Spring is finally here! With buds on the trees
and flowers growing, the Dolphin children have been noticing the changes going
on around them. This month the children will be learning about how living
things change and grow. We will look at both how plants grow and how we
ourselves grow and change.
The activities this month will be based around the Early Years
Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
Prime areas:
PSED: Enjoys
responsibility of carrying out small tasks.
PD: Observes the effects activities
have on their bodies. C&L Develop
understanding of simple concepts (eg: Big/Little)
Specific areas:
L:
Enjoy rhyming and rhythmic activities. M: Show an interest in shapes in the
environment. UW: Develop an
understanding of growth, decay and changes over time. EA&D: Begin to be interested in and describe the texture of
things.
Some of the activities we will be doing this month to support
this will be:
·
Life cycles. Manjit will be looking at different animal life cycles such as
frogs and chickens, Manjit will support the children in making life cycle
charts and will also be doing some experiments with eggs.
·
Trip to the library. Shilpi will be organising trips to the library
so the children can choose some books about growth and will bring them back to
the centre to look at and share.
·
Growing cress. Christine will be supporting the children to
grow their own cress, the children will watch and record how it grows and
changes.
·
Animal collages. Matt will support the children in make animal
life cycle collages using pictures of different animals at different stages of
growth.
·
Butterflies. Marie Claire will be helping the children to learn about the life
cycle of a butterfly by introducing baby caterpillars and getting the children
to watch them grow and change into butterflies before releasing them into the
wild, along with looking at books about caterpillars and drawing pictures of
the caterpillars.
·
How we grow. Abongi will be discussing with the children how we as humans grow
and change, using flashcards and photos, Abongi will support the children in
understanding how we grow and what we need to help us grow.
·
Planting seeds. Emma will assist the children to plant some spring
time seeds and bulbs in the garden and learn about what plants grow in the
spring time.
What you could do to support
your children at home:
·
Go for a spring walk. Go to your local park or visit the walk ways by
the river, get your child to point out what colours and shapes they can spot,
see how many different flowers you can find, what wildlife can you see on your
walk?.
·
Look
at family photo albums. Look at photos with your child
talk about how they have grown and changed since they were a baby, show them
photos of yourself as a young child and discuss how you have changed.
·
Do
some planting. Plant some seeds, blubs or plants
in your garden, window box or a plant pot that could be put on a window ledge
or shelf, encourage your child to look
after their planting, talk about how the plants or seeds need water and
sunlight to help them grow.
