November is science month
Welcome to winter, the weather is colder and it rains a lot more, we need to put on our coats and hats to go outside, we learnt a great song to remind us “Lets put on our winter clothes”. Learning about the seasons encourages responsibility and independence in the boys and girls to dress themselves appropriately.
We are learning how to care for the birds in the winter, we made some great “cheerio chains” bird feeders for them to eat. We planted lots of daffodils for the spring, making sure they were well covered in the soil. Did you know you need 4 things to grow a plant, seeds, soil, sun and water?
During science month we learn lots of new concepts, we explored water volume using pipettes and food colouring, painted with coloured ice cubes and watched in amazement as we dropped vinegar on to baking soda and made our very own volcano experiment and did some great volcano paintings. We experimented using baking powder on trays adding drops of different colours using food colouring and pipettes, watching and listening for the reaction.
We also put some flowers into coloured water to change their colour, some of the petals took the colour.
We put eggs into Coke, Ribena and water to see what effect sugar has on the shells, did you know egg shell is very like our teeth. The egg in the water stayed perfect while the egg in the Coke and Ribena were very dirty and soft. We brushed the egg with toothpaste and a toothbrush and it got a little cleaner. We need to brush our teeth after treats to keep them clean and strong
Wibbly Wobbly Balance Bike Programme
This year we were lucky to be selected to participate in Tipperary Sports Partnership Balance bike Programme which is aimed at children aged 2½ to 6 years and is a great starting point for children’s cycling while promoting safety by wearing a helmet and active lifestyles.
Using our balance bikes and helmet we learnt to ride a bike without stabilisers, developed our gross motor skills, spatial awareness and coordination all of which builds our confidence, balance and social skills.
National Pyjama Day
What a great day we had on Friday 17th November when we all wore our pj’s coming to playschool, some of our parents even turned up in their pj’s to support National Pyjama Day.
We had lots of healthy food for breakfast, we coloured some great pictures, read some fab stories, watched a movie and guess what? – we collected €291 which will go to support the autism charity AsIAm.
Arts & Crafts
We’ve been very busy decorating the playroom for Christmas, we have made some lovely winter wonderland houses, Christmas stockings, a fire place to hang them and lots more. We’ve made playdough and moulded snowmen, stars and gingerbread men. We love play dough it supports our fine motor skills building our muscles to help pre writing skills.
We are also practicing our cutting skills, holding the scissors and the paper together can be hard.
We love our jigsaws and working with friends to finish one feels really good. Our tuff tray has a christmas theme this month, it’s been full of glitter paints where we made snowflakes for our wall, coloured rice in the shape of santa’s hat, icy blue water to sail our boats, and lots more
Christmas Concert
We’re are delighted to welcome you all to our Christmas concert, we have been working very hard learning all the songs and dances, we’ve also started playing an instrument but that’s a surprise for our concert
Emerging Interests Board – thanks to all who have contributed to our emerging interest board, all ideas are added to our curriculum, and as the year progresses, please add your child’s emerging interests or any learning you would like us to add to our curriculum.
Síolta Book – our Síolta book documents our curriculum in picture form, it hangs in the window by our garden gate, please have a look at it as you drop or collect your child,
Aistear Learning
STEM learning experiences are usually active, messy and loud. Children talk, listen, design and create. When we are busy collaborating in multi-sensory, hands-on, open-ended investigations, we are open to learning.
STEM is made up of science, technology, engineering and maths. We play dinosaurs, build castles, mix play dough, fill and pour water, experiment with paint, drive tractors, read stories, cut, glue, cycle, climb, solve problems, negotiate, share knowledge, count, ask questions and much more.
BUT MOSTLY WE JUST HAVE FUN!
Partnership with Parents
We would like to thank you our parents for the support you show us on a daily basis. As we look forward to 2024, we hope to build on our partnership with parents, inviting you to visit our playschool sharing your work, talent or skill with our children.
January focuses on emotions, we introduce our emotions books which help us learn about how we are feeling, we learn strategies to help us deal with difficult emotions helping us recognise when we need help. We focus on friendships and how good friends can help us. Children will be able to take these books home to read and share their learning with parents.
More info to follow in January.
We also will look at animals that love the cold, how they protect themselves against it, where they live and how their environment is different to ours. We will be focusing on our pre-writing and pre-reading skills building our fine and gross motor skills through play.
Check out our website for all new updates on policies.
Playschool closes for the holidays at 12.00 Friday 22nd December and will reopen on Monday 8th January at 9.00.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
FROM EVERYONE AT
ARDFINNAN COMMUNITY PLAYSCHOOL