Category: News

[caption id="attachment_790" align="alignnone" width="300"] Pouring pink water[/caption] We finished last half term with a busy week of varied activities for the children. The weather has been perfect for outdoor play. The children have really been enjoying water play in the yard; learning about capacity by pouring, filling different shaped containers and comparing amounts. We have been regularly watering the potato plants and watching their progress. Ball skills have been practised, playing catch and Piggy in the Middle. [caption id="attachment_793" align="alignright" width="300"] Ordering lengths[/caption]   Indoors, we have been learning about different ways of measuring; from measuring time (making clocks with moving fingers,) to comparing weights of a variety of objects. We have compared lengths and heights and found out who has the shortest and longest footprints by drawing around our…

We aren't satisfied with just a book day at Hope Pre-school. We had a book week! Each day we had a guest story-teller at Story time, reading different favourite books to the children. The children made their own "concertina" books, drawing pictures and thinking about what was happening on each page, with the adults to help with scribing their story ideas. We had a dressing-up day: the children came to pre-school dressed as book characters. Some children brought in their favourite books to share.

The children worked in a group, supported by an adult, to look for mini beasts. We wanted to find out which one was the most common at the mud kitchen area. First we talked about how to pick up and handle them carefully. The children spent time observing the creatures, identifying them and watching how they moved. We found slugs, snail shells, worms, centipedes, a millipede and woodlouses. The children described their finds as "wiggly", "spikey", "scary" and "slimey!" All the children practised counting how many of each creature they had. We added all the numbers together using our fingers and found that worms were the most common. Afterwards, we carefully put them back in their chosen habitats.

We have been learning about how Chinese New Year is celebrated. We watched a film about a typical family's preparations and looked at and talked about photos. The children were fascinated by dragon and lion dancing and couldn't wait to have a go themselves! They have helped to re-tell The Twelve Animals story of the naming of the years, making masks as props and acting out the animals' race [caption id="attachment_771" align="alignright" width="300"] Tasting rice with Chinese sauces![/caption] across the river. We found out which animal year each child was born in; we have horses, sheep and monkeys attending Hope Pre-school! The children learned that this year is the year of the pig. We have created our own dragon puppets and tasted some typical Chinese foods. The Wednesday group helped to…

[caption id="attachment_750" align="alignleft" width="225"] Creating a penguin[/caption] The children have enjoyed learning about animals of polar regions recently. From The Little Polar Bear story to the small world animals; we have looked at photos of narwhals, penguins, humpback whales, etc.; a display has been created using different mark making skills; we have sung and danced The Penguin Dance! There was lots to do and talk about at Forest Fun yesterday. The cold, ice and snow outside provided many opportunities for the children to experience, learn and have fun! From observing the icy puddles, falling flakes of snow (look closely and they could see the shape of the individual flakes), different-patterned foot prints and tracks. Plus the practical, physical skills involved in collecting, shaping and building with that wonderful snowy stuff!

Hope Pre-school will re-open after the summer break on Wednesday 5th September. See you all soon!

Thank you to all the children who came to the carnival and went on the Pre-school float. We won a first rosette! Our brilliant volunteer parents put together a magnificent balloon festival inspired float, using artwork created by the children at Pre-school and all the children were given a helium balloon to take home. The children had a great time riding around the village in the carnival procession. Special thanks to the Hollinrakes for also providing their camper van to pull them along! We were lucky enough to have a marching band following us, which provided entertainment for the children as they went. Lots of children attended the teddy bears picnic last Monday on the sports field. The Pre-school team provided sports activities to take part in and the weather was…

We were sorry to say goodbye to Don this morning at Forest Fun. He has helped us to run our Friday mornings for the last 4-5 years and will be very much missed by the children and staff members at Hope Pre-school. We wish him and his family lots of luck in the future!

At the conservation site yesterday we found a newt. No wonder there are no frog tadpoles in the pond. They've probably all been eaten by the hungry newts! The children were fascinated to see the little creature. Everybody had a good look. We made sure we put it back safely afterwards.

[caption id="attachment_701" align="alignright" width="300"] Can you count 12 chicks?[/caption] What could be as much fun as an egg hunt? A chick hunt in the woods!  The Forest Fun children could hardly contain their excitement as each team searched for 12 chicks to put in their basket. The children worked together to find the chicks, counting up as they went along to make sure they didn't find more than their share. The last group called on the help of their friends to find the final one. Every chick was found, thank goodness!