October 2021

Communication and Language

Children this month have enjoyed listening to the story Monkey Puzzle. We spoke about our own feelings and emotions, we used the characters from the Monkey Puzzle to narrated the story out loud. We also enjoyed the story Peace at last, the children were able to relate to the story as they talked amongst themselves about all the noises they could hear in the garden and the kitchen.

Exploring Media and Materials

This month we have started looking at an Indian artist called Bharti Kher who created an artwork called ‘Bindi. We used her inspiration to create our own pieces.

The children have been exploring colours they have been mixing colours, making repeated patterns and printing using a variety of objects. We then created our own Bindi art work, we used an assortment of colours and used our gross motor skill to create the bindi effect. The children have also been enjoying music where they have been learning how to move like different animals and dance like different animals to music.

Literacy

As part of our topic, we have been talking about what makes us unique. Children have been looking at themselves in the mirror and talking about the colour of their eyes, how long their hair is and what colour it is. We have been talking about feelings and emotions, we talked about how we can control our emotions. We have been using our fine and gross motor skills to draw and distinguish between marks.

Maths

This month children have been looking at 2D shapes found around the classroom, we used this opportunity to introduce the children to sorting objects by shape. Children have been exploring objects by shape and colour. We have been learning to count and match numbers 1-5, we have used dominos and bottled lids to match numbers to dots. We used our gross motor skills to write numbers 1-5 in flour using our fingers.

Personal, Social, Emotional Development

Children have settled into nursery and are beginning to make good friendships. Children have loved playing circle time games especially with the parachute, they love taking it in turns to try and hide underneath it and waiting for their friends to guess who is missing from the circle. Children are beginning to make lovely friendships, they particularly enjoy small world objects. Children have also been encouraged to express their likes and dislikes, they are also given options for snack time and for activities.

Physical Development

As part of our physical development this month we have started taking part in a weekly yoga session. Yoga helps strengthen children’s growing bodies and helps them improve their flexibility. It also teaches children about discipline as they work on clearing their minds and perfecting their poses. Children enjoyed making necklaces using shaped beads and threading them through laces. Threading is a great activity to help children develop fine motor skills essential for being able to draw, write, do up buttons, tie shoelaces and more. Threading also helps to develop eye-hand coordination and concentration skills.

Understanding the World

This month children have been very excited as Halloween is fast approaching we have been busy getting messy, exploring different textures and having a go at making our very own potions. They loved the jelly bath and used lots of words to describe the texture. Children have loved the home corner, they have been imitating their parents and it has produced some wonderful conversations. We are learning about India and we have been exploring different Indian food, clothing, transport (Tuk Tuk) and we have been learning about Harmandir Sahib ji.