Autumn term 2021

Dear Parents and Carers

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to pre-school - we hope you had an enjoyable half term break.

If your child has done something over the holiday that they would like to share with us, why not send a photo in on Dojo so we can show all the children?

This is an exciting time of year for children and, as always, we will be offering a wide range of activities that are fun to do whilst stimulating curiosity and encouraging engagement.  We let the children's interests lead our provision but if your child particularly enjoys an activity please let us know so we can repeat it or adapt it to extend the learning.

Please feel free to send in items from home that your children would like to show to their friends, we will be happy to talk about them during the session. Please can you make sure they are labelled so we can attribute it to the correct child - popular items can be claimed by others!

We will be putting on a Nativity play in December (details to follow) and will be finishing the term with a Christmas party at which Fred the Elf will be in attendance. Please note there will be no lunch club on these dates (December 7th and 16th)

Our COVID precaution measures remain the same. Any updates that affect our provision will be communicated as necessary.

Although this is our last term together we want you to know that the staff are determined to make this a memorable and fun filled seven weeks.

In the light of the recent announcement by the church, we know this is going to be a difficult term for everyone. As always, myself and the staff team are here to support you so please do not hesitate to contact us face to face, via Dojo, phone or email if you have any questions or concerns.

Kind regards,

Ann and the staff team

 

Our theme this term is fireworks, winter and Christmas

Week 1 – Fireworks and Diwali

Week 2 – Fireworks, Diwali and Remembrance Sunday

Week 3 – Animals in winter

Week 4 – Winter weather

Week 5 – Christmas decorations

Week 6 – Nativity

Week 7 – Christmas

Tuesday 7th December –  Nativity performance -details to follow

Thursday 16th December - Christmas Party - details to follow

Thursday 16th December - last day of term

Please name your child’s hats, water bottles, lunch boxes, bags and coats.

Drinking bottles should contain water only.

Lunch boxes should contain a healthy balance of food in appropriate portion sizes. The pre-school is a NUT FREE zone so please no peanut butter or nutella.

It would be helpful if any packets in their lunch boxes are pre-opened so the children can manage independently. We are not supposed to handle their food - sorry

We will still be using the outside areas daily, please provide a warm coat, hat and mittens for your children to wear.

COVID precaution measures remain the same as last term. If the situation changes across the country and addition measures become necessary, I will communicate them in due course. Here is a summary of the current requirements:

  • Parents no longer need to socially distance when queuing. All children will enter via the ramp entrance so please queue on this side.
  • There is no requirement to wear a face mask whilst queuing.
  • Children should gel their hands before entering.
  • We will no longer be checking the children’s temperatures on arrival unless they appear unwell.
  • Staff will continue to do regular lateral flow tests.
  • Staff will no longer wear facemasks or visors.
  • Regular cleaning of high touch surfaces continues
  • Increased ventilation continues so doors and windows will be open
  • Good hygiene practices and hand washing will be promoted
  • Dressing up and soft furnishing have fully returned
  • Messy play is back!

Our updated system of controls against COVID 19 is available on request.

Thank you for helping to keep everyone safe

Autumn term 2021

Personal, Social and Emotional

The children are all very settled at the pre-school. They relate well to each other, play cooperatively throughout the morning and enjoy being independent in their choices. We will continue to promote these attributes as we go through these busy few weeks. To encourage the children to build confidence for their Nativity performance we will be practicing songs and rehearsing throughout the term.

We will continue to use small group to encourage concentration and focus to extend learning opportunities

We continue to help the children to learn how to look after their bodies, manage their personal care (including cleaning their teeth) and eat a healthy diet. There will be a focus on hygiene, washing hands and blowing noses as the colder weather arrives.

 

There will be opportunities to develop co-ordination, balance and agility both in the garden and in the hall with equipment such as climbing frames and balance beams.

Fine motor skills that require hand to eye co-ordination will be available daily to help the children develop precision in their movements.

We will be using tools such as scissors to make collages as well as a range of resources to be creative with paint and dough.

As the weather gets colder we will be supporting the children as they learn to put on and fasten their coats independently

Throughout this term we will have books related to the theme of winter and Christmas available for the children to look at and have read to them.

Character pieces will be available so that the children can retell stories they are familiar with.

Using games, songs and visual aids we will be promoting an interest in rhyming and rhythm.

The children will be using resources that encourage awareness of letters to help them learn to recognise their names

We will be supporting the children as they learn to play imaginatively in both role play and with small world toys. There will be some some different role plays such as an aquarium, a shoe shop and the three bears house! (from Goldilocks and the three bears)

A wide range of resources such as chalk, collage, paint, clay and dough will be available to encourage drawing and colouring.

There will be a focus on the colours when making Diya lamps for Diwali and firework pictures.

Expressive language will be promoted through sensory play.

We will be using our bodies and scarves to move rhythmically to music.

 

At the pre-school we encourage back and forth interaction between the children and adults to help develop their language skills and cognitive development.

We encourage turn taking  when speaking and listening to others.

We will read stories and poems, sing songs and talk about the activities available as well as asking questions to stimulate curiosity and encourage exploration

We will be talking to the children about the Seasons and the changes that occur in the winter. There will be activities involving animals that live in the snow and ice.

There will be activities related to cold weather and a focus on weather related songs during week 4.

We will be looking at festivals as we make Diya lamps, firework pictures and Remembrance poppies. Using adult supervised ICT we will be looking at images about festivals on the internet.

We will be talking about the Christmas story as we practice for our Nativity.

We will be learning to count using songs, stories and puzzles as well as practising number recognition using paint and collage resources.

Various resources such as books, games, puzzles and posters will be used to promote interest in 2D shapes.

Greater depth learning will be encouraged by comparing objects by height, width, length and weight by using tape measures and scales.

We will be making 3D models using various construction toys

  • Talk to your children about the week’s theme and help them choose something to bring in for discussion. Please make sure it is named!
  • Talk to your children about the changing seasons
  • Practice counting leaves, conkers and seeds
  • Encourage your child to put their coat on by themselves
  • Help your child to learn to blow their nose independently