An Easter Picnic

 

 

 

 

 

This week we have been preparing for our Easter Picnic lunch with the Playgroup Families tomorrow.  We have made Easter baskets- hopefully for a visit from Easter Bunny.  We have read Easter stories and sang Easter songs (Little Rabbit Foo Foo and Hot Cross Buns)  We have had a discussion about how we need to play when we have little children present.  WE have set up the playground in preparation for the day and tomorrow we are going to cook pastry pinwheels to share with everyone for lunch.  Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Easter Fun

 

 

 

 

 

We made some Easter Baskets in the shape of Bunnies using paper plates – we stuffed them with shredded tissue paper in the hope that Easter Bunny may full them with a surprise tomorrow.  We read Easter stories.

Peg Game

Here is a fun game to improve our Numeracy skills.  Each child has a wire hanger with 10 black dots on a sheet of paper attached.  When they roll the dice, they attach that many pegs – one to each dot.  Today we used the numeral dice for numeral recognition – but you can also use a dot dice for subitizing.  Working with pegs helps develop our hand muscles and attaching them precisely to the dots is a good pre reading skill (finger pointing words)

Humpty Dumpty’s Wall

Our literacy has been based around Nursery Rhymes this term.  This week it was Humpty Dumpty.   The children like to say the rhyme while they are sitting on big wooden blocks so they can act out ‘falling off the wall’.  Today we made Humpty Dumpty’s wall with stones and playdough (for mortar)  The also cut out and stuck together a four piece egg puzzle.

 

Nursery rhymes are important for young children because they help develop an ear for our language. Both rhyme and rhythm help kids hear the sounds and syllables in words, which helps k ids learn to read!

 

1) Improving language and communication skills

Nursery rhymes introduce new words and phrases, and their repetitive nature means the vocabulary can be picked up faster.

As nursery rhymes are read out loud, children are able to hear how the words sound and can practice how to pronounce them easily without the pressure of memorising words directly.

When reciting rhymes, children can practice speaking clearly, and can be shown how language variations such as pitch, volume, inflection and rhythm can be used to change the meaning of the words.

2) Developing reading skills

Nursery rhymes are a great tool for young children beginning learning to read, as they are essentially short stories.

Rhymes are a source of developing phonic skills, as they offer the ability to read and determine letter sounds. The rhyming words are especially useful for identifying the correct sounds.

Their rhythm and repetition makes them easy to commit to memory, and memory skills play a large part in learning to read.

3) Enhancing creative writing skills

Nursery rhymes are easy for children to follow and understand as they are structured like a short story with a beginning, middle and end.

They usually follow a sequence of events and consist of a main character in an interesting scene or circumstance – all important criteria for writing stories.

Nursery rhymes often also contain interesting literary devices such as alliteration and onomatopoeia, which help to engage children, and can be learned and applied to their own writing.

4) Teaching Maths concepts

Nursery rhymes use patterns in language and speech, and by recognising patterns in language, children are also able to recognise patterns in numbers, which helps with mathematical problem solving.

Many nursery rhymes also use numbers in the content of the rhymes, such as “One, two, three, four, five” and “Hot cross buns,” so children practice counting, addition and subtraction.

5) Encouraging imagination

Nursery rhymes often include elaborate or fantastical storylines and characters, which help children to imagine them more easily.

The sense of imagination is heightened if nursery rhymes are coupled with some kind of creative visualisation such as illustrations or the use of actions.

6) Improving physical development

Nursery rhymes make great themes for drama and dance, as children can act out and use physical movement to demonstrate the characters and events in the nursery rhymes.

The ability to use the body to express words helps children make a connection between their senses and improves hand-eye coordination.

7) Advancing social and emotional development

Nursery rhymes can help children to identify moods and feelings. Funny rhymes can make them laugh, while poems with sad themes can teach them about empathy, which is a good social skill.

People often develop emotional connections with nursery rhymes, so they can be used to help children feel happy and bond better with others.

8) Boosting confidence

As nursery rhymes are often fun or silly, children find them entertaining, which takes the pressure off the learning elements and children just learn as a bi-product of their enjoyment.

Because they are memorable, children are also more likely to be able to recite them, which helps build their confidence in speaking.

JUMP!

This activity of jumping of the climbing frame is an oldie – but still as popular as every.  It is wonderful to see the three year olds build the confidence to make the leap without holding onto a teachers hand.  Often children will try new experiences when they can see their peers succeeding and having fun.

A Tower

 

 

 

 

 

The children built a tower today.  After they finished construction they decorated it with coloured glass blocks.  It looked great.  Mrs Gayle suggested that they add the Duplo people to the tower.  The tower was pushed over by someone, but the children coped with this setback quite well and we helped them to rebuild.

Lizards

Johnny’s family found two stumpy-tailed lizards.  They were ‘babies’.  We discussed how lizards were from the reptile family and that they hatch out of eggs.  Thank you Haydn for bring them in.

Authentic Dough – Pizzas

For Authentic Dough this week we made pizza for lunch.  The children got to choose their own toppings from a selection.  I made a comment to the children that I brought the bacon was on special at the supermarket.  The children didn’t know what ‘on special’ meant.  I explained that it meant that it had a sale sticker on it and that it didn’t cost as much money.  Next time your family is shopping – point out the ‘special’ items to your children.