What a wonderful way to finish our first half term in Duckling Class! After almost eight weeks of settling in, making new friends, exploring our environment and discovering so many exciting things, we think everyone is ready for a well-deserved week off! We are so proud of how far the children have come since starting with us in September, and it has been lovely to see their confidence grow as they become more familiar with our routines and all the fun learning opportunities in Duckling Class.
The children enjoyed learning all about hedgehogs last week, so we decided to continue our animal adventures by exploring the fascinating world of nocturnal animals – those that are awake at night and sleep during the day!
We began our week by sharing the lovely story Owl Babies. The children are becoming such confident little readers and are doing a fantastic job of identifying the different features of a book. We talked about the front cover, the title and the pictures, using these clues to help us think about what might happen in the story.
The children were fascinated by the owl babies and were soon busy bringing their own ideas to life! They used play dough to create their very own owl babies and made cosy nests for them to snuggle up in. Over in our home corner, the children got busy preparing some delicious (and rather unusual!) mouse stew to feed our hungry owls. What a lot of imaginative play and wonderful storytelling!
As the week went on, our curiosity led us to discover even more nocturnal creatures. We became little fact finders as we explored bats, badgers and even tarantulas! The children were full of interest as we looked at pictures, shared facts and talked about what makes each animal special.
Our nocturnal animal theme gave us plenty of opportunities to develop our fine motor skills – all those important little movements that help children with future writing, drawing and everyday tasks.
We practised making little snips with scissors to create feathers for our owls. The children are working hard to develop their scissor control and coordination. We used scissors to cut play dough, making some rather interesting snail stew for our badgers! We explored tearing and ripping paper to create a fantastic orange and black tarantula collage. The children loved experimenting with the different colours and textures to bring their spiders to life.
These activities were not only lots of fun but also helped to strengthen the little muscles in our hands and fingers. We love seeing the children grow in confidence as they try new things and develop their independence.
We have also been working incredibly hard in maths this week! Our focus has been on counting accurately and matching numbers to numerals up to 6.
During our circle times, we had lots of fun using a large dice to practise counting. The children rolled the dice, carefully counted the spots and began to connect the number of objects with the numeral they could see. We are encouraging everyone to take their time, point to each object as they count and make sure that each item is counted just once.
It has been lovely to see the children developing their number confidence and beginning to use their mathematical skills more independently. We will continue to build on these important foundations next term through lots of practical, hands-on activities.
As we reach the end of our very first half term together, we want to say how incredibly proud we are of every child in Duckling Class. Starting nursery is a big step, and the children have achieved so much in such a short space of time. From settling into new routines and building friendships to exploring new interests and developing their independence, there has been so much to celebrate.
We hope you all enjoy a lovely, restful week off, filled with plenty of family time, play and perhaps a little autumn exploring! Thank you for all your support throughout this first term. We can’t wait to welcome everyone back and discover what exciting adventures next term will bring!
How you can help at home:
Look at books or pictures of owls, bats, hedgehogs and badgers together. Talk about what they look like, where they might live and when they are awake. You could even ask, “What do you think this animal eats?” to encourage your child to share their ideas and practise using new vocabulary.
Use a dice, some building blocks or small toys to practise counting up to 6. Ask your child to roll the dice, count the spots and collect the same number of objects. If they are ready, see if they can match the number to a written numeral. Remember to encourage them to point to each object as they count!
Provide some scrap paper, child-safe scissors, play dough or pieces of paper to tear and rip. Can your child make an owl, a spider or a cosy nest? These simple activities help strengthen hand muscles, develop coordination and encourage creativity. Most importantly, enjoy making something together!
Have a wonderful half-term break, everyone. Rest up, have fun and we look forward to seeing all our little Ducklings back for another exciting term of learning and discovery!
Lots of love,
The Nursery team 🐥💛