Weekly roundup 9 December 2022

This week has been very festive with the children listening to some traditional and modern Christmas stories - The Night Before Christmas and Father Christmas Needs A Wee!  
Children from both rooms have been able to attend our 'shop' where they were invited to exchange tokens for some surprise presents for their loved ones - I wonder who they have chosen?!

In Honeys, the have enjoying taking turns with the Christmas 'knock knock' box singing festive rhymes. They have also been participating in Christmas crafts, some of which will be coming home next week. It's been lovely to see the children building friendships and joining in with their peers' activities. At this age, they are developing their social skills which can be challenging at times. It's important they are supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals and have confidence in their own abilities. Through supported interaction with other children they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. We help this at Pre-School by using a sand timer as a visual reminder so children can see how long they must wait for something. This promotes sharing and is often is requested by the children when they are expressing an interest in playing with certain resources.

In Bumbles the children have been exploring what they can make with building blocks, seeing how tall they can make a tower. Construction resources such as block play and lego supports children's mathematical development by helping them understand the concepts of shape, space and measure. Parents can help at home by joining in with this type of play and introducing a narrative as they build. Talk about and explore 2D and 3D shapes (for example, circles, rectangles, triangles and cuboids) using informal and mathematical language: ‘sides’, ‘corners’; ‘straight’, ‘flat’, ‘round’. 

The children have also been continuing to create some Christmas crafts which will be coming home next week. They have particularly enjoyed making 'reindeer food' ready to leave out on Christmas Eve for Santa's helpers! They have explored the various Christmas outfits in the role play areas and had fun decorating different snowmen giving them some warm scarves to dress in.

Next week will be the countdown to the end of term. The children will be listening to the Nativity Story and learning about Hanukkah. On Friday we will be have our Christmas party until 12.00 and all the children are invited to attend. Please check the invitation that was emailed and sent home for details.

Have a great weekend.