Hello all,

We have had an exciting week with World Book Day to enjoy and celebrate. The children loved dressing up and sharing their books which created a nice relaxed environment for the day. Stories and books are such an integral part of foundation and everyday is about storytelling and adventures as the children learn through play. We shared many of our favourite books this week and we used Story bags for Noah's Ark and Each Peach Pear Plum. The children had an opportunity to make their  own books and we discussed the meaning of words: author and illustrator. We also continued working on our Foundation book ' What does your monster eat?'

Have a great weekend!

Foundation Team

 

 Hello everyone,

This week in Foundation we have focused on Superworm book by Julia Donaldson. We looked at the different things that the Superworm could change itself into such as a hat, a fairground ride, a lasso and the children shared their own ideas too.  The children made very, very long worms out of playdough and compared the lengths. We were glad to see some rain this week as we were able to find lots of worms in the garden.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Sheehan

CHINESE NEW YEAR

 We have a had a very Chinese week in the unit with lots of exciting activities relating to the Chinese New Year. The children have made Chinese dragons, prepared and eaten noodles using chop sticks, looked at China on our map and learnt about the Chinese Zodiac story. It has been a very busy week. The children have also tried to do some Chinese writing which was fantastic. We always enjoy this festival as it really captivates their interest  especially as we are looking at other countries each day on our map.

Next week is half term and we are all looking forward to a rest. I hope you all have a good break and we look forward to seeing you after the holidays.

Mrs Robinson:)

Children's Mental Health Week

 Our focus this week has been children's  mental health, we created lots of activities to support the children with their understanding of emotions. The children have a good understanding of what emotions are and we have spent time learning strategies to help us understand that all emotions are important and play a role in who we are. The children had a good understanding of  how they feel and they were all able to say that its good to talk about their feelings. We created some crazy hair photos which the children enjoyed making, they added words that expressed how they feel which was very enlightening. We  told stories and  made our own to demonstrate different ways to deal with different emotions. Although we have focused on  children's mental health  it is something that we do continually in early years. Supporting and encouraging children to understand emotions is very important. We tell them that sometimes it is ok not to be brave or strong, its ok to cry and its ok to be cross. Its what we do with these emotions that is important and that is the part we focus on.

I hope you all have a good weekend.

Mrs Robinson:)

Finally our wood walk.

The naughty squirrel ate the bird food. 

BIRD WATCH

 This week we have focused on the Great British Bird Watch. We have made bird feeders and have binoculars for the children to observe and record what they see. We had a visit from the parakeets and also lots of robins. We will continue to watch the birds next week to see if we can spot any others.

I am sorry we didn't walk again this week due to staff absence, hopefully we can go on Monday, weather permitting. I think our Tuesday parent visits are going well and we are enjoying having you in the setting to share learning.

The weather looks to be picking up a little and I have definitely felt a bit of Spring today. I think I am being a little optimistic as we normally get snow in February ahhhhhhhhhh.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Mrs Robinson.🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦

 What another great start to the week. Our parents visits are very popular with the children and I hope you are all finding them as rewarding. It has been so nice to see the interactions with the children and all the parents. We look forward to welcoming more over the next few weeks. I am sorry we didn't manage to go the woods but I have to take a risk assessment each time we go. Unfortunately on Monday there were trees down blocking the route so it was definitely a no go. Hopefully we will manage to get there next week, weather permitting. Please sign up if you haven't already, if you would like to join us.

The children are enjoying lots of season learning with our winter cold area and we have now, after popular request reinstated another salon.  This has been a huge success and learning has been exceptional.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Mrs Robinson:)

Let it snow

 Welcome back. It has been a good week in foundation and the children seem very happy to be back with their friends. We have created a Winter area for the children to play and learn in, with lots of activities relating to the cold. I have included some photos for you to see. 

Next week we are going to be starting  stay and play sessions. I have put families into groups so that we don't have too many people in the unit at once. Please make sure that you know what date you are invited to join us and speak to me if you have any queries.

Child Initiated Stay and Play Sessions

Happy New Year to you all. The children are happy to be back and have settled well into their routines. This term we have decided to hold some child initiated stay and play sessions every Tuesday morning starting next week. This will be an opportunity for you to stay and play with your child in the foundation environment, seeing and learning what they do on a daily basis. We are hoping this will help to improve attachments, relationships, strengthen bonds, and support children's overall development as we will be able to share learning. As we have lot of children I have split the sessions so that we only have a maximum of 10 parents in at a time. This will ensure that the children do not become overwhelmed with the sessions. I am aware not all parents will be able to attend due to commitments but hopefully you may be able to attend one of the sessions during the year. We are asking that only one parent attends if possible and no siblings. I know this may be inconvenient due to childcare issues but space in the unit is limited and we want the sessions to be about the children that are in here at the moment. We really hope that this will be a great opportunity to come together to share our practice and for you to see how amazing your children are at independent learning.

 

The sessions will be from 8.50am-9.30am.

The groups and dates are:

Tues 16th Jan	Sophie	Kian	Starsius	Anabia	Amelia-Mable	Ellie Lottie	Olivia	Amelie S	Isabelle
Tues 23rd Jan	Lucia	Teo	Diola	Taylor	Ashman	Edie	Violet	Beth	Jackson
Tues 30th Jan	Logan	Miglena	Jasmine	Poppy	Elyana	Lilly	Eliz	Grayson	Ellie-Marie	Sadie
Tues 6th Feb	Samuel	Clara	Matteo	Mahad	Amalie B	Ariana	JJ	Ivy	Oliver
Tues 13th Feb	Raphael	Mohammed	Beau	Ava	Pedro	Noah	Danny	Oscar	Alex	Charlie
Tues 27th Feb	Sophie	Kian	Starsius	Anabia	Amelia-Mable	Ellie Lottie	Olivia	Amelie S	Isabelle
Tues 5th Mar	Lucia	Teo	Diola	Taylor	Ashman	Edie	Violet	Beth	Jackson
Tues 12thMar	Logan	Miglena	Jasmine	Poppy	Elyana	Lilly	Eliz	Grayson	Ellie-Marie	Sadie

 

Tues 19thMar	Samuel	Clara	Matteo	Mahad	Amalie B	Ariana	JJ	Ivy	Oliver	Jackson
Tues 26thMar	Raphael	Mohammed	Beau	Ava	Pedro	Noah	Danny	Oscar	Alex	Charlie