The children have really enjoyed the CD and have learnt the songs. Then we went into Reception and did lots of activities including collaging a large tiger, weighing tiger food against food, play dough tigers, role play cafe and a tiger hunt outside. The pictures from this morning are up on display.  

Some of the children have painted their own tigers at the painting easel. The children have made their own tigers using orange and black striped paper. On Wednesday morning we had a tiger outline with orange and black paint. The children used cotton buds to paint their tigers. The children have used scissors to cut out their own tiger mask and then painted them. The children have become really good at knowing the story and are beginning to retell the story using the pictures. We have been thinking of words beginning with Tt.

This week we will be continuing the story of The tiger who came to tea. We will be making plates of food for the tiger. We will be talking about our favourite sandwiches and making them which involves the children using knives to spread and cut. We will also be making cakes for our tiger who came to tea party. We will also be learning about where tigers like to live and their habitats. On Wednesday we will be face painting tigers. Throughout the week when the children arrive at pre-school there maybe a few surprises!!!

Home learning

Can you bring an object or picture of something beginning with Tt?

Letters and Sounds

The children are becoming really good at rhyming words. We will be making our rhyming door. (We ran out of times this week to start this.)

Jennie Jigsaw

This week Jennie Jigsaw will continue to ask us what we are good at and we will be displaying our answers on our jigsaw board.

Notices 

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. 

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Thursday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Friday 26th January from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

It was lovely to see lots of our families at our stay and play on Saturday. We hope you had a great time. Look out for the next one next half term. 

On Wednesday 24th January we will be face painting the children as tigers if they would like to be tiger. Please return the permission slip for face painting. 

On Friday 26th January from 2.30-3.30pm we are having our Tiger who came to tea party. Please have a look at the letter which has gone into pigeon holes. Any questions please do come and see me. Children can come to school on this day as one of the characters from the book.  If anyone has some cake stands we could borrow for this event, please could you let me know. 

If you have not returned your session request for next half term, please could you bring them in as soon as possible to enable us to plan staffing.

Don't forget it is a staff training day on Friday 9th February so the last day of term will be Thursday 8th February. 

Julia and Pre-school Team

The Tiger who came to tea

Hello everyone,

Last week we had a fantastic week all about the story of The Gingerbread Man. The children have joined in regularly with the repeated refrain throughout the story. The children were able to tell me the story using the pictures and could tell me the similarities and differences between different versions of the book. The children were able to tell me the characters, settings and the main events in the story. The children really enjoyed cooking their own gingerbread men to bring home and decorate. If you have any pictures of the decorated gingerbread men, please bring them in for our display. On Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning we did the gingerbread man experiment. The children had to predict what would happen when we put the gingerbread man into water. They came up with some great ideas. We then put him into the water and observed what happened. They were really fascinated and watched for a period of time. We also acted out the story of the gingerbread man in the hall. Throughout the week the children have made wooden bridges for the gingerbread man to cross, make their own gingerbread man out of play dough and lots more. Have a look at the display going up this week.  On Friday Sharon came in and the children made some bird food to go into basket which they decorated with beads to hang up for the birds in the garden. 

For the next two weeks we are going to be listening to the story of The tiger who came to tea with lots of exciting activities and experiences. We will be introducing the story through a joint morning with Reception on Monday morning. First thing we will be acting out the story in the hall to the cd followed by lots of activities with Reception. Throughout the two week we will be listening to the story, making tiger masks, making plates of food for the tiger, role ply area based on the story, facts about tigers and lots more. At the end of the two weeks we have the finale of a joint tea party on Friday afternoon with  Reception and all our parents. Please see letter with all details in pigeon holes regarding this event. 

Home learning

We would love to see some home learning around our story of The tiger who came to tea. It could be something you have made, books and objects etc. 

Letters and Sounds

The children are becoming really good at rhyming words. We will be making our rhyming door. 

Jennie Jigsaw

This week Jennie Jigsaw will be asking us what we are good at and we will be displaying our answers on our jigsaw board.

Notices 

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. 

It was lovely to see some of you at Stay and Play on Wednesday.  This week Stay and Play will be on Thursday 18th January from 8.30-9.00am. Everyone is very welcome including younger and older siblings. Hope to see lots of you there.

On Saturday January 20th is our stay and play Saturday morning from 10.00-11.30. Hope to see lots of you there. 

On Saturday January 20th we have got our community make over afternoon from 2pm till 5pm working on the wildlife garden. It would be great to see you there.

On Friday 26th January from 2.30-3.30pm we are having our Tiger who came to tea party. Please have a look at the letter which has gone into pigeon holes. Any questions please do come and see me. Children can come to school on this day as one of the characters from the book. 

Julia and Pre-school Team