Login

Taw Pre-School Spring Term 2025

21/03/25 

This week the children have started learning about the signs of spring and growing flowers. We have read ‘Jasper's beanstalk, That’s my flower, We found a seed’.  The children have learnt about the stages of growing a flower and what it needs – sun, water, soil.  

 Activities this week at pre-school: 

  • Florist role play – The children played in the pretend florist shop with toy flowers, gardening tools, pots, seeds etc. The children pretend to buy and sell these items.  

  • Flower playdough – The children made their own sunflowers using yellow playdough, pots, lollypop sticks etc.  

  • Water play – Tuff tray filled with coloured water, flower petals, spoons, jugs etc.  

  • Painting tulips – The children painted tulips using forks and spring pastel paint colours.  

  • The children looked at a group of pictures showing the stages of growing a flower. The children then sequenced them in the correct order from seed to flower.  

  • Maths activity – The children matched pictures of flowers to the correct numeral e.g matching three flowers to the pot with the numeral three on it.  

  • Making a flower – The children made their own flowers using cupcakes cases, lollypop sticks, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, colouring pens etc.  

  • Making a flower in the construction area – The children experimented making flowers using a variety of construction toys e.g. cogs and build your own garden toys.  

  • Mother's Day Cards – The children have started to make and decorate a card for Mother’s Day.  

  • Sensory tray- The children played with pretend flowers, compost, pots, gardening tools, watering cans etc. 

  • Red Nose Day – On Friday the children dressed up for Red Nose Day and enjoyed a teddy bears picnic.  

 

Phonics: Alliteration   

To develop their understanding of alliteration. Identify the initial sounds in words and reproduce the initial sound in words.  

We have been playing games to identify the initial sounds in words. For example, ‘silly soup’, ‘bertha goes to the zoo’ and ‘Feed the snake’.    

Important information  

 

14/03/25 

This week the children have started learning about the signs of spring and growing flowers. We have read ‘Jasper's beanstalk, That’s my flower, We found a seed’.  The children have learnt about the stages of growing a flower and what it needs – sun, water, soil.  

 Activities this week at pre-school: 

  • Florist role play – The children played in the pretend florist shop with toy flowers, gardening tools, pots, seeds etc. The children pretend to buy and sell these items.  

  • Flower printing – The children painted pictures by printing different flowers into paint and onto paper.  

  • Making a flower – The children made their own flowers using cupcakes cases, lollypop sticks, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, colouring pens etc.  

  • Making a flower in the construction area – The children experimented making flowers using a variety of construction toys e.g. cogs and build your own garden toys.  

  • Mother's Day Cards – The children have started to make and decorate a card for Mother’s Day.  

  • The children planted some sunflower seeds for us to watch grow in the pre-school.  

  • Sensory tray- The children played with pretend flowers, compost, pots, gardening tools, watering cans etc. 

 

Phonics: Alliteration   

To develop their understanding of alliteration. Identify the initial sounds in words and reproduce the initial sound in words.  

We have been playing games to identify the initial sounds in words. For example, ‘silly soup’, ‘bertha goes to the zoo’ and ‘Feed the snake’.    

Important information  

 

07/03/25 

This week the children have been learning about ‘Pancake Day, Ramadan and World Book Day. 

 Activities this week at pre-school: 

  • Pancake tasting – The children tasted pancakes with a variety of topics and voted for their favourite.  

  • Pancake playdough- The children made ‘pancakes’ on our messy tuff tray. They played with flour, rolling pins, scales frying pans etc.  

  • Pancake Cafe – The children played in our pancake cafe where they pretended to make pancakes for their friends.  

  • Lemon water tray – The children played with a water tray filled with cut up lemons, bowls and jugs.   

  • Pancake day race – The children raced in the garden carrying pretend pancakes in toy frying pans  

  • The children dressed up for world book day and shared their favourite stories.  

  • The children decorated moons and stars for Ramadan  

  • The children played in a sensory tent, looking at different coloured reflections and using torches.  

  • Ramadan sensory tray – The children played with cut out stars/moons and blue coloured rice.  

Phonics: Alliteration   

To develop their understanding of alliteration. Identify the initial sounds in words and reproduce the initial sound in words.  

We have been playing games to identify the initial sounds in words. For example, ‘silly soup’, ‘bertha goes to the zoo’ and ‘Feed the snake’.    

Important information  

  • Stay and play – Tuesday 11th March 2-3pm 

28/02/25 

This week the children have been learning about ‘Pancake Day’. We have read ‘Mr Wolfs Pancakes Day, Sophia loves pancakes, Cook in a book: Pancakes’.  

  

Activities this week at pre-school: 

  • Pancake tasting – The children tasted pancakes with a variety of topics and voted for their favourite.  

  • Pancake playdough- The children made ‘pancakes’ on our messy tuff tray. They played with flour, rolling pins, scales frying pans etc.  

  • Pancake Cafe – The children played in our pancake cafe where they pretended to make pancakes for their friends.  

  • Decorating a pancake – Each of the children cut out different toppings and decorated a craft pancake  

  • Painting pancakes – The children painted pretend pancakes and pretended the different paint colours were toppings.  

  • Lemon squeezing – An adult cut some lemons in half and the children each had a turn at squeezing out the lemon juice.  

  • Lemon water tray – The children played with a water tray filled with cut up lemons, bowls and jugs.   

Phonics: Alliteration   

To develop their understanding of alliteration. Identify the initial sounds in words and reproduce the initial sound in words.  

We have been playing games to identify the initial sounds in words. For example, ‘silly soup’, ‘bertha goes to the zoo’ and ‘Feed the snake’.    

Important information  

  • Stay and play – Tuesday 11th March 2-3pm 

  • World book day – Thursday 6th March - children can wear their pyjamas to school or dress up as their favourite book character.  Children can bring in their favourite book to share.  

14/02/25 

This week the children have engaged with activities relating to Valentine's Day and children’s mental health week. We have read books such as, ‘Guess how much I love you’, ‘When we’re together’ and ‘Can I have a hug?’.  

  

Activities this week at pre-school: 

  • The children made valentines day cards for someone they love. They decorated a heart to stick on the front of the card. Some of the older children tried to write their own names.  

  • In the craft area we had a valentine's post box. The children made pictures and cards.  

  • Heart playdough – The children made hearts and flowers out of playdough using different shaped cutters.  

  • Water play – The children played in the water tray with real flowers, pink water and heart confetti. They poured and tipped the water using bowls and jugs etc.  

  • Sensory tray – The children played in our baking sensory tray where they had flour, measuring cups, scales and cupcake cases.  

  • Valentines' bakery- The children enjoyed playing in the bakery role play area. They made cakes and drinks for their friends.  

  • Cupcake baking – The children baked and decorated cupcakes with red icing to take home  

  • Biscuit decorating – The children decorate a biscuit using pink icing and edible decorations.  

  • Pancake tasting – The children had pancakes for snack and tried a variety of toppings. They talked about which toppings they liked and voted for their favourite.  

Phonics: Rythm and Rhyme    

To experience and appreciate rhythm and rhyme and to develop awareness of rhythm and rhyme in speech.   

We have been matching rhyming cards, listening to rhyming songs and reading rhyming books.   

Important information  

  • Please send in pictures of the children’s half term for them to share at circle time when we return.  

  • We will be on half term from the 17th – 21st February. We return to pre-school on the 24th of February.  

31/01/25

 

This week we have been learning about Lunar New Year. We have read ‘Busy Chinese New Year’, ‘Peppa’s Chinese New Year’ and ‘The great race. We talked about why and how lunar new year is celebrated.

 

Activities this week at pre-school:

  • We read ‘The great race’ and learnt about the different animals involved in the lunar new year. The children acted out the story and pretended to be the different animals.
  • We talked about how it is the year of the snake. The children painted and decorated snakes using red and yellow paint.
  • Restaurant role play – The children played with pretend Chinese food including noodles, rice and vegetables.
  • Fine motor activity – The children pretended to make noodles and fried rice. The tried to use chopsticks to pick up the different vegetables.
  • Food tasting – Over the week we have tasted noodles, rice and prawn crackers. The children voted which food they liked the rest.
  • Blossom tree painting – We looked at pictures of blossom trees and painted a large picture using pink paint and flower sponges.
  • Winter water tray – The children played with ice cubes, polar bears, penguins and cotton wool. They used different jugs and measuring cups to transport water.

Phonics: Rythm and Rhyme   

To experience and appreciate rhythm and rhyme and to develop awareness of rhythm and rhyme in speech.  

We have been matching rhyming cards, listening to rhyming songs and reading rhyming books.  

 

Important information 

  • Send in any WOW moments for the children or photos of experiences to  
    pre-school@bishopstawton-primary.org 
  • Please can children bring in named gloves and scarves on colder days.

24/01/25 

This week the topic is traditional tales and we have been reading ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’. We have also been learning about the winter season.  

 

Activities this week at pre-school: 

  • Playdough- The children made bears out of brown playdough, googly eyes and lollypop sticks  

  • Bear Craft – The children made a bear painting by using a fork and brown paint. They added eyes and a nose.  

  • The children made pictures by cutting out and sticking the different characters from the story into the three bears house.  

  • Sensory/Messy Tray – The children had a tuff tray filled with porridge oats, bowls, spoons etc.  

  • Role play – The children acted out the story in the home corner using props from the story e.g. bowls, beds, chairs etc.  

  • Porridge tasting – The children tasted different flavour porridge and voted on which one was their favourite.  

  • We read the story ‘The snow thief’ and talked about signs of winter. The children painted ice in a tray, and we talked about how and why the ice melted.  

  • The children painted snowflake pictures onto blue cards using cotton buds, white paint and glitter.  

 

Next week we will be learning about Lunar New Year! 

Phonics: Rythm and Rhyme   

To experience and appreciate rhythm and rhyme and to develop awareness of rhythm and rhyme in speech.  

We have been matching rhyming cards, listening to rhyming songs and reading rhyming books.  

Important information 

  • Please can we remind parents not to allow their children to play on the bikes and other play equipment in the early years garden at pick up time.  

  • Pre-School stay and play – Tuesday 28th January 8.45am-10.00am.  

07/02/25 

This week we have continued to learn about Lunar New Year. We have read ‘Busy Chinese New Year’, ‘Peppa’s Chinese New Year’ and ‘The great race. We talked about why and how Lunar New Year is celebrated. 

  

Activities this week at pre-school: 

  • We read ‘The great race’ and learnt about the different animals involved in the lunar new year. The children acted out the story and pretended to be the different animals. 

  • Red envelope and gold coins – We talked about the tradition of giving coins in a red envelope. The envelopes symbolised good luck for the new year. The children looked at some lunar new year envelopes and gold coins with animals on them.  

  • Sensory/messy play – The children played with a tray of noodles, bowls and chop sticks.  

  • Dragon- The children made and decorated a dragon. They decorated a dragon face and glued it onto folded card lollypop sticks.  

  • Lunar new year light box – The children played with the light box and red/yellow materials, focusing on these colours.  

  • Dragon dance – We watched some dragon dances in lunar new year parades. The children then did their own dragon dance using coloured pieces of materials.  

  • Dragon mask – The children decorated a dragon mask using different materials such as, tissue paper, paint, feathers etc.  

  • Restaurant role play – The children played with pretend Chinese food including noodles, rice and vegetables. 

Phonics: Rythm and Rhyme    

To experience and appreciate rhythm and rhyme and to develop awareness of rhythm and rhyme in speech.   

We have been matching rhyming cards, listening to rhyming songs and reading rhyming books.   

Important information  

  • Please can children bring in named gloves and scarves on colder days. 

17/01/25 

This week the topic is traditional tales and we have been reading ‘The Three Billy Goat Gruffs’.  

 

Activities this week at pre-school: 

  • Playdough- The children made trolls, goats and bridges on the playdough table.  

  • Story telling – The children retold the story in order by acting it out using puppets and props.  

  • Bridge experiment- The children tested making bridges using different materials. We placed the goat on top of the bridges to test if they were strong enough or the goat would fall into the water. 

  • Sensory tray – The children played with grass in the water tray and made links to the story.  

  •  Troll craft – The children made trolls using green colouring pens, pipe cleaners and tissue paper.  

  • Goat painting – The children painted a goat mask using water colours.  

  • Prepositional language – We read the story and talked about prepositional language such as, “The troll was under bridge”. The children practised putting the characters in the correct positions.  

  • Bridge building construction area – The children built their own bridges in the role play area. Then the children acted out the story using character masks.  

Next week we will be focusing on the story ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’.   

Phonics: Rythm and Rhyme   

To experience and appreciate rhythm and rhyme and to develop awareness of rhythm and rhyme in speech.  

We have been matching rhyming cards, listening to rhyming songs and reading rhyming books.  

Important information 

  • Please can we remind parents not to allow their children to play on the bikes and other play equipment in the early years garden at pick up time.  

10/01/25 

This week the topic is traditional tales and we have been reading ‘The Three Little Pigs’.  

 

Activities this week at pre-school: 

  • Three Little Pigs construction area role play – The children pretended to be the three little pigs and build their own houses. They played will real straw and pretend bricks.  

  • Sensory tray – The children build a ‘brick house’ using Duplo and shaving foam.  

  • Retelling the story – We acted out the story and the children pretended to be the different characters.  

  • Science experiment – We talked about why the wolf was able to blow away the straw and the sticks but not the bricks. An adult used a hairdryer to test out different materials to see if they would blow away or stay in the same place. The children guessed which materials would move or stay.  

  • Three little pigs playdough – The children made a house for the toy pigs using the playdough a variety of materials. For example, straw, lollypop sticks and bricks.  

  • Pig craft – The children made a pig face using pens and tissue paper.  

  • The children packed a suitcase for the three little pigs by cutting and sticking out different clothes and accessories.  

  • The children made a picture of their own house by cutting and sticking pictures of windows, doors and roofs etc.  

Next week we will be focusing on the story ‘Three Billy Goats Gruff’.   

Phonics: Rythm and Rhyme   

To experience and appreciate rhythm and rhyme and to develop awareness of rhythm and rhyme in speech.  

Important information 

  • The deadline to apply for a primary school place for September 2025 is 15th January 2025