What are we doing in Sea Turtles this month?

For January to February we will be having an enhanced focus on vehicles and transport. Many of our children are really obsessed with the vehicles we have for them to play with and also all the books to do with them too. They love to explore, talk and read about vehicles so we will be having a big focus on them.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

KUW- exploring the different types of vehicles there are and talking about what they do. Exploring speed.  PSED-  Working in groups with vehicles, sharing, turn taking. MD- size, multiples, shapes, CLL learning new nouns, making noises to model the vehicle noises, talking about what they do. PD large motor skills role playing driving vehicles. Fine motor skills manipulating small vehicles to do what they want them to do.  CD- exploring with vehicles through arts and crafts, making vehicle representations, tyre painting.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month will involve:

• Manjit will supporting the children to in making some train track paintings and car track paintings using card and corrugated paper.
• Sara will be making circuits outside for the children to race around pretending to be vehicles or using the toy vehicles.
• Ella will be supporting the children in making car shaped biscuits and icing them.
• Sarah G will be helping the children to make some salt dough vehicle shapes to decorate.
• Sarah G will be supporting the children in making a big red bus using red paint and black tissue paper an vehicle collages.
• Sarah Louise will be supporting the children to make hot air balloons, paper boats and aeroplanes.

Some ideas to support your children at home:

·         Find a busy but safe patch to watch traffic from. Names the vehicles, colours, comment on sizes and speed.

·         Sing some vehicle songs with your child…’The Wheels on the Bus’, ‘Down by the Station’, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, chocolate bar…’

·         Get some books on vehicles. Trucks often draw children in especially and they love quite complicated ones at a young age. And you will learn something too. It is amazing that a truck is not just a truck.Notice and point things out to your child. They probably noticed them already as you drive down the road  but giving them language to go with their d

What are we doing in Dolphins this month?

From January to February we will be having an enhanced focus on books

Story times are a very special part of Dolphins day. We have story times three formal times a day and each child attends at least two of them. However we also have spontaneous story times with small groups of children or individuals throughout the day as guided by the children. Over the next month, we will be focussing and referring to types of books; science, information, stories, made books, bought books, free books, authors, illustrators, caring for books, favourite books, etc. We want the children to be involved in creating books and bringing special books of theirs in to share with the group.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

KUW-Learning new things about the world through information books PSED- feeling good about their preferences for books and sharing them with peers.  MD- Looking at the numbers on pages, size of books, shapes of books. CLL Learning new words such as author, illustrator, fiction, non-fiction, etc. PD Fine motor skills in mending books, handling books, turning pages, etc.  CD- making up their own stories, poems, illustrations, books.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month to support this will be:

·         Jenny will be taking groups of children to the Library to talk about what Libraries are for the children to learn how to use them and respect them properly.

·         Laura W will be talking to the children about different ways to use books to enhance the story experience, such as Story sacks, listening posts, acting out stories, etc.

·         Cristina will be talking to the children about how books are organised with words and pictures, how they are made and how to respect them.

·         Laura Z is going to be making books with the children; creating their own story and illustrations.

·         Rachel G will be helping the children to act out some stories and present a play.

·         Christine H will be introducing new stories to children to listen to on the listening post.

·         Laura J will be setting up the home corner as a library for children to role play using the library.

·         Lan will be getting the children to select books that need mending and creating a mending station for book mending.

What you could do to support your children at home:

·         Take them to the library. Become a member if you are not one already and get them to treasure their first library card. Teach them about its value and how to respect people, services and books.

·         Make a story book with them. Invent a story, illustrate it and even share it with the nursery.

·         Bring in your favourite book from home.

·         Make a photo album of events that your child  been a part of, write a story about what happened.

December 2011

What are we doing in Dolphins~ November to December?

Well this year we are getting on with Christmas early so they know their Carol’s and Christmas festivities in good time and before the fun arrives. The children have been nagging us to sing Christmas songs and so why not? Let’s get the glitter scattered, glue gummed about and start the Christmas production line…. We will also be learning about Hanukah, Santa Lucia and the different ways these festivals are celebrated around the world
The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
KUW-religious festivals in the world PSED- different ways in demonstrating care for others MD size, shapes, counting, organising. CLL Learning new words to songs, signing songs. PD Action songs, keeping warm in the colder weather CD- creative dance to Christmas music. The Dance performance
Some of the activities we will be doing this month to support this will be:
• Christine H will be reintroducing the children to Christmas songs and reminding us of all the ones we forgot over the year.
• She will also be helping children make salt dough Christmas decorations for your trees at home.
• Laura Williams will be supporting the Thursday dance group in preparing for their dance show. • Laura W will also be helping children make presents for their parents and talking about the meaning of Christmas and why we give gifts.
• Rachel G will be making decorations for the room, junk modelling and doing a lot of box wrapping with the children.
• Lan will be helping the children to make Christmas cards and also flashcards for our Christmas songs.
• Laura Zurita will be showing the children how to make some great Christmas decorations. • Jenny will be teaching the children about Santa Lucia and Hannuka.
• Su will be talking to the children about remembering those who aren’t as lucky as us at Christmas time.
• Carol will be putting together a book called ‘Our Story of Christmas Time’ which is about what the children in our nursery do to celebrate Christmas or if they don’t what they do instead.
What you could do to support your children at home:
• Send a few works to the nursery about your plans for Christmas so that the children can talk about it and share them with their friends.
• Take a walk through the city to look at the Christmas lights. They are beautiful and children just love them.
• Talk with your children about others less fortunate and ways that you can help.
• Make some Christmas tree decorations.
• Practice your Carol’s for Carol’s by Candlelight!
• Read them the story of Christmas. • Share your family’s plans for Christmas so that your child can talk about it and share their excitement with their friends.

What are we doing in Sea Turtles from November to December?

Celebrating the environment around us. Christmas, lights, cold, wrapping up warm, celebrations and decorations. The activities this month will be based around the Early Year
Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:
KUW-observing the changes in the environment and responding to them. PSED- learning about and dealing with excitement, wonder and expectations. Experiencing Santa and responding to feelings about him. MD- size, shape, pattern, colour. CLL- naming new discoveries and expanding vocabulary, especially through song PD-coping with dressing for the cold and moving in more restrictive clothing CD- arts and crafts, movement using things in creative ways.
Some of the activities we will be doing this month will involve:
• Manjit will be helping the children to create Christmas scenes through art. Also making Christmas stocking pictures and cold winter collages.
• Manjit will be making a Christmas cake with the children.
• All of the Sea turtles team will be making Christmas cards and presents with the children.
• Sarah G will be helping the children to ice rich team biscuits with the children to bake Christmas biscuits.
• Sarah G will be helping the children to make Santa’s boot collages and snow men collages.
• Sarah Louise will be making Christmas tree decorations with the children; balls, angles, presents, candy sticks, etc. She’ll also be making Christmas tree collages.
• Sarah Louise will be helping the children to make snow globes using clear plastic bottles.
• Sarah Louise will be making reindeer ears and bell bracelets with the children.
• Sara will be helping the children to make Christmas hats with the children and also introducing a Spanish Christmas song.
• Ella will be helping the children to make stained glass windows.
Some ideas to support your children at home:
• The most exciting this for small children at Christmas time are the decorations that shine and sparkle. Make them a Christmas treasure basket using safe items that they can explore and enjoy without destroying the Christmas tree and house adornment.
• Take them for a walk in the buggy through the city filled with lights so they can lie back and enjoy the show.
• Take them to an ice skating rink. They can’t participate but infants and toddlers love to see bigger children enjoying themselves.

Sea Turtles October

We have been seriously spoiled in October with the amazing weather. We always love the leaves and wind and approach to darkness, but this year we have been able to do it without freezing fingers and toes! This has meant loads of 'collecting' activities being able to be explored outside to their artistic end.

So, we have enjoyed leaves, leaves and more leaves. They have been scattered over the top of water. Sarah M submerged lots in brown paint and squelched them about with the children. Beata painted leaves and stuck them on paper to make tree pictures. Piles of them have been put in the big sand and water tray for the children to sit in amongst them. We have picked them up, thrown them and sat quietly investigating them more intently.

And then there was the fun leading up to Halloween with the grand finale of the Halloween Day. Sarah G made spiders with the children, which were a lot of fun. Manjit made some pumpkins with them and a delicious pumpkin loaf cake that they decorated and ate on the fun day. The children came in fantastic costumes and as a collection of little dressed up toddlers they were quite simply adorable.

Dolphins October

Dolphins have also embraced the outdoors with a number of preschool children’s trips to the Green. They have had a great time collecting leaves, sticks, conkers, seed pods, etc and bringing them back to the nursery to look at further.

Jenny, who has been training as a Forest School teacher for the last year, has been talking to the first group of children and getting resources ready with them  for their Forest Schools sessions. A Forest School is an innovative educational approach to outdoor play and learning. The philosophy of Forest Schools is to encourage and inspire individuals of any age through positive outdoor experiences.

For more information on Forest Schools, please look at the link to the right of this page.

Following the collections, we have been making leaf rubbings with the leaves, sticking them together to make autumn collages, playing with them in clay, drawing around them, etc.

Some of the Dolphin children also took a trip to St Mary’s nursery and took part in some tile making workshops there to make colourful tiles to display in the children’s bathroom. We’ll take another trip to look at the finished tiles in December too.

And then there was of course an overload of Halloween activities as well. Pumpkins made out of paper plates, salt dough cats, witches, houses, pumpkins. Orange and black paper chains have been strung up…all in preparation for our Halloween costume party. And the Halloween Day was great fun too. The children were fantastic and we had all sorts of dressing up, fun and games all day, finished off with partying in the dark playground at the end of the day with our Halloween music, disco lights and glowsticks. What a great way to finish October!