CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY - FRIDAY 11TH DECEMBER
Monday, 7 December 2020
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Exploring and making the most of the varied weather conditions
We’ve had inside water play, at first we had dolls that the children could wash, dry and put nappies on, this was short lived as going with the children’s interests it was soon turned into water play with sea animals.
At forest school on a drizzly Friday morning a child instigated laying on the ground at first looking up in the trees, it was then suggested catching rain on our tongue lots of laughter was heard as the rain fell on our noses, cheeks, eyes and eventually on the tongue.
Also the children have really enjoyed doing some dancing at the end of the session and we have seen some really good moves from them all with lots of smiling and laughing.
Saturday, 14 November 2020
Staying safe, fireworks and poppies.
We talked with the children about keeping ourselves safe around bonfires and fireworks when we made our bonfire cake. They all enjoyed watching the sparklers while safely keeping their distance remembering not to get too close!
The 2-3yrs have been enjoying the Hokey Cokey following actions and singing along.
Both groups have enjoyed firework splat painting with teabags and paint watching the effect they make as the teabags hit the paper when dropped. All the children have been keen to do apple print poppies to commemorate 100yrs since WW1 Armistice.
Towerview children have been introduced to the Winter Forest school site, they are enjoying the mud kitchen area and the ‘tunnel’, an area where the hedgerow has grown and cascaded to provide a shelter, very inviting and a good place to hide out.
Sunday, 1 November 2020
Pumpkins, fires and sparkly spider webs.
The children continued to enjoy using the colour paddles as a traffic light system remembering what each colour represented. Red- stop, amber - get ready , green -go, additions blue -backwards, purple- puncture and yellow petrol. This activity was introduced in music and movement and then the children with adult guidance outdoors used the colour paddles whilst playing on trikes and scooters and two wheeled bikes. The children were so confident in remembering what each colour signified that they took turns at being traffic control ,enjoying instructing their peers in traffic management and a few speeding tickets handed out too!
The younger 2-3 year olds have enjoyed building with the blocks outside this week and also have been sitting very nicely whilst enjoying storytime. They have also enjoyed the process of creating their sparkly spider web pictures by drizzling the glue and shaking the glitter pots, and couldn’t resist the temptation to explore the soft glitter with their fingers.
They have a enjoyed exploring the stringy texture of the inside of the pumpkin willingly getting hands sticky! One child initiated an idea of posting conkers through the holes we cut for eyes.
Children in the older group explored the idea of using the cut pieces as a shape sorter! They also took the opportunity to use the pumpkins to role play accessing the medical cases. Others explored size and weight lifting them to see which weighed heavier as well as comparing sizes and using tools to try to crack them open. Lots of discussion and opportunity for language as we talked about why they only had three teeth and why it’s so important to look after our own to keep them strong and healthy.
During both Forest School sessions the children enjoyed crumpets and brioche cooked on the basecamp fire. They used this experience to extend their role play by building their own fire with log pieces back at Playschool.
Tuesday, 20 October 2020
Stop, ready, Go!
The children have been very involved in road traffic role play, using colour codes to “stop, ready and go” which lead to some mark making speeding tickets! Too fast in their bikes. We explored the idea of making our own speed camera and traffic light with the junk modelling to use for role play. This involved measuring with a marble?! Exploring tools and what we need to use for sawing to make the post and looking at shapes to decide which would be appropriate for the task.
Children were encouraged to be creative with the conkers they found and produced a giant spider, there was some debate over how many legs a spider has.
At Forest School children had the opportunity to saw branches in preparation for the woodland fire the following week. We practised our emergency evacuation too which the children coped brilliantly.
The children in the 2-3yr group made a collage bus, using a sample for reference they explored shapes selecting circles for wheels and squares for windows - problem solving, counting and positional language.
Thursday, 1 October 2020
Great involvement and problem solving
It’s been lovely to see smiley faces at Broadway Playschool (2-3yrs) and we have seen the children show some good painting skills, sand digging and balancing on planks.
It’s been really encouraging to watch the children get to know each other through role play and building constructions together. A super team effort!
The children are demonstrating good looking, listening and sitting skills at circle time recognising the symbols of the routine they put on the visual timetable. The children are also recognising their name label to put on the tower.
There has been some great problem solving on how to collect up leaves from the ground and what to use to scoop them up.
The children seemed very excited when they spotted an aeroplane fly over Playschool. Following a suggestion from an adult a large group became involved in large outdoor construction building their own aeroplane. Lots of problem solving working together to think about what they needed ie. wings , cockpit for the pilot bringing opportunity for vocabulary and language development.
At Forest school we observed lots of activity in the digging area, one child discovered a dinosaur bone! A small group were involved in fossil hunting too.
Saturday, 19 September 2020
Welcome back!
We have enjoyed welcoming the children back to Playschool after such a long absence for many and children new to Playschool who have settled incredibly well and picking up the routine quickly. The 3-4yrs haven’t taken very long at all in becoming very involved and engrossed in play.
In the first couple of weeks we have witnessed some wonderful imaginative play with small world and animal play where one child made up some inventive names for them.
Children attending Tuesdays and Fridays have been re introduced to Forest school and have remembered the rules brilliantly. It’s been great to watch them exploring and running around freely. They are picking up the “123 Where are you?” game brilliantly.
We are all getting used to our new Broadway setting, the older 2yr children have adapted brilliantly following the routine and children new to the group are picking up cues and coping very well. They have instigated the story ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ and are seating and listening to the story beautifully.
Saturday, 20 June 2020
Re opening Towerview- Happy outdoors 😄 🌦
We are trying to do our best to keep in touch with all families, we can be contacted by phone and email. We have a Facebook page where we have uploaded ideas for activities to do at home along including speech and language posts shared from Worcestershire Speech and Language.
The children who have returned to Playschool have settled very well and seem to be coping with the routine and rules very well and are delighting us with their new skills they have learnt during lockdown. We have seen some very impressive mark making and writing skills, new songs and rhymes and have heard how one child can now “crack eggs without getting the shell in the mixture”.
This week the children have enjoyed being together, we have seen some lovely building role play where the whole group - all eight of them - have worked to together to ‘fix the playhouse’ and with all the wet weather they are keen to be outside. Together they have discovered that the rain has collected on the sail they we have put up and have taken turns to manipulate it to create a waterfall over them, brilliant thinking!! With coats on of course. They’ve also made great use of the Playschool spare wellies for puddle splashing in the outside area and at Forest school. Children new to Forest school seem to enjoy it immensely! It was a great opportunity for all the children to run around freely and just enjoy the space. Relaxing for the adults too, especially to see how happy the children are.
Tuesday, 31 March 2020
If parents have some ideas they would like to share please feel free to contribute by commenting on the Playschool blog.
Stay safe
Friday, 20 March 2020
Update on Keyworker
Dear parents and carers,
The Department for Education has issued guidance today for schools and colleges on maintaining educational provision during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Schools and educational settings have a key role to play, alongside other partners, in meeting our priority to preserve life, prevent spread of infection and keep critical services going. We are working together with key partners, including the Local Authority, to coordinate our response to the pandemic.
The guidance makes it clear that where children can safely stay at home they should, to limit the chance of the virus spreading.
We are being asked by Government to continue to provide care for a limited number of children including children who are vulnerable and children whose parents are critical to the COVID-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home.
We are working with the local authority to identify all children defined as vulnerable.
The guidance published includes children who are supported by social care, those with safeguarding and welfare needs, including child in need plans, on child protection plans, ‘looked after’ children, young carers, disabled children and those with education, health and care (EHC) plans.
We will talk to these parents directly about how care will be provided.
Please note, as a school, we need to ensure we can prioritise those most in need so that our provision is sustainable and supports the Government’s number one key principle from their latest guidance that maintains social distancing:
If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.
Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response may need support from schools and educational settings and we are working hard to provide that support wherever possible.
Many parents in this category will be able to keep their children at home and where children can be safely cared for at home they should be.
For those who cannot keep children safely at home and who work in one of the critical sectors listed below, your children will be priorities for education provision when you are at work.
However, it may not be possible to provide this in your child’s usual school, as inevitably school staff will also be impacted by the virus and our shared priority is to keep children safe and prevent the spread of the virus.
If your work is critical to the COVID-19 response, or you work in one of the critical sectors listed below, and you cannot keep your child safe at home then your children will be prioritised for education provision:
• Health and social care
• Education and childcare
• Key public services
o This includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.
• Local and national government
• Food and other necessary goods
• Public safety and national security
• Transport
• Utilities, communication and financial services
Provision is only available when you are required to work. It is not available at other times.
Where only one parent/carer is a ‘critical worker’ there is an expectation that the child stays at home with the other parent to ensure the principal and impact of social distancing is maximised.
Further guidance on key workers can be found in the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision
If you are a key worker and your child needs educational provision, please send us the following information to broadwaytowerview@gmail.com by Sunday 22nd March.
• Your name:
• Your most up to date contact details:
• Evidence of each parent’s / carer’s job role:
• Name of employer and contact details (for verification):
• Student’s name and year group:
More information on the closure of educational settings for parents and children can be found in the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers
Many thanks for your assistance through this challenging situation.
Sunday, 15 March 2020
Building fine and gross motor skills through imaginative play.
being outside in the sunshine and enjoyed doing some building & fixing in
the wendy house.
We encouraged them to really explore and access resources from the outside store which got them to engage in building, shape matching and chalking.
Towerview older children also enjoyed time outside in the sunshine and wind,
the children worked out throwing up a piece of paper and then watching it
floating in the wind!! It created a lot of laughter.
Great being ‘waited’ on by some of the children, coffee, tea, cakes and donuts in the home corner, nice chats and great little chefs!!!
Being led by the children’s interest, main interest this week has been dinosaurs, on Tuesday a dinosaur had been and laid eggs in the outside area ( musical instruments that looks like eggs). In forest school today (Friday) the children found frozen dinosaur eggs they could see the dinosaurs inside the eggs, some children managed to get the dinosaurs to hatch by putting the eggs in water.
With drier weather outside has been used more. The children are playing in larger groups where tag, hide and seek, running and ball play are involved. They negotiate the games between themselves and taking turns.
The children have enjoyed exploring media and materials in 2 and 3 dimensions. Collectively the children decided that the grandfather clock for their hickory dickory dock activity would be 'rainbow colours' and what a multi-coloured clock it is! It was lovely to observe the children working creatively together on their project with a purpose in mind and how thrilled they were at the end result. Working individually and on a small scale the children created their mice by looking at the example template then choosing the shapes and materials they wanted to use. The end result were a collection of very colourful characterful mice ready to run up and down the grandfather clock!
We printed an image of a Grandfather clock for the children to work from, many hadn’t seen one before, they did a brilliant job. Take a look in the home corner!
Friday, 13 March 2020
Letter to parents
Thursday, 12 March 2020
Sunday, 1 March 2020
Coronavirus
Coronavirus
Lovely to see the children excited about the snow on Thursday!
Unfortunately on Friday we all got ourselves ready but it was too windy to go into our Forest school site. So instead we enjoyed some physical activities on the school field, the children spent time rolling, walking and running through the long grass as we went on a ‘Bear hunt’.
Monday, 10 February 2020
Sunday, 2 February 2020
Enjoying the outdoors
It’s been great seeing some of the children using the bats and balls great hand eye coordination and attempting to hit it backwards and forwards to each other, also with the larger footballs some children drop kicking the ball fantastic coordination.
It was lovely to see the children playing outside later in the week enjoying the morning sunshine! Some great construction materials being used to make a house (blocks & wood ) and a ‘walkway’ created by using the milk crates.
This week on Friday we had some really good, strong tree climbing from some
of the children. They really enjoyed it and showed strength & confidence.
So this week we tried the ‘tornado in a jar’ experiment. First attempt was using a plastic bottle, we added a bit too much washing up liquid so that when we shook it it became really cloudy. With the second attempt we tried a glass jar remembering to reduce the amount of washing up liquid, shaking it we were able to see the tornado for a split second! We explored the idea of adding glitter which was much more interesting for the children and they seemed to enjoy it swiping then settle at the bottom.
Friday, 24 January 2020
Involved and concentrating
There have been many opportunities this week for the children to participate in group activities such as large floor puzzle building and table top board games. During the play children have used good listening understanding and verbal communication. They have recognised that print has meaning and negotiated taking turns.
The children have had the opportunity to use the bow saw at forest school. They are helping to cut up some of the branches which have been pruned and their sticks are being put aside for our fire at the end of the term. They are understanding their world and how to look after it as well as themselves when risk is involved.
The children have amazed us with their impressive mark making producing beautiful rainbow pictures learning all the colours by singing the ‘rainbow’ song, some of which are displayed in the corridor of the Childrens Centre.