Preschool children enjoy some 'Rhyme Time'

Firstly, all the Preschool staff would like to wish you a prosperous and happy new year! We would like to welcome Jemima, Felix, Billy, Noah, Ella and their families to Gateway Preschool this term.

The theme for this term is 'Rhyme Time!' The children have begun the year being very energetic whilst learning the rhyme 'Jack-in-the-box’. In Maths the children took it in turns to count to 20 slowly and carefully knowing at some point, jack-in-the-box would jump out and surprise them! When jack-in-the-box jumped out, it meant the children had to stop counting and jump! The classroom was very quiet whilst the children waited in anticipation, soon followed with roars of laughter as jack-in-the box jumped out! This game encouraged the children to estimate through questioning, 'What number do you think you will be able to count to before Jack jumps out?' At the end of each child’s turn they were asked if they guessed correctly. The children were also asked what number was ‘1 more’ than the number they counted to.

Introducing children to a variety of nursery rhymes can help them understand and learn about different sounds. This is an important part of developing those early literacy skills. Listening to different sounds in the environment as well as in nursery rhymes provides children with the foundations in helping them to read and write.

As nursery rhymes are fun and full of sounds, children will tune into these sounds. Older children will experiment in combining sounds and blend them together to form a word.

The rhyme for next week which was chosen by the children will be, ‘I’m a Little Teapot.’ At home you might like to begin teaching your child this rhyme and perhaps even help you make a cup of tea!