Welcome to Our Pre-School class

Mini Gems and Little Gems 

Weekly learning

Muddy Mondays:-

Every Monday we will be having our Forest School sessions which we normally run in the mornings.

Outdoor learning within the forest environment has been proven to not only offer exceptional learning experiences but also benefits children's over all health and mental well-being. We undertake Muddy Mondays in all weathers so that children can learn and experience different activities in different circumstances it is therefore important that children are dressed in the correct attire for the weather. 

Therefore please make sure your child has their wellington boots, a warm coat, hat and gloves and suitable layered clothing for the day. Pre-school do have some waterproof suits and trousers that are provided when it is wet. 

Physical Tuesdays:-

We will be having our PE lessons on a Tuesday morning. We will not be getting changed into PE Kits this term but we will be removing our shoes and socks, to build independence it will be helpful for your child to wear shoes that they can put on by themselves 9Velcro straps rather than shoelaces), it is also easier if your child wears leggings and socks on a Tuesday rather than tights. During our PE session we move our bodies in lots of different ways as well as using the equipment to climb and balance so wearing suitable clothing to move about in on a Tuesday is best. 

Outdoor Play:-

We are very lucky in pre-school to have our very own garden where we can undertake lots of outdoor play including riding bikes, balancing, playing in the mud kitchen, explore water and play in the sand. We also set up outdoor activities such as giant painting, ice exploration and building tasks that the children can choose to undertake. On occasions we are also able to use the rest of the school grounds to play in, where we enjoy using the trim trail and the Jungle Gym.

Indoor Play:-

At pre-school we undertake lots of different learning inside. We have busy learning where we can choose what we play with as well as circle times where we come together as a group to join in with a phonics, maths, singing, a topic of learning and story time. Each term we will look at different topics linked to our learning and the skills that we need to develop ready for starting school.

Termly Learning

Autumn Term:-

We started our pre-school journey off by exploring our new surroundings, making new friends, learning all about ourselves and each other whilst settling into the new routines of the setting. We settled in really quickly and everyone was impressed with our independence and great listening skills. We have all enjoyed painting, water play, the mud kitchen, sand pit and construction toys.
During our circle times we have been sharing stories focused on the preschool rules, such as being kind and helpful, always being gentle, and honesty the children have all worked on following the rules and routines earning themselves marbles for the jar to celebrate their success.
In Phonics we have been working on the foundations for reading and writing through phase one phonics which starts with environmental sounds, we have listened to sounds on the interactive white board as well as going on an environmental walk around the school. We have also started to look at rhyming words and have enjoyed hunting for these in our play.

In Maths we have been learning about subitising which is where we can identify an amount without having to physically count it such as rolling a dice and knowing that you have rolled a 3. We have also been looking at 2D shapes and 3D shapes and how we can use these shapes to make pictures such as a truck, train and a cat all using shapes
In RE we have been learning about our school vision and values by learning our pre-school prayer, whole school prayer and the importance of the cross and the bible.

For the second half of the Autumn term our topic was Our World, were we looked at the changing season and shared books on Percy the park Keeper, Owl Babies, and stick Man. Through our circle times we also learnt about The Queen who is pre-schools courageous advocate. We have enjoyed exploring Autumn during our outdoor learning sessions, looking at different habitats and even welcomed Monarch farm to school where we really enjoyed getting to touch a Shetland pony, sheep and a goat and even had a chance to pretend to milk a cow. Towards the end of the term we held a joint learning day with Reception. We had the chance to look at the classrooms we will be in next year and explore all of the resources inside and outside. As well as having lots of fun making new friends we learnt all about the Christmas story, practiced our Christmas singing and had the opportunity to make our very own crown just like the wise men.
In phonics we have been listening to musical sounds, we have listened to different beats that we can make with our bodies, such as clapping our hands, tapping our knees or stamping our feet. We have practiced making slow beats and fast beats and changing between our hands and feet. We have also been practicing pattern making for writing practice. 
In maths we have been looking at numbers in the environment such as on clocks, the bus, and door numbers. We have  spent each week looking at a different number from 1-5 in more detail, how the number is made, what it looks like, how to draw it, counting and representing the number in different ways. We have also been learning all about preposition to say where an object is placed and particularly enjoyed playing where is teddy hiding?

In RE we have learnt all about Diwali, making our very own Rangoli pattern with different coloured leaves during outdoor learning. We have also enjoyed listening to stories from the old testament including the Creation, David and Goliath, and Daniel and the lions Den. We have also learnt about Remembrance Day where the children have been creating poppies this week in provision to create a wreath for our prayer space. We ended our RE learning with the Christmas story, using props and a nativity scene to help the children in understanding advent and the meaning of Christmas. We ended the term with a wonderful Christmas singing concert to our parents and carers.

Spring Term:-

We started off the spring term by welcoming Mini Gems to pre-school, they settled remarkably quickly into the routine of the setting. We also introduced our 'morning activities' which are short play based activities relating to maths, phonics and fine motor skills. This enables the children to come in and warm up their brains ready for a busy day of learning. Our topic this half term is classic tales and the children have enjoyed listening to the story of Jack and the beanstalk, Goldilocks and the Three bears and The Gingerbread Man. To support the learning we have made different sized beds and mixed porridge, built beanstalks and castles and even made our very own gingerbread man.

In Phonics, we have been looking at rhythm and rhyme. We have been reading lots of stories that have rhyming words and practiced joining in and predicting the words that will rhyme. We have also been looking at rhythm and copying beats using different instruments but also using our bodies to create rhythms. We have also been looking at the initial sounds in words by playing I spy and silly soup

In Maths we have been solving problems using numbers to 5. We have been busy counting, subitising and matching quantities to numerals. We have continued to look at positional language and have also learnt about length and size comparing lots of different objects and using the correct mathematical language. To end our maths learning for the half term we looked at capacity and had fun filling different sized containers during play.
In RE we have learnt all about the Lunar New Year, we have explored other cultures by learning about how people celebrate. We have looked at the dragon dances, costumes, different foods and fireworks. We have talked about Baptism and started to look at the miracles that Jesus performed.

The second half of the term saw us start the topic of New Life we have enjoyed listening to stories including The Very Hungry Caterpillar, What the Ladybird heard and The Very Busy Spider. We have enjoyed re-enacting these stories both in play and during PE. We continue to enjoy the wider school grounds undertaking mini beast hunts and even exploring the wind through streamers and the parachute.

In phonics have been using our voice to make different sounds, the children have particularly enjoyed playing "Jack in the box". Continued to practice our rhyming and alliteration and re-visited our initial phase 1 phonics.

In Maths we have been looking at 3D shapes and how joining the shapes together can create different structures. We have also continue to count and order objects up to 5.

In RE we have continued to learn about different celebrations by talking about weddings as well as the miracles that Jesus performed. We have also be learning about shrove Tuesday and the story of Easter. We have taken the learning into our play by making pretend pancakes and having pancake races in the garden and making our very own cave and Easter Garden