This week our topic was Christmas. All week the children have been busy creating presents for their parents as well as practising for our upcoming Nativity Play. The children are very excited about wearing their Nativity costumes and are filled with enthusiasm in preparation for our Nativity concert. They have particularly enjoyed practising our Nativity songs which are the adaptations of popular well-known songs. Their firm favourite is our Christmas rendition of ‘Power in Me’.
In the Outdoor Learning Environment the children have continued to take part in a range of different activities. In response to the children’s interest in playing with phones whilst in the classroom, we decided to extend this outside by using the Talking Tubes which became a very popular activity amongst all the children in the Fledglings. This activity supported the children to continue developing their communication and language skills as well as their imagination by creating a range of different role play scenarios.
During Free Play, one to one activities and Focus Time the children have showed a continued interest and enjoyment in counting and number related activities. In response to this, we decided to extend our learning outside by setting up a group activity of Dominoes. The children had to count the dots on the dominoes and match the quantities. This activity supported the development of the children’s one to one counting skills as well as their ability to compare and match groups of items (dots) based on their quantity.
In the Blue Group the children played Letter Bingo during their Phonics Activity. The children worked in pairs to spin the arrow before finding and telling us what letter their arrow was pointing to on the board. While finding letters the children also practised hearing the sounds of both familiar and unfamiliar letters. It was lovely to see the children working together, taking turns and helping each other to find the letters. It has also been great to see the children's confidence and knowledge grow when communicating and practising the different letter sounds. At the end of the activity they enthusiastically counted how many letters they had found and we declared that they had all worked so well together that they were all winners!
ICT was a popular activity this week. We aim to include technology into our activities whenever possible. Following on from our previous topic of ‘Digiduck’s Big Decision’ a few weeks ago the children have continued to ask each other’s permission to take pictures and videos of each other during Free Play as well as during our Weekend News Activity.
We extended the children’s enthusiasm of using the iPads and their endless interest towards animals by taking part an activity on the iPad. Using an App the children held the iPad over a range of letter cards which turned the animal pictures into 4D images with sounds. This activity provided an excellent holistic learning opportunity where the children could engage with technology, learn about animals and practise initial letters as well as develop their sharing skills through turn taking and communication.
