Christmas is approaching, and the children are beginning to get excited. We have lots of lovely activities to look forward to, as always, an abundance of creative opportunities await, from arts and crafts to superstar singing.  We are hoping to have our real Christmas tree in the garden by the end of November, ready for the children to decorate. 

This month, Risers are being visited by a special assistance puppy ‘in training’. A great opportunity for us to welcome a visitor to talk to the children about how to care for an animal and what important part this little puppy will be playing in someone’s life.  The Risers have also started to attend Assembly at Stock School. This is a lovely transitional activity and a chance for the children to visit the school and take part in their singing assembly.  Our Risers also have their own Nativity a the church, they have all chosen their parts, made the program and can’t wait to showcase their lovely singing.  

We continue to support the children’s phonological awareness through our open-ended activities and also through our planned group times. We have wonderful resources to support this area of learning -if you would like further information on how we support the children, please do speak to your Key person, and we can share ideas for home.

Lots of encouragement to mark make outside using chalks and our new mirrored trees attached to the sheds. It is so important that the children feel no pressure to write before being ready, which is why in all areas of play, they have the opportunity to mark make at their will, building their confidence and giving them the choice of different media to use.  As the children progress in this area, we will support their grip and encourage them to label their work as they start to form recognisable letters.

We pride ourselves on having a flexible and creative approach, and you may often hear us use the term  ‘invitations to play on our Facebook page’  This is where the resources on offer are open-ended, which means that they can be used in many different ways. For example, a pebble can be enjoyed by the very youngest child for its tactile properties, but it can also be used for sorting, counting, creating, and imagining during play. The same pebble can be a cake decoration, a stepping stone for a character, or a magic bean. Through this type of play, a child can develop their imagination, free from the constraints of our more structured activities.  Alongside this type of activity, we will also have slightly more structured activities that can be accessed too – this may be a board game often made by one of our staff to suit the child wanting to play or a play-doh activity with purposeful maths resources alongside to help develop their maths skills. For example, you may see Play-Doh with long spaghetti sticking out of it, alongside pasta tubes in a pot with a nice big dice. The focus here might be simple addition or subtraction, or just simply being able to select a given amount. Rest assured, whatever your children are ‘playing’ with, they will be constantly learning new skills alongside developing their personal, social, and emotional skills, helping them to become strong and resilient little beings 🙂

Finally, the children love to listen to stories, especially from visitors. we would love for parents to drop in to read to them, so if you would like to volunteer your time, please do let one of the staff know.

 

Lisa