We will be welcoming 3 new children into the setting this term. We continue to promote good self esteem by talking to the children about what they like at preschool and inviting them to make choices about the toys we have out so that their wishes are reflected. During this term we will be sending out a parent’s questionnaire asking for feedback about our setting as we aim to develop good partnerships with our children’s families making them feel valued and ensuring they are happy and confident about what the pre-school can offer

As the weather improves we will be using more of the large equipment in the garden to allow the children to develop control and co-ordination. We will be practising throwing and catching as well as hopping and skipping. We will be encouraging the children to use wheeled toys as they practise for the sponsored trike ride. There will be opportunities to use tools and scissors one handed as well as new resources that encourage a pincer grip. At snack time we will be talking about healthy eating.

As we look at books, we will be encouraging the children to predict what might happen next in the story as well as seeing if they can retell a familiar tale using character pieces. There will be a focus on the story ‘Jack and the beanstalk’ in line with our theme. We will continue to promote awareness of phonics using puzzles, posters, songs and games. We continue to encourage the children to mark make as a prelude to writing

There will be opportunities to choose which role play scenarios the children want to create during this term. We will be looking at texture and pattern when making butterfly pictures, making blossom trees with paint and collages from flower pieces. The children will have the opportunity to dance to music from different cultures and use instruments from other countries. During this term the children will be helping make animal families for a wall display about farm animals

We continue to provide a language rich environment where we encourage good listening skills and turn taking in conversation. We will be encouraging the children to introduce a narrative into their imaginative play and to join in with repeated phrases when listening to stories. We will be introducing new vocabulary as we look at life cycles, baby animals and how plants grow

During this term we will be looking at animal families and at the life cycles of plants, butterflies and other insects. We will be watching caterpillars as they grow into butterflies. The children will be planting in the garden and looking at what makes a plant grow. During week 6 we will be looking at the changing seasons and the weather in springtime. The children will have the opportunity to use programmable and interactive toys throughout the term.

During this term we will be looking for shapes in the environment using our shape finders and using sorting sets to arrange pieces by colour, shape, size or form. The children will be able to make pictures with tessellating shapes and use 3D construction to build models. We will continue to promote number recognition and opportunities to count with 1:1 correspondence

• Encourage your child to mark make in shaving foam in the bath or with a wet paintbrush on an outside wall
• Look for numbers and shapes in the environment as you are out walking
• Grow some seeds on a window sill so the children can be responsible for watering them and caring for them

Sponsored Trike Ride - Tuesday 30th April  and Wednesday 1st May