We have all been getting to know each other in Woodpeckers; we have some new children, Anna has just joined as the teacher in the room and Jess has joined the team too as an SEN support worker. Exploring the classroom together and finding out more about our families and interests has been exciting.
There has been a real interest in exploring and manipulating shapes in the last few weeks; here are some of the ways we have developed and extended this within our play and learning:
At Welcome Time, Red/Blue Group explored Numicon with Tara. They are starting to notice how the shapes fit together on the boards and beginning to explore counting too.
Yellow Group have explored one child’s particular interest in using 2D shapes to build and create shapes – we are learning the names, properties and building possibilities of each one and set ourselves and each other challenges as we learn together.
In the classroom, we have used our developing knowledge of shape and size to build structures for animals and insects, noticing the different shapes and properties of the building blocks. We have also explored creating different shapes with playdough to create food – it’s harder to manipulate than you think! As we roll, squeeze, pinch and squash, we are building up the muscles that will help us to develop control and manipulation for using scissors, zipping up our coats and, of course, writing!