What Sea Turtles will be doing in September 2014

During our transport topic last month, the children started to notice the colour of the flashing lights on emergency vehicles and the colours of the cars, buses and lorries as they went past the nursery. So for September we will be having a colour month, looking at a different colour every week.

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

Prime areas:

PSED: To play alongside others, sharing discoveries and exploring colours supported by a familiar key person or friend. PD: To hold pencils or crayons using the whole hand (palm) grasp and to make random marks using different strokes C&L: To enjoy rhymes and demonstrate listening by trying to join in with actions or vocalisation.

Specific areas:

M: Begin to organise and categorise objects by colour. UW: Notice and is interested in the effects of making movements which leave marks.  EA&D: Explores objects by linking together different approaches, shaking, feeling, looking and turning.

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

·         Colour Interest table. Manjit will be focussing on one colour a week and will be setting up interest table with objects of that colour. Manjit will also be encouraging the children to explore colour through arts and crafts such as mark making with pencils, crayons and chalk, sticking and painting.

·         Traffic Lights. Afia will support the children to learn the colours of traffic lights and their meaning using paint and key words such as Stop and Go.

·         Mixing colours. Christina will be helping the children to mix colours and develop their fine motor skills by placing paint under cling film and encouraging the children to use their fingers to mix them together.

·         Hand & Foot print rainbow. Alice will be supporting the children in making a large rainbow display for the room using prints of their hands and feet.

·         Primary colours. Amina will be focusing on the primary colours as she talks to the children about the colours they are wearing and singing songs about colour during circle time.

·         Elmer the elephant.  Elena will be using books such as Elmer the elephant and who painted a blue horse along with colour boxes and flashcards to help the children to explore and link colours together.

·         Colour walks. Whilst out on walks the team will point out different colours found in the world around us to the children.

Some ideas to support your children at home:

·         Take time to stop and point out the different colours of everyday objects found in our homes and the world around us.

·         Support your child during a mark making activity at home, talk about the colours they are using and where those colours can be found around us. e.g. that’s red like a big red bus, that’s yellow like the sun.

·         Go to the library and get out some books on colour to share with your child.

 

What are we doing in Dolphins in August?

Over the last few months the children have been enjoying exploring the role play

corner and dressing up.  We've had lots of conversations around people in uniform so we have decided to extend on this interest by exploring people who help us.

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

Prime areas:

PSED: Can play as a group, extending and elaborating play ideas; try to help or give comfort when others are distressed. PD: Begin to recognise danger and seek support from significant adults to help; show understanding of the need for safety. C&L Recognise and respond to many different sounds; builds up vocabulary that reflects their breadth of experience.

Specific areas:

L: Recognise familiar words and signs; ascribe meaning to marks that they see in different places.

M: Show interest in shape by sustained construction activities; show interest in shapes in the environment. UW: Show an interest in different occupations and ways of life; in pretend play, imitates everyday actions and events. EA&D: Uses construction materials beginning to make- believe by pretending.

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

·         Split pin characters. Marie Claire will be making split pin characters with the children by getting them to draw pictures of people who help us.  She will then support them to cut out the pictures and let the children join them back together.

·         Making a fire engine.  Matthew will be supporting the children to construct a large fire engine out of cardboard boxes.  He will be also carrying out circle times with lots of talk around the different emergency services.

·         Trip to the fire station.  Emma will be organising a trip to our local fire station to have a look at where the engines are parked and what goes on at the station.  She will also be supporting the children to learn about what role a lolly pop person plays in road safety and making lollipop sticks with the children.

·         Police Station. Abongi will be making a police station in the role play area and supporting the children to learn about the role of a police officer.  She will also be helping the children to make police hats and belts.

·         Hospital.  Christine will be setting up a hospital in the role play area and teaching the children about doctors, nurses and paramedics.  She will be supporting the children to make nurses hats and aprons, and she will be also talking to the children and role playing with them about the different examining equipment you may find at the hospital.

What you could do to support your children at home:

·         Observe. When you are out and about, keep an ear out for the sound of sirens and talk to your child about what type of emergency service the sound belongs to.

·         Discuss. Talk to you child about any experiences you may have had, or another family member may have had with a ‘person that helps us’.

·         Make a list. Whilst you are out and about, why not make a list of how many people you spot that help us, such as a police constable,  dustbin man, lollipop person, bus driver etc.

What are we doing in Sea Turtles in August 2014

The children have spent a lot of time in the car park, watching the world go by. 

They really tuned into the road and what they think they hear passing by.  There has been a lot of pointing to the sky and the road and attempts at imitating what they've seen and heard.  So this month we will support the children in discovering more about the different types of vehicles and what they are for.

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

Prime areas:

PSED: Learning alongside others, sharing discoveries and exploring new things supported by familiar key person or friend. PD: Using their body to move, pass, operate vehicles and walking to street to watch vehicles. C&L: imitating words and sounds. Making sounds to represent noises vehicles make.

Specific areas:

M: Recognising different sizes, matching, ordering vehicles. UW: Observing the different vehicles on the street, what they do, how they sound.  EA&D: Expressions of what they have learned through movement, sound, art.

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

·         Obstacle course. Sarah F will be supporting the use of their bodies as vehicles or using ride on toys, moving around cones, responding to signs and role modelling from what they see or know about the streets and vehicles.

·         Vehicle Flashcards. Afia  will support the children to learn the words and sounds for different modes of transport by looking through flashcards.

·         Vehicle collages. Christina will be helping the children to make collages of vehicles and talking about the different names, noises, activities of them as they go.

·         Making artistic tracks. Alice will be supporting the children in making art by painting with the wheels of the vehicles, making sounds and actions as they go.

·         Small world play. Amina will be supporting the children in setting up lots of small world play with all the different vehicles and playing sounds of the roads, sea, sky.

·         Emergency Vehicles. Manjit will be supporting the children to make 3D artwork of different emergency vehicles using boxes, foil, sweet wrappers etc.

·         Excursions to the river, railway station and roads. All of the team will be taking the children on a range of excursions to look at different types of transport.

Some ideas to support your children at home:

·         Take time to stop of and look at diggers, trucks, trains and cars. Children love it and find it fascinating. Talk about what they are doing.

·         Take a trip on some transport that you normally don’t for a change. Buses, trains, canal boats, river bus. Do you or a friend have a canoe or rowing boat they could have a little ride in?

·         Go for a walk to a Fire Station. Look at the fire engines through the doors or windows. You might even be lucky enough for one to come out all bells and speed.

·         Go to the library and get out some books on transport.

·         Walks along the Thames in the weekend are full of different boats. Have a walk, watch and chat about it.

What we got up to in July- Dolphins

Last month we had lots of talk around travel, transport and holiday destinations, with our Hawaiian themed Summer BBQ coming up we decided to take a closer look at Hawaii. We looked at its culture, food, scenery and the people and animals that live on the islands.

Children made their own Leis

Making grass skirts

Children enjoyed working hard along side each other to make a child sized Volcano, it was an activity initially directed at the preschoolers, but became so popular (and large!) that we had not only the rest of Dolphins involved, but also some of the older Sea Turtles children!

 Shilpi introduced the children to trying new fruit, and we had a fantastic time at the BBQ!

The annual Preschoolers trip was at Hounslow Urban Farm.  They loved being able to get up close and personal with a wide range of animals.

What we did in Sea Turtles in July

With our Hawaiian themed BBQ this month we have been getting the children involved by getting them to create decorations by cutting, sticking and exploring textures with different media. Children have created pineapples, coconuts and other fruits.  Children have been getting messy by using their hands to create palm trees and using stamps to create topical fish.

In the garden we have been exploring Hawaiian music by dancing along to the tune of the music and dressing up in lei’s. We have been using the wood and metal sensory baskets to create different sound effects. Children learnt the hula dance, and enjoyed dancing with their peers.

We have been experimenting with colour so children have been learning about the colours they can see by creating colourful flower pictures out of tissue paper. Children have been matching up the colours they can see by learning the pattern game. 

Children have tasted and felt Hawaiian fruit, they loved the papayas, wanting more and more! 

What Sea Turtles got up to in June 2014

This month in sea-turtles we have been exploring movement by creating flashcards with the children. The children got really involved in the physical movement such as running, jumping, bending, reaching, climbing and dancing to the tune of the music. Children have loved creating movement, and looking back at their movements on the camera.

We've made our own musical instruments by using a variety of materials and we have tested them out in circle-times with our peers.  The children explored the different sounds they could make with bottles of rice by shaking, tapping and banging. 

We used up our recycling resources to create a bus out of junk modelling. The children created a bus by painting the boxes red.  Children made props by using old tickets to pretend they are on the bus.  Children learnt the actions to the wheel s on the bus.

Children have loved the Gruffalo story sack, learning all the animals in the book and what movements they make. Children have learnt about colours according to the Gruffalo story. Children have enjoyed going on a walk through the forest we created in the “Gruffalo” corner. 

June in Dolphins 2014

This month we looked at travelling and different types of transport.

The children have enjoyed exploring different materials to make a varied range of artwork relating to their favourite modes of transport.

They have used stencils, made prints using train tracks car wheels, and even made a ship using a range of different shaped and sized cardboard. boxes! 

We've had a few different group projects going on, building and painting the ship, and also making a life sized airplane.

 We celebrated International Mud Day by opening a permanent mud kitchen in the playground and spending a day get mucky and muddy!

Preschoolers went on a trip on the train to Waterloo to boat watch along the River Thames.

Children have been having fun on our new climbing frame.