Goldilocks and the three Bears !

At Broadway Playschool (2-3 group) they loved the big box ! after a while they all wanted to hide in it, we put a cushion and a blanket inside to make it cosy ! and just before we tidied the paints away one little girl decided it would be lovely to paint the box !!! beautiful- child initiated, child led play at its best !!!

 

Meanwhile at Towerview –the whole ‘Goldilocks and the three bears ‘ theme was in all their play – on the headphones& reading the story, in the role play, in the sand - & they liked making and then eating the porridge for snack!   The flapjacks were very yummy too.

As part of the transition work we are doing, the reception teacher came to read a story and was shown the school dressing up clothes by two boys –  she was very impressed at their counting skills & how well they listened to the story.

At Forest School the children really enjoyed the overgrown forest this week, looking for bugs, slugs, and snails. listening and looking out for Mr Robin !! – there are at least 2 down there and they come to get the dropped biscuits form our snack time!

Excellent conversations and team work, looking at the bluebells, and making mud pies – and when asked what they were making, one child said  "i am using a ‘recipe’!"   They found worms and used the reference books to see which kind they had found.

 

HAPPY EASTER !

Broadway Playschool (The 2-3 group) enjoyed making choc Easter nests and they made some beautiful collage eggs by scrunching and tearing tissue paper.

Thursday we had a egg hunt and all enjoyed eating the bunny ! 

There is some lovely role play and conversations taking place.

At Forest school - The children had fun cooking marshmallows over an open fire. They also had crumpets and pancakes!  On Friday the Easter egg hunters left 5 eggs unfound – some creature will have a yummy treat !

At Towerview Playschool – the pasta role play continued and the children made some lovely egg collages. The tasty Easter chocolate shredded wheat cakes –complete with eggs and chicks -  the children made were excellent – they followed instructions to make them really well- & they said were yummy!

The pre-school children went to reception again for a story – they were so well behaved the supply teacher commented on them and gave them all a sticker!  We were so proud of them!

Tuesday - we had a nice spring walk seeing the lambs.

Football on the school field on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons was great fun - one girl said “I loved it you know how many goals I got? 57” !! Then we took them round the field on the ‘train’ stopping off to let the children off and lie down on the grass to listen to all the spring sounds in the spring sun.

The tadpoles should have limbs developing by the time we return !!

Have a happy Easter all

& see you the week starting Monday 28^{th April.}

SIGHTS SOUNDS SMELLS & TASTES !

At Broadway Playschool,  the 2-3year olds have been  learning "who's got the glasses on" game- doing really well.

We have witnessed lots of role play,  copying adults roles - for example -a member of staff was doing observations – suddenly there was a whole row of children with pads and pens, mark-making/writing, copying her making observations !!

There have been some lovely fine motor skills developing when filling up bottles and ice cube trays with dried pasta,

And excellent singing and dancing at circle time!

Towerview Playschool

On Wednesday at Forest School all the children had a fabulous time making hedgehogs out of clay, they were all keen to have a go and the hedgehogs are drying out on a plank ready to go home.

This week our ‘Tap Tap’ Art seemed to be very popular – creating some excellent pictures from wood pieces and nails on cork mats and there has been some excellent mark making outside with big chalks.

At circle time one day – we go into little groups and did our syllable clapping and ‘sounds like’ games – the children are getting good at hearing letter sounds. We also practiced matching up instruments from behind a screen which takes a lot of listening skills.

Thursday – we all made pizzas – from scratch – it took until 1pm but the children worked hard making the dough – letting it prove then rolling and putting their choice of toppings on- yum yum!

Before forest school on Friday – because the children had seen a flapjack recipe in our cookbook – we quickly made some flapjack before we set off- we went to the bottom site – which we haven’t been in since before Xmas  - where we found lots of daffodils and twigs and branches that had fallen from the trees over the winter.

 

Happy Mothering Sunday

This week has seen the children busy making cinnamon biscuit dough (following our food theme) - writing recipes - following the list - weighing - mixing and moulding - then after time in fridge - we rolled - cut and finally scooped the 'Mothering Sunday' heart biscuits onto a tray with a fish slice.!   They loved this and reminded us to make holes in top for the ribbon.  One of the staff burnt a batch and was in serious trouble!

At Broadway Playschool they concentrated on making magnetic flowers - the children all enjoyed following the sequence to make these - and i think you will agree they look pretty good!

The Mothering Sunday tulip cards made at Towerview Playschool- were made using a block printing method - all the children attempted mark making their names & they seemed very pleased with the results.

Our Worcs Uni student completed the 'Handa's Surprise' project by making a lovely wall display of the children's recipes and photos from the week -  PLEASE FEEL FREE TO TAKE A LOOK WHEN YOU ARE PICKING UP OR DROPPING OFF!

Forest school this week saw the Kelly kettle being lit to boil water and everyone enjoying some banana custard in the spring sunshine .......the children were excellent at sitting and watching Jude get smoked out and made us proud by following every one of the safety rules - WELL DONE GUYS!

A restful Mothering Sunday to all our playschool Mums- you are doing fab job !

HANDA'S SUPRISE !

Excellent work went on this week when our present student introduced ‘Handa’s suprise’ – story based in Africa about a girl taking fruits to her friend – the animals that she past eat Handa’s fruit.

The children enjoyed playing with the story sack – they wrote shopping lists – drawing fruit and mark making the words -   playing with real and pretend tropical fruit in the role play area.

We then went down to the village Deil to buy fruit – the staff there were so helpful and printed off labels for the children to see the weight and prices.

Once back at playschool – fruit salad was made and parents invited to come into sample the mix!

One of our other ex-students popped in with a lovely ‘Going on a bear hunt’ jigsaw for the children - & they presented her with a card and some choccies.

The children going to school in September this year did another ‘tour’ of the school and were invited in to reception to see the plastic bottle igloo they have been making – we also  returned a story book the reception teacher lent us and gave them some of our used milk containers to contribute to the creation.

 

POTATOES

We all peeled potatoes on Monday to make chips in the oven- the children really persevered at using the peelers and soon the floor outside was covered with peelings – the chips were yummy!

We also used potatoes to make repeat prints – this was really jolly – lots of bright spring colours.

Forest school involved the children climbing climbing tree   they loved being taller than the staff!!  This showed lots of upper strength and strong legs. Our student observed that one child could possibly be a monkey looking at  how well she climbs ?!

One day aeroplane role play developed. The children decided that they wanted to go to ‘Peppa Pig world’, Army Land and ‘Picnic world’. One girl asked to go to the moon, but one of the boys said “we can’t go to space as we would run out of fuel!​”

Frog spawn was discovered out on the path!! So we brought it in and it is now in a tank .........waiting to see what happens next ?

One child told me (a staff member) that their hair was too long, because " it goes over your eyes"......thought that was cheeky! - but a good observation ....but she had only had it cut a couple of weeks ago! And anyway his hair needed cutting too – how we all laughed !

Some of the children played 'Kim's game' this week....and we were all really impressed how good they were at it.

The photographer – was in on Thursday and Friday – the children were excellent at coping with all the comings and goings – with only a few tears and lots of smiles – we had a fab group photo at Towerview!

 

PANCAKE DAY !

Think the weather really made a difference this week, the little ones at the 2-3 group really enjoyed being outside in the sunshine.

Great time was had making pancakes (with 2-3 year group) on Monday.

All the children helped to make pancake batter and had  had a mix and a whisk 

We tried them at snack but most were not keen !! 
It was lovely to see 2 children using story sacks working together to tell their friends the story

On Tuesday at Towerview playschool  - the children wrote their recipes and then made the mixture - we weighed and measured the ingredients. Then while staff cooked and tossed the pancakes, the children had small cold pancakes for use in the frying pans in the home role play area - there were allot of laughs as they tossed their own pancakes!

 

As part of our topic on food and to continue the watching the drive being put in at one of the staff houses - the children and staff walked to house. Here we had a look at the shrub clearance before the digger comes to clear the mud.

We then had a look at the back garden - learnt how to be respectful in some one else's house - and had a look in the fridge - where there were 'krispie cakes' - which were enjoyed sitting in the sunshine outside.
 

We tried to make bubble mixture on Wednesday which was a complete disaster, one child even commented on how rubbish it was! We will try again !

Forest school - Children had a fab time at making straw creatures - out of wool, straw and found sticks. We found wood lice, butterflies, spiders and made nests for them 

 

It was lovely to see them all taking part in the food tasting on Monday and the expressions on their faces to the different flavours and encouraging them to even try- just a taste !