A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS & A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR !

We had a lovely last few days at playschool.
The children sang their hearts out at our sing song & our parents enjoyed the slide show of the last term.
The Christmas party was fun - we played pass the parcel/ duck duck goose/ musical statues and lycra games!
See you all in 2013 - we start back week starting MONDAY 7th Jan.

Christmas preparations continue.........

This week has been busy making Christmas decorations for the tree in the Children centre hallway and a dressing the beautiful angel for the top. The messy 'snow' play has been exciting and the twinkling snow dough.

'Pirate Pete' ( the puppet)  continues to figure in the children's play with map making and 'x' marks the spot being a big part of the story.

At forest school we have been making 3D reindeer sculptures out of branches pushed into the ground - we also made a giant star shape on the floor from carefully placed logs.

The children walked to the post office to buy stamps for Christmas and been putting the finishing touches to their Xmas twigs! One child said " i love painting sticks Tracey , its all gloopy on my hands !" .......and as well as practising our Christmas songs......... its all very exciting!

Christmas preparations !

This week the children have been exploring the dark den and looking at shadows in the shadow theatre they made.  There is much superhero role-play going on which involves princesses and baddies !

Despite the water issue - the staff team have been magnificent in ensuring the children only come into contact with bottled water until the problem is solved.

We have been rehearsing the Xmas songs and rhymes and the kids are getting really good - singing and acting their hearts out!

Towerview Playschool children enjoyed a walk down to Broadway Playschool today so the children could decorate our Christmas tree in the United Reformed Church. The tree looks fab - check it out at the late night shopping events in Broadway this Friday an  next. We all has snack together and the 'little ones' coped very well with the invasion !  It was a beautiful crisp winter's day and they also explored a big sheet of ice found in a tuff tray outside.

 

LIGHT & DARK THEME

As we head in to the murky winter months and looking at the children's recent interest in shadows, light, and the moon - has led to the development of this theme of light & dark to plan activities to.

The children enjoyed making T-light holders out of clay this week for the Hindu festival of Diwali on Thursday.  They were made indoors, and outside at forest school and  decorated with autumn leaves, twigs and the children explored making patterns in the clay using the same items. They look really lovely (and will make their way home as soon as they are dry!).

The children have also been doing self portraits, looking in the mirror and observing their faces, colour of eyes, shapes of facial features and how many they have of each feature.  They drew some fantastic faces, a selection of which can be seen with photos on the display at Playschool.  Do have a look.

We enjoyed an afternoon walk down the village to look at the decorated Christmas windows, we visited the Christmas shop, said 'hello' to the postman who was collecting the letters form the post office and one child saw his house in the shop window!

REMEMBER all our newsletters, policies and notices are posted on our web site.

Happy halloween !

With all the autumn leaves around some children have been using them to make shapes and the first letters of their names on the floor outside. The 3D tree has also been decorated for autumn
The pumpkin drawings and collages have been great, with some cool bat drawings being attempted.
We have been concentrating on scissor skills - so cutting around their art work has provided a new challenge.
At forest school we have talked about the seasons and have been learning the fire pit rules - always walk around - step over and sit at base camp - only adults in the fire pit area. Using the kelly kettle to start a fire to heat water has given some  their first real experience of fire at forest school - they were very good.

We closed now for half term and are back on Monday November the 5th for bonfire cake and bonfire paintings ( and lots of fire safety discussions!)  - see you then !

German

Our German language sessions on a Thursday morning are going really well. The children can now recognise some common animals and sing songs in German.
During the week we have made a 3D card board tree (along side the junk modelling) and have found leaves and made autumn colour hand prints to stick on. At the children's suggestion they have now painted the 'tree trunk'.
Recent fire drills have seen the children respond quickly and quietly, and after the last one on Friday, they then took this in to their role play and been playing 'evacuating the house'.

hard work !

This week we have been doing junk modelling - the children have come up with lots of different things to make - including an 'Olympic tennis rucksack' ( that can be worn!), robots , trees and helicopters - learning to use different fixings as they build, and developing positional language as they discuss their creations.

Forest school is still full of midges - so we have used the school field to run jump and explore - having outdoor snack in the gazebo. Al the children can now get themselves changed in to the forest school gear and help to fold it up to pack away at the end.  

On Friday the children worked very hard moving wood chippings form the top of the field to the forest school area. We had a couple of 'foremen' and one child insisted on pulling the wooden trolley all morning - he must have made 6 trips in all! This fantastic work is helping to develop their muscles and improve their large motor coordination and hand eye co-ordination- all the things needed for pre-writing. One child said "this is my best day !" with a big grin on his face- lovely !

autumn walks

We had a really lovely morning on Friday. We went on a short walk down through the coppice looking at the different trees and plants. We took baskets to collect "treasure" (pine cones, leaves, conkers, bark etc) and one child even spotted a "rainbow sheep"

autumn treasure

Forest school is full of midges at the moment so we have been going on nature walks an d making art installations out of the natural treasure we find.
After observing the changes to the trees and collecting conkers,seeds and leaves, we have been doing some leaf printing this week.
Children have been describing texture of leaves on both sides,choosing which coloured paint to use and seeing what print is made when painted leaves are pressed onto paper.
Much fun has been had mixing sand and water together -outdoors in tuff trays. Lots of communication going on about what sand feels like and learning to share spades,buckets and other resources.

ourselves

This week at playschool we have been doing welly printing. A fun activity that encourages children to take turns putting on a pair of wellys, standing in a tray of paint, then walking onto a huge piece cardboard to see what their footprints look like and how big or small steps they can take. Then we diversified and did hand prints, then on to using toy cars wheels and even some leaf prints on there too! The children then made the sheet of cardboard into a den with a door -with lots of negotiation and clear communication developing.
We have been out in the village collecting conkers –which was great fun – sorting into different sizes. Looking at growth and the seasons  – with some still in the shell – some green –some brown.
The children are having great fun with the new balance bikes and scooters – which help to develop their balance and co-ordination.

APPLE CAKE AND BREAD !

"Who will help me?" said the little Red Hen - well everyone had a go this week - the children 'wrote' out recipes, measured and weighed the ingredients and use the cooking tools list to check we had the correct implements!   The results were pretty tasty and Jude and one other child even made and ate wheat free versions!
New balance bikes and scooters have arrived which will help the children develop their gross motor skills. Even some children who avoided the bikes previously, have been tempted.
There are new photos on the web site - new links and pages - so check it out!

1st week back !

Hooray we won the cup in the Broadway Show ! many of the children got awards or commendations for their collage crowns. There is a display up at Towerview for you to see.

This week the children have enjoyed building 'garages' and 'houses' outside - with car races down the guttering and plenty of active sociable interaction going on.

They have got the hang of flexible snack and are helping the newer ones to cope with the routines.

Our weekly yoga session saw all the children engaged and really enjoying become more flexible.

Some of the playschool staff team have been working with school staff to clear the forest school area ready for our sessions. The brambles had got extremely long ......but Tracy soon saw them off with her loppers!  It will be good to get back out there with the children.

WELCOME TO THE AUTUMN TERM 2012 at playschool !
The children in both groups have settled quickly back into the routines and activities.
New foam breeze blocks have delighted all and we have seen some interesting creations.
The interaction between the children and their confidence with the staff is developing well and we are proud of their first achievements this term.

Key persons have been allocated and you wil get the name of your child's keyperson on this half term's newsletter.

The children's collage crowns were entered in the Broadway Horticultural show on Saturday 8th. Lets hope we get the cup back !

Newsletter to follow next week plus reminder sheet with all the details of what your child needs daily - to wear for play inside and out and for forest school (once we restart the sessions towards the middle of September).  Any questions please see one of the team.

JUBILEE FUN!

The children have had a very enjoyable week this week- they have made,baked and iced crown biscuits and made party crowns - which they wore to their jubilee street party- they have all dressed up in red white and blue and looked fabulous !   One child had the most excellent Jubilee waistcoat !

At forest school we have been learning how to light a fire and how to keep safe- the children have been toasting muffins & marshmallows and cooking popcorn.

REMINDER PLAYSCHOOL CLOSED FRIDAY 15TH JUNE
- FOR STAFF FOREST SCHOOL TRAINING DAY

lovely sunny weather !

well the sun has finally come out - & so on with sun hats and sun screen ! It is lovely to be able to get out and use the whole outdoor area all day.

The worms are snoozing in the wormery the children made.

We have been exploring clay and making clay ladybirds - one child produced a clay pot without any instruction - i think we may have clay as a permanent activity in future - it is so good for building those fine motor skills and pre-writing muscles.

The grass snake ( made out of tights filled with compost and grass seed ) is now sprouting 'hair' - ask your child to show you the grass snake they made - he is snoozing on the decking !

The children going up to school spent playtime with school children out in the big playground this week - they really enjoyed it and came back talking about their new friends.

reminder - your child needs a long sleeved t-shirt for forest school sessions - this protects their arms from the very high brambles and stinging nettles there are.

NEXT WEEK - Jubilee week - so ask your child to select some red white and blue clothes to wear  - we will be making party biscuits and crowns !

BUTTERFLIES & JUBILEE

Our caterpillars are now emerging into butterflies - we had our first on Friday - a very pretty butterfly it is too - the children were all very exited ( and the staff!). Keep watching this space for updates !

Two staff have been on the new infection control training - 48hours from last bout of sickness or diarrhoea is vital to keep the staff well and the playschool open. For any other info re illnesses please ask staff.

Are there any more Individual Education plans (IEP) return slips out there?
 - please bring them in asap - so we can keep your child's record up to date.

The parent afternoons have been well attended.
Please see a member of staff to book a slot if you wish to talk to your child's keyperson about your child's progress.

REMINDER - NEXT WEEK  = DRESS IN RED WHITE AND BLUE JUBILEE WEEK -

mini beasts continued....................

This week the children at Towerview playschool were all excited when we transferred the caterpillars to their new home in the keep net. They are now in the chrysalis stage. In a few days time we hope to have a few little butterflies, they will be released into the natural world as soon as all of the children have seen them, isn’t it exciting. The children wrote their own and followed a recipe and made butterfly biscuits

At Forest school we have introduced hurdle making - which involves weaving branches in and out of stakes hammered into forest ground. Really good for developing concentration, co-ordination and pre-writing skills!

Our school transition visits continue with the children getting more confident in the school surroundings and getting used to the reception teachers now

Broadway Playschool  2-3s have been role playing their own story-time outside in the playhouse and working together to help each other balance across planks. It is lovely to see how brilliant they are at supporting each other even though so very young still. They have also been making lovely ladybird paintings

CREEPY CRAWLIES !

This week we have been making bread 'worms' as part of the mini-beasts theme - this has involved learning about cooking vocabulary and recipes - writing recipes and following the process to make the bread. The children then rolled them into worm shapes and baked them. Our wormery is changing too !

The caterpillars are getting bigger and hairier - they will soon be making cocoons ...................
.
At forest school the bug collecting continues with spiders and woodlice leading the 'finds' so far!

The revised EYFS  (early years foundation stage) is out now and the whole team will be attending training in June.

Becky Jo and Tracey K are taking part in Cancer research's relay for life soon - there is a skittles evening in aid of the Charity planned for next Saturday - it would be lovely to see all our parents there !

Welcome back to the summer term and to wild, wet and windy weather.
Forest school will be on Monday afternoons, Weds and Fri mornings -  NOT if high winds - because of safety in the woods.

The older children are getting excited about school now and we are stepping up our Tues/Thurs visits to the reception class at Broadway First school - where we always explain to the children who are going to other local schools - this is what a big school is like. When we return to playschool they can look at photos of the many different school we feed into, in our schools photo folder. They can even see all the different schools toilets !  We also have some school uniform for them to try on and role play 'school'

The children's individual education plans for this term are out now - please talk to their key person if you wish to discuss any aspect of your child's development. 

Our mini-beasts theme is taking off - the children have made a wormery and are hatching butterflies - and finding worms and woodlice at forest school and we have been looking at worms under the computer microscope.

HAPPY EASTER !

This week's warm weather has meant outside play all day long !
We have planted our bedding plants, grown cress, made Easter daffodil cards and Easter Nests. During forest school on Wednesday we used the kelly kettle to heat water and melt chocolate - the children used prepared twigs to dip marshmallows. Lots of chocolatley faces that day !

The Forest school Easter egg hunt ( Friday) was brilliant with the children following pre-recorded clues and arrows made from twigs to find the 49 hidden eggs....we only found 48 - the mystery is where is the 49th ?????????

The local Authority ECERs audit was succesful with lots of really good points recorded and areas to develop.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OUR PLAYSCHOOL FAMILIES

HAPPY MOTHERING SUNDAY - MUMS !

We hope all the mums have a lovely Mothering Sunday!
The children have really enjoyed making various items for Mothering
Sunday including paper flower baskets, planting primroses and collage flower
pictures. Each activity showed us how wonderfully creative they all are while
developing their fine motor skills.

Role play, which involves lots of interaction and negotiation, has had
two themes this week.
Theme 1 = Puppies and kittens
which involved going on trips, using
large boxes as train carriages, (or puppy carriages) , going on pet walks and
even visiting the vet.
Theme 2 =armies and helicopters –
with assault courses and dens being created outside.
How imaginative they are!

NOTICE - There seem to be many viruses
around at the moment, including chicken pox. The Playschool team hopes that those of you who
are still under the weather are soon feeling much better and we look forward to
seeing you when you have fully recovered.

To prevent the transmission of disease
- Please remember the 48hour exclusion, that must be followed, 48hrs from when
your child was last sick to return to
playschool (even if only sick once).
Frequent hand-washing is also being focussed on at playschool. Thanks
for your support.

ICT skills are developing well this term - the children are using various programmes and a paint package enables them to make their own designs. They have been using the camera to record their creative achievements, (such as the fabulous daffodil badges) and to explore emotions. The staff are also 'up-skilling' so that we can keep up with the children ! We had a great staff ICT training evening that gave us lots of ideas and helped us to utilise the ICT equipment we have got.
On Friday the children got to play in the Children's Centre sensory room, which from the looks on their faces, they really enjoyed.
NB = We are getting the photographer back in on April 24th from 1pm for those who missed out (so you can come along even if your child's not in that session).

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

What a lovely week - warm mild weather has meant we can be outside without coats and hats - what a treat ! Pancake day saw the children flinging small pieces of pancake up in the air in their plastic frying pans - they also made the batter and wrote recipes. Everyone enjoyed muching their way through the pile of pancakes made!
Some excellent tulip relief printing was achieved on Thursday and was developed from a child's idea of pressing objects into mud at forest school.
The older children started their transition visits to Broadway First school reception class this week, where they enjoyed looking around the recption class, having a story and playing the outside area.

CHINESE NEW YEAR OF THE WATER DRAGON

Chinese stir fry was a great success !
Excellent chopping skills were observed, placing vegetables and noodles into the wok and a lovely dish eaten and
enjoyed by most. Some children tried different vegetables for the first time.
YUM
YUM !!
It was a great way for us to share and experience of food from another
culture.
The children also made folded paper Chinese water dragons – showing their
increasing concentration skills and ability to follow a sequence of
instructions.

what the playschool staff up to......

The children were fab’ today at Friday forest school.
As part of Tracy B’s Forest School teaching, we had 10 students from FSLI
(Forest School Learning Initiative) who were with us to watch a session.The
children’s behaviour was exceptional ... it was as if the students weren’t
there, they just got on with their session and had a lovely time.
All bar two children chose to tell everyone what
they enjoyed doing!
We made bird feeders, played in the muddy puddles,
made houses for the birds and mice and the 3 little pigs, we did our exercises
on the logs!!! and we sat and had a ‘Percy the Park Keeper’ story at snack time
A good time was had by all

Mags, Tracey K & Jude attended an
evening course looking at special educational needs. They took lots of notes and
are sharing what they leant with the rest of the team. We hope it will be invaluable
to help us to identify children’s
special needs at playschool.

This week the children loved looking atthe bird feeders they had hung up on the trees at forest school and finding that the birds had started eating the seeds and nuts, they ran around excitedly
checking each one in turn. A great time was had making a different type of bird feeder by threading cheerios onto coloured pipe cleaners and then joining the ends together to form a loop. These were then taken home to hang in the garden.
Inside playschool, we all enjoyed having the computer out and learning howto use the mouse and interact with the programmes.

FEED THE BIRDS !

We have been making the most of the mild weather and had some fantastic
Forest School sessions. Wehave been looking at the change in the landscape with regards the birds andtheir need for food & making bird feeders with the Christmas decorations, that we had hung in the trees before we broke up.
First. the children painted them with flour and water glue and then dipped them in
wild bird seed. Also the children used bread crumbs, flour and water and wild
bird seed mixing it all up into balls to make food for the birds at home. This
is a great activity to build up the pre-writing muscles in their hands and
arms.

At Broadway Playschool (2-3s group) the new children have settled in really well in to our little family group. To welcome them we have been decorating our "next steps" 'tree' and
will be adding each child’s individual next steps to the tree shortly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Hi all & welcome back to the spring term.
The children have been keen to get back into the routines and activities.
The staff have been making photo learning journeys for each child getting use to new technology - with lovely results!
Remember snow line at BBC Hereford & Worcs if we have bad weather