How it's going- autumn crafts and P.E.

Hello!
Just a quick post on how the three-week plan is going. With my first group last week, I covered nearly everything I was hoping to, so that was FAB. I'll just briefly go through two of my learning areas I discussed last week, let you know how things are progressing.

Autumn

This went well! As you saw in the last post, the handprint trees came out great. We also worked a little on the colour orange- identifying it in the environment and working on orange card to give our paintings an Autumn theme (more on our paintings later).
In the large group, at roll time, we also started on hibernation. One of the other pre-school teachers is covering this in more depth, with projects and crafts, but it was nice to all start it together. She brought in a garden ornament of a hedgehog which is now living on the nature table. When the leaves start really falling, the kids are going to make him a cosy little hibernation home!

P.E.

This went really really well! The kids were so interested in doing all their stretches and warm-ups before letting loose. I just did some simple ones; waking-up, reach for the sun, roll your head, windmill arms; all the simple ones.
Then we played a quick game called Lions and Chickens. (I divided the kids into two groups and said "This group will be lions! And what do lions eat?" and the unanimous verdict was 'chickens', so we ran with that. Reason being- given the chance, I'm sure lions would love a juicy chicken). So the kids are in two groups, one of lions and one of chickens (after the first game I let the kids choose what group they'd like to be in).
The lions say "I'm a lion in the jungle and I'm looking for my tea!" and the chickens reply "Please Mr. Lion, don't eat me!", then the chickens run off, and after a few seconds I 'release' the lions! It's basically a game of chase, but it helps the kids with patience and they work in groups too :)
At the end of P.E, after they've had lots of time to release their energy, we do a wind-down, or meditation. It's very simple, but I think I'll evolve it as the year goes on. First we all gather on a mat, get comfortable and close our eyes. Then we do some deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Then I start telling a story:

Imagine you have your very own hot air balloon. You climb into the basket and set off into the air. You fly high, high, high above the countryside. You can feel the cool breeze on your face, and it's very quiet and peaceful up in the sky. What can you see?

The kids answer, and meditation becomes a quiet discussion. I ask the kids to think about their favourite thing they've done today/ this week/ ever!

This is carried on into circle time, which I'll talk about in the next post! I'll also update you on the My Home project. Until then, I have just one more tip that I've found to work a treat!
When all the kids are being really noisy or chatty, and it's time to be quiet (such as at meditation or story-time), I say "Hear hear, show me your rabbit ears!" and the kids cup their hands behind their ears and are ready to listen! I Love this one, and the kids are all smiles and giggles, and ready to hear what you have to say!
Bye for now :)