During this last half term, the children in FS1 have been reflecting on the change in seasons from Autumn to Winter. We discussed what colours we could use to create some winter images and sewings. 

The children had the opportunity to remember the ‘pinch, push, pull’ method to create their sewings and became more confident to sew independently.

The children in FS1 also had the opportunity to research arctic animals on the iPads to learn about why polar bears, arctic foxes and arctic hares have such thick fur and why it is white. They used the images they found to create their own representations. 

Towards the end of January the children also had the opportunity to learn about Chinese New Year and why we celebrate it. We read the story of Chinese New Year and the children were fascinated to learn which animal year they were born in. The children demonstrated their ability to use a knife as they sliced their own vegetables to make some spring rolls which were shared as our snack. The children described them as “crunchy” and “tasty”. The children learnt about the dragon dance and created their own dragon costume by sewing red and gold beads and thread onto some hessian. They learnt to motion their bodies up and down to the beat of the traditional music whilst other children demonstrated their ability to keep a steady beat with the musical instruments. 

Towards the end of this half term children have taken part in the ‘Little Schools Bird Watch’ over a period of two weeks. Children learnt the features of different species of birds and kept a tally of each time they saw one of the birds in their gardens at home. After a week, children brought their tallies back to Nursery and collectively we counted the total number of times the different species of birds were seen. Children gained confidence to use the vocabulary ‘most common’ and ‘least common’ when referring to our results. On the final day, the children submitted the results online to contribute to the national tally. Thank you to every who took part in this! 

FS1 hosted their 3^rd ‘Stay and Play’ session which focused on ‘Everyday Maths’ activities. This was an opportunity for families to gain a deeper understanding of how we support and extend children’s mathematical thinking in everyday activities, such as singing songs, racing cars along a track, weighing food items in the kitchen etc. A big thank you to all the grown-ups that attended the session!

We hosted our second ‘Stay and Play’ and focused on how to promote early reading skills. Parents were invited to stay and share activities such as the opportunity to share traditional tales alongside small world characters, a listening station and stories being told about ‘Pirate Pete’ and his puppet friends. The sessions were very well received and we would like to thank our parents for coming out to find out about how to support early reading skills.

After the stay and play, Parents and Carers were invited to listen to Andrea and Dan who hosted a workshop on ‘Letters and Sounds’. These sessions were very well attended and parental feedback stated that the workshops were incredibly informative.

During the first Autumn term, FS1 focused on sharing our Centre rules and learning our new routines. The children were able to think of different examples of how to be kind, careful and helpful and shared these ideas with their peers. Children quickly adapted to changing their outdoor shoes for wellies and to their new breakfast, lunch and tea routines.

As the season changed to Autumn, children observed the changes in the garden and confidently discussed the leaves falling from the tree and the different colours they had observed outside. Children collected leaves from the garden and added them onto a clay tile. They were so proud of their learning and couldn’t wait to display them in the base and take them home to show their families.

Children loved listening to the story of ‘The Little Red Hen’ and were able to discuss how unkind the other animals had been to the Hen in the story. They worked together to bake bread, linking the story to the recipe and method. Children also worked together to make vegetable soup to enjoy during snack time.

During our first half – term, we hosted our first stay and play which focused on ‘Outdoor Explorers’. Parents and Carers were invited to watch our fire pit being lit and were given the opportunity to toast a marshmallow with their child. Children were then given the opportunity to explore some of the other activities in the garden such as tying knots, leaf printing using the hammer and making delicious meals in the mud kitchen. It was important for all the children to witness the fire being put out as well as being lit, as part of the safety demonstration.