Stowmarket Preschool October News: Maths, Spiders and Sausage Dogs

Outstanding October at Sunhill Early Learning Stowmarket! Autumn is well upon us, leaves are falling from the trees & cold dark nights are coming. Throughout the month the children have had a fantastic time at preschool, from munching on honey cake on St Francis day, to meeting and making a new friend Archie (Mr Sausage) a black and tan dachshund. To top off a fantastic Octoberthe children finished the month screaming and laughing at our very own spooktacular Halloween party!

October news

The spookiest month started with a scream! The month began celebrating St Francis, a catholic holiday. The team spoke about the blessing of animals, and to further knowledge and teaching, the children looked at various small world animals, and loved exploring the tuff trays making the different animal sounds and created animal prints in paint; with all getting a little messy!

To end the celebration of St Francis the children baked their very own Honey cake, with all encouraged to take turns measuring the ingredients and mixing them all together. The cake tasted amazing, although its safe to say the children were full afterwards!

Following on from learning about St Francis and the blessing of animals, the topic was pets. This allowed discussions about the different pets the children have at home. The best part of the week was getting the opportunity to meet Archie otherwise know as Mr Sausage. A beautiful black and tan dachshund, Archie came to pre-school to play for the morning! Everyone loved giving him cuddles and tummy rubs. While all cuddled Archie and showered him with attention, it was discovered that Mr Sausage loves a cup of tea; his favourite meal is a roast dinner or stew and dumplings! It’s safe to say Archie is one pampered pooch.

To finish the month of October off, what better way than a spooktacular extravaganza party! Through the week the children got extremely messy in various play with jelly, gloop and spaghetti. The practitioners encouraged use of fine motor skills to dodge the spider webs and collect the pompom treasure. This was tricky as they didn’t want to get caught by the big scary spider! Just before dinner the children had the opportunity to become warlocks and witches and create their very own potions. To complete a terrifying day they danced the afternoon away to music and party games.

Just when you thought October was fun filled and super educational enough, Sunshines and Pre-school have been focusing on Numeracy development. Sunshines have been encouraging counting skills using counters, blocks, and other resources, and explored number recognition. Using different work sheets the team helped to understand the difference between numbers. The children found it funny how the number 8 looked like a snowman! Meanwhile in preschool, simple addition  was introduced using building blocks, exploring what happens when we add and take away. What an amazing Month at Sunhill Early Learning Stowmarket! I hope you all have fun and stay safe when trick or treating this year. From myself and the team HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Next stop November…. only 8 more Fridays till Christmas!

What’s coming up next month

Week commencing the 1st November, we need to grab our pitch forks and torches; it’s Guy Fawkes night. The children can’t wait to use their creative skills, paint, tissue paper to create beautiful firework and bonfire pictures for our families.

Did you know that we have a refer a friend scheme? When you refer a friend to join the nursery, we will thank you with a £100 credit on your next invoice. Ask your Nursery Manager for more details.

Thank you as always for your continued support.

Home activity

If you are looking for something to do at home this weekend or over the coming months, why not give our activity at home a go! Be aware that some activities or ideas may need to be adapted to suit your child’s age and development.

Paint with your hands and feet

Activity:

• Get a long roll of lining paper, old wall paper or material.
• Choose what colours to use to decorate with.
• Then use your hands and feet to decorate the paper.
• Display the artwork in your windows for people to see.

What will your child be learning?

• Independence, creativity and choice.
• Mark making using their body.
• Sensory experience of paint on their body.
• Colours.
• Shapes and size.
• Developing gross motor skills.
• New vocabulary, e.g. big, small, red, blue, green, feet, hand, etc.
• Give meaning to marks they make.