Weekly Roundup - 21 June 2024

Forces and football!! Our topics fit perfectly with one another and what better way to learn about the force of pushing by kicking a football. The lovely weather has helped and the children have used mini football goals to take turns at shooting and scoring. Many of them have worn their favourite football kits and proudly stated which teams they support. Staff have got onto the spirit of the Euro tournament by showing support for their home countries who are taking part. Dani had Union Jack themed nails to support England and Viktoria brought in her giant Slovakia flag to show the children. All very competitive and exciting!

Sunita taught some of the children in Bumbles about the Coriolis effect by showing them a miniature tornado. This helped them to understand how the rotation of a cyclone is caused. The Bumbles also learnt about the forces of action and reaction when Debbie brought in a long rope for a tug-of-war. The children showed their competitiveness by pulling hard, trying to be the strongest team. 
Carrying out activities in this way helps children to explore, interact, and make sense of the world around them through direct experience.

Our featured artist this half term is Piet Mondrian, the Dutch pioneer famous for his geometric abstract works. The children recreated his Composition in Red, Blue and Yellow. We saw some good representations of the painting along with some more abstract art involving lots of blue paint and hands as tools - self expression at its best!

Rachel re-qualified as the setting's Mental Health First Aider in the workplace. Improving our wellbeing practice  benefits both the individual staff member, and the setting as a whole as it creates a positive environment for practitioners and children. Well done to Rachel who spent two days training for this achievement! 

We're pleased to announce that Moo Music will be continuing sessions until the end of term and are being funded by some EYPP and a contribution from the disability access fund that a child has received. We are very grateful and would like to thank the parent that suggested using some of the fund to benefit not only her own child but the rest of the children. 

From September we will no longer be having Moo Music sessions as staff have gained the skills and knowledge from the Busy Bodies project to implement their own active sessions. 

We will still have a strong connection with Farmer Laura though as she will be working at the Pre-School full time in September and leading the Bumbles room. Laura will be embarking on her Early Years Initial Teacher Training (EYITT) which is a professional course designed for graduates working in an early years setting. This will lead to her being awarded the Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS) next year. We're all very happy for her to be joining us and covering Karishma's Maternity Leave. 

Next week our forces topic continues and we'll be looking at more examples of actions that change or maintain the motion of a body or object.

Have a great weekend.