HAPPY CHRISTMAS & A PEACEFUL NEW YEAR !

The Christmas 'SING SONG' was well attended by parents, grandparents and childminders. The children sang the 'Mary's Knitting' songs and everyone joined in with our other songs. The slide show was much enjoyed with some lovely feedback. Thankyou.

 The children enjoyed playing with small world play 'playmobil' engaging in imaginative role play alongside their peers, demonstrating play based on their own first hand experiences.

On Friday children wore Christmas jumpers and proudly showed them off to each other, having an awareness of, and showing interest and enjoyment in the forthcoming Christmas celebrations.

Forest School went well thanks to Sarah and Jo who assisted Mags cooking crumpets over an open fire with the children. Some of the children enjoyed having a taste adventure as Mags also roasted some chestnuts in the coals.  Taking well planned risks gives opportunities for the children to become resilient and cope and forest School is a great environment for different experiences. Dressing by themselves for the weather is all part of the experience and having a go keep trying being involved are some of their characteristics of learning.  Please remember though it’s cold out there and providing Wellington socks gloves and hats is all part of it.  Have a very joyful holiday season 

PLAYSCHOOL FINISHES 
TUESDAY 17TH DEC 2019 
- BACK ON MONDAY 6TH JAN 2020

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The Nativity and Christmas prep

The children are enjoying exploring the story of Christmas through books; looking at the illustrations and showing an awareness how stories are structured. They have enjoyed setting up the nativity scene identifying the main characters and recalling the narrative of the Christmas story.

The children at both Playschools were taken to the church to see the Playschool Christmas tree beautifully decorated with their handmade decorations.  They have produced some lovely snowman and tree Christmas cards for their families by printing with bubble wrap.

The children have showed an interest in kicking hitting and throwing the balls.  This child led play has then been extended with the introduction of plastic racquets.  Some have shown a keen awareness of controlling the balls direction and have been encouraged to play with each other hitting the ball 'to and fro'.  It has been interesting to watch the different methods adopted by the children working out how to propel the ball with the racquet.

EYFS - Characteristics of Effective Learning

Playing and exploring – engagement

Finding out and exploring /Playing with what they know/ Being willing to ‘have a go’
The children have exhibited all these characteristics as they've explored the Christmas story. They have develop skills (willing to have a go) through making cards and decorations. being involved in the community project with the URC church Xmas tree festival is important to develop a sense of community(finding out and exploring). This is also seen in the tennis games being played outside  (playing with what they know).

PLAYSCHOOL CHRISTMAS EVENTS

HAPPY CHRISTMAS !!! 

PLAYSCHOOL XMAS EVENTS

   CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY -   FRIDAY 13 TH DEC

*Wear a Christmas jumper, hat or head gear & bring a £1 to help us raise funds for Save the Children !

* FRI 29^thNov & 6^THDec –see our Playschool Xmas Tree in the United Reformed Church–at Broadway’s late night shopping evening.

* TUESDAY 10^TH DEC = XMAS SING SONG  11-12

(Please bring your Playschool child along = even if not normally in Tuesday)

EVERY FAMILY MEMBER WELCOME TO JOIN US  INCLUDING GRANDPARENTS/AUNTIES/UNCLES & CHILDMINDERS !

*MON16^TH DEC-PLAYSCHOOL XMAS PARTY

PLAYSCHOOL WILL BE OPEN NORMAL HOURS THAT MONDAY  9am – 3pm

There is a charge to include a FULL CHRISTMAS DINNER & a present from Father Christmas !

please bring payment & sign the list at Playschool -

(LUNCH BOX NOT BE REQUIRED)

(children not normally in Monday’s but going to school in Sept 2020

welcome to join us at party time 10.30 till 1pm (fees apply)

FATHER XMAS will be making a visit!

----------------------

LAST DAY TUES 17^TH-
BACK TO PLAYSCHOOL ON MON 6^thjAN 2020

CHRISTMAS TREE OH CHRISTMAS TREE !

The children finished off their Christmas decorations which have now been hung in the URC Christmas tree festival which runs for two weeks . Some children so enjoyed the process that they  made several. They look great and I’m sure their families will enjoy seeing them at the late night shopping. 

The children have been practising their Christmas songs (for our SING SONG Tues 10th 11 am - that all families are invited to) remembering words and actions from memory. Staff have observed children singing the songs and moving rhythmically as they as they sang to themselves whilst listening the CD. The children are developing an understanding of the "Story of Christmas"

The children explored the frosty grass as we headed to forest school, some lovely descriptive language heard as we took a closer look at the frosted leaves and listened to the ‘crackly’ and ‘crunchy’ sounds as we walked across the field.  One child worked out that the grass was green one side of the field because the sun was shining down on that part and frosty white where it wasn’t.

AT Broadway Playschoool; The children were involved in making play dough this week where we added some extra ingredients giving it more of a Christmas theme, we added glitter and mixed spice!

SEE OUR CHRISTMAS TREE AT LATE NIGHT SHOPPING 6 DEC or during the week at URC church ! 

FLOODS & OPENING

We had to close at lunch time today - Thursday 14th Nov but are 
OPEN AS USUAL FRIDAY 15th Nov 2019

remembrance

It has been lovely to see the older children at the Broadway setting support the children new to the group, showing them the routine giving them confidence to try out activities.

The half apple 'poppy' prints worked well. Some children enjoyed carrying on printing to see what happened when the paint ran out and made beautiful pale faint poppies prints.  Some enjoyed filling the page some children chose to print all around the edge !     Was lovely listening to Anneliese working with different children to make the bonfire splatter picture ....

Music and movement  was enjoyed by the children . Many requests for "Funky Monkey" listening to the CD and following the instructions to music. The children are beginning to show an awareness of space, themselves and others. They followed a range of action songs and especially had fun with the ribbons listening to the music and showing control in their movements and rhythm. Some children are becoming aware that exercise keeps them fit and healthy recognising the importance in being active. 

EYFS links - Active learning – motivation   All the children are -

Being involved and concentrating -Keeping trying -Enjoying achieving what they set out to do
They are listening - remembering sequences and following patterns to achieve result

pumpkins! & HAPPY HALF TERM

What is a pumpkin like ? That’s what we have been exploring this week. Right from where it comes from- to how heavy? - to what’s inside?- to decorating and making soup !   The children enjoyed drawing their own pumpkin face designs, trying to lift the pumpkin, and getting all the pips out. Becky then toasted them and we all enjoyed a tasty snack.  The pumpkin pie is good too!

Great imaginations were observed in action when watching the children using wooden blocks inside and making 'animal enclosures'. Talking to each other; deciding which animals would go inside the enclosure.
Together we made excellent spider web creations - using glue and glitter - one foggy morning there were hundreds of real spiders webs to be seen on the decking.

ENJOY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE - 

BACK ON MONDAY 4TH November 

learning in the wind and rain !

The children got really stuck in making the autumn tree with their handprints- first we discussed what colours the leaves should be and then they helped lay the paper out to cut, paint and print and to paint the tree trunk. It is now on the wall for you to see! 

We had a lovely Autumn walk down the village with the 2-3yrs old group.  We searched for conkers, collected leaves and visited the hounds at the kennels. The children really enjoyed their walk down the village and really engaged in everything they did and saw and asked questions too.  They also listened to all instructions and walked really well also

As it was to windy for forest school yesterday, we were able to do yoga which was enjoyed, for some of the children this was a new experience. 

There was lots of mark-making indoors and outdoors this week. Children were observed taking register and calling out their friends names "are you here they said! letters were written and put in envelopes their mark-making used as a meaning of recording and communicating. Chunky chalks were used in the outdoor area-  children drawing lines and circles using gross motor movements creating spiders , webs and fish!

On Saturday, the staff team attended Early Years training, where they had the chance to listen to two inspiring talks/presentations from John Simpson who was diagnosed with Autism as a teenager and Shonette Bason-Wood, an Early Years practitioner who is the creator of "Dough Disco". We had a very full but enjoyable day and took part in various different workshops and are eager to put some new ideas into practice.

autumn treasure !

An excellent time was had on the conker and leaf collecting walk - the children listened well to safety instructions before hand and had a wonderful time finding huge shiny conkers. They then made a lovely autumn display in Playschool.

Using magnifying glasses the children investigated and explored the collection of autumn 'treasure; leaves, pine cones, conkers. They were showing curiosity and interest in the features of objects and describing and talking about what they observed. 

A story was read about a spider and continuing with their enthusiasm re-telling events in the story the staff and children made a giant spider sculpture using conkers 'placing and arranging' them on the floor to create a big friendly spider picture. When complete the children stood by their spider leg that they had created and all joined in with the nursery rhyme 'Incey Wincey Spider.'

they rolled paint on selected leaves and then placed them on paper - covering and pressing to make leaf prints.

Great counting from the children playing the game of hide and seek.  Lots of enjoyment in the sand using the dumper trucks and front end loaders.

Some of the staff Team attended an Early Years Conference in Worcester on Saturday. They had a very enjoyable day - learning and playing! 

CHARACTERSITICS OF EFFECT LEARNING Playing and exploring – engagement

 these characterisitcs have been seen in abundance this week - Finding out and exploring in nature under the conker trees, in the school field, forest school and playschool outside and in 

Playing with what they know - using the autumn trreeasure they found to do this Being willing to ‘have a go’- following staff lead and now more spontaneous 

busy busy bees !

The children at Broadway setting enjoyed rolling and cutting gingerbread dough to make animal biscuits to take home.

During the week  we did some foot prints, putting our feet in paint then on to paper. Some children really enjoyed it others willing to take part but little bit unsure of the sensation of paint between their toes!

Lovely firefighter role play seen this week at Towerview.  The children directed adults and peers where to go and how to keep safe. 

We’ve been lucky this week to look closely at a visiting snail, slug and spider who delighted us with a magnificent web on the decking.  This has given the children great learning opportunity to extend their understanding of their world and discuss other cultures and languages.  

The children have worked as part of a group showing an interest in the way musical instruments sound and the different sounds they make. The children explored how sounds can be changed from loud to quiet and then still. They recognised and repeated sound patterns ie 1234 still, 123 still, tapping their instruments and observing the adults visual instructions.They enjoyed playing their instruments along to familiar songs they chose from memory. 

On Friday we had an amazing Forest School session despite the rain - the children got changed so quickly we are really proud of them- they listened well at base camp and knew the 'Forest School Rules' - no walking inside base camp fire pit area, no picking, no licking , no running, how to carry sticks long and short and stopping at the boundaries and roped off sawing area.  They had a lovely time - climbing on the climbing tree with Sarah assisting. Making leaf patterns with Jude, and mud pies with Mags'. 

AUTUMN HEDGEHOGS !

At Broadway playschool the younger children are really settling into their routines nicely and starting to play together more.  They have enjoyed the lovely dry sunny days playing outside in the sand.

At Towerview - we have had a great week looking at our faces in the mirror, looking at different features and  using the resources to make self portraits with different mark making materials such as chalk, pen and pastel.

It’s wonderful to see the new children settling in well, knowing the routine of snack time (taking their name off the tower board /helping themselves to plates and cups and pouring their own drink) it’s so nice to see their independence and confidence growing.

We have been making bread - measuring and weighing the ingredients - looking a what implements we need - sieve , bowl etc and watching the dough rise - literally grow in the sun!   then rolling and snipping the balls to make hedgehog prickles. A few of the children have got hedgehogs in their gardens which is good to hear ! 

REMINDER - Friday Forest School - all children need their own NAMED welly boots - thankyou  

PHHS STUDENT IN SETTING WEEK BEGINNING 30TH SEPT - on work experience 

WELCOME TO THE AUTUMN TERM !

Welcome back to all our older littles ones and a big welcome to our new ones!

Broadway Horticulture show - we won the cup again ! for our painted stones animals- well done everyone !

It was lovely to meet returning children and new children along with their parents. One of our activities to get to know one another is sitting in a circle and rolling a ball to a friend and learning and remembering their  names aswell as the staff. Great way to introduce ourselves to one another and have fun whilst learning. Lovely to see the older children guiding the little ones in role play. 

The children have enjoyed being outside in the autumn sunshine -building with the foam blocks using the guttering to make ball runs.  Great creations and imaginations being shared already, including a 'helicopter pilot' and 'lorry driver', their 'machines' made out of tyres and crates. 

Fantastic how the children confidently explored during their first forest school session, they all listened, followed the routine and joined in brilliantly when we did the forest school circle.  

The little ones at Broadway playschool are settling in to the routine and enjoying the 'Dear Zoo' storysack.

It is lovely to notice the older ones how they have grown in confidence over the summer break and we look forward to seeing them progress even more.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE LEARNING seen this week 
-Playing and exploring – engagement =
Finding out and exploring - Playing with what they know  -Being willing to ‘have a go’
we are seeing all these solid characteristics in the children's play as they settle into Playschool. All good foundations for competent learners.