The children have thoroughly enjoyed the company of John’s younger daughter Tia and have really taken a shine to her as she joined us for work experience over the past two weeks. She has given staff invaluable support assisting in all four groups throughout that time and we would all like to thank her for her help, her energy and her friendship.
As our school age children prepare to embark on their new journey, we thought we might share with you ways in which you too might support them. Building their emotional well-being, their confidence and self esteem will support them to be ready for this transition and help them to face life’s challenges. Encouraging and praising their efforts, supporting a ‘can do’ attitude and discussing failures helps foster resilience in a child so that they can bounce back after difficulties. Being a positive motivator brings tremendous rewards as your child will feel content in their efforts despite setbacks.
Taking age appropriate risks with an adult can build their confidence too. Fostering their curiosity by trying new things will encourage them to make suitable choices whilst noting boundaries and discussing safety.
Helping to foster independence however can be messy! Allowing children to do more for themselves such as pouring their own drinks, making their sandwiches, setting the table and dressing themselves will reap rewards though as they learn to do more independently taking pride in their efforts as these tasks become more manageable and accurate.
Talking to your child about the choices they made, valuing their ideas and ways of doing things including those times when they faced challenges or had to solve problems will help strengthen their confidence and self-awareness whilst opportunities to share and take turns with family and friends will help them to become more sensitive and sympathetic to the needs of others.
We shall of course continue to discuss transition to school with the Oaks throughout the summer.
Below are a few websites where you can find further support:
BBC Bitesize videos and games www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/collections/starting-primary-school/1
Cbeebies for a selection of stories and games www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories
Hungry Little Minds hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk
This week the Oaks have been continuing to work on their fine motor skills whilst incorporating their numeracy skills by looking at numerals in the environment and attempting to form numbers 1-10 using tracing paper to assist. They showed an interest in representing numbers using objects they found in the garden which led to Humphrey manipulating tubes from the ‘popoids’ to form the number 10.
Whilst looking at the vegetable patch the children were able to make links and develop their ideas of cause and effect whilst observing the difference in the tomato plants this week compared to last which led to a discussion about how plants need water and light to grow prompting Hugo to say “they like us, we need water and light to grow”.
In addition to enjoying the fabulous weather and having lots of fun running through the sprinkler the children have enjoyed ‘quiet time’ where they have been looking at a range of books, from poems to stories whilst paying attention to the way a story is structured with a beginning, middle and end. Evie particularly impressed Karen when she could recall the roles of an author and illustrator.
The Saplings have had great fun this week playing with water. On Monday after an impromptu thunderstorm, Hassan was fascinated as the rain poured down the guttering, using different sized bowls and containers he rapidly transferred the water very carefully from one cup to another. This led to just about all of the children making ‘soups’, a cup of ‘coffee’ and (not surprisingly), ‘cupcakes’ in the mud kitchen utilising every cup, bowl, spoon and whisk! As the week wore on, water remained a firm favourite with the children as they washed dinosaurs, cars, diggers and even the staff!
The Saplings have continued to develop their identification of colours, sorting and categorising Lego Duplo amongst other objects onto corresponding coloured mats whilst incorporating some early numeracy skills. Theo and Ottilie were both able to say how many were in a group of up to 10 and count how many were left when one was removed.
Both the Oaks and Saplings identified some arctic animals whilst playing and were keen to find out about their natural habitat which led to a discussion about the cold weather and ice. We involved the children in submerging the animals in water, freezing them and noting the changes which occurred. The Oaks were correct when they predicted that the water would indeed turn to ice and all had a great time breaking the ice with hammers using their gross motor skills whilst further strengthening their finer motor skills.
The Acorns and Seedlings have also loved being in the garden this week, running around the water sprinkler and splashing in the paddling pool. They too explored different textures using their hands and fingers to make various marks by adding shaving foam and explored different temperatures by adding ice to the water which made for some rather interesting faces being pulled!
The children’s senses were tested further when cous cous and spaghetti were added to a ‘tuff’ tray which a few just saw as an extra snack! They used spoons and containers to practice their transportation schemas whilst moving the cous cous between containers.
Stars of The Week
Awarded to:
Elliott – who demonstrated good listening skills whilst sitting still at story time and for his fantastic manners.
Theo – for demonstrating fantastic manners and a good understanding of rules and boundaries within nursery.
William – for building his strength and stamina as he takes more steps.
Joshua – for impressing us as he extends his vocabulary and counting up to ten.
Roman – For being so comical and keeping us all amused.
Sophia – For being so welcoming and kind to others.
Keep safe and enjoy the rest of the weekend.