We have three Pre School rooms, we have classroom type environment with a teddy bear theme, where we get involved in counting, word association, measuring, drawing and colouring cutting out and similar pre school type activities. We also have a dedicated Pre School Art and messy room where painting, sand and water play, model making and such like take place. We also have a room dedicated to Pre School for floor play with a Winnie the Pooh theme and in here we have story time, singing, dancing and music lessons.
Some of our activities in Pre School include:
We follow the Early Years Foundation framework which is the new nursery curriculum for our activities. We continue to ensure parents are encouraged to be involved. Parents often make suggestions on our suggestions board for activities.
Each child’s individual development folder is available to their respective parent at any time and this includes notes on their child’s development, observations from carers, their child’s work as well as photographs of their child involved in some of the activities.
We welcome parents to stay for 10 minutes every now and again to talk and interact with their child and also be introduced to some of their friends. Some parents have brought in props according to the topic we are following that week.
Parents are often amazed at the transition from being shy to becoming self confident and able to communicate what they have been up to throughout the day. We recognise each child is unique and an individual and there are many children who start our nursery who are already self confident. We ensure all children are involved and that all of the children become friends. Our carers encourage every child, however it really gives us pleasure to see children encouraging and talking to each other.
Some of the comments we have recorded from children in Pre School throughout their play time with us are:
“ewwwww spaghetti with glitter is gooey between my fingers”
“hehehe it feels slimy”
“no it feels squidgy”
“you can’t stand here unless you have an apron on”
“I want goldilocks and the three bears story please”
during sand play….”mmmm I’m making a cake for my dolly”
“the felt tips work because we remembered to put the lids on”
“sshhh I’m colouring my hand in”
“we’ve got to wash our hands before lunch”
“I had chocolate cake for my dinner, mmmm”
“I’ve made a biscuit for my mummy”
“I’ve eaten the biscuit I made for my mummy!”
“Mummy I’ve seen some animals at the farm”
“I’m pretending to be an aeroplane”
“I can go faster on my bike”