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Woodlands News

 

Homelinks 

June 2010

 

It’s hard to believe we are already half way through the summer term – we write to keep you up to date with some of the activities the children have been doing and what is planned for the term ahead.

 

Outdoor Play

We have been enjoying all the resources in the garden especially the large sand pit and our chickens. Caring for pets provides enjoyment nursery wide and enables us to engage the children in a rich life learning experience, we are looking forward to our first eggs in August!

As well as observing the life cycle of chickens we have been watching our seeds grow into plants and are currently waiting for our tadpoles to grow legs! Benedict’s grand father also visited us with his bee hive and we learnt about bee keeping and ate honey – a wonderful morning.

Please take a look in our front garden we have so much growing and have even created our own scarecrow to help us watch over our seedlings. – the children will love to show you and tell you all about their activities.

Role Play

Our role play area was very much enjoyed as a castle (following on from our St George’s theme day) and the addition of Cinderella’s shoe and accessory shop really got all the children involved. We read lots of fairy tales and are continuing the theme ‘Prince and Princesses’ with our ‘float’ for Winterbourne Fete on Saturday 19^th June we hope you will be able to join us.

The role play area has now become a post office and we are using the book ‘The Jolly Postman’ by Janet and Alan Alberg which involves many fairy tale characters to link our play to other areas of the EYFS curriculum. If you have any postcards or letter writing gear (especially envelopes and used greetings cards) we would be very grateful.

Before the end of term we intend to focus on the story of Jack and the beanstalk which will link nicely to the beans we are growing in the garden – and of course we a hoping our hens will lay golden eggs!!!

 

Learning and development

A combination of ‘free flow play’ and adult led activities continues to ensure your children are engaged and stimulated in meaningful activities that extend their learning and development. We have observed huge benefits to the children with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum, which came in force in September 2008. please take time to look at our display and information books on the right as you enter Woodland’s Room.

 

PE Lessons

We are planning to take the children for PE lessons on the field each day:

Monday - mornings

Tuesday - afternoons

Wednesday -  mornings

Thursday -  afternoons

Friday -  mornings

This is really useful for preparing them for the transition to ‘Big School’ we will be focussing on independent dressing and undressing skills, fun warm up activities, followed by a simple programme of

Balance and coordination

Loco motor skills

Running technique

Object control skills requiring limb and eye / hand and eye coordination

and finishing with a cooling down activity. The emphasis will be on fun and the activities will be adapted to ensure all children feel comfortable, please do not worry if your child prefers to observe the first few times we am confident we will have them all joining in happily before the end of term.

 

Please provide your child with a pair of shorts, a ‘t’ shirt and suitable footwear in a bag. We would ask you to bring the bag in for each session you know PE is planned – this is great practice for remembering – an essential skill for Big School. We will also be taking our water bottles over to the field and hats. We know many of you sneak squash into their bottles, it’s a hard transition to make but they do drink water if that’s all that’s on offer and this will be a strict rule once they move to Big School – this is a great opportunity to get them used to it – we would be grateful for your cooperation.

Sports Day

Winterbourne Earls School have once again kindly agreed to lend us their field and running track for our sports day, we are unable to confirm a date yet but will let you know as soon as possible. We hope to see lots of you there.

 

 

 Family social

Our next family social has a seaside theme and will be held on Thursday 22^nd July from 5-7pm, the rooms will be open with activities and the team will be around for a chat and ‘farewell’ conversation. We are delighted we shall still see so many of you at our before and after school, but please remember our social events take place near the end of each term and are open to all – we would love to catch up with you and hear of your child’s progress!

 

Transition to ‘Big School’

We have already had contact and visits to and from many your children’s next schools, our diary is very busy as you can imagine. We will let you know when your child’s teacher is visiting, if your child is not in on that day we will arrange for them to pop along if it is convenient to you. We are very happy to send Gaenor or your Key Person to your school during transition visits when possible – this can really help your child to feel secure and settled, it is also really useful for us to have knowledge of their new setting in order to do our best to prepare them.

Please be reassured that the curriculum they follow hear is the same as in their reception class. The government has worked hard in the past couple of years to ensure early years transition is as smooth and effective as possible. They continue to have a learning journey throughout their reception year and their school day will have a very similar structure and activities.

This half term we will be aiming to have all the children writing at least part their name, counting to 20, recognising numbers to 10 and confident to stand up and talk to the group, these skills alongside self help in the bathroom and dressing will put them in good stead in September.

 

Parent’s Evening

We will be giving you their learning journey and a summative sheet detailing their progress to date to take to their new teacher. We would also like to give you the opportunity to talk with your child’s Key Person on the evening of Wednesday 14^th July 6-7:30 pm– time slots bookable on our parent’s board, if you are unable to join us please see Gaenor who will arrange a suitable time on another day.

 

 

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Spring Term Homelinks

 

 

 The highlight of our term has definitely been having chicks, we have watched them grow and

develop from eggs, to small fluffy chicks and now having real feathers and trying to fly! This has enriched the children’s learning and we now know things about chicks we never thought we would!

 

We have also enjoyed following each areas Learning Stories, watching our role play area develop from house to shop, to hair dressers and now becoming a castle for St George’s day. Our den under the stairs has been an igloo, a beach hut and is now an art gallery. Following the children’s ideas and inspiration we have had many themes including hygiene, learning about many parts of the body!

 

Looking ahead to our summer term we will be doing lots of activities in preparation for big school, including PE lessons, practicing for sports day-further notes and a date will follow. We will be organising a parents evening for school leavers and a sports day before the end of the term.