“We looked after them and watched them grow and change, they then turned into butterflies and we fed them fruit and sugar water and watched them grow and change , we gave them names and then we released them in the garden to fly away”
We said goodbye to 34 children this July, lots of fun was had at the party and a few tears saying goodbye. The children sang a leavers song in English and French, they then had a fabulous time bouncing on the bouncy castle and in the ball pool. We also did alot of dancing and catching bubbles. We then had lots of lovely party food before saying our last goodbyes. – Good Luck at big school !
We set up the whole pre-school within the Gruffalo theme. There was a log pile house, Tree top house, underground house along with a Gruffalo game. A role play area for the children to have tea with the Gruffalo. Colouring and pen control pictures to develop their writing skills. The children played well in all areas and used the ‘Logs’ to construct their own play area.
One of our parents came in to spend a Mexican themed afternoon with us. She dressed up in traditional Mexican clothing and did a traditional dance for the children. She brought in lots of traditional Mexican items for the children to look at and learn about. They also made a Pinata with her out of paper mache and decorated sugar skull pictures.
We’re very proud of our staff that completed the Race for Life – Pretty Muddy 5k on Blackheath on the 30th June. Lots of fun and and lot’s of money raised for Cancer Research UK! Well done!
On Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th June we took turns to go on a bus trip. We carefully held hands when walking to the bus stop where we met the Bus driver and police lady. It was a double decker bus so we were all able to sit upstairs. On the way to the bus garage we sang Wheels on the bus and looked at all the things out of the windows on the way. Once we got to the garage the Driver and Police lady spoke to us about staying safe on the street and bus. We then got to sit in the drivers seat and have our picture with the police lady. We were then lucky enough to go through the bus wash twice ! We had a great time time and learnt lots about buses, bus drivers, the police and how they can help us.
On Friday 21st July we released our Butterflies from preschool. We have had them in preschool since they were baby caterpillars and we have watched them grow bigger and bigger, they then turned into chrysalis’s hanging from the top of the pot. They then hatched into Butterflies, we looked after them feeding them fruit and strawberries from our growing garden.
Recently the staff all went on a training session and part of the training was about having less equipment out in preschool. We decided to do this one a session per week. Our first trial at this was fantastic and the children really were really engaged throughout the whole session. All we had out were large paper rolls stuck to the floor and in different areas we placed limited items. The areas we had were a scissor snipping area, Decorating large boxes area, Painting area and so on. The children drew some beautiful pictures, they made some amazing dens with doors and windows ! Along with lots of other fantastic learning. It really helped the children focus in a different way by having a minimal approach. We will be continuing to do this on a regular basis.
We would like to introduce you to our new forest school base camp! The children have had the opportunity to explore the new area and gain new skills and strengthen their independence. The children all helped to build a mini fire, and learnt fire safety rules and how to keep themselves safe. The children also helped to look after the forest school by planting some flowers, fruit and vegetables. They also spent time extending their imagination in the story tent. While we were reading some stories we noticed some horses in the field. We look forward to sharing some more fun forest school things with you soon!
Today we used biscuits and chocolate to create Gruffalo feet and claws. We spoke about different sized feet and how we make foot prints, we also spoke about healthy and unhealthy food choices.
We found a lost Bumblebee at preschool, we were lucky enough to look very closely at him, he was a bit tired so we gave him some sugar water and he eventually flew away into our garden.
The children have started to do a science experiment on a Friday , this week we are exploring how the clouds make rain. The children filled a container with water and used shaving foam to make the clouds, we then used a pipette to drop food colouring onto the cloud , as the cloud got heavier the food colouring started to drip through making rain. We were very excited to estimate how much rain our clouds could hold.