In November we had lots of special days to remember at Ladybirds: Remembrance Day, Bonfire Night, Divali and Children in Need. We made Poppies to remember those who gave their lives in the wars.

We also made Diva lights out of clay, decorating them with glitter, sequins and paint

and had a spotty day to raise money for Children in Need. Thank you to all who donated – we raised £20 and had lots of fun (some more than others!).

Our book theme was the wonderful story of The Tiger Who Came to Tea – he had plenty of tea at Ladybirds and went on many imaginative adventures! Thank you Jayne for letting us borrow him!

November wouldn’t be November without Bonfire night and our firework pictures, moons and rockets…..

and sparkly decorated biscuits!

Thank you for continuing to send in items for “sound of the week” – this week’s sound is “g” and next week is “o”. The children love books and stories and we support literacy and mark making in all areas of the setting

Our malleable activities this month have included rice, pasta, water, gloop (gulp!) and the always popular playdough – brilliantly realistic bugs children!

For our final fundraiser this year we have a Christmas Hamper raffle. Thank you for supplying festive items to fill the hamper, and thank you also to the Hare and Hounds pub for selling tickets.

 Now that it’s December, get ready for lots of glitter, christmas jumpers and giant snowmen!

Thank you to our generous families who donated goods for our Harvest Basket – we received this notice from the Storehouse Foodbank

We hope you have had a wonderful half term break and are ready to start back at Ladybirds tomorrow! Our sound of the week will be “e” – please send in something for your child to show and talk about beginning with the sound “e”.

The first few weeks of this term have been busy with new children starting and our “old” Ladybirds proving to be fantastic role models for the younger ones.

Our themes have been very topical with Autumn creatures (squirrels and hedgehogs), harvest and our book topic of Oliver’s Vegetables.

We always support collaboration and turn-taking at Ladybirds, and we particularly focus on this during the Autumn term when we remind ourselves of our Ladybirds Values (being kind to one another, sharing and being polite). The children have embraced this and are starting to independently play board games, put on puppet shows or create imaginative worlds where they all play a part.

We combined our Harvest and Hedgehog themes to make hedgehog bread rolls:

 

here’s what they should have looked like………

and this is how ours turned out – well they tasted nice anyway!!

We’ve also decorated biscuits to look like our family members….

and our forest school sessions are introducing the children to tool use – though some seem very experienced already!

Royston Wood has been beautiful this autumn and the children have loved spending time there. Thank you to the Leavenheath, Polstead and Stoke by Nayland Community Woodland Committee for keeping it looking lovely for our village to enjoy.

Some dates for your diaries:

Tuesday 6th November – Ladybirds Committee meeting – all welcome.

Friday 16th November – Spotty dressing up day (optional)

Monday 17th December – last day of term and our Christmas Party – more info to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our last day of school, we visited Mersea Beach to paddle, make sand castles and picnic with friends and family. It was a lovely end to the term – and the sun shone all day!

When we return on 6th September, our sound of the week will be ‘s’ and our first theme for the term will be Ladybirds Pre-school values. Date for your diary: 17th September – AGM – all welcome. Enjoy the rest of the summer

 

 

 

 

This term always zooms past! We hope all the Daddies liked their cards and gifts for Father’s Day – the children worked really hard on them.

This term has definitely been child led, with many requests to have hairdressers, castles, dinosaurs, dolls and horses out in roleplay/small world areas.

Our “themes” of Birds and Construction have linked our learning indoors and our Forest School sessions, and we’ve built dens, volcanoes and lots of nests!

Summer Term is when we really focus on getting our School Leavers prepared so we place a lot of emphasis on listening during registration, taking turns, offering a variety of malleable activities to strengthen finger muscles and independent learning.

But it wasn’t all hard work…….!

We’ve spent lots of time under shade in the sandpit, at the “hairdressers”, or outside creating fantastic water chutes down which boats, sticks and even cars have travelled into the rock pools at the bottom. And it’s not over yet! Our final week will be all about the Seaside, finishing with a trip to Mersea on 23rd July. Photos to follow…..!