November – December

Our first week back after half term coincides with Bonfire Night and the race will be on to make our annual Chestnut Guy for inclusion in the competition at the Village Firework Display. Last year, we won 2nd prize and a book token for the group. If you have an idea for an “unusual” and appropriate guy for us to make, please let us know. The idea of this can make us as adults think children will be upset in the process of making the guy and then the eventual fire, but surprisingly most of them don’t seem to worry too much and I’m afraid we don’t really focus too much on the crescendo of the firework night. We will be talking to the children about safety, including pets, the patterns in the sky and the noises. Loud noises worry some children and we try to promote this positively by encouraging them to still watch out of the window and look at the lovely patterns in the sky.

Leading on from fireworks we will be doing a very short project on space. At the time of writing, we are not sure what activities will be on offer but by the start of the term, we will be able to give more details.

After this, in the lead up to Christmas, we will be working on the book 'Little Robin Red Vest' another of Jan Fearnley’s stories. In this story, Robin will be sharing his vests – all different colours to help his friends with the cold weather. Robin of course, is rewarded by the man in the red suit at the end of the story.

We would be thrilled if anyone has ideas for activities or resources to accompany our themes and always we are very happy for parents to come in and help us, provided their child is settled within the group. The creativity during the next half term around the Christmas theme is usually vast and if that is something you especially enjoy doing, then please do come along and help.

There will be more details about Christmas activities and our pre-schoolers annual visit to the infants school nearer December.