HAPPY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL !

The last week was full of anticipation as our children prepared for their Xmas singsong which parents and carers came too. It made us all very proud the way they sang their hearts out and performed the dances. Two children led the performance and one child from Broadway Playschool joined in as well!

The response to the subsequent slide show was very positive with one grandparent remarking 'what an excellent and creative range of activities we covered in one term and she could see all the learning that was going on. Three parents also commented on how happy the children looked and a couple asked for photo's and one suggested we produce a book to sell to parents .... watch this space !

The Xmas party went very well - Father Christmas visited and the children loved seeing him and greeting a small pre-Xmas gift.

The staff had a fab end of term night out and farewell leaving meal for Alison who is moving on to pastures new.  We all wish her every success.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

Staff are back on Weds 4th for training day and cleaning sessions

CHILDREN ARE back on Monday 9th Jan 2017

CHRISTMAS IS COMING !

We have been busy 'making Christmas' this week. The children have enjoyed making chocolate reindeers and creating 'snowman' footprint pictures that can be seen on the display board as you come in the door at Towerview Playschool.
At Broadway Playschool the little ones got to grip with glue and glitter to make some very effective star relief cards.  We also all enjoyed a stroll down the village admiring all the Christmas decorated shop windows, and had a sneaky peek at the Christmas trees in the Lygon Arms - the staff there were very welcoming and our children were very well behaved!

At Forest School this week the children enjoyed making bird nests, looking for treasure and using the mud kitchen to make a variety of mud cakes, soups and pies.

At the end of the week both children and adults had fun watching the reception children from Broadway First School perform in their nativity play.

OUR SING SONG (based around the Nativity) is at 11am (until 12) THURSDAY 15th DEC

                             everyone very welcome to come along !

Christmas Party (for Friday children and those going to school Sept 2017) is on Fri 10.30 - 1

LAST DAY FRIDAY 16TH DEC 2016

- BACK MONDAY 9TH JAN 2017

cold frozen countries ! at home and abroad

With the cold icy weather we have, topically, been looking at ice and snow and what countries we might find these in. The children were keen to look for animals that live around the Arctic and in Antarctica and then played with them in the fake snow we made. They have also been studying water into ice – looking and feeling what the difference is between water and frozen water inside (using the freezer)  and outside !

We are busy making Christmas decorations and cards – lots of glitter and glue and practicing singing our songs for the Christmas Sing song ( Thursday 15^th Dec 11 – 12 noon).

At Broadway Playschool 2-3’s group it has been brilliant watching the children interact and join in telling the story of ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’ using a story sack.  We have been playing inside football as we all got too cold outside after a while- but it was good to explore the frozen water and ice on the tyres and benches.  We all went down to the church to see the Xmas tree Festival – our tree was the best the children decided!

BROADWAY LATE NIGHT SHOPPING & CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL

This week the children have been busy making all sorts of Christmas decorations ready to take to the United reformed Church to hang on our Playschool Christmas tree in the church.
They have been concentrating hard to follow the instructions to make peg reindeers and hand print reindeers and corn flour decorations.

It has been a cold week so we have been wrapping up warm for outdoor play.
On Thursday the walk up to the church was wind y cold and bright. Everyone did 'good walking' holding the ribbon and the tree looked lovely after each child had hung their decoration.
Do visit the Playschool Christmas Tree at the UR church festival at either late night shopping on 25th November or 2nd December.

At forest school this week we have lit the kelly kettle in the fire pit and had yummy banana custard as well as hot chocolate while we sat around base camp. The mud kitchen continues to be very popular.

OOH LA LA !

As part of our “trip” ‘around the world’ Marcus (our puppet) has set off with his suitcase by plane, train and automobile !

We have looked at France this week. The children have enjoyed making croissants, rolling and shaping the dough and once cooked taking them home to eat. They have also enjoyed making French flags and being introduced to a French song – ‘Frere Jacques’. We looked a different things in the setting and tried to find out what they were called in French too.

The dark den continues to be enjoyed and using the torches in the den – the children are getting very good at returning the torches to be re -charged

At Broadway Playschool the little ones have been using the story sack to help tell "Goldilocks and the Three bears" story at circle time. It has been lovely to see them playing with the oats and re-enacting the story during their free- play. They have been doing the bears voices and feeding them oats.

CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL IN THE UNITED REFORMED CHURCH FROM NEXT FRIDAY EVENING – SEE OUR DECORATED TREE !!

HAPPY HALF TERM EVERYONE !

This week the children have been getting physical - using the climbing frame at the 2-3 group and an obstacle course at Towerview Playschool, using balancing, jumping, hopping and throwing skills.

Children enjoyed banana and custard in forest school, also watching the flame coming out the top of the Kelly kettle got some “wow's “

Children got stuck in making spider webs using glittered paint and string and have been really looking at the pumpkin and producing some amazing still life paintings.

Outside the children have been playing on the bikes, filling the ‘trunk’ up with leaves and taking them over to the other side of the area – very good turn taking.

At Broadway Playschool the little ones in the 2-3 group have produced some lovely spider web glitter pictures this week.  They are also beginning to involve themselves in role play now that we have introduced the home corner.  They sat and listened really well and joined in ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’.

Happy Half term !

– we are back on Monday 31^st October

ourselves !

This week the children have been looking at themselves in the mirror and drawing some fabulous portraits. They have been looking to see what colour eyes they have, what kind of hair and expressions.
They have made biscuit faces -decorated with various sweets to make the features - counting out how many eyes etc they need and selecting which colour to choose.


At Forest school they have been learning to saw sections of silver birch - standing behind the rope to watch when not actually sawing (with an adult). They are learning the rules of the Forest and how to keep themselves safe.


Back in Playschool they then took turns in drilling a hole into the sections of wood they had previously sawed. They were very proud of the results.


At Broadway Playschool there has been a lot of sifting and sorting of sand into sieves and buckets and transporting chalks and counting them out too. The children have been excellent at playing 'What's in the box ?' with one child leading while staff stand back. Their dancing has come on with some very good 'moves' to the tumble tots CD.

AUTUMN LEAVES !

This week at Broadway Playschool  2-3 group we have been climbing, using our muscles and strength to pull ourselves up on to the climbing frame, then whizzing down the slide!

On Monday, At Towerview Playschool,  we all enjoyed going for a short walk to collect leaves and conkers. It was fun to explore the textures and colours and to then sort by shape and size

We had a lovely time this week making hand print tree pictures at both settings.

There were some lovely drawings of family members. We have also been recording children’s height on our giraffe height chart.

 It has been great getting to know the new children, seeing how well they have all settled in and seeing how the older children have grown since last term.  

In forest school we went hunting for different leaves, finding a number of different ones we matched them to our identification charts.  Lots of great climbing took place too, using the climbing tree.

BAKING TOGETHER !

It is lovely to see everyone back at playschool after the summer break.  


For the second week back we have been making scones, bread and gingerbread men as we get to know each other a little better. The children have listened, taken turns and measured sifter stirred and rolled mixtures. They have enjoyed waiting for the different things to cook - mmmm lovely smells !!


At Broadway Playschool the 2-3s children have enjoyed looking for bugs, worms and snails as Alison cleared the flowerbeds. They have also enjoyed snack outside while the weather is still good.

At Towerview lots of interaction and working together witnessed this week, from building using the foam blocks to role play. Also the 'animal boogie' at music and dance time was hit with particular children !


At Forest School the children had lots of fun exploring the climbing tree in forest school and learning or remembering the Forest School RULES !

WELCOME TO THE AUTUMN TERM !

Hello and welcome to our autumn term.


All the children are starting to settle and explore their new or familiar environment. There have been lots of opportunities for outdoor play this week - and the need for sun hats and sun cream ! The water play has been popular - spraying , splashing , tipping and pouring ! Play dough has also been a good place to settle and meet new friends.


We are hearing back from our parents with siblings that have gone up to 'BIG' school about how they are all settling at their new schools. Our children have gone on to 6 different local schools this year.


Our theme this half term is going to be around 'ourselves' and getting to know each other in the Playschool.

THANKYOU & GOODBYE ! until next term !

Hello!


We have had lovely end of term with our Forest School trip to Sandfield Farm, where Emma and her team made us very welcome and the children had a fabulous day exploring the massive forest, swimming in muddy ditches and toasting marshmallows. A BIG thank you to Emma for making it possible.


Then we had our Tower Leavers walk - the children walked all the way back to Playschool without a grumble or a groan!  They picnicked at the benches half way down where we met Broadway First children coming up! It was a beautiful day and we saw mole hills, butterflies, sheep, cows and rabbits. After a picnic lunch at Playschool made by the children - where some ate 4 sandwiches! The children did some excellent pictures of the walk , maps and stories.


We have been busy making pasta paper plate faces for Broadway Horticultural show in September. Lets hope Playschool wins the cup again !!!


On the last day we had a whole day at forest school - cooking on the fire and the children made their own pretend fire later and cooked the staff a meal!


The staff had their night out ten pin bowling - which was a great laugh- good to relax together as a team.


Thank you to all the children and parents who gave us such lovely cards and pressies .
We shall miss you but wish you every happiness at BIG school!

Playschool is back on MONDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER

at both settings.

down in the jungle !

This week we were looking at jungle animals and making stenciled paintings and lion masks!
There was much 'vet 'and 'animal husbandry' going on in the role play!

The children got given a huge box which quickly became a space ship complete with viewing windows and a control panel.

Some of the children starting a local school went for lunch - which was a bit noisy but they did seem to enjoy the experience!

Three staff attended music training for a day and learnt many new songs and action rhymes and how to pitch their voices, so that the children could beginning to use their singing voices too!

A group of the staff team took part in the Relay for Life to raise money for Cancer Research Charity this weekend- they stayed up all night and a day  -please bring in any sponsorship monies this week- your support is greatly appreciated.

RAINING DOGS CATS AND GUINEA PIGS !

Hello !
This week we have been playing 'vets '. The children have rearranged the role play area to make room for all the sick animals with support from Amy.

We have had 'Buddy' the dog into show us how good he is at following instructions and everyone got to pat him.

Then 'Honour ' the beautiful guinea pig came to say hello - we learnt about how to care for her , what she eats and where she lives. Everyone got to give her a cuddle and she squeaked with pleasure !

We have looked at different types of pet food and what is good and not good for pets to eat.

We have been following the football and practising our ball skills at Towerview and at Broadway Playschool this week. There were a lot of handballs at Broadway Playschool !

On Friday we released the butterflies that hatched from their cocoons this week and one child had made a story board of the 'Hungry Caterpillar' story and read it to the group.'
The wormery has also finished and we will be taking the worms back to their Forest School home now.

Children going to school will be starting their school induction days soon and we have updated our 'schools' book so that every child can look at their new school and teachers.

worms, butterflies and camping !

We have enjoyed watching the children make the ‘wormery’  - they carefully followed the instructions – layering sand and soil adding worms and placing leaves on top. We then wrapped the container in black paper and will now watch to see if the worms take the leaves down and make them into soil!

Butterflies - Everyone has enjoyed watching our caterpillars change; they have got bigger and bigger and they are now safely in their cocoons.

The Father’s Day / love cards block printed with a bubble wrap heart – so it turned out spotty – looked very professional and some of the children wrote their own names independently. At Broadway Playschool the little ones made hand prints and glued a tiny heart to the middle of the print – theses cards looked lovely too!

At Broadway Playschool water play is very popular and outdoor play involving firemen, builders and lots of shopping !

 Children have been very involved turning the playhouse in to a campervan, lots of talking and listening to each other's ideas and  they've also been drawing pictures on paper to make it a ‘television’ to watch.

At forest school the children have really enjoyed getting stuck in the mud and getting their hands rather muddy too!  

HALF TERM

Have a lovely Whitsun break.

We are back on MONDAY 6th JUNE

SEE YOU THEN !

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN !

The children enjoyed preparing for the Tea party for the Queen, planning for and making their own sandwiches, shopping for this earlier in the week then making cheesecake and jellies. A fun time was had by all at the Queen’s street party, we even sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her!

During the morning sessions there has been some lovely role play making a beach and having a picnic. 

At Broadway Playschool the little ones have discovered silk painting this week, they made some lovely patterns by dropping food colouring and water onto it.

We have really enjoyed watching the children rolling around and getting muddy at forest school. 

The Tuesday visit from 'Zoolab' to Towerview Playschool was really great, all the children sat beautifully and really enjoyed the experience.  We were able to hold a Giant Land Snail, stroke a Bearded Dragon, a snake, and we saw Rosie the tarantula!  

WORMS & SINGING !

This week has seen bread worms being made - the children followed the bread recipe then rolled dough into worm shapes before baking - very delicious they were too!

We had a guest from Chipping Campden Music Festival who got us all singing and dancing - the children were very well behaved.

At Broadway Playschool we have set up a 'mud kitchen ' - this involves pots and pans and various 'cooking' utensils and mud ! The children are really enjoying mixing and stirring concoctions! 
NOTICE - CHILDREN WILL NEED OLD PLAYCLOTHES EVERY DAY NOW, as we may be using the 'mud kitchen ' at any point in the sessions.

We all said 'goodbye' to our student this year from Evesham College. She has been very dedicated and the children and staff have loved working with her. We wish her every success in her career!

LADYBIRDS & SNOW SHOWERS!

Hello ! 
This week we have been busy studying ladybirds - their features and where they like to live.
The children have enjoyed making clay ladybirds and collages and seeing what bugs we can find at Forest school and in the Playschool gardens. The children have been reading about mini beast and 'looking things up' on the computer.

some of the children built an amazing 'zoo' outside - utilising all the construction materials we have - complete with animals and 4 zoo keepers!

At Broadway Playschool the little ones have been busy chalking and making prints, painting spots on ladybird shaped paper, playing with oats and exploring the story of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. The staff have been using the puppet theatre to tell the story through and the children have loved it !

We have been watching the weather and any of the snow showers we have had we have been out dancing and trying to catch snow flakes on black paper.

The transition visits to the reception class at Broadway First School have started. We take all the children going up to school even if this isn't the school they will be going to. We talk to them about going to 'school' - exploring what a classroom is like and then we can look at all the different schools in our School photo book back in Playschool.  We are still also using the school hall once  week so the children get used to being in a school hall environment.

SPIDERS !!!

This week we stared our 'mini beasts' theme and this week have been looking at spiders. We discussed what the children already knew - which was a lot ! They talked about bees making honey and where worms live. They also thought 'fairies' should be included, and so they are on the chart we made.

We found a large dead spider and looked at him under the magnifiers. They have been making spider hats and learning to concertina paper which they all managed to have ago at. They also counted to eight for their spiders legs and eyes.
A remote control spider  they have named Lucy is also part of the sessions- some children do not like her at all!

Our placement student introduced different 'sensation bags' = food bags filled with different things - like paint or corn flour and water - the children really got involved choosing fillings and 'drawing' on the outside of the bag.

At Broadway Playschool using the puppet theatre to tell our current story of Goldilocks and the three bears has proved a big hit - with all the children getting very animated.

YOUR CHILD'S INDIVIDUAL EDUCATION PLANS IS OUT THIS WEEK.
- THE SHEET FOR APPOINTMENTS TO SEE KEY WORKERS IS ON DESK IN PLAYSCHOOL.

WELCOME BACK TO THE SUMMER TERM !

It was nice to see all the children settled, happy and re-kindling their friendships after their long Easter break.

We have enjoyed seeing the children doing the ‘tap tap’ art and seeing all of their amazing pictures that they have made.

At Broadway Playschool the little ones are beginning to get involved in their role play and have loved wearing the hats, they have been firemen, policemen, painters and builders.

Children really enjoyed going back into the bottom forest school and seeing the transformation over the past couple of months.  A particular interest was the hunt for worms, and many children were confident to hold these and discuss the size difference between them. It has become quite over grown in the area and one child remarked     "Wow ! Lots of carrots growing ! " 

The children really enjoyed getting really muddy from head to toe and  then getting to roll on the grass on the way back to Playschool – to get all the mud off their overalls !

 REMINDER - your child needs a coat everyday - whatever the weather - as we are always outside- every session. Thank you.

EASTER GREETINGS !

We have been doing lots of Easter preparations these last weeks.

The children enjoyed making various patterns onto egg shaped paper, they had to spend time thinking about how to make their patterns and we even had one egg that was decorate with the first letter of the child's name.

They were busy making their ‘Easter crown’ hats was that they got to decorate them with loads of different things. They liked choosing between the different stickers and decorations that were provided to stick on the crowns. It was interesting to hear why they chose what they did!

As a whole group we made iced rabbit biscuits – some children found it was hard to resist licking fingers!

 At Broadway Playschool -

The little ones have been getting  physical outside, helping each other as they balance along planks and jump into tyres. They have made Easter nests complete with chicks together as a group.

This week it was lovely using our Forest school at the bottom of school field, searching for Easter eggs that the Easter bunny had left. The children had so much fun running around looking for the eggs and telling the staff about the Easter bunny coming and leaving eggs and that he will be coming to their own houses soon!

WE ALL WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A VERY HAPPY EASTER BREAK!

          PLAYSCHOOL RETURNS MONDAY 11TH APRIL 2016

PHOTOS ARE BACK !

Photos are back in Playschool where you can view them  - Please note payment must be received before you take the photos.
Thankyou.

CHINESE NEW YEAR - PANCAKE DAY- VALENTINES !!!!

We have been very busy this week chopping veg for our stir fry and all sitting together to eat it.
Making pancake mix and flipping pancakes & eating them !
......and block printing our valentines cards.

.......and to top it all we have been busy role playing, mark making, counting, singing and working with our friends !

Forest School was excellent as we had fire as we used the 'kelly kettle' to heat the water to make banana custard.

Happy half term break !
see you all week staring the 22nd Feb

ROLE PLAY GALORE !

At Broadway Playschool 2-3 group

The little ones have been enjoying the water play, challenging themselves with jigsaw puzzles, and lovely outdoor role play beginning- fixing and building with the tools.

At Towerview Playschool

What a busy week!  Building ..'robot stage', 'Power Ranger Charging Station', 'lectric shockers to catch the baddies', 'landing fingy for the ship'.  Role playing.....Star Wars - "fixing the space ship where it's been shoot-ed"... 'Dance class "Warm ups", 'Riding on the dinosaur train',  .....as well as.....Playing tennis, PE in the school hall, bean bag dance and action songs,......and junk modelling - making a trumpet, ‘a castle for Rapunzel’ with a "secret passage'.......and lots of tidying up in between!  

Outside the children have been role playing spaceships and building them up out of the construction materials.

Then the whole group came together on Tuesday afternoon making a stage with foam blocks around the edge, put together with nails (lolly pop sticks) and using the toy tools. The children then self selected the play microphones to do their performance. Tickets (building blocks) were also given out to the audience. 

The children have enjoyed categorising the coloured dinosaurs into pots, and also forming patterns with them too!

At Forest School this week thick and thin, long and short worms were dug up; lots of wriggling but some children were happy to pick them up.  This was followed by a relaxing lie down whilst we all listened to what was going on all around us; lots of birds, chirping, lorries and traffic and the wind rustling the trees, oh and not forgetting the monkey in the tree!

 

LIGHT & DARK ......

At Towerview Playschool this week fun was had moving and grooving on the outside  ‘dance floor’ – the children constructed a dance floor using the outdoor construction materials; all child initiated – complete with guitars made from oars and tennis racquets and plastic bottle microphones! The ‘audience’ even got instruments so we could all join in.

Some children have been producing some great artwork, using confident cutting and drawing.

The children warmed up whilst exercising to our ‘bean bag raps’- ‘good listening guys!’

Due to high winds we were not able to do Forest School this week but we did make sure we were outside building, on the bikes and doing some digging work on the outdoor space – tidying up and sweeping.

During circle time using the microphones to sing in to and then listen back some lovely nursery rhymes were heard being sung and even a little song from ‘Frozen’. The children's faces while listening back to themselves singing was a picture!  

We also read 'Whatever Next' which lead to a great group discussion about the moon “....what it might be like....why it was boring...(because no one was there)...... Could there be aliens?....if so ..would they they be scary or friendly.....what they might look like.....how many eyes.....what colour?.......do they wear clothes....." They wear underpants"... Linking to "Aliens Love Underpants". Some great thinking, imagination and language.

At Broadway Playschool water play was very popular this week– squirting using the puffer fish and making the water wheels whizz around. They also enjoyed pretend bubble play with the bubble wands!

They have been sticking and gluing and mark making while on the ‘phone’.

The children have also been enjoying ‘Goldilocks and the 3 Bears’ story and are beginning to remember the refrain.

WELCOME BACK TO SPRING TERM 2016 !

‘Happy new year’ and welcome back to the spring term! Our theme this half term is ‘light and dark’; why? Shadows and what makes them, nocturnal/diurnal animals.  Lots of language opportunities both at playschool and home. The activities on offer to the children are always up on the hallway notice board.

 

At Towerview Playschool there has been some lovely Christmas role play "....Ho Ho Ho!!....." .A group of children have been playing, having a "big sleep" and waking up to find " Santa's been", and he has been busy in the junk modelling area wrapping presents for everyone with adult help. Its is great practice for  learning to speak and write for a purpose for children to recreate scenes from real life - to share them with others and to begin to make sense of their world.

 

There has been some lovely "cats" role play too. We have been listening to their interactions and it has been great to see children leading that have not been with us long and wonder at how much their confidence has grown. 

The light box theatre has been popular, some children have been involved using the animals and figures to act out and create their own stories....really imaginative.

 

FOREST SCHOOL
Having now moved to our smaller forest school area,( to give the other one a rest), the children really enjoyed making 'cornflake cup cakes' and baked bean pie in the mud kitchen and 'chocolate pudding with cheese' for added flavour in the digging area! Some had fun using their bare hands to scrape the soil up rather than use an implement! We have really enjoyed observing the children exploring the new forest area. Not one child came away clean - lots of fun was had !!
On Friday a group made their own party at forest school complete with singing and presents. 

2-3S GROUP AT BROADWAY PLAYSCHOOL are beginning to gel now with new children coming in and older ones gone onto the bigger group. It has been great to see new friendships develop and hear their communication skills grow.

WATCH OUT THOUGH because this week two of the little pigs from our story sack have gone missing, the big bad wolf has blown down their houses and they have ran away!!!!   Our mission next week will be to search everywhere in playschool to find out where they are be hiding!