What are we doing in Dolphins in March 2014

The Dolphin children have shown a keen interest and enjoyed last month’s topic about keeping healthy, So this month we will be continuing with the healthy theme and this month topic will be ‘Keeping Active’, We will be supporting  the children to participate in lots of different keeping active activities. 

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

Prime areas:

PSED: Play in groups, Extending and elaborating play ideas, explaining own knowledge and understanding and ask appropriate questions of others. PD: Run skilfully and negotiate spaces successfully, adjusting speed or direction to avoid obstacles C&L Recognise familiar words and signs such as own name, stop, go and familiar logos.

Specific areas:

L: Begin to give meaning to marks as they draw, write and paint. M: Use some number names in play accurately, for example counting actions. UW: Know some of the things that make them unique, and can talk about some of the similarities and differences in relation to friends and family EA&D: Enjoy joining in with dancing and ring games.

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

·         Pancake race. Manjit will set up an obstacle course for the children and teachers to complete while tossing pancakes as part of our Shrove Tuesday celebrations.

·         Music and Movement. Shilpi will be supporting the children to participate in music and movement sessions indoors and outdoors and exploring different ways of moving.

·         Sport Collages. Christine will be supporting the children to learn about different sports that can be played and assisting them to create collages using pictures of these sports.

·         Car Park Olympics. Matt will set up and assist the children to participate in their very own Olympics, The children will be able to participate in a variety of different races using bean bags, hula hoops, foam javelins and stepping stones.

·         Sports. Marie Claire will be helping the children to learn about and try a variety of different types of sports such as volleyball, basketball and table tennis.

·         Keeping Active. Abongi will be discussing with the children the importance of keeping active and what they can do to keep healthy and active.

·         Sporting Goods. Emma will assist the children to create pictures of the different uniforms and equipment used in different sports.

  

What you could do to support your children at home:

·         Try something new. Have a look at what is being offered at your local sports centre and encourage your child to try something new.

·         Trip to the park. Visit your local park and keep active with your child, Go for a cycle together, kick a ball about or just go for a walk together.

·         Get them involved. Talk to your child about any sports you play or used to play when you were younger, talk to them about your favourite sports and talk about what they like to do to keep active.

What we are doing in Sea Turtles in March 2014

The children have shown an interest in moving, dancing and action songs and the younger children have started to be more mobile and are starting to take steps, so this month we will be looking at being ‘active’ and how to keep healthy. We will do this through a variety of activities, such as collages, action songs, obstacle courses and music and movement sessions. These activities will be both indoors and outdoors. 

The activities this month will be based around the

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

Prime areas:

PSED: Interacts with others and explores new situations when supported by familiar adults PD: Takes first few steps independently. C&L Enjoys rhymes and demonstrates listening by trying to join in with actions and vocalisation.

Specific areas:

L:Show an interest in rhymes and may have some favourites.  M: Begin to organise and categorise objects. UW: To become more absorbed in combining objects, their families and other people.  EA&D: Move their whole bodies to sounds they enjoy such as music or a regular beat.

  

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

·         Music and Movement. Sarah will be supporting the children to choose different music and move their bodies and dance around both indoors and outdoors. She will also help them learn new actions and support them to show off their own moves.

·         Healthy Living Collage. Cristina C will be working with the children to make health living collages using pictures from magazines and the internet of people on scooters, bikes and walking, as well as pictures of vegetables and fruit.

·         Healthy Living Flash Cards. Alice will make some flash cards showing images of things that help us stay active and healthy and use them in circle time with the children.

·         Obstacle Course. Laura will support the children in taking risks safely and exploring a range of different movements needed to travel on, over and under a simple obstacle course.

·         Action Songs. Afia will be teaching the children a range of different action songs and support them to make the different movements.

·         The Way We Move. Christina G will be encouraging the children to explore different movements in the garden such as big steps, walking at different paces, jumping like kangaroos throwing hula hoops and bean bags

What you could do to support your children at home:

·         Take a trip to the playground. Take a trip to the local playground and encourage your little one to use the different apparatus available, support them to take risks safely.

·         Have a kick about. Take a ball into the garden or go to a local park and kick and throw the ball around with your child.

·         Have a dance. Put on some music and have a dance around the living room with your little one. Encourage them to move in a variety of ways, dance to a variety of different types of music, why not try pop, classical or country.

What we did in Sea Turtles in February

This month for February we looked at caring and sharing with our friends. We have been supporting the children to build up friendships through sharing activities.

The children have been learning to use key words in their play for gentle touching and caring for others. For example Alice has been taking photos of children in their play, using the photos to create flashcards for children to relate the words to their play. This has brought positive behaviour into the group, by talking about the importance of sharing things. The older children have been role-modelling to the little ones and encouraging  sharing.   

We have been doing circle-times around the topic by creating a special treasure basket with children bringing special items in from home to explore and share with others.  Children have been in small groups where they have been exploring , talking and showing others  their special things.

There has been lots of sensory play to add means to gesture and marks children make.  We adjusted the activity from floor to table to encourage all children to come to the activity and explore the textures.  Children learnt to turn-take during the activity by sharing the paint brushes. The children created different movements to express their feelings.

Children explored family photos which are display in the quiet room, children are beginning to recognise their  peers and  main carers.

What we got up to in Dolphins in February

The Dolphin children had shown an interest in talking about vegetables and why it’s important to eat them, so in February we explored how to keep healthy, which included what we should eat, why we need to exercise and keep active and the importance of cleaning ourselves.

The beginning of the month in Dolphins was all things pink and red to celebrate Valentine’s Day.  The children enjoyed getting sparkly and creative with heart shapes.

We've had lots of discussions about ways to keep clean and why we have to look after our bodies on the outside as well as the inside.

The forest school children are now in the full swing of things and are gaining lots of fire building experience.  The hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows at the end are an added tasty bonus!

What are we doing in Sea Turtles in February

The children in Sea Turtles have been showing their sensitive caring sides with their friends. This month we will be supporting the children to build friendships, through sharing, gentle touching and caring for others and encouraging their positive behaviour.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

Prime areas:

PSED: Show an interest in the activities and respond differently to children and adults. PD: Explore objects by picking up and touching them. C&L Develop the ability to follow others body language.

Specific areas:

L:Enjoy looking at books and other printed material with familiar people. M:Begin to recognise big things and small things in meaningful context. UW: Enjoy pictures and stories about themselves, their families and other people.  EA&D: Begin to move to music, listen to rhymes, and join in with rhymes and songs 

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

·         Sharing and caring circle time. Sarah will be making a special treasure basket of items that are special to the children that they have brought from home for them to explore and share with each other.

·         Friendship collage. Alice will be working with the children to make a large friendship collage using photos of the children playing and being caring towards each other.

·         Caring Flash cards. Cristina C will make flash cards with different caring actions on them for the children to copy.

·         Sensory play. Laura will support the children in exploring soft touching, exploring words and adding meaning to actions

·         Puppet time. Afia will be doing puppet circle times encouraging the children to play with the puppets to promote sharing, gentle touching and friendships.

·         Story time. Christina G will be sharing books with the children about sharing and playing together. 

What you could do to support your children at home: 

·         Talk to your little ones. Talk to your little ones about the importance of sharing things, invite a friend over for a play date, sit with them and role model and encourage sharing.

·         Read stories. Sit together and look at books and read stories about sharing and caring.

·         Use positive reinforcement. Always give praise both verbally and through expression and body language when your child shares or is caring towards others.

 

What are we doing in Dolphins in February?

The Dolphin children have shown an interest in talking about vegetables and why it’s important to eat them, So this month we will be exploring how to keep healthy which includes what we should eat, why we need to exercise and keep active and the importance of cleaning ourselves.

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

Prime areas:

PSED: Begin to express own preferences of what vegetables and fruit to eat. PD: Start to observe the effect of activity on their bodies. C&L Begin to understand the use of objects.

Specific areas:

L: To show an interest in illustrations and print in books and the environment. M: To understand the order and sequences of hygiene routines. UW: To enjoy joining in with nursery customs and routines EA&D: Manipulate materials to make dinner plates and healthy eating posters.

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

·         Oral hygiene. Manjit will support the children in understanding the importance of cleaning our teeth, through discussions and role play.

·         Healthy eating poster. Shilpi will  be talking about healthy food and the importance of eating healthily   and will be assisting the children to create a healthy eating poster

·         Good food /bad food. Christine will be supporting the children to learn about good food and bad food and how they work, using books and games.

·         Healthy eating dinner plates. Matt will assist the children to create their own healthy eating dinner plate by talking about what food is good for you and cutting out pictures of healthy food to stick on to a paper plate.

·         Hand Washing. Marie Claire will be helping the children to learn how to clean their hands properly by carrying out a glitter experiment to demonstrate effective hand washing.

  

What you could do to support your children at home:

·         Make brushing teeth fun. Download an app such as BrushDJ or play a CD of their favourite songs and help them brush their teeth to music adding in a little hip wiggle here and there.

·         Take a trip to the supermarket. Take a visit to the supermarket together and get them to choose some fruit and vegetables they would like to try.

·         Get them involved. Get your child to help you cook a simple meal. Getting them involved in the making process will encourage them to eat what they have made.

What we've been doing in Sea Turtles in January 2014

The children have shown a real interest in the refurbishment that has been happening next door in the Dolphin room. The children have listened to the noises the workmen have been making during the build and enjoyed going around to see them and what is happening.

So this month we have been looking at people at work and at what people use in their jobs.

 We've used a range of blocks to role-play the builders such as copying  actions like using a hammer  to bang, filling bags and then emptying them, using the saying ‘Ooh,no fix it.’

 Looking through books and gaining information about the different ‘jobs’. Reminding children of real places they have visited example- train driver.

The children also looked through books at pictures about different ‘jobs’. This gave children the opportunity to think about real places they have visited, for example train driver-getting on the train.

Outside in Sea Turtles this month the children have been exploring  movements by using their bodies to create shapes and by touching , looking  and  feeling.  We've been singing ‘Wheels on the bus’ and going on adventure walks into the big car park to watch the traffic. Children  enjoyed  observing what people and vehicles were doing.

 

 

 

 

 

January has been very busy for Dolphins!

We moved back into the newly refurbished Dolphin rooms and the children got to see some final touches being done.

As the children continued to show an interest in building and DIY, and were still talking about Haydon and Dennis and how they built Dolphins new rooms, we decided to extend this interest by doing lots of D.I.Y related activities.

The pre-schoolers enjoyed exploring different textures and looking at the effect of paint on the different materials.

All the children have really enjoyed having a play in our new sensory quiet room (the old office).

It's been an exciting month as there's been lots of interesting new things going on every week, ranging from deliveries of large appliances (washing machine and dryer) to smaller deliveries (lava lamp) and the odd pop through of the still very famous Hayden, Dennis or Jamie!