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The beginning of your Penwortham journey

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This half term - Autumn 2

Information

What have we been up to?

Our First Half-Term in Pre-School! 🍂

Autumn 1 – Ourselves

What an incredible first half-term we have had in Pre-School at Penwortham Primary School!

Our very first topic, 'Ourselves', has been all about getting to know one another, discovering what makes us special, exploring the world around us and, most importantly, learning how to be part of our wonderful little Pre-School family.

It has been a busy few weeks filled with new friendships, exciting experiences, lots of laughter and some truly fantastic learning!

Finding Our Feet 🌱

We began our Pre-School journey by getting to know our new environment, making friends and learning our daily routines.

From lining up and sitting together for learning time to putting on our coats, tidying away our busy jobs and learning to share, we have been developing our independence and confidence every single day.

We even welcomed a rather cheeky visitor, Gerald the Giraffe, who needed lots of help learning our Pre-School expectations! The children taught Gerald how to look after our classroom, use kind words, take turns and ask to join in with others' play.

It has been wonderful to watch our children grow in confidence, build friendships and begin to feel a real sense of belonging.

All About Me! 💛

As part of our 'Ourselves' topic, we have spent lots of time discovering what makes each of us unique.

We explored our reflections in mirrors, talked about our likes and dislikes, created collages of our favourite things and shared stories about the people who are special to us.

We also learnt all about our amazing bodies! We drew around our friends, labelled different body parts and created our own body pictures, developing our vocabulary and understanding of ourselves.

Our learning about families and pets was particularly special. We shared photographs of our furry family members, discussed how to care for different animals and even welcomed two very exciting visitors!

Simba, Miss Penarski's Labrador, came to teach us about caring for dogs, while Elliot the Bearded Dragon helped us discover that different animals have very different needs.

We also enjoyed imagining our dream pets, with suggestions ranging from hamsters and monkeys to unicorns!

Little Mathematicians and Brilliant Listeners 🔢

Our early maths learning has been filled with songs, games and hands-on exploration.

We have been singing number rhymes, representing numbers on our fingers, counting collections of objects and beginning to understand that the last number we say when counting tells us how many there are altogether.

We have taken our maths learning outdoors too, collecting and counting natural treasures during Muddy Monday and using conkers, pine cones and other autumnal resources to explore number.

In phonics, we have been developing those all-important early listening skills. From listening walks around school to sound stories and outdoor beater walks, we have discovered just how many interesting sounds there are in our environment.

Exploring Our Wonderful World 🍂

Our outdoor learning has been a huge part of our first half-term.

During our Muddy Monday sessions, we have explored Forest School, discovered colours in nature, investigated natural textures through leaf and bark rubbings and created colourful artwork by rolling conkers through paint.

We have enjoyed pumpkin exploration, sensory play with shaving foam, autumnal tuff spots filled with lentils and split peas, and plenty of opportunities to investigate, pour, scoop, mix and create.

Our outdoor provision has continued to develop, with our new mud kitchen becoming a firm favourite. The children have been cooking up a storm in our Conker Café, using natural ingredients and plenty of imagination!

We have also welcomed two new chickens to school, providing another lovely opportunity to learn about living things and caring for animals.

Getting Creative! 🎨

Our budding artists have been busy exploring colour, texture, pattern and different ways of making marks.

We discovered the work of Jackson Pollock, experimenting with his exciting style of dripping, splatting and moving paint.

We have created observational drawings of flowers, explored different materials, developed our scissor skills and strengthened our hands through daily Dough Disco sessions.

As part of Black History Month, we enjoyed the story Handa's Surprise and created beautiful artwork inspired by African patterns to contribute to our whole-school collaborative art display.

Our creativity has also shone through our imaginative play, from constructing magnificent princess towers and Duplo treehouses to caring for babies in the home corner and performing on our new outdoor stage.

Moving, Dancing and Having Fun! 🏃

Our first PE lessons have certainly been an adventure!

We have become witches and wizards flying around the hall, pirates scrubbing the decks and escaping sharks, mythical creatures galloping and soaring, and superheroes saving the day!

Through these imaginative sessions, we have been developing our balance, coordination, spatial awareness, listening skills and ability to work together.

We particularly enjoyed our game of 'Houses', where we had to work together to share increasingly smaller spaces, developing our cooperation and problem-solving skills.

There has also been plenty of dancing, including a fantastic disco, and lots of opportunities to explore movement through music and outdoor play.

Looking After Our Happy Minds 💛

Alongside all our exciting activities, we have been learning how to recognise our feelings, care for ourselves and support one another.

Through My Happy Mind, we have begun exploring our amazing brains and discovering how they send messages to our bodies.

We have talked about the people who make us feel special, practised sharing and turn-taking, and explored ways to manage our emotions.

We also celebrated Hello Yellow Day, enjoying mindfulness activities and yoga as we learnt about the importance of looking after our mental wellbeing.

Special Moments Together ⭐

We have already celebrated so many special milestones!

We attended our very first whole-school assembly and even met Deepdale Duck, who visited to introduce an exciting sports club.

We have enjoyed visits to the school library, shared countless stories and nursery rhymes, and begun to feel part of the wider Penwortham Primary School community.

A particular highlight was our Learning in Action Morning, when we welcomed our families into Pre-School to experience our morning routines, join in with phonics and explore our learning environment.

It was wonderful to share our little world with so many of you!

What a Wonderful Start! 🌿

As we reach the end of our first half-term, we couldn't be prouder of everything our children have achieved.

They have made new friends, learnt new skills, become more independent, grown in confidence and embraced so many new experiences.

But above all, they have begun to build a happy, caring and supportive little community where everyone belongs.

A huge thank you to all our wonderful families for your kindness, encouragement and support throughout these first few weeks. It has been a privilege to share the beginning of your children's Pre-School journey.

We cannot wait to see what adventures Autumn 2 brings!

Happy half-term from everyone in Pre-School! 🍂💛

Mrs Studholme