We understand the importance of children developing motor skills to ensure their holistic development is supported.
Good fine motor skills mean children can dress, feed and care for themselves with greater independence and therefore higher self-esteem and confidence. We find a variety of ways to engage children and encourage them to take part in experiences that will support fine motor skills. This week, children were very curious and keen to use the mini hammers and pegs whilst exploring the Halloween pumpkins. Great perseverance and strength was needed, as well as hand-eye coordination, to successfully get the pegs deep into the flesh. Independent playdough making was also very popular. Children using their hands to scoop, pour, stir and knead the dough. Children supported each other remembering the ingredients and amounts they needed to make a good dough (equal measure of salt, plain flour and water worked quite well and a few drops of food colouring). Djembe drumming in the garden was also in action, with children being encouraged to use their hands to tap, beat and scratch their drum to a variety of rhythms. All this plus, building with blocks, painting, climbing, cycling, digging in the sand and mud kitchen. Can you think of all the ways your child uses their fine motor skills around the house every day? As part of our Black History Month Celebrations, lovely Ayah came into school to share some Somali anjero and clothes with us.
Children enjoyed looking at Ayah's colourful fabrics, touching them and some children and staff tried them on. Ayah also shared some music with the children and they danced together. Ayah was proud to share her country's flag too: children have shown a great interest in flags and it's a good way to support understanding of our world and all the different places we come from. Finally they enjoyed sharing anjero (Somali pancakes). Thank you Ayah for sharing your Somali cooking, music and stylish clothes with us. Iroko Drummers are coming to the nursery after half term to bring some music and culture from Nigeria to our school. Would you like to come into school to celebrate your culture with us? Sharing stories, cooking, music, dance, crafts? Please see your key person. We would love to have you! At Children's House Nursery School we think about the skills and knowledge we want children to develop as well as the dispositions for learning. All of the experiences we plan for the children have been thought about carefully and evaluated.
Colour mixing is one such area: we want children to develop the confidence and skill to follow the process and create shades they would like to paint with. The environment is important - our painting easel is set up in a bright, airy space. Children have access to brushes of different sizes. They have colour charts depicting different shades as well as inspirational artwork to motivate them. Children are supported and shown the process of colour mixing with powder paint. 1) Get your apron on. 2) Collect a small pot of water. 3) Select your paper and brush. 4) Dip your brush into the powder paint and add it to the palette. 5) Wet your brush and mix it in the powder paint in your palette. 6) You can paint onto your paper. 7) Clean your brush in the water and you can explore adding more colours to create secondary and tertiary colours. Here we captured one of our friends who was so independent and confident in organising themselves. They were inspired by the Kandinsky 'Concentric Circles' postcard that was next to the easel. Painting can be a wonderfully calming experience for children and adults to engage in. Do you paint or draw at home with your child? Speak to your Key Person if you would like any tips in getting started. There's something about a new school term that is so exciting. Seeing our friends arriving at school: building friendships, becoming more independent, following routines and growing in confidence.
We have more than 70 new families starting this term : we welcome each and every one of you and are delighted you have chosen Children's House as your child's school. We also welcome back our friends who were with us before the summer and know they will become great role models for our newer friends. In the term to come there will be workshops and coffee mornings as well as some special events. Make sure the office has your latest mobile number so we can send you texts to keep you up to date. Becky, Guthsna and Sabiya are usually on the main school gates and your key workers will become more familiar to you as the term goes on. Please come and talk to us as we are one family here and everyone is valued. Here are a few photographs of our garden and building as well as the cranes on the building site next store and a sideways tower block (I just like the way the tower looks sideways on!) Welcome to Children's House. A gentle reminder as we start the school year with our wonderful, young children.
They are incredibly unique, all arriving with their beautiful personalities, gifts, knowledge, skills and interests. Play is at the heart of our curriculum because it is the most effective and powerful tool for learning. Above is an x-ray showing, on the left, a pre-school child's hand and, on the right, a 7 year old child's hand. Young children are still developing: their bodies are often physically not ready for certain skills yet. So please do not worry that your pre-school child is not writing. Play together: throwing and catching, digging in the mud, playing with sand and water, threading beads, dressing up, completing puzzles, drawing, painting, playing with playdough. All of these things will help their hands to develop. When they are physically ready to write, they will. Give them time, have fun together and they will get there. The end of term is always is a beautiful time: we see all the wonderful learning children have been involved in coming to fruition.
It is wonderful to see the children as independent, confident, resilient, empathetic, communicators who show great joy every day. Thank you for your support over the past year: working together is the key in getting the best outcomes for our children. We wish those of you who are moving on, all the best. Remember you are always part of our Children's House family. Treasure your Special Books, keep playing and having fun together. Stay in touch! Those of you who are returning, children come back on 8 September. Thank you all for your support for our Annual Children's House Summer Fete: whether you baked a cake, donated food, had your face painted, hooked a duck or knocked over a can, THANK YOU!
Our wonderful community, past, present and future came out in force and the rain stayed away! We thank you all for your support every day by getting your children to school on time, by celebrating their learning and supporting our school values. Remember, if your child is leaving us over the summer, you are still part of our community so please stay in touch! At Children's House we know how important it is for families to feel connected to our school. We are lucky enough to spend every day with the children, supporting their learning and development but we know we must work together with families to get the best outcomes.
To mark Father's Day, we invited dads and other family members to come and spend some time in nursery, playing and making alongside the children. There was a wonderful buzz of energy across the nursery: drawing, racing, gardening, imaginative play in the sand, decorating biscuits and rich play together. Children and adults enjoyed the morning and afternoon sessions and everyone left with a smile on their face. Remember to borrow Special Books from school to see all the learning your children have been up to. It is week one of some special visitors at Children's House. We know the importance of inspiring children to be curious about their world and encouraging them to express their curiosity.
On Monday we had a special delivery of 10 eggs in an incubator in each classroom. Children were given time to observe the eggs, talk about them, sharing what they thought and ask questions. Children shared their thoughts: adults noted them. From crocodiles to snakes, from chicks to a green T-Rex or a tiger, children predicted what they thought was inside the eggs. The children waited patiently, observing. They noticed the eggs were moving and eventually some of the eggs started to 'pip' or 'hatch'. Out hatched a small yellow chick: children noticed they were wet and wobbly. As the chicks dried and more hatched they were moved across to the brooding box where they have more space and a warm light, food and water. Children began to understand what chicks needs to live and thrive. They were moved in pairs so they would not be lonely. Excitement grew as more hatched. By Friday, we had a total of 27 chicks who were growing and flapping their wings. Sadly one chick died and 3 eggs did not hatch. Children were quiet and respectful around the chicks: showing great care and fascination. The chicks are now, eating, drinking and sleeping and it is a privilege to be able to do so. Some vocabulary the children have been introduced to and supported using this week within context: incubator hatch pip crack shell egg yoke albumen chick flap female male It will be exciting to see how they have grown after the weekend. Watch this space. Remember we have Mudchute Farm and Stepney City Farm nearby. Check their websites for visiting times. https://www.mudchute.org/ https://stepneycityfarm.org/ At Children's House we recognise our youngest children as storytellers. Everyone has a story to tell and we ensure we are available to listen to and value children's words.
Our environment has many books: from classic favourites, to information books, leaflets, comics and books made by our children. Children are encouraged to access these and handle, enjoy and share them. Children hear stories every day in school. They use books for pleasure, for research and the each have a book which documents their learning - their own Special Book. From exploring books and learning how to handle them, children are encouraged to recall parts of familiar stories, retell them. We support children to recall previous learning and share it. Children are encouraged to play imaginatively and develop a narrative in their play. This then moves onto encouraging children to tell their own stories. This can be done in a range of ways: Children might pick up a book and read the pictures, telling the story in their own words. Children might mark make and talk about their marks. Children might draw a picture and describe what is happening in the picture. Children might tell you a story completely from their imagination. At Children's House we use many strategies. Two storytelling methods we use are Helicopter Stories and Tales Toolkit. Helicopter Stories is a simple approach where children tell a grown up their story and the adult writes down verbatim what the child says. The story is then acted out by the children in a taped off area of the classroom (the stage). This develops confidence, self esteem, language and is such a beautiful tool to use with children. Tales Toolkit is a way of supporting children to tell their own stories using the scaffolding of setting, character, problem and solution (the basic format of most stories). The children are supported to use props to develop a story which can be acted, drawn, photographed, written or recorded. There will be more photographs to follow below... Shazna led a workshop for families last week, exploring stories and storytelling. Please keep an eye out for more workshops and get involved. Remember to borrow books from school and share bedtime stories every night together. |
Our BlogThe blog is updated regularly with a range of learning from across our wonderful school. All the rich learning experiences the children have been involved in will be in their Special Books so please do borrow those regularly. Archives
April 2024
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