Growing area and hoop games!
Over the last couple of weeks, the pre school children have been observing the vegetables growing in the patches. After the weekend, Ollie went outside to take a look at them and very quickly noticed that the tomatoes had grown lots. He called his friends over and said, “Guys, take a look, the tomatoes have grown bigger and bigger”. A few of the children gathered round to take a look and Phoebe quickly realised that more vegetables had started to sprout. Phoebe asked her friends, “Do you think it could be garlic, or carrots, or cress?” Looking at the labels, Freddie said, “I think that says it’s cress, C, cress”. Izzy agreed, “Yes, you are right, look, c-r-e-ssss”.
Basti, Otto and River engaged in some observational drawings of the vegetables. Otto started to draw the tomato plants and said, “Look, there are real tomatoes, tomatoes that we can eat for our lunch”. River continued with his drawing before going on to drawing a lunch box, letting his friends know, “This is going to be my school lunch box, and I am going to out the tomatoes in there”.
Finley, Arthur and Megan enjoyed a bean bag and hoop colour matching game. Arthur collected all of the hoops and lay them in a line whilst Megan collected the bean bags. Megan shared the bags between them and Finley threw the blue one in to the blue hoop with Arthur cheering him on, “Well done, that’s right”. They all took it in turns to throw the correct colour bag in to the hoop, clapping each time it went in to the hoop. A few more friends went over to play and India said, “I have a good idea, I will lift the hoop and you have to throw it through, it will be fun”. This got the attention of even more friends who took it in turns to throw the bean bags brought the hole.
Bear Hunts & Picnics!
One of the themes the toddlers have been exploring recently is July’s book of the month, ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’. One group activity the children took part in was creating a cave, just like the one where the bear is found in the story, out of papier-mâché. Maddie and Clara helped to stir the glue and water mixture together and dunk in the strips of paper, using both hands to combine it all. Evelyn watched on with a smile, not as keen to touch, but seemingly enjoying watching her friends, “Mix, mix, mix, they mixing it all up…it’s so messy!”. Tabitha and Cara got stuck in straight away, putting their hands into the bowl of paper and applying them to the cave. Cara patted both hands on top of the cave which made a splat sound, causing them both to erupt into giggles and say, “SPLAT” each time they patted a new strip of paper down.
A group of children enjoyed looking at the story together with some props from the story sack. Sebastian repeated some parts of the story as they turned through the pages, “Splash splash!” and “Squelch squelch!” before flipping to the page with the cave, which is where Jenson joined in and whispered, “Tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe” while holding his arms up by his sides and creeping on the spot. As they turned to the page with the bear Sebastian shouted, “AHHH ITS A BEAR!”, as Jenson screamed, triggering their other friends to scream and shout, “BEAR!” as well!Jenson smiled as his friends and said, “Again?” Before turning the page back to the bear causing them all to scream again.
Over the last two weeks, the children in the Under two’s room have been excited to explore the wide range of activities available to them. Inside, they were intrigued by a teacher laying masking tape on the floor, creating a track system. Lowen approached the activity and noticed a box of trains on the floor and said, “Look, trains!”, as he pointed down towards the box. Calvin came along and took a train out of the box, before walking towards the tracks laid out on the floor. Calvin’s friends watched on as he made the link between the trains and the tape tracks, and began guiding the train along the tracks. Lowen took his train and joined in next to Calvin, pushing his train gently along the tracks. Isabella sat down and said, “choo choo, trains, on train track!”, as she connected the carriages together to make a long train.
On daily walks around the Imber court grounds , the children have become a lot more independent in their play, choosing what they would like to take with them and choosing how they play. On one of the days, the children chose to take a variety of balls on the walk and spent their time kicking, throwing and rolling them to each other. Lydia was running around, holding two footballs when she noticed that Alexandra did not have one of her own. Lydia walked over to her and gave her one ball saying, “Alex, Alex”. On another day, the children helped set up their picnic spot by laying down the blanket and handing out their water cups. Zakariya and Freya picked up a corner of the blanket and lifted it into the air, giggling. Zakariya said, “Put it down now, on floor”, which Freya repeated and said, “Down now”. After getting the picnic blanket down, the two celebrated with a high five and a smile, before settling down to a refreshing drink.
Our Graduation Celebration!
This week marked graduation for our school leavers in the preschool room, and what a fantastic performance they put on for all their families! The last few weeks have been filled with lots of practice in preparation for the big day as the children learned their lines and songs. There has also been plenty of excited discussion about the performance and the costumes they would be wearing. Margot said “My Mummy and Daddy bought me a Crocodile costume!” River added “And I am going to be a Lion!” When the big day arrived the children were buzzing with anticipation and loved showing off their outfits and sitting down for their face paint. As their families began to arrive, the children sat with big smiles and waved as the play began. Everybody did a marvellous job with their words and songs before it was time to receive their graduation certificate and starting school book. It was amazing to see such a strong turnout from all who attended and it was lovely to see everyone stay behind to mingle with some food and drinks, and we should like to thank you!
The shows haven’t stopped there however, as the children have continued to recite their lines and sing their songs together as they play, and have even been making a stage with the big wooden blocks in the garden to re-enact their performance. Freddie said “We need a big stage to fit all of our friends!” Esme added one block and said “If I put my block here then I can sit here!” It’s great to see that the children enjoyed their play and we couldn’t be more proud of the show they were able to put on. We wish them all the best of luck as they transition to their schools.
