What did you do at school today?

For many parents a child starting nursery or preschool is the first time their child has been out of their care & been under the influence of another adult. It can be very hard for some parents to 'lose' their child for a part of the day, especially if they have been at home with their child for the past 3-4 years - it must be quite lonely. So it stands to reason that most will ask their child at pick up time - 'What did you do today?'. They want to know what their child has been doing in nursery without them. Most young children will reply "nothing" or "played" and this has to be frustrating for the parent who really wants a blow by blow account of what has happened from they left the child until they pick them up again. 
So,  I thought it would be helpful for parents to see all the skills the children have already learnt in the past two weeks. This is what your child has been doing in school for the past 10 days, they have learned some if not all of the following: 

To say goodbye to their parent/carer & trust they will come back at home time.

To walk through an inticing classroom, full of toys & head out into the playground.

To wash their hands & get a 'ticket' for snack.

To use the pointed end of a straw to pierce the hole in the milk carton.

To put the empty cup or carton into a blue tray.

To wear an apron when playing at the water or painting.

To label their own art work.

To take turns using the sand timers.

To try & take off their own shoes & put on their welly boots & vice versa.

To try & take off their own jumpers & put them back on again.

To tidy up the classroom.

To be part of a group of 15 or 13. 

To listen to a short story.
To begin to understand that when they need an adult they will have to wait.
To follow a group instruction - when the teacher says 'Time to go into the storyroom' - they know to all head off into the room together. **this is one that takes the most time for all children to grasp.
To sit on a seat in the storyroom without bouncing! 
To wait for their name to be called before going out fo the storyroom at home time.
To move their picture to the right to self register & to the left to show they are going home.
To only take 1 sweet out of a box of lots of sweets on a Friday.
To play with sticks & how not to point them at eyes!

The tickets needed for snack.

The ticket has to go in the box on the snack table.

 It is actually quite incredible when you see the list to see all they have accomplished in just 10 days & I'm sure I'll think of other skills when I've published this post!