HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL !

We had a fabulous last week - the Christmas sing song went very well with lots of parents enjoying the children's rendition of 'Mary's Knitting'.
They had made snowmen biscuits and we served them alongside the mince pies- the slide show of the autumn term was enjoyed by parents, children and staff - it is lovely to see all we have achieved in one term !

The Xmas party was brilliant if a little exhausting ! - Father Xmas made a visit and we played traditional party games

The staff team will now get a well deserved rest !

Happy Xmas everyone - we are back on Monday 6th January 2014

getting ready for Christmas- nearly there !

After last weeks visit by the reception class to us, they returned the favour and we went to visit them and listen to their nativity songs. We had a lovey time - playing a game of hunt the donkey and having a play in class 1.

Finishing of the Xmas cards we also made pomanders and played with the fake snow and Arctic animals.

Making chocolate reindeer's proved very popular and they did turn out brilliantly

AT Forest school we had banana custard using the Kelly kettle followed by a real fire on Friday when we cooked crumpets and ate they =m with jam or butter - around the camp fire !

CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS

Fake snow and animals from icy climates were in the small world play this week.

Reindeer foot print Christmas cards and Father Xmas hand print cards were made, enveloped and taken to the post office by the Thursday crew- where they bought stamps and then each child posted their card home in the post box. We then ate few chocolate buttons for a treat and walked back in the wild and windy weather!

The reception children came over and we performed our 'Mary's Knitting songs to them - a lot of them remembered the songs from their time at playschool so we had a good rendition together.
Then we played making 'snow' with the parachute & cotton wool balls and it was lovely to watch the joy on their faces. We go back over to them next week.

Our student worked with the children to make some excellent sweets - which they took home to enjoy.

SHADOWS - DARK & LIGHT

We have been exploring shadows this week- our Uni student on placement with us did the planning and we made a light box , had a dark den and torches and looked at nocturnal animals.

 

The children enjoyed sieving weighing and mixing ingredients to make light and dark cup cakes - the were yummy!

 

Later in the week we took the 'underpants' streamers we made based on the book 'Aliens love Panta Claus' to the United Reformed church to decorate our Christmas tree for the late night shopping - the children thought it was hilarious ! -we even made a flying saucer and alien to go on the tree too!

The children from Towerview playschool had snack with the little ones at Broadway Playschool - then walked back through the autumn leaves.

 

There has been some great construction going on with the wooden building blocks - building then taking photos to recreate the next day. It has been really imaginative  play, the children have built car parks, roads, ,skate parks, cities with skyscrapers and tunnels, and a one legged man!

 

DIWALI & BONFIRE NIGHT - FESTIVALS OF LIGHT !

This week we learnt about the Hindu and Sikh festival of Light called Diwali  - the children made tea light holders from clay and painted them in silver and gold.

The firework cake was made using an electric whisk - much loved by alot of the boys  !  - the finished cake was decked with sparklers and we all sat around outside on crates to watch them sparkle - good fun !

The safety talk was taken very seriously - the children took notes home to their parents explain some frightening facts - like 3 sparklers are as hot as a blow torch !

We made a huge firework frieze by splodging teabags and paint onto a sheet of brown paper - we then splattered bright paints and made rockets out of roller paper and paper straws - it looked fab and the children made the firework noises as they worked.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS !

We had a lovely walk down the village where we collected conkers pine cones and some really pretty autumn leaves, some looked just like dinosaur footprints!

The children enjoyed spotting their favourite things in the shop windows but we didn't like the " big Halloween " one, a sneaky look around the toy shop made us all feel much better.

We have been painting pumpkin pictures and exploring the textures from the insides of a pumpkin.

The children planted bulbs and put winter pansies in the planters - we found worms and beetles as we dug.

have a good holiday !  -see you all the week starting 4th Nov

settling in and making friends

Both the 2-3 year olds' at Broadway Playschool and the older children at Towerview Playschool are enjoying playing with the conkers, problem solving, looking at sizes, colours, how they feel, and working out how to get the conkers down the drain pipe quicker, taking turns and waiting for the "ready steady go !!" before rolling down the conkers. Lots of smiles of satisfaction.

 

We have been making iced biscuit faces then eating them for snack, working out who is wearing which coloured clothes and going to the relevant coloured card game, and looking in the mirror to draw self portraits with oil crayons.

The games "What's in the Box" and "who s got the glasses on?" are being enjoyed at circle time and children are getting to know everyone's names.   We are also playing the empty chair game - all these improve speech and listening skills.

 

One child dressed as a pirate this week , with his pirate hat on and the parrot he then got a staff member to tape onto his on his shoulder doing a  mean pirate face- such creativity ! 
After 5 weeks we can all really see how much they are all settling in and starting to play with each other much more.  There is some fab role play emerging with boats, trains , babies and builders !!

FEED THE BIRDS !

The children have been making an art work this week - by collecting and sticking leaves on a canvas - we then piled up logs to make a tree trunk sculpture - they have since added strips of brown and black paper for the tree trunk - take a look in playschool!

We have been measuring how tall we are - beginning to get the idea of taller and shorter - who is the tallest ? who is the shortest?

The light box has proved popular - exploring  how colour changes as transparent sheets of colour are overlapped.

An experiment to see how we could make the best birdseed feeders revealed that gelatine is not a good substitute for lard !! - so back to the old methods- we will make a new batch of feeders using the Kelly kettle to heat the water to melt the lard, down at forest school.

A big thank you to all the parents who have sent in saucepans and kitchen utensils for our mud kitchen

REMINDER - all children need vests, warm jumpers and warm/waterproof  coats now and hats and gloves may be needed by the end of the week!    & especially for forest school sessions

CONKERS !

We've had a great time searching for conkers, we collected baskets full and took them back to playschool where we had a look at them and chose our favourites.  Some wonderful language emerged as we found the 'biggest', 'smallest', 'shiniest', 'prickliest' and 'smoothest' !   One child was so excited about the conkers he had collected he told everyone he met as he left playschool about them ! These, with the introduction of egg boxes and tongs, have become an interesting seasonal sorting game.

We have introduced the children to a new game, which we play in a small group - "The empty chair" game which has been lots of fun! It is also exceptional for supporting speech and language -particularly social language

 

We have a new student with us (every other week) from South Worcestershire College - she is proving to be a very good addition to the team.

 

There has been  lots of lovely mud painting and mixing in the Forest school mud kitchen.

OUR OPEN EVENING FOR PARENTS to see forest school and learn about the EYFS & communication at playschool, was attended by 20 parents, who seemed to enjoy it.

If you have any old pots, pans, whisks or old kitchen implements - we need them for the mud kitchen and the outdoor music centre.   Please bring into Towerview.

autumn leaves

What a lot of lovely colours we have had to play with - while busily sweeping up the leaves! The children have been gathering, sweeping and transporting the leaves and even mixing them with sand to make 'cakes'.

The foot printing was messy and went well - the results can be seen displayed behind the sand play outside.

The home photo folders are coming back in and it has been fun chatting about different homes and families. The staff have also made a photo folder so that the children can see we don't live at playschool all the time!

SETTLING INTO PLAYSCHOOL

This week the children have been enjoying the rain- dancing around with umbrellas. Building boats and cars out of crates and blocks and enjoying running races in our outdoor space.

We have been baking using the apples from the 'little one's' apple tree - we have made apple cake, bread rolls and a bread hedgehog. Everyone loved 'thumping and folding' the dough!

One of the children - after looking in a toy supplier catalogue suggested a different way to layout the train set - so the children all worked together to redesign the area and it has proved very popular. 

The story of the Bear Hunt is becoming a favourite and we all stomped around the forest school today as we acted out the story.

Jo has started her ECAT training - Every Child  A Talker - we will be introducing new techniques of working to improve the children's language development.

The annual questionnaires were very positive, with a few good suggestions - which we have taken on board.   95% of families were very happy with the building, atmosphere of the group, helpfulness of the staff and with the overall service the Playschool provides. Thank you all for your input.

WELCOME BACK TO THE AUTMUN TERM

Welcome back everyone and a warm welcome to our new children and families.

We say 'goodbye' and a BIG thank you to Tracey K and Mags (- Mags is emigrating and Tracey K has a new job as a Teaching assistant - ) We all wish them both good luck in their new lives.

Welcome onto the staff team to Sarah.

Yoga resumed on Tuesday and the children quickly got into stretching and balancing.

Forest school is on Wednesday and Fridays mornings - all the children need their wellys, long sleeve tops and jumper and long trousers or leggings - we provide waterproofs for them all.

There have been lots of great paintings being done. Some of the children are really enjoying block play. They are starting to really work together, listening & talking to each other ideas to make end result. It is really lovely getting to know new children and lovely to see friendships being formed.

PLAYSCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!

The whole Playschool team would like to wish all our leavers a very happy time at 'big' school.

Have a great summer and we will see all our 'little ones' again,
starting back the week of Monday 9th September.

HEAT WAVE ADVICE FOR YOU

BROADWAY&TOWERVIEW PLAYSCHOOL

HOT WEATHER & HEAT WAVE ADVICE

Top advice for being sun safe:

·       Try to keep out of the sun between 11am and 3pm

·       Wear sunscreen

·       Wear loose cotton clothing

·       Drink lots of cool drinks

·       Seek shade

·       Wear sunglasses and a hat

·       Look out for others especially vulnerable groups such as the elderly, young children and babies and those with serious illnesses

·       Never leave anyone in a closed, parked vehicle, especially infants, young children or animals

summer is here !

This week our experiments continued with ice cream making - using cream - strawberries and sugar - the children all had a go at sieving and whisking - and then we had to put the timer on so we remembered to stir it every 20 minutes during the sessions- it was yummy !!

Colour mixing involving food colouring -water - syringes and mixing dishes enabled the children to select and mix colours - they created a simple tally chart to log their finds.

We continue to have reception teachers popping in to talk about the children going up to their schools and for us to share information about each child's development and needs. It is good for the teachers to see the children in the playschool and to watch them at work.

Our end of term trip to Sand field Farm, nr Sedgeberrow was fabulous ! Emma who manages and runs the site took us pond dipping -we found water boat men , newts and dragon flies amongst many insects. We saw calves, pigs and chickens and tractors and milk floats. By shaking a jar of cream and passing it around the children found they had made some butter !   We then all had a picnic lunch in the forest area, where we lit the Kelly-kettle and made banana custard.  
The journey back in the mini buses saw 2 children fall asleep - the children &staff team were brilliant and we had a lovely day !

NOTICE - soon on the web site there will be  a link for parents about digital /e-safety - how to protect your child with all the technology they come into contact with- check this out ;-

Digital Parenting Magazine A Great Guide for Parents

with questions on keeping their Children Safe Online

http://www.vodafone.com/content/index/parents.html

the caterpillars became butterflies this week!!

All our butterflies hatch this week - we actually saw one coming out of the cocoons while we were eating our lunch!   Then on Friday in forest school, we released them.  They took a while to fly away but nice to think they were playing in the forest with us.

One of the bean plants is growing up one of the outside pillars and the children have got very interested in the story of 'Jack and the bean stalk'. They have been drawing bean stalks - measuring the plants progress and role playing the story. We have also been block printing butterflies and caterpillars printing

The sour dough worked well and all the children helped with every stage -resulting in a lovely loaf of bread - they then toasted and had with Alison's jam at snack time.

The school transition days have been successful with one of the children over heard saying to another;-  "I think I am excited about going to big school now". They have also been looking in the schools photo album and trying on school uniforms in the role play.
 

REMINDER =  your child needs a high factor sunscreen put on before playschool ( we top it up at lunch time).
Also for forest school your child needs long sleeve t-shirt, leggings/trousers and a sun hat- they also need socks to go inside their welly boots.

Father's Day -experiments and caterpillars!

Last week we made 'Love' cards with felt - the children learnt how to tease the different coloured wools and over lay them - then sprinkle with hot soapy water and roll to make felt. The red heart shape we then placed on each creation -which when glued onto card resulted in beautiful felt heart cards . At Forest School -using double sided sticky tape we collected different flora and stuck them onto book marks for presents to take home.

Continuing our theme of experimenting - we looked at corn flour,  and mixed it with water - you can hit it with  a hammer or stand on it if you make it thick enough !

The caterpillars are growing well - and as one child said - " they will be making their canoes  soon" (cocoons)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The children water all out flowers and runner beans each day - we also have the clematis out and a pumpkin plant that now has pride of place in the raised bed !

At Broadway Playschool-the 2-3 s have been playing with bubbles, blowing, catching, popping !! We are enjoying the Three bears story, with naughty Goldilocks !! Children are loving the water and sand play , mixing, pouring, building, feeling, all very experimental and sensory.

The school transition visits have started and seem to be going well, the children are enjoying reporting back to us from their various new schools.  Children attending Broadway First went for lunches this week - and loved the experience.

If Parents have any questions they need to discuss about their child at Playschool  -then please chat to your child's key person or any of the staff team. Thank you.

 

 

 

WELCOME BACK TO 2ND PART OF THE SUMMER TERM!

This week we have been busy making lost of things - looking again at different materials and properties. We have made sun-catchers -out of melted beads-  they will be drilled next week so that they can be hung up. We experimented with air propelled balloon rockets, a great fun activity to do at home too.  Instructions for this are available at playschool.  We made a mini ocean - mixing water oil paint.  The beans planted before half term have sprouted and the children are caring for them by watering them daily.

We got some lovely photos from home during their holiday to add to their folders and to the display clock.  

We had a Local authority advisor visit us and were complimented on what a great setting we had.

We are exercising our tongues with a new story this helps develop the muscles for clearer speech and hearing word sounds.  So if your child is exercising their tongues at home don't be surprised.

keep bringing in any items for junk modelling there have been some amazing creations!!!

Broadway Playschool - (the little group) have been enjoying the water play and are now enjoying the Goldilocks's and the three bears story.
We've been enjoying some new challenging activities in our PE sessions over at the school - crab walking and side stepping around cones.

We've made use of the outdoors with the good weather hats and sunscreen are advised and the weather was so good Friday we stayed and had a picnic style lunch at forest school.

last week before HALF TERM

Last week we made butter - taking some cream - talking about where cream came from and what did they predict would happen to the cream ?- what colour did they think it would go ? and putting into a bottle then everyone had to shake it for ages - eventually we had butter and we had it on some crackers - it was "yummy!"

 

The children really enjoyed discovering shapes in the environment. Activities have included taking photographs of shapes around them, matching them to things, making a collage from the photographs and finally making various shapes with each other using their bodies.

 

We also looked closely at eggs - and what happened when you mixed the yolk with the egg white - they felt and smelt a cooked egg - no one wanted to try it though !

 

Jess , a teacher doing her forest school leader training has been taking some of our FS sessions - she has now passed and is a fully fledged Forest School leader .  Congratulations Jess !   She said she really enjoyed working with our children

 

HALF TERM NEXT WEEK - BACK ON MONDAY 3RD JUNE

National Children's day

This week we having been looking at shapes in our environment - the children have been busy finding shapes - manhole covers- fence squares - circular tyres - cuboid crates- triangular road markings- and taking photos of them - and then printing them off. They then have drawn shapes and mounted their art work to make a SHAPES display - take a look !

The forest school was full of midges this week which was annoying for everyone - especially as all the leaves are coming out and it is lovely down there.

Parent afternoons have been on offer this week for discussions with each child's key person.

We marked National Children's day with a slide show for parents and carers - complete with pop corn and cakes the children had helped to make and serve  - they really enjoyed seeing the 108 slide show and spotting all their friends at play.

experiments !

This week we have been making predictions and testing out our theories - we have seen how much egg white grows when whisked - and then how it changes again when cooked.
The children helped place some coins in different liquids (- such as coke - ketchup -lemon juice and milk- suggested by one child, and fizzy water -suggested by another). We then had to wait and see what happened - a lot of the children thought they would disappear as if by magic - they loved the results - the ketchup made really shiny coins - "like treasure !"

The staff team have been spending their last two Thursday evenings learning about attachment and how children need and build this link with their parents and playschool staff - and how we can nurture it to make our children more resilient and have good self esteem - really interesting-  if hard work !

A lot of planting has been going on - we have even planted up some wellys!  - they look fab

summer is here ! (e hope)

The sun is out yippee! and the children have been making the most of it -  playing outside a lot.  Some running around and around like spring lambs - building boats and dens and others exploring the tulips flowering  from bulbs planted in the Autumn. Discovering the differences that are inside the petals, colours, patterns, shapes and number of stamens -  even though the flower heads are similar colours. It has been a great talking point.

 

We have taken advantage of the warm weather having snack outside and going on a walk to see the lambs in the fields.

We had a 'Regal' session - where the projector is set up to show all their achievements recorded from last term. The children gather around set up their chairs and even pretend to have boxes of popcorn!

Our student from Worcester University read  'Handa's Surprise' and used the story sack to fully involve all the children. They then made prepared and ate a tropical fruit salad using fruit named in the story.

WELCOME BACK !

Hello everyone and welcome back to the summer term!

It has been a lovely week of sunshine and showers.

The pirate and superhero role play goes from strength to strength and we have introduced school clothes into the mix now!

The children have been spending much of the day outside - chalking , sand play and rushing around role playing and building up those muscles.

The still life drawings and paintings of flowers are very interesting. At forest school they have been using magnifiers to look inside the daffodils and study the budding trees. The children are getting good at folding their forest school overalls and coats now.

We have some new children who are beginning to settle -  this also gives the older children a chance to show how they can look after others and empathise.

We are continuing to visit the school hall for PE sessions and are arranging to have a story time in the reception class very soon.

HAPPY EASTER !

Hi everyone ! 
 - we have had a fab week - with junk modelling creations taking over the world!  One child made a rocket, rocket launcher and rocket packs for the toys.

Our Easter celebrations included Easter hats, Faberge eggs and making chocolate Easter nests - without eating the chocolate first !  & They experinced cold solids becoming warm liquids.

'Tennis' seems quite popular at the moment with some developing tennis skills being observed.
Despite the cold weather we had an Easter egg hunt at forest school - which we knew the children enjoyed by their big smiles and chocolate covered faces.

We managed to get out in the sunshine - and observe the frozen water - made from water in containers left out over night. Theythen brought it inside to observe it metling. The children found ice inside the tyres - they said it was "icebergs"- so we looked up icebergs in our encyclopedia - just to check !
 PLAYSCHOOL is open again on Monday 15th April

ITS FREEZING OUT THERE !

Can we remind all out parents/carers - your child needs to come to playschool wearing at least 3 layers - vest t-shirt and jumper and socks and needs a warm waterproof coat -as we are still accessing the outdoors. On Forest school days Weds and Fridays they need extra socks - or they will be crying with the cold.      Thankyou.

At Broadway Playschool - the little ones are getting really good at the "what's in the box " game and the "who's got the glasses on " game, they are all getting really good at remembering all their friends names, and beginning to play in small role play groups, communicating well with each other. We are very proud of them.

 

At Towerview Playschool - we have been working on our Easter theme - making & painting daffodils sculptures and hand printing sheep! The junk modelling is going very well with lots of exploration of how to join things together with loads of glue, string,masking tape, glitter and even pasta .

Our transition to school has been extended with visiting the school hall and doing physical exercises.

On Monday 18th March, a Sensory play day at Broadway Playschool set up by Children Centre staff ( thanks to Moira and Ness) was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Some of you will already be aware there will be staff changes at Apple Vale Children Centre - we have enjoyed developing professional relationships with the team there and will be very sad to say goodbye at the end of March. We wish them all every success in their new posts.

A new team will be introduced soon.

PETITION - YOUR HELP NEEDED

 URGENT – PARENTS/CARERS

Petition against changes to staff to child ratios

Please sign online at www.rewindonratios.com or the paper copy at Pre-school. The below information is taken from the PLA’s website:

In January 2013, the Government announced plans to relax staff‑to‑child ratios in early years settings and for childminders in England.

This will mean that more children can be looked after by the same number of staff.

Under the changes, Playschool staff can look after 6 two-year-old children (up from the current limit of four).

As EYP’s OR Early Years Teachers, Jude and Mags could look after 13 children each !

We believe these changes will have a serious impact on:

·         CHILD SAFETY: With more young children to look after, childcare workers will undoubtedly have less time to keep an eye on your child, posing a real risk to their physical wellbeing.

·         CHILD SUPPORT: Your child’s key person will have less time to engage with your child on a one-to-one basis. This is of particular concern for children with additional needs, who may require extra care and attention.

 

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/department-for-education-drop-plans-to-i

 

Turn your signature into dozens more by sharing this petition

PLEASE GO ON LINE & SIGN THIS WEEK !!!

FRANCE, TARTS AND GRAPE JUICE!

The Broadway playschool (the 2 - 3year old group) are loving the "what's in the box?" and "whose wearing the glasses?" games - used to develop communication skills.

At Towerview Playschool, the children have been enjoying exploring clay, even making snowmen with it!

In the afternoons, the table top games are very popular, especially the Crazy Chef and Shopping List games. The rice & pasta play is going really well too - lots of exploration and descriptive language developing.

 

Children have enjoyed using the outdoor blocks to make a 'Batmobile' and a 'castle' to support their superhero role play.

 

They have been using buckets of water and paintbrushes to paint the house and clean the blackboards!

On the French theme we have made French flags, explored grapes and juiced them in the juicer to make grape juice and all had a sip during snack time.  They have written recipes made pastry rolled it out and added sliced apple to make apple=pomme tarts!  One of our students has introduced 'si vous plais' and 'merci'  and we have been counting up to 10.

The re-introduction of sign language has continued with our other student signing 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' at circle time and then the children have been observed  re-telling the story using props during free-play.

HAPPY MOTHERING SUNDAY !

The children worked really hard on their mothers day cards and enjoyed cutting out the paper plate flowers, painting them and pushing the split pin through onto the card. At Broadway playschool, the children scrunched tissue and wound pipe cleaners around to make a flower which they could then tape onto their card. 
                Hope you enjoy them. Happy mothering Sunday from us all !

The lovely weather promoted us having our lunch outside on Tuesday which the children all helped set up- working together to carry tables out, clean them and put chairs out. It was lovely to sit outside and get them there rays an See the daffodils waving in the breeze!

We are lucky to have two great student from Worcester University working with us for two weeks. They are using their practical and theoretical skills to enhance the children's learning and are both an asset to the team. The children are loving interacting with them

The older boys really enjoyed making a bonfire out of sticks in forest school. There was alot of playing on the climbing tree - practising balancing and stretching .....this was after one child tasked with risk assessing the climbing tree had tested it to make sure it was safe!
Some of the girls have been 'writing' their own stories with staff scribing for them - some of them are in book corner to share with friends.

The American flag was made by the whole group on Monday - complete with the correct amount of stars! ( have a look on the window)   We also had a go at making USA style pin wheels - continuing the development of cutting and split pin skills.

We have started transition visits to the school next door to familiarise children with a school environment ( for those children going up to school in Sept 2013). To begin the focus is on becoming familiar with the school building and meeting key staff such as the administrator, reception teacher and headteacher, we also peep into the hall and check out the toilets.

Welcome to the new children who have started and we are looking forward to some of the younger children, from Broadway Playschoo,l beginning sessions at Towerview Playschool very soon.

We are contining our 'journey' around the world - visiting China, . THis week we screen printed the Chinese writing for snake - for Chinese New Year of the Snake. Writing ecipes and mixing of pancake batter allowed all the children be involved in th ewhole process from igathering ingrediaents to  flipping & eating a pancake.Valentines cards have also been created with lots of cutting and collaging going on.

Quite a few of the children have enjoyed playing tennis this week having lots of fun and learning to    share and take turns.

At forest school this week - the children learnt about fire safety. We lit the Kelly kettle and made custard which we all really enjoyed in banana custard eaten sat on the logs at base camp

Can we remind parents/carers that we need one piece of fruit/veg a week  to provide a variety at  snack time (Playschool provide apples).
HALF TERM next week - so we are closed from Monday 18th to Friday 22nd - see you on week beginning Monday 25th Feb !   Happy Holidays !

AROUND THE WORLD

We have been looking at our world -investigating both world maps and a globe, and have role played flying on a plane,getting on board a train and bus and going to a "partment" (apartment)  which the children created on their own. Marcus (the puppet) needed help packing his suitcase - the children wrote lists -created binoculars and packed him maps they had made, along with clothes, toys and mobile phone and camera.

Our first country was Iceland - we made a 'real' volcano and experimented with the snow and ice we had that week - inside and out.

Next was a taste of Egypt -with Egyptian necklaces and hieroglyphic mark making scratch boards.

We then looked at Italy - making real pizza and collage pizzas at both the little ones group and Towerview. We used some basic Italian words in our daily routine and made lollipop stick puppets.

In to this mix has been much role play around 'supereroes' - one of our parents kindly picked up a couple more 'superhero' costumes - through this active play the children are learning about 'good' and 'bad' , how to play with 'kind hands', negotiate the roles, be inclusive of others and explore different real life concepts.

This week China is our focus and to see what transpires -  watch this space !

OPEN TODAY MONDAY 11TH FEB - LIGHT SNOW

PLAYSCHOOL OPEN TODAY WEDS 23RD JAN

Hi all - we are open as normal
- snow quite deep in places in Broadway this morning but the roads are clear. 
We won't be doing Forest school - but may tog up and explore snow for short time and then come back inside for hot chocolate! 
Take care getting in and ensure your child has warm clothes & warm waterproof coat. Thankyou.

Starting our 'Around the world ' theme - the children came up with what they knew about travel and countries. They have looked at a globe and world map and discussed where they go on holiday. They then packed for' Marcus' the puppet -including sun cream, binoculars, camera and toys: and after making an aeroplane out of chairs and planks of wood they took him off to the 'apartment'- complete with cooker and play food!

 

We've had a look inside the forest school rucksack and what we pack inside to go to forest school. There were lots of contributions from the children who identifying the different items from the bag, why and what we use them for i.e. first aid kit, clip boards, picture charts, Mr Nuts, potato peelers for whittling etc.  One child even said "Tracy you do have allot of things from Boots"- he recognised the logo!

The children have been involved in making some great Forest school maps using collage and had a go at making binoculars! 

Staff are updating paediatric first aid for the next 4 Thursday evenings 7 until 10pm - making sure we can all keep the children safe and well. We have to do this every 3 years.

Parents working with the Apple Vale Children Centre staff at a story sacks workshop have been into Playschool to watch how staff perform the stories using the props and will be trialling their own creations on our children.  
 It will be cool to hear the children's response!

PLAYSCHOOL SNOW CLOSURES WILL BE POSTED ON THIS BLOG BEFORE 8am
on the  morning of the closure

PLAYSCHOOL CLOSURE - Friday 18th Jan 2013 -  due to severe weather warning