This week we continued our Christmas topic and preparation for our Nativity Play. We continued practising our lines and Christmas songs with great enthusiasm. The children were particularly excited to be able to try on their costumes during our Dress Rehearsal!
The children and teachers have filled our nursery with a wonderful Christmas spirit and the classroom has been buzzing with a festive mood all week. The children were very happy to be able to decorate our Christmas tree and enjoyed exploring the different sized and coloured baubles. The children’s particular favourites were the sparkly baubles and tinsel. The children used their observation skills and curiosity to discover that they could see their reflections in the baubles which proved to be an exciting discovery amongst all of the children! The children worked together excellently to decorate the tree, taking turns with the decorations and using their communication skills to decide which decorations to put on next.
Throughout the term the children have enjoyed giving each other drawings and letters and pretending to celebrate special occasions. To extend their interest in giving and showing care for one another we set up an ‘Elf Workshop’ in our Role Play area where the children were able to wrap toys, write letters and package objects in Christmas gifts bags whilst wearing Father Christmas hats. The children stuck stamps on their letters and Christmas cards and gave them to their friends who received them with a big smile. It was wonderful to watch the children bringing joy and giving cards and presents to each other. This activity provided a holistic approach for the children to independently extend their physical development, fine motor skills, imagination, writing skills, knowledge of letters and personal, social and emotional development.
As part of our Christmas Art activity the children created lavender bags. They had to concentrate hard to carefully spoon the lavender into the bags using their fine motor skills. We explored what lavender was and described what it felt and smelt like.
In Cookery the children continued the development of their fine motor skills by pouring melted sugar free chocolate into silicone moulds. They then decorated them with dried coconut flakes, dried raspberries and cranberries. The children learnt about the difference between solids and liquids and we explored how temperature contributes to the melting process. They also discussed healthy eating and food groups that are beneficial for our body which is linked to our Healthy Early Years Scheme. During our discussion the children drew links to the Grinch and what would happen to his teeth if he ate everybody’s chocolate. The children showed awareness of good practices related to eating, exercise and dental hygiene which they know and understand is important in keeping us healthy and strong.
During Free Play we explored our Deconstruction area which continues to be a very popular activity amongst the children. The children are showing a strong awareness of the safe use of the tools and a growing understanding of the function of wires and different parts of old electrical items. This activity enables the children to learn more about technological items and creates a deeper understanding of how technological objects work, allowing an opportunity for questioning, observation and problem solving.
In our Construction Area the children worked together to build a Police Station. It was wonderful to see how the children used their imagination and communication skills to share ideas and build together. They identified that the building required windows and a desk for the Police officers to work at and it also needed prison cells. The children came up with the idea that the prison cells should be placed on the roof of the Police Station which would make it harder for prisoners to escape.
On Thursday the Fledglings had their Spanish session with Miss Josefina who engaged the children in a discussion about the rainy weather. The children sang songs about counting raindrops and using an umbrella. They also revisited the song about body parts and they danced around using colourful scarves.
