Autumn Term Week 13

Another wonderful week at pre-school, we have had a Santa sleigh arrive and lots of Christmas chatter and craft. Our learning has been focused on communication and language and singing and performing and carrying on the learning about jobs too. Robot Reg came for his last visit and the children love him so much and he will be back in the summer term. We will be attending some training at St Andrew’s on Phonics so will be able to pass the info on to you if your child will go there which will help them settle into their learning there in the Autumn. We use lots of different activities to teach the children about letters and sounds and recognising them.

As we look forward to our Christmas party and Nativity there are a few useful bits of info I thought I would share on the blog – the children have worked really hard to learn the songs and actions – sometimes stage fright kicks in however and shyness takes over! If your child does get upset on the stage we will try to spot you and see if you would like to come and get them, it is very overwhelming at times as we have had 100 people watching in the past! If they do get down please keep them with you for the rest of the performance please. We will have a slideshow running while you wait for he show to start and this features photos from this last week at pre-school and the children dressed in their outfits. Some children have been unwell so if your child does not feature it is because I have taken most photos just in the last few days.

Forest School has been pretty chilly so the fire has been very welcome and there are some wonderful photos of the children eating porridge that they made themselves outside on the fire, and some wonderful craft pics on facebook too. The mini beast of the week was the stag beetle, they eat decaying wood and tree sap. They are eaten by bats and birds and they look scary but their large jaws are only used to wrestle other males! They can live up to 7 years old and females can fly. “Is it a crab?” said one little boy and “I think they eat leaves”2 said another. A little girl thought the idea of them eating wood was awful “that’s disgusting” she said and one chap said “they look like antlers”!

I know there is concern in the press about Strep A and the rare version that causes serious illness, we have sent lots of info out so please read that through and any concerns or worries contact your GP or 111 or 999 in a life threatening situation. Please let us know if any child has Strep A diagnosed as we have new guidelines on what to do in the event that we have 2 cases or more.

Our circle times this week have been busy and full of music and singing and Christmas activities, we have played I Spy, decorated mini Xmas jumpers, enjoyed obstacle courses, throwing snowballs at targets, making candy canes pictures and snowmen too, and reindeer food and learning about different occupations as well. We have looked at Santa webcams and spotted some cheeky elves, heard all about the Elves in your homes that are cheeky too!

Next week we will enjoying an Elves wrapping workshop and reading stories and making Christmas playdoh and special food as well. Lots of party games and fun to end a really happy Autumn Term. Friday 16th December is our last day.