It has been a very busy start to the new school term; firstly we would like to thank all the parents who attended our AGM or volunteered prior to the AGM to join the committee. It was a very successful evening and we were able to form a committee from both attendees of the AGM and parents who had put their name forward but were unable to attend. The first committee meeting was held on Thursday 3rd October at pre-school, the next meeting will be Thursday 7th November at 7:30 again at pre-school. The committee is always looking for any volunteers to help with cake stalls or upcoming Christmas fundraising. There is a WhatsApp group for fundraising, please mention to Andrea, Louise or any staff if you are able to help in any way big or small, it is always very much appreciated.
As Autumn is now upon us and the children are showing an interest in the changing of the season (collecting leaves, conkers, twigs etc.) we have started our Autumn frieze. We will be focusing on kind hands, talking about the golden rules of pre-school and seeing how many ‘kind hands’ will fall from the tree! We have also been using conkers, paint and large tins with the children rolling the conkers around the tin to make different patterns, this used elbow and shoulder movements.
We are starting our Autumn walks looking for signs of Autumn, collecting leaves, conkers, horse chestnuts and anything else of interest. Whilst walking we will be listening to the different sounds in our environment. Small groups for letters and sounds will be focusing on musical instruments, playing loud, quiet, fast and slow, listening to the different sounds the instruments make, also singing and following the actions to nursery rhymes. We will also be listening and joining in with stories that have repetitive phrases (for example The Three Little Pigs, The Gingerbread Man, Owl Babies).
Next week (beginning Monday 21st October) we will be looking at Diwali and the celebrations. We will also read the book “Leaf Man” and encourage the children to make their own leaf pictures, using autumn colours.
We have also had some parents come in to help with the handprints for the Christmas cards, the forms are being sent out so keep a lookout. We were also lucky to have Little Story Explorers (Heidi’s mummy and nana) join us during session where the children listened and joined in with Ten Little Dinosaurs, this was a hands-on experience for the children, as well as listening and joining in with the story they got to make their own dinosaurs, choosing colours and decorations.
We will be starting our REAL (Raising Awareness in Early Literacy) project and next term will see the start of our Rhyme Challenge. This will include nursery rhymes and Christmas songs for you and your children to learn together.
We have been using the school hall on Monday and Tuesday mornings where the children have joined in with ring games, sticky kid cd’s, body percussion songs and we will be introducing the large equipment to balance, jump and roll.
We are continuing with Hedgehog Club, this is now available from 7:45 am til 6 pm Monday to Friday, please contact Louise on 01565 652340 or louise@egertonpreschoolknutsford.co.uk if you are interested. We have also had quite a few children booked in adhoc which is proving successful.
The children who have been staying for Hedgehog Club have enjoyed a wide range of activities and board games. We have also visited the library where the children have been choosing books to bring back to pre-school and we also sat and read some books as well.