Preschool News 6.11.26

Welcome back to preschool for a busy, fun and festive half term!

Our theme this half term is Festivals and Celebrations. We will be learning about the different celebrations we enjoy and commemorate here in the UK, as well as discovering exciting festivals and traditions from around the world. This week, we have been exploring Diwali and Bonfire Night, discovering how people celebrate these special occasions in different ways.

Our story of the week was Dipal’s Diwali. Through the story, we learnt a little about how Diwali is celebrated and talked about the lights, colours and traditions associated with the festival. This gave us lovely opportunities to develop our Communication and Language skills by listening, sharing our thoughts, asking questions and learning new words, while also developing our Understanding the World as we discovered celebrations and traditions from different cultures.

We have been busy getting creative with our festive crafts! The children made beautiful Diwali diyas and created their own colourful firework pictures using chalk, paint and lots of glitter. We explored different colours, textures and materials, experimenting with how to make our artwork sparkle and shine. There were some wonderfully bright and imaginative creations!

In Maths, our focus has been on the numbers 1 and 2. We enjoyed singing Two Little Dickie Birds and explored subitising – recognising one or two objects without needing to count them. We practised showing one and two on our fingers and began making our own marks to represent these numbers. These practical activities help us build early number recognition and confidence with counting.

Music and rhythm have also featured in our learning. Using Tanka Tanka Skunk, we had fun tapping out rhythms, listening carefully and joining in with the different beats. This supported our Communication and Language and early literacy skills as we tuned into sounds, rhythm and patterns.

We also shared the lovely book It’s OK to Be Different. This prompted conversations about how we are all unique, how we may have different interests and experiences, and why it is important to celebrate what makes each of us special. These discussions supported our Personal, Social and Emotional Development, encouraging kindness, acceptance and respect for one another.

For Physical Development, we enjoyed Squiggle While You Wiggle, moving our bodies and making big up-and-down movements. This helps the children develop their coordination, control and confidence with the movements that will support their early mark-making and writing.

What a wonderful start to our festive half term! We have enjoyed exploring celebrations, creating colourful artwork, discovering numbers, making music and celebrating how wonderfully different we all are. We look forward to discovering more festivals and celebrations together over the coming weeks!