Our ‘new’ children are now settled and confident at Preschool, enjoying our very musical month. We played the Sticky Kids CD, which improves listening and attention while teaching the children about movement and tempo. They also had the chance to choose their favourite songs, thanks to Miss Char’s Alexa, and to try different musical instruments. As the landscape turned autumnal, they enjoyed collecting natural resources such as acorns, conkers, twigs and different coloured leaves. These were added to the play-doh and mud kitchen to enhance imaginative and sensory play, improve dexterity, and stimulate discussions about texture, shape, seasons and change.
The children had been taking great interest in measuring limbs and chalking around each other on the floor—perhaps we have some budding crime scene officers! We extended this with cardboard cut-out craft, which tied in well with our recycling theme. We also have some budding childcare practitioners too, so we upgraded our ‘baby area’ in the home corner with more clothes, feeding equipment and prams, plus real nappies (but no real babies, we promise!).
For World Mental Health Day, we read Anna Llenas’ ‘The Colour Monster’, which equates feelings to colours. The children had the chance to express their own feelings with colour on the accompanying ‘monster’ sheets. On European Language Day, we enjoyed some well-known picture books in different languages, including The Very Hungry Caterpillar in French! Finally, as part of our Harvest celebration, we visited St Mary’s Church. There, Fr David gave us a behind the scenes tour and talked about where food comes from and helping those less fortunate than us. We’re very grateful for his time. We’re also grateful to parents for taking the time to contribute to their child’s Tapestry online learning journal. Their posts about activities and achievements at home are invaluable in providing a rounded picture of each child’s interests and capabilities.
Looking forward, we’re delighted Miss Emily will be returning to us on her student placement and hope to welcome a new manager very soon. Recruitment is still open, so please contact our acting chair, Helen Lumb, if you are interested in the role.
Would you like to support Preschool? Please consider donating your loose change to our collection pot in Nisa, or your spare time (even if it’s only an hour or two) to our committee. For more details, contact Helen Lumb at buckdenpreschoolcommittee@gmail.com.
For updates on Preschool visit https://www.facebook.com/www.buckdenpreschool.co.uk/.