Nativity in the fort, harvest in the forest and how to be a superhero

The autumn term ended with a festive feel as we welcomed parents to two special events. The Nursery children wowed their audience with a fun-filled festive sing along, joining in with the Christmas rhymes and action songs. It was lovely to see the adults joining in with the sing along, Christmas jumpers were plentiful and a fun time was had by all.

The Pre School children performed their Nativity in the fort on a frosty December afternoon, welcoming their audience with hot chocolates and mince pies around the firepit before their very special performance.

The classrooms were also filled with festive cheer as the children joined in with Christmas-themed crafts and activities. The role play areas were transformed into grottos, Christmas workshops and a ‘Frozen’ themed castle, which provided hours of imaginative play. The children loved exploring real ice as part of our Frozen themed week, watching it melt, breaking it open and then placing water into the freezer to make some more.

They also enjoyed making reindeer food, stirring in a special Christmas wish, ready to sprinkle on their lawns on Christmas Eve. Some rather lovely decorations were made to add to their trees at home, including fingerprint salt dough Christmas trees and wooden snowflakes. The melted snowman cards were lots of fun to make, even if we did all end up a little sticky!

The seasonal changes throughout the autumn term were explored during Forest School sessions with all the children learning their boundaries and fire square safety routines. The children discovered sleeping dragon tails, collected blackberries, pressed apples for juice and toasted marshmallows. Our Pre-School children used the bow saw to make wooden decorations while the Nursery children collected pine cones to decorate. Recently the children made bird feeders from both pine cones and oranges to help provide for the birds during the chilly weather.

Earlier in the term, parents were invited to explore the Forest School setting for themselves when they joined us for our Harvest in the Woods celebration. Children and adults were able to take part in a range of harvest themed crafts including conker rolling and crown making before gathering around the fire square to listen to some autumnal songs.

Another event which the children participated in was the Children in Need walk and talk. They buddied up with a Year 6 friend and strolled along the Copthill river, reading inspirational quotes along the way and having a chat, before returning to the setting for a spotty themed treat. Many thanks for all the donations for this charity event which saw wonderful conversations taking place between our youngest and oldest Copthill children.

This term has also seen the children returning to the music suite for twice-weekly sessions with Mrs Bidwell where they like to explore the instruments and learn new songs and dances. There have also been regular trips to the hall for PE and soft play sessions, and the lending library has been open for weekly visits, with books and resources available for children and parents to borrow.

Topics this term have included Family Fortunes, Toytown and Come and Join the Celebration. These topics have provided all our children with lots of lovely learning opportunities. At the start of the term, the children talked about themselves, their families and their homes. Toytown saw a superhero theme taking over the classrooms, which encouraged the children to problem solve as well as think about what makes them super, as well as how important it is to help others.

More recently, the children have explored different types of celebrations. We celebrated Bonfire Night by creating some super salad spinner firework pictures and the children created some beautiful poppy crafts to mark Remembrance Day. We will be continuing with our celebration topic in the new year, as Teddy will be celebrating his fourth birthday, allowing us to have a party-themed week with lots of turn-taking games, candle counting and mud pie cake making! Next term the Pre School children will also begin their regular Read, Write, Inc sessions.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our Nursery and Pre-School staff, parents and children a restful and peaceful Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year.