Sunday 15 March 2015

Love is an open door - Frozen

The end of the children's first term at pre-school was marked with a Winter Assembly for family and friends.  The Brambles door was opened wide to parents, family and friends for this special occasion and of course the soundtrack of the year was playing in the background - Disney's Frozen! The children certainly did 'let it go' during the assembly as they sang loudly and proudly and shared their art work.


Miss Sallie's group sang about the clothes you need in winter time and getting ready to go outside and play!  The children in Miss Sallie's group all made mitten cards after the song and also one of the books during that week was 'The Mitten' by Jan Brett


Now everyone was dressed warmly and outside, Miss Joan's group's song was all about the winter birds you can find.  The children used their cutting skills to cut out the tree and the painting skills to paint the robins sitting in the tree (5 Little Robins was written by Miss Sallie and Miss Clare)


Whilst looking up in the trees at the robins, the children could also see some snow clouds and some snowy white flakes falling from the sky!  Miss Michelle's group made her favourite thing ever - snowflakes!  Cupcake cases were used alongside scissors to create the snowflakes before adding glitter to make them sparkle and shine!


With a cold cold nose and cold cold toes, the children warmed themselves up by making a snowman - 'do you want to build a snowman?' Miss Clare's group stood proud as they completed the actions to 'I'm a little snowman' and showed their fantastic cards that matched their song, including the snowman melting away.



The sun has melted the snowmen, the sun is going down and their's frost in the air.  Miss Emma's group used their arm and hand to create a tree before adding toothpaste paint and glitter to create the snow and singing about all the different places the frost can be found before telling us that 'the frost tells us it's cold' and going inside, because 'inside is nice and warm, so inside we'll stay!'

Now everyone was back 'inside' and warmed up with all the singing and dancing it was time to celebrate with the children's families and friends with the bring and share lunch in the other side of the hall.  As the children left they each received a gift.

 

Some families at Brambles do not celebrate Christmas, the assembly and gift was adapted to ensure that every child was included in our end of term celebrations. 


EYFS Links
Working in partnership with families is an area Brambles staff believe is very important and one which they strive to ensure is a positive one.  As parents themselves they know how it feels to leave their children at pre-school and how their child/children do not inform them about their day or what they have had for snack etc.  They also know what it feels like to receive those precious art work creations, cards and watch their children perform with their friends.  Staff are also aware that some of the friends their children make at pre-school, their parents become friends of theirs too for a very long time!  Being able to host events such as the winter assembly is just one of the ways Brambles staff celebrate those small steps (creating a picture), to bigger strides (writing their name on their art work) and to huge leaps (standing on a stage) of the children with their families.

The relationship between parents and practitioners within the theme of Positive Relationships – in particular to view parents as partners in young children’s learning and development. The commitments to practice within this theme are: 
Respecting Each Other: Every interaction is based on caring professional relationships and respectful acknowledgement of the feelings of children and their families. 
Supporting Learning: Warm, trusting relationships with knowledgeable adults support children’s learning more effectively than any amount of resources. 
Key Person: A key person has special responsibilities for working with a small number of children, giving them the reassurance to feel safe and cared for and building relationships with their parents
Parents as Partners: Parents are children’s first and enduring educators. When parents and practitioners work together in early years settings, the results have a positive impact on children’s development and learning. 

'The best way to spread winter cheer, is singing loud for all to hear!' - Elf and the assembly certainly was a wonderful opportunity to share the children's work and how proud as staff we are at their super confidence to stand up on a stage and sing to over 70 adults and younger siblings!!! Such a lovely way to end the first term with such warm winter wishes!







Pilots, to a large degree, are like salesmen. They have to be confident to be good at their jobs. They have to practice relentlessly and plan out all the scenarios of the things that could happen when they're out there. Nothing is more important than preparation. - Simon Sinek

Pre-school saw many pilots during the air transport week.  They certainly demonstrated their confidence whilst creating an array of air themed crafts and were all very good at their jobs of learning through play in the small world and role play areas.  The children practised relentlessly in creating models with the various construction materials both inside and on a larger scale outside to create a large cardboard box airplane.  All the skills the children have learnt and practised this week is certainly preparing for reception next year!


The air transport crafts this week were cutting shape rockets, sticking craft stick airplanes, sponge print helicopters, colouring the rhymes and books of the week and making paper plate helicopters including a photo of the child inside the balloon!


Miss Sallie used an idea from Pinterest to create the night time airport.  It was put under a table to enable the lights to show up more effectively and it was also placed there to allow children to access play in a different body position.  The children enjoyed laying down on their tummy's or on their sides to play either side of the tray and equally were happy to play sitting on their knees at the foot of the tray.  Over the week it was wonderful to hear and see the children  engaging with the new way of offering small world, so much so, the children have asked to keep the mat and have more activities under the table!

EYFS Links
Small world play has lots of benefits across all seven areas of the foundation stage and encourages unique story telling, imaginative play and creative thinking. Small world play allows children to:
Act out past experiences - people in the wooden house
Reflect on past experiences - trains and train track or cars and garage as well
Think about new ideas - flying in an airplane or going in a rocket.
This type of play is important for encouraging children t to reflect on feelings as well as share ideas and encourage communication.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge” Albert Einstein 

“Imaginative play is the key to children drawing on all their abilities in order to enhance their learning” David Whitebread, Teaching and Learning 

“The perceptions children have of life are bound up very closely within a world where fantasy and reality constantly go hand-in-hand. Research has shown that the children who indulge freely in good quality fantasy and pretend play, the children who are considered to be ‘high fantasizers’ and spend a good deal of time in imaginative thinking (Singer and Singer, 1977; Pulaski, 1981; Reiss 1981;), have greater tendencies towards being creative with materials and situations. Such studies have also found that these creative, internal thinkers have better concentration, are less aggressive generally, can tell more creative stories with greater originality and more complex characters and situations, and are more inclined to enjoy what they do than children who are ‘low fantisizers”. Janet Moyles, Just Playing

The pilots have enjoyed their far away adventures, they have turned off the engines, gone through the airport to collect their luggage and are now on their car journey home.  The weather is getting colder and I'm sure there's snow in the air, but that's OK as the Brambles staff are all prepared for the winter celebrations next week!