What We’ve Been Learning This Half Term

Rowley Robins have had a great first half term; we have implemented a new rhythm of the day which they have settled into very well, lots of the children can now tell us what is going to happen next in the routine. They are starting to build friendships with one another and have developed bonds with their key workers. We are looking forward to all of the exciting things we have planned for the next half term.

Autumn and Halloween

We would like to thank the parents that took part in collecting autumn treasures for their homework and sent us a pumpkin for activities. We looked at the changes in leaves, walked in them to listen to the ‘crunching’ sound and threw them in the garden to watch them blow in the wind.

We had lots of fun with the pumpkins from rolling them down ramps, making ‘pumpkin soup’ in the water tray, painting the pumpkins, washing them and exploring the different textures inside. We worked on our fine motor skills by using tweezers to pick the seeds from the pumpkin and we also cooked some pumpkin so that the children had the opportunity to try it.

Squiggle While You Wiggle

We have started using ‘Squiggle While You Wiggle’ this term, this is an early writing and physical development programme which uses music, dance and gross motor movements to help the children to develop their core strength and co-ordination, which will in turn help when they start writing.

The children have loved this programme, they get their ‘flappers’ and join in with the dancing every day, lots of parents have also commented that the children have been talking about this at home with them which shows how well it has been implemented. We will continue to work through this programme introducing new movements to them.

Dough Disco

We have also started to use Dough Disco with the children, this uses playdough to develop the children’s fine motor skills which will also help with their early writing. The children have learnt how to ‘squeeze’, ‘pat’ and ‘roll’ the dough, we do this to music to make it fun and engaging for them.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

The children have been learning where their belongings go at nursery and are now able to place their bags and coats on their own pegs and collect them at the end of the session. They are also beginning to serve themselves at snack and pour their own drinks which all helps to develop autonomy. We will be implementing ‘Tasty Tuesday’ so that the children can continue to work on these different skills.

We are also working on learning to share resources with our peers throughout the day at nursery.

Early Language Development

The children have enjoyed ‘Attention bucket time’, ‘singing basket’ and ‘stretchy band’ this term, these are all adult led activities, when using the singing basket, they are able to choose which song they would like to sing using puppets, all of these activities are used to develop the children’s listening, attention and language skills.

Learning Through Play

The continuous provision throughout the environment gives the children plenty of opportunities to ‘learn through play’. This term many of the children have enjoyed playing in the small world area with cars, trains and animals, they have created lots of pieces of artwork in the creative area and explored the sand in the garden. We also implement ‘Feel Good Friday’ where we provide the children with sensory experiences as well as dancing.

We are very proud of how well the children have settled into our new routine and cannot wait to see them thrive over the next half term.