Redscope Early Years

Spring 1

We started the half term and new year by welcoming some new friends into setting. Our returning children have welcomed them in and it has been lovely to see some new friendships forming. They have settled in well to each session and are beginning to understand our rules and routines.

As the weather changed and we had some snowy colder days, we have been talking about different weathers. Children have been encouraged to put their own coats, hats and gloves on to play outdoors. We had a fire in the garden and used the fire pit for the first time this year. The children listened to the fire safety rules and all followed them to stay safe.

As we got to know each other and part of welcoming in our new families, we looked at our family photos. We used these to create our own faces and talk about the differences we have with each other. Some children have blue eyes some children have curly hair.

During small group times the children have been really engaged in different activities.

Every day, children have been listening to stories about animals who live in the arctic. We learned about polar bears, penguins and seals. Some of the children during small group times watched some video’s of puffins who also live in colder climates.

Our children have loved being in the sensory room with lights and sounds. As well as being outdoors, children are offered a time in the sensory room.
We have been learning the letter sounds “p and d”. We used different items with these sounds to create silly soup. The children’s speech sounds have improved through these games.

Tiny Talkers groups have been beneficial for those children involved, improving listening and attention skills. This really shows from the children’s current development.

Developing fine motor skills by using our “Tommy Thumb and Peter Pointer” fingers only to pick up objects. This will develop the children’s finger muscles which will help with the beginning of mark making skills. As we have been talking about different emotions we created faces with loose parts.

We have been practicing our throwing and catching skills outdoors with the balls. Some of the older children have been spending a lot of time doing this outdoors and have developed the skill of holding 2 hands out to catch the balls.

For our maths sessions, we have been learning about “more, less and the same.” Children have been encouraged to count out the objects and then choose if they have the same amount or more or less. Children are showing a good understanding of this as they have been using this language in their free flow play.

As Shona lived in Scotland, to celebrate Burns Day, some children tried some haggis, shortbread and Irn Bru at snack time. Children are encouraged to try some new foods and a lot of our parents were surprised that their child had tried something new.

To celebrate Valentines day and Children’s Mental Health week we have had discussions about what and who we love. Children have bee great at giving each other some compliments and cheering them on during their turn at group times.

Our Talk for Writing texts this half term have been Hey diddle Diddle and pat a cake pat a cake. The children have been great at retelling these rhymes using the picture cards. We have watched some videos of a violin playing to have an understanding of a fiddle and tried to make sense of a cow jumping over the moon. Children are confident a cow can’t jump all the way to the sky!

As Pancake day is in the half term holiday, we have tried some pancakes with different toppings. From looking at the images on Pat a Cake Pat a Cake rhyme, we were able to write a shopping list of what we would need to create our own cakes during the session too!

A very jam packed half term for lots of learning and quality interactions with the children!

Autumn 2

We have had a very busy half term with lots of fun packed in!

We started the term by discussing fireworks and bonfire night. We watched some videos of the fireworks and listened to the sounds they made – “BOOM!” “BANG!”. The children developed their mark making skills in glitter creating their own swirling firework shapes with their fingers.

Within this half term there have been lots of celebrations which involved lots of learning! – Remembrance Day, odd socks day, Children in Need and the dentist’s also came to visit. They showed us how to brush our teeth properly and we played a game about healthy and unhealthy foods.

For our Talk for Writing text we have been learning Twinkle Twinkl Little Star. We have been learning the Makaton for this song and linking some of our activities to this. We made start biscuits from scratch, following the recipe. We used our counting and measuring skills to be able to pour in the ingredients. The children have been enjoying using scissors so we cut out some stars too.

During small group times at the start of the session, the children have been continuing to work on their listening and attention skills. Dough disco has been a favourite, from Halloween songs to Twinkle Twinkle.

On the run up to Christmas we have been very busy! Our trip to Gulliver’s was a great way to kick start our Christmas fun! We all had a wonderful time in the soft play and meeting Santa in his house. It was so lovely to see children and their parents have a lovely time together out of Redscope Early Years.

We have made our own Christmas cards by painting and printing to give to our families. Instead of playdough we have been making salt dough and all children have helped to make some salt dough decorations. For the Christmas Fair we made snow globes from recycled jars.

For our sing along celebration, the children learned some new songs and have been great at practicing these. The children enjoyed their singalong and all did great at joining in. The children have really enjoyed using the bells and other instruments while practicing on the run up to our sing-along and right up until the last day. At times, we have been singing that loud outside Santa may have heard us from the North Pole!

We hope everyone had a great Christmas break and are looking forward to being back at Early Years. We are looking forward to welcoming some new friends to REY in January!

Autumn 1

We have had a great first term back settling into REY again after the summer.

We have welcomed our new friends and they have all settled great. They are now learning lots of our routines, where resources go and are able to confidently follow rules and routines. During group times, we have spent time learning our friend’s names, finding out about each other, what we like and dislike, helping us to build friendships.

Phil was busy over the summer working on our garden are. The children has responded really well to this and love the sectioned areas. Children are able to choose it use it put it away outside as well as inside. The trim trail on the grass has been great to develop their physical skills. Our new sand pit has been a great addition and he children enjoy taking off their socks and shoes to feel the sand in their toes. This has also been encouraging the children to learn how to out on their socks and shoes independently.

Pumpkins in garden When we returned in September, we had some pumpkins growing in our flower bed. We used these in our play, were able to use our senses to explore these. The children loved scooping out the seeds and counting these.

For our sponsored walk, we walked around the playground and had instruments and music. The children were able to copy the positions that are painted on the ground. We are hopeful we have raised enough money to be able to go to Tinsel Tots in December.

One of our spine books is Goldilocks and 3 bears. This has prompted lots of talk about where we sleep and what we eat. The children have been role playing parts of the story during their own independent free flow play.  We used the compare bears to sort and match into different sizes and colours. Using clay, the children made different sizes of bowls. Some small like baby bears, medium like Mummy bear & large like Daddy bears.

As part of our home learning, children took home a brown bag to find Autumn treasure in. Lots of the children took part in this and we were able to use the items in sessions. We used conkers for painting and counting and explored leaves and sticks in tray inside and out shapes sizes colours

During our small group sessions, we have seen great progress in the children’s listening skills. Through games & paying attention to what we can hear outside, children have been more aware of their surroundings and can tune into what they can hear. Mouth sound games has enabled children with their pronunciation of some sounds which we will continue to work on next term. 

Towards the end of the term we have been busy making our Bluey scarecrow for the pumpkin patch. The children loved doing paper mâché and spent time each session joining in with this. As the children enjoyed this so much, we have been exploring with the glue and paper for some Halloween experiences. We continues exploring texture by introducing gloop.

We are all really proud of our children this term as they have been really busy and engaged in their learning. It has been lovely to see new friendships form and how independent the children are becoming so early on in the year.

We are looking forward to another busy half term and adding in some Christmas fun!