Throughout February in the Den the themes of space, emotions and soft play have been integrated into planning.
In the space topic; distance, speed, motion, measuring objects and time have all been discussed and play and learning has reflected this.
Our emotion focus linked with Valentine’s day and we discussed what makes us happy or sad and this opened up another opportunity to chat about our rules and behaviour expectations within the Den.
Linking to measuring, the soft play shapes have encouraged questions like, “How high can you jump?” “How far can you jump?’
Star Wars has also been a popular theme, with the tune linking to the space topic and Holsts Planets.
We’ve been humming and tapping and building listening skills as well as describing how the music makes us feel.
In our role play area the children have created the Free Rangers’ Doctor’s Surgery. The doctors and nurses have been busy having babies, making poorly people better and making doctors’ notes using pens and clipboards.
The weather has been so changeable that it has been a very popular talking point. Cold, warm? What must we wear to stay warm, dry? And of course Storm Doris has made us hyper aware of looking for changes in the environment and at last..enjoying listening to birdsong now the days are longer and spring is on its way. We’ve also been mark making and designing nighttime space pictures using black paper and white paint.
Books /Songs / Groupwork / Forest School (Adult Led Activities)
We recreated “We’re going on a bear hunt” to “We’re going on an Alien Hunt” and have enjoyed putting new words to a familiar story.
Other books that have been shared are, “Hands are not for hitting,” “We don’t bite our friends,” “Roaring Rockets,” “There’s an ouch in my pouch” and “Mama Panya’s pancakes.” The pancake theme has also been enjoyed out at Forest School too! Please see Ed’s latest blog to get a feel for this.
The songs we have been singing are, “Five Little Monkeys,” and enjoying recreating songs with a physical aspect. This is such a fun way of helping to build body and space awareness.
Up and coming themes in March
- St David’s Day
- Holi Festival
- St Patricks Day
- Mothering Sunday
- Letters and Mark making
As always please do contact us if you have any links or resources to any of the above topics. It’s great to be able to make these topics as relevant to the children as possible, it enhances their learning and helps us to build a strong community.
Dates for the diary
School Information Evening 5 - 6pm in the Den Room on March 9th.
Charlotte