It has been a great start to the year at 345 and we were extremely excited to see the children again. This week we focused on settling the children back into nursery life after a long summer holiday, reminding ourselves of our Classroom Principles and getting to know each other and our new teachers.
On Wednesday during our Focus Time activity the children shared their holiday news, recounting tales of exciting adventures and experiences spent with family and friends. We used this activity to practise taking turns and listening to one another and it was brilliant to see how well the children focused on asking questions and listening to everyone's news. During our Art activity the Fledglings illustrated their Holiday News by painting a picture of their favourite moments. These featured lots of ice creams and buckets and spades!
On Thursday the children took part in an activity where they had to match pictures to our Classroom Principles. This encouraged the children to deepen their understanding of the actions and consequence of these principles as well as the importance of following guidance from our teachers. This activity generated a lot of interesting discussions amongst the children around why we have these rules and what the dangers or problems might be when we don't follow them. This activity also linked back to our teaching of British Values and the Rule of Law.
On Friday we engaged in a Team Building activity where we gave the children the challenge of rolling the ball to each other around a big circle. When we received the ball from our peers we had to introduce ourselves and discuss our favourite colours, foods and our likes and dislikes. The children loved this activity and it was a great opportunity to develop their physical development and gross motor skills as well as the confidence to express their thoughts and feelings in front of a group. This activity also encouraged the children’s personal, social and emotional development, communication and language skills and linked to our teaching around respecting each other's views.
We took full advantage of the weather this week and the children loved being back in the Outdoor Learning Environment where they observed the wormery and had lots of fun exploring the climbing frame, sandpit and mud kitchen.
In our group discussions we continued promoting an inclusive learning environment and encouraged the children to explore different ways of communicating. This was extended in our Circle Time where the children learnt all about Makaton signs which are the gestures used in British Sign Language. We also explored our Anima Phonics Scheme where the children demonstrated a good foundation of letters and sounds which we will continue to build on throughout the year.
We have had a wonderful first week back and we are extremely happy with how well the children have settled back in. We are looking forward to the many exciting learning opportunities and fun we have ahead of us.
