Kits News - 17th January 2025

This Week's topic story was 'What I Like About Me' by Allia Zobel Nolan. This book is all about being different. Some people wear glasses or have braces, and some have big feet or ears, but the key message is that being different is what makes us unique.

The Kits have had a fantastic week this week and the children have enjoyed exploring a variety of activities. They worked to strengthen their hand muscles on the Fine Motor table in different activities such as using colourful pom poms to feed the Munching Balls by squeezing the ball open to open the mouth whilst feeding it. They also used pegs on leaves before counting how many pegs they had used, and named the different colours. The Kits explored the peg board and small pegs, practising with a pincer grip to create patterns and named the different colours.

The playdough had been popular this week; the children squeezed and rolled the dough and manipulated it in several ways. They also used rolling pins and a variety of cutters. The Kits have been busy threading beads to faces, which had attached pipe cleaners to the hair. The children made different designs using various colours, making the pipe cleaners straight and wavy.

The children played with cars in the Small World area using their imagination skills. The Kits parked the cars at different numbered and coloured parking spaces, practising number and colour recognition. They also discussed where they were driving to!

Elsewhere in the classroom the Kits experimented with Duplo to make houses, fire stations and several other creations. The children discussed what was happening and what they had created. The Space station was popular with the Kits this week, where the children went to the Moon and saw lots of planets and even some friendly aliens. We sang ‘Zoom, Zoom, Zoom’ and ‘5 Little Men In a Flying Saucer’ using actions and practising our counting skills. The Kits were keen to explore the Doll's House, moving the furniture around the house and the people. The children discussed who the people were and what was happening.

Over on the Maths table, the Kits explored 3D Puzzles and shape peg boards. They practised naming several 2D shapes and looked at properties, too. They matched Compare Bears to the corresponding size and colour, practising small, medium and big and the colour names. Unifix cubes were popular, and the children practised counting and comparing sizes, shortest and tallest, whilst making towers. The Kits explored Number Mats and Playdough, where they matched numerals to quantity. They also used beads to thread pipe cleaners to match the amount to the correct number.

In the Messy Tray, the Kits explored fake snow, ice cubes and tweezers. The children counted how many ice cubes they transferred into small pots using tweezers. Kinetic Sand was popular with the Kits, where they used pots, moulds and scoops. They also used shaving foam with metal spoons, practising scooping from one container to another. The children observed the texture using their hands, too. Washing up using soapy water, cloths, plates, and cups was another popular activity where the children got busy cleaning up!

The Kits created marks on whiteboards and coloured pens on the Mark-Making table. They traced around letters and practised sounding them out using the AnimaPhonics-associated actions. Some children also sounded out the initial letter to some objects. The Kits also created their own faces using coloured pens by adding features, and some children drew their own faces independently.

During our Cookery session, we took inspiration from our topic book and created Muffin Faces, practising several skills such as spreading, cutting, and using a pincer grip. We talked about the importance of healthy eating before indulging in our delicious muffins.

For our Maths Focus lesson, the children worked on size by looking at several objects and discussing the shortest, tallest, and medium sizes.

In our Literacy Focus Lesson, the children discussed our Topic story and were encouraged to use descriptive language when talking about themselves and their peers. They shared their thoughts with their teachers and peers before drawing pictures of their friends.

For our Fine Motor Focus Lesson, the children practised using scissors safely and correctly. Some made snips, and some were able to cut through the paper.

The Role-Play Area was our 345 Hairdressers, where the children loved creating hairstyles using a variety of one-handed tools. The children practised different techniques, learning that everyone has a different type of hair, but we are all unique.

Our Art Project was focused on making self-portraits, where the children had to look at their reflection using a mirror and discussed their findings. They used a variety of paints, glue and materials to create their picture.  

In our Outdoor Learning Environment, the children explored soil, spades, flowers and plant pots, where they practised planting by choosing their flower to plant and digging and transferring soil into the pot. We discussed the names of some flowers and plants. The Kits loved completing a Mini Obstacle course where they practised several skills, such as jumping, throwing and running. The children also made tea, coffee and babycinos using pretend coloured liquid, foam for the froth, teapots, jugs and spoons at our 345 Café. The children made lots of yummy drinks for their teachers and friends.  The Kits played with the Tool Bench and various tools, making mends for the outdoor space. We practised naming the different tools and how to use them correctly.

During our Write Dance session this week, the children practised large arm movements to the music 'Beat the Drum', the Procession Song. The Kits followed the marching actions, using their arms to move up and down to the rhythm of the music.

We look forward to another fun week!