Nursery

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 🐥💛

What a fantastic week we have had in Nursery! Our little Ducklings have been busy learning all about hedgehogs and discovering how these fascinating little creatures prepare for the winter months. We cannot believe that the children have only been at school for a little over six weeks. The progress they are making in their learning, confidence and independence is wonderful to see, and we are so proud of them!

This week, we have been putting our Literacy skills to good use as we researched facts about hedgehogs. The

children have been finding out all sorts of interesting information and working together to create our very own class fact book.  Remembering how we made our flap books a few weeks ago, the children have been building on those skills and using what they already know to help us create a much bigger book together!

The excitement did not stop there. The children then became authors in their own right and created their very own hedgehog fact books. They used pictures to illustrate the facts they wanted to share and carefully drew their own front covers. It has been lovely to see them thinking about what they wanted to include and using their pictures to communicate their ideas. Their finished books look absolutely amazing and we are incredibly proud of the effort, creativity and growing confidence they have shown. It is wonderful to see our little Ducklings beginning to understand that they can use pictures and marks to share information with others.

In Maths, we have continued to develop our understanding of numbers. The children have been practising counting accurately, forming numerals and matching numbers of objects to the correct numeral. We have enjoyed a mixture of whole class activities, where we can learn together and share our ideas, as well as opportunities for the children to have a go independently.

It has been lovely to see the children growing in confidence as they attempt these activities for themselves. We are encouraging them to take their time, count each object carefully and think about which numeral matches the number of things they have counted. These are important skills that we will continue to practise through our daily activities, songs and play.

As part of our hedgehog learning, the children worked together to create a cosy den to help our little prickly friends prepare for their long winter hibernation. We gathered lots of crispy leaves, pine cones and conkers, and even added some pretend worms to make sure our hedgehogs had everything they needed! The children thought carefully about how they could make a warm, sheltered space and enjoyed working together to build their den.

There was lots of lovely conversation as the children shared their ideas and decided where different natural materials should go. We have been talking about why hedgehogs need somewhere safe and warm to rest during the winter and how the natural world changes as the weather gets colder.

Our creative table has also been a very busy place this week! The children have loved making their own hedgehogs and hoglets using playdough. They carefully shaped their little creatures and took great care when adding their prickly spikes, making sure they did not prick their fingers! There was lots of concentration as they worked on the tiny details and thought about how to make their hedgehogs look just right.

These activities have provided wonderful opportunities to develop those little hand muscles, practise controlling the playdough and use our imaginations. It has been lovely to see the children returning to their creations, adding more details and proudly showing their finished hedgehogs to their friends and teachers.

It really has been a very busy week, and it has been wonderful to see how much effort the children have put into their learning. From researching facts and creating their own books to exploring numbers and building a cosy hedgehog den, they have shown such enthusiasm and curiosity. Most importantly, we have been talking about our environment and how we can help to care for the little creatures that need us. We are so proud of our Ducklings and the care and interest they are developing for the world around them.

How you can help at home:

Look at a picture book or find out a little more about hedgehogs together. Can your child remember any of the facts we have learned? Talk about what hedgehogs eat, where they sleep and why they hibernate during the winter.

Count everyday objects such as toys, pieces of fruit or steps as you walk upstairs. Encourage your child to touch each object as they count so that they practise counting accurately. You could also write numerals on small pieces of paper and ask your child to match them to the correct number of objects.

When you are out for a walk, look for crispy leaves, pine cones and conkers. Talk about the changes you can see as autumn arrives and think about how these natural materials might help animals find shelter. You could also chat about how we can help to protect wildlife and why we should be gentle and careful around their homes.

We hope you all have a lovely, restful weekend after such a busy week and enjoy some special family time together. Thank you for your continued support as our little Ducklings grow in confidence and develop their love of learning. We are so proud of everything they have achieved in such a short time and look forward to another week of playing, learning and exploring together!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 😊

What a week we have had in Nursery! The weather has certainly kept us guessing, with some lovely sunny days followed by rainy and chilly ones. However, the changeable weather did not stop us from making the most of our time at school. When the sun was shining, we made sure to spend as much time as possible outside, enjoying our outdoor learning and play. On the colder and wetter days, we brought our learning indoors and had lots of fun exploring and playing together in the classroom.

We also made good use of our hall this week, developing our physical skills and learning how to move safely around a larger space. We practised being aware of the people around us, changing direction and moving carefully so that we did not bump into one another. This was a great opportunity to develop our coordination, balance and spatial awareness.

We had a fabulous time playing with the parachute too. This was a wonderful example of collaborative play as we worked together to make the parachute move. We also practised taking turns and listening carefully so that we knew when it was our turn to join in. It was lovely to see the children encouraging one another and enjoying being part of a team.

Our phonics learning this week has focused on listening carefully to the individual sounds we can hear in simple words. We have been practising hearing the first, second and last sounds in words. For example, when we hear the word fox, we can listen for the sounds f, o and x.

We then turned this around and practised hearing individual sounds and putting them together to make a word. For example, when we hear j, a, m, we can blend the sounds together to make jam. The children have really enjoyed this challenge and have been developing their listening skills and confidence with sounds.

Stories have provided lots of opportunities for us to practise too. We enjoyed listening for and joining in with the sounds made by different animals. We even had a go at acting out parts of some of our favourite stories. This gave us a lovely opportunity to combine our phonics learning with our imagination, communication and enjoyment of stories.

In maths, we have continued our number learning by singing a wide range of counting songs. Singing is such a fun way to practise the order of numbers and helps us to become more confident with counting.

We have also been exploring different ways to form and represent numbers. We played lots of games where we needed to count objects carefully, remembering to say one number name for each object. We have been practising stopping when we reach the final object and understanding that the last number we say tells us how many objects we have altogether.

This is an important part of developing our understanding of number, and it has been wonderful to see the children becoming increasingly confident as they count and represent quantities in different ways.

After spending time exploring Mondrian and his abstract artwork, we decided to take a little break from his abstract pieces and look at some of his observational art instead.

We looked carefully at paintings of flowers and thought about the colours that we could see. The children then had a go at creating their own still life paintings. We encouraged them to look closely at the flowers and choose colours that matched what they could see.

It was lovely to watch the children carefully observing the flowers and making thoughtful choices about the colours they wanted to use. This activity encouraged us to slow down, look carefully and represent what we could see through our own artwork.

Another busy and enjoyable week has come to an end, and we are so proud of the children’s enthusiasm, curiosity and willingness to learn. We are looking forward to seeing what next week brings!

How you can help at home:

Choose a simple word such as cat and say each sound slowly together: c, a, t. Then see if your child can blend the sounds together to say cat. You can also ask what sound they can hear at the beginning or end of a word.

Count everyday objects such as toys, socks, pieces of fruit or stairs. Encourage your child to touch each object as they say one number name and ask, “How many are there altogether?” Remember to celebrate careful counting rather than speed.

Choose an object, flower or toy and look at it carefully together. Talk about the colours, shapes and details you can see. Your child could then draw or paint what they have observed, just as we did with our still life pictures.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

Lots of Love,

The Nursery Team

What a lovely, laughter-filled week we have had! Building on our learning from last week, we have continued to explore stories, sounds, numbers and creativity through lots of hands-on play.

This week we focused on some well-known stories and had great fun thinking about the different characters and the voices they might have. The children loved experimenting with their voices — from a big, loud giant’s voice to a rather cross mummy voice!

We also used our small world animals to bring stories to life, making the sounds we thought each animal might make. There were lots of giggles (and plenty of snorts!) as we experimented with the pigs. 🐖

We even had a go at making some of the less obvious animal noises and discovered that we didn’t know what every animal sounded like. This led us to research what a panda sounds like — what a fun way to learn! 🐼

All of this playful sound-making is helping the children to listen carefully, notice different sounds and have fun with the sounds in words. Being able to listen, copy, experiment and talk about sounds is a really important part of getting ready to read and write.

In maths, we have been getting to know number 2. We learned some fun maths songs to help us remember how to form the number and played lots of games to find number 2 hiding around our classroom.

We also practised showing 2 in different ways using our fingers and had fun making the number 2 with play dough.

These simple activities are helping the children to recognise the number, understand that it represents a quantity and begin to feel confident when forming it. Using our fingers and play dough also gives us lots of opportunities to practise those little hand and finger movements that will help with writing later on.

This week, the children created a 3D art piece in the style of Mondrian. They have really enjoyed making their own pictures and talking about the shapes and colours they have chosen.

It has been lovely to see the children becoming more confident when talking about their artwork, explaining what they have made and noticing similarities and differences between their own creations and Mondrian’s work.

We have also been making the most of the wonderful hoard of conkers in our playground!

The conkers have been used for all sorts of imaginative play, from pretend cooking to rolling them down the guttering and investigating which ones roll the easiest.

Although this looks like simple play, there is lots of learning happening along the way. The children are developing their curiosity as they test their ideas, making little predictions and noticing what happens. They are also practising sharing, taking turns, talking to their friends and using their imaginations.

We have loved watching the children turn everyday objects into exciting opportunities for play and discovery.

How you can help at home:

Pick an animal and take turns making its sound. Can you guess the animal? Try some unusual animals and see if you can find out what sounds they make.

Look around your home for the number 2. Can you find it in books, on a clock, on a remote control or on packaging? Then practise making 2 with play dough, drawing it in flour or showing 2 fingers in different ways.

Use paper, boxes, blocks or anything you have at home to make a picture using lines, squares and rectangles. Talk together about the colours and shapes you have used.

Thank you for another wonderful week of learning, exploring and, most importantly, having fun together. We can’t wait to see what next week brings! 🌟

It has been another super busy week in Nursery, with lots of exciting learning taking place across different areas of the classroom. The children are growing in confidence each day and it has been lovely to see them strengthening their friendships as they work together, share their games and enjoy learning alongside one another.

As part of our phonics learning, the children have been enjoying a range of listening games to help them identify environmental sounds. They have been listening carefully to sounds such as a door opening, a tap running and the wind outside in the garden.

This week, we have moved on to listening for words that end with the same sound. We have enjoyed reading some of our favourite rhyming books together and listening carefully for words that rhyme. The children have loved making their own rhyming strings and having a go at creating their own rhyming words. Their rhyming learning continued as they completed puzzles where they had to find and match rhyming words.

It has been wonderful to see the children becoming such careful listeners and having lots of fun playing with sounds and words.

In Maths, we have continued to enjoy singing counting songs and practising counting forwards and backwards. We are also beginning to recognise the numerals 1, 2 and 3.

The children have been getting creative with their number formation by using their whole bodies to make the shapes of the numbers before having a go at writing them on their whiteboards. They worked incredibly hard and we are very proud of their enthusiasm and determination.

This week we have been thinking about the changing weather and talking about what we might expect to see during Autumn. This led us to explore a range of Autumn resources through lots of exciting hands on activities.

The children have enjoyed scooping and pouring rice, filling and emptying containers with water and exploring different textures and materials. We have also continued to develop our fine and gross motor skills by tapping and hammering golf tees into pumpkins. The children showed great concentration as they carefully used the tools.

Our large wooden bricks have also been very popular this week as the children worked together to build obstacle courses. This encouraged them to use their imagination, develop their physical skills and communicate with their friends as they planned and created their courses.

This week, we have been learning about the artist Piet Mondrian. The children looked carefully at some of his artwork and talked about the colours and shapes that he used in his paintings.

Working collaboratively, the children painted using the primary colours. We then used their paintings to create our very own class artwork. They loved experimenting with different painting tools, including forks, conkers, spoons and sponges. It was wonderful to see how excited they were to discover the different marks and patterns each tool could make.

Later in the week, the children had the opportunity to create their own paintings using only their fingers. It was certainly a very messy activity, but there were lots of smiles and plenty of creativity!

It has been another wonderful week of learning, exploring and playing together. We are so proud of how the children are growing in confidence, becoming more independent and developing such positive relationships with their friends.

How you can help at home:

Take a short walk together and stop to listen carefully to the sounds around you. Can your child identify what is making each sound? You could listen for cars, birds, doors, footsteps, the wind or running water.

Choose a simple word such as cat and take turns thinking of words that rhyme with it. They do not all need to be real words. Making up silly rhyming words can be great fun and helps children to listen carefully to sounds in words.

Look for the numerals 1, 2 and 3 around your home or when you are out and about. You could also practise making the numbers using your whole body, drawing them in flour or rice, or writing them on paper or a whiteboard.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and we can’t wait to see all the children ready for another week on Monday!

Lots of love,

The Nursery Team x

We are beginning to see some lovely friendships developing too. The children are starting to learn how to play alongside one another and are beginning to cooperate in their play. We have noticed children becoming more comfortable with their friends joining in with their games and, even more excitingly, some children are now beginning to invite their peers to come and play with them. These are such important first steps in developing friendships and learning how to play together.

The children are also becoming much more familiar with our daily routines. They are beginning to remember where their coats and water bottles belong and are becoming more independent when getting themselves organised. They are also doing a wonderful job of listening to instructions from the adults and responding to what they are being asked to do. It is fantastic to see them becoming such confident members of our Nursery community already.

This week in Literacy, we have started to explore the features of a book. The children have enjoyed looking carefully at books and talking about what they can see. We have been noticing the front cover, back cover and the title and talking about how we use books and what we can find inside them.

One of our favourite stories this week has been Fox’s Socks. The children have particularly enjoyed discovering what is hiding behind the flaps and have been excited to predict what they might find next. The story inspired the children to become authors and illustrators themselves!

The children made their own flap books, creating illustrations and then hiding them underneath post it notes. It was wonderful to watch the children lifting the flaps to reveal their pictures and sharing their ideas with their friends and teachers. This activity encouraged lots of lovely conversation, imagination and excitement about books.

In Maths, the children have enjoyed singing a range of number songs and are becoming more confident with rote counting forwards and backwards to 5. A particular favourite has been Five Cheeky Monkeys, where the children have loved pretending to be the cheeky monkeys teasing Mr Crocodile!

We have also started to look for numeral 1 in our environment. The children have been encouraged to spot the number in different places and are beginning to recognise what it looks like. We will continue to look for numbers all around us as we develop our mathematical understanding.

There has been lots of wonderful imaginative play happening in our Nursery this week too. The children have loved using playdough to make cakes and have enjoyed pretending to make cups of tea for the teachers. We have seen lots of busy little hands squeezing, rolling and patting the playdough to create pizzas and donuts.

It has been lovely to watch their imaginations come to life as they decide what they are making and use their creations within their play. Alongside the imaginative play, these activities are also helping the children to strengthen their little fingers and hands, ready for all the writing and mark making they will be doing as they grow.

It has been another fantastic week and we are so proud of how much the children are growing in confidence. From those first few days of wobbly lips to arriving with big smiles and being ready for the day, it really is wonderful to see how far they have already come.

How you can help at home:

• Sing some of your favourite number songs together. Practise counting forwards and backwards to 5 using your fingers, toys or objects around the house.
• See how many number 1s you can find around your home or when you are out and about. Look at doors, clocks, signs, books and packaging.
• If you have playdough at home, encourage your child to make their own cakes, pizzas, doughnuts or cups of tea. Encourage them to squeeze, roll, pat and shape the playdough while talking about what they are making.

After another busy and exciting week in Nursery, we hope you all enjoy some lovely family time together and have a chance to relax and recharge.  We are already looking forward to seeing our Ducklings back next week and anticipate another great week of playing, learning and exploring together!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Lots of love, The Nursery Team x

What an amazing start to their school journey at Merry Hill Infant School and Nursery! It has been wonderful to see our new Ducklings arrive each morning, ready to begin their exciting new adventure. They have shown such bravery as they said goodbye to their grown ups and walked into the classroom. There have been a few tears and a couple of wobbly lips along the way, but it has not been long before the children have started to explore their new environment, make friends and discover all the wonderful things Nursery has to offer.

We started our term by thinking about ourselves. The children have been fascinated by looking closely at their faces and identifying the different features they can see. We have talked about our eyes, ears, noses and mouths and thought carefully about what each part helps us to do. The children then used a wonderful selection of loose parts to create their own faces. It was lovely to see them making choices about the materials they wanted to use and talking about the features they were creating.

We have also been learning about our senses. The children have been thinking about what we use to see, taste, feel, smell and hear. There have been lots of opportunities to explore using our senses as we become familiar with our new surroundings.

As the children have become a little more confident, they have started to venture further into our garden in search of new adventures. This week, our biggest adventure came when we discovered a little earthworm! The children were fascinated and this sparked lots of questions and conversations. We decided to make worms the focus of our learning and discovered some very interesting facts. The children were amazed to find out that earthworms do not have eyes, they only have a small little mouth and 10 hearts!

We sang songs about worms, pretended to wriggle like worms, created our own worm pictures and carefully searched around the playground to see if we could find any more. There was lots of excited chatter as the children shared what they had discovered.

We are very proud of how well the children have settled into Nursery. We know that saying goodbye in the morning can sometimes be difficult, and please do not worry if your child is finding this a little hard. It is completely normal for children to feel upset when they are away from their loved ones, particularly at the beginning of their school journey. We promise that they settle very quickly once they are in the classroom and they are soon busy exploring, playing and enjoying their time at school. We are giving them lots of reassurance and encouragement as they become familiar with their new surroundings and routines.

It has been such a special first few weeks and we cannot wait to see what adventures and discoveries await us next!

How you can help at home:

Use objects you have at home, such as buttons, pasta, bottle tops or pieces of paper, to create a face together. Can your child name the different features? Can they tell you what each feature helps us to do?

Go on a little senses hunt around your home or garden. Can your child find something they can see, hear, smell, touch and taste? Talk about what they notice and encourage them to use descriptive words.

After some rain, have a look in the garden or on a walk to see if you can spot an earthworm. Can your child remember any of our worm facts? Encourage them to move like a worm and wriggle along the ground like we have been doing in Nursery!

We hope you all have a wonderful and restful weekend after such a busy and exciting start. We are so proud of our Ducklings and all that they have achieved already. Enjoy some special family time and we look forward to seeing everyone back in Nursery next week, ready for more adventures!

Have a lovely weekend everyone! 🌟🐛

xx The Nursery Team

What a Year It Has Been!

Well… here we are at the end of another amazing year in Nursery and we are honestly not quite sure where the time has gone!

It only feels like yesterday that many of our children were taking their first steps into Nursery, some feeling a little unsure, holding onto Mum or Dad’s hand, and wondering what this new adventure was all about. Fast forward to now, and what a difference a year makes!

We have loved watching every single child grow into confident, curious and happy little learners. They have made wonderful friendships, learned how to play together, share, take turns and look after one another. Seeing those friendships grow has been one of the loveliest parts of the year.

It has been amazing to watch the children become so independent too. Those little things that seemed so tricky at the beginning of the year, putting coats on, doing up zips, finding their own belongings and settling into our daily routines, have become second nature. They come into Nursery ready to learn, join in so beautifully during carpet times and are brilliant at listening, following instructions and giving everything a go.

We have packed so much into the year! There have been exciting science experiments, lots of messy fun and plenty of moments where the children have amazed us with their questions and ideas. We have learned all about reptiles, cared for our plants, explored life cycles and loved watching the children discover just how fascinating the world around them is.

Our phonics sessions have been full of smiles too. It has been so exciting seeing the children learn their sounds and begin to put them together to read. Watching that little spark when they realise, “I can read that!” never gets old.

In maths, we have been busy counting, measuring, sorting and comparing all sorts of objects, as well as hunting for 2D shapes everywhere we could find them! It has been lovely watching the children become much more confident with numbers, accurately counting objects and beginning to subitise.  They have loved exploring maths through games, practical activities and everyday play.

More than anything though, we are proud of the confidence they have found. The children who walked through the Nursery door at the beginning of the year are so different from the children leaving us now.

They have grown in confidence, resilience and independence, and they have become such an important part of our Nursery family. We could not be prouder of every single one of them.

To our families, thank you. Thank you for all the early mornings, the reading at home, practising phonics, remembering book bags, (most of the time 😉), coming along to our events and for working alongside us all year. We know raising little people is a team effort, and we really appreciate everything you have done to support both your children and our school.

For most of our children, the next stop is Reception, and we know they are more than ready. They will have so many exciting new adventures ahead, and although we will miss having them in Nursery every day, we cannot wait to watch them continue to grow.

And here is the best bit. We are not saying goodbye completely! Every morning, as our Reception children line up ready for their new school day, we will be right there with a big smile and a wave, cheering them on from the Nursery door. We cannot wait to see them looking so grown up in their new classes, and we will always be keeping an eye out for them.

For the children who are staying with us in Nursery next year, we cannot wait to welcome you back after the summer and make even more wonderful memories together.

Have the most fantastic summer holiday. We hope it is filled with sunshine, adventures, ice creams, laughter and lots of special family time.

Thank you for letting us be part of your children’s journey this year. It has truly been a privilege, and we will miss seeing their smiling faces every day.

See you all soon, and good luck to our amazing Reception superstars. You have got this!

Lots of love,

Mrs Jones, Mrs Parker and Mrs O-J xxx

The milder weather this week has been lovely, and the children have had so much energy for learning and playing. They have especially enjoyed being outside, making the most of our outdoor areas with their friends.

One of the favourite activities this week was making lemonade in the tuff tray. The children had great fun mixing, pouring, and experimenting with different ingredients, as well as splashing and exploring in the water tray. While they were busy playing, they were also developing their hand eye coordination, using their imaginations, building their language skills, and exploring early maths through measuring and using words such as full, empty, more, and less.

As we start thinking about the children moving on to Reception, we have been chatting lots about what that will be like. Some children will be moving just next door, while others will be starting at different schools. We want everyone to feel happy, excited, and confident about the next step in their learning journey.

The children loved talking about their time in Nursery and sharing some of their favourite memories. We also thought about all the things they can do now that they could not do when they first started. They were so proud to talk about hanging up their coats, doing up their zips, riding bikes, recognising sounds, and learning their numbers. It was a lovely opportunity for them to see just how much they have grown.

We also enjoyed reading When I Grow Up by Tim Minchin. This led to lots of funny conversations about what the children think adults do every day, and there were plenty of giggles along the way. The children loved talking about different jobs and sharing what they would like to be when they grow up.

Nurses

Landscapers

Engineers

These conversations inspired lots of imaginative play throughout the week. The children enjoyed pretending to be people with different jobs and then got busy in the creative area making pictures of their future selves. They used painting, collage, bubble printing, and lots of other creative materials to bring their ideas to life.

In phonics, we learned the new sound w. The children were brilliant at spotting the sound around the classroom and enjoyed thinking of funny alliterative sentences using words that begin with w. They also worked hard to practise writing the letter, showing how much their fine motor skills are improving.

It has been such a lovely week, and it has been wonderful to see the children feeling so proud of everything they have learned as they get ready for their exciting move to Reception.

How you can help at home:

Spend some time talking about starting Reception. Ask your child what they are excited about and encourage them to share some of their favourite Nursery memories.

How many w words you can spot when you are out and about or reading together? Have fun making your own silly alliterative sentences.

Let your child help with simple measuring activities at home, such as pouring drinks or helping with baking. Talk about words like full, empty, more, and less as you play and learn together.

What a week we have had at Nursery! With the scorching heat, we made sure we did everything we could to help the children stay cool, comfortable, and safe while still enjoying lots of exciting learning opportunities.

We spent plenty of time in the shade, offered lots of water play activities, and made the most of our lovely forest area. The covered forest provided a wonderful cool breeze and gave the children the perfect space to explore, play, and enjoy the outdoors while staying protected from the heat.

This week we also welcomed our new friends who will be joining us in September. It was wonderful to see how kind and welcoming the children were. They helped our new friends feel included by inviting them into their play, showing them our activities, and involving them in our learning. We were very proud to see such caring and thoughtful behaviour from the children.

Our fairy tale topic has continued to capture the children’s imaginations. The children have loved acting out traditional tales, beginning their stories with “Once upon a time” and finishing with “and they lived happily ever after”. They have been busy creating props to support their storytelling, including making gingerbread men from playdough, exploring the Three Little Pigs in the tuff tray, and giving the sandpit a wonderful fairy tale makeover.

This week our focus story was The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and the children showed a particular interest in building their own bridges using Duplo bricks. They worked together to design and create different structures while also making stick puppet characters to help retell the story. It has been fantastic to see their creativity, teamwork, and confidence grow as they bring stories to life through their play.

Although we had to cancel sports day due to the extreme weather, we turned this into a valuable learning opportunity. We talked with the children about how to keep ourselves safe in the sun and why it is important to look after our bodies in hot weather. We still enjoyed our movement breaks and created some fun games to encourage everyone to drink plenty of water.

The children particularly loved their Danny Go movement breaks in our cool, dark classroom this week. Using glowsticks made the experience feel extra special and brought lots of smiles and excitement to our day.

Even with the heat keeping us busy, we still found time for phonics learning. This week we introduced the sound v and explored lots of words that begin with this sound or have it in the middle. The children especially enjoyed learning about vicious venomous vipers and sharing their own ideas of words containing the sound.

It has been a busy and memorable week filled with imagination, creativity, friendship, and lots of fun. Thank you for your continued support in helping us make every learning opportunity count.

How you can can help at home:

Share a favourite fairy tale together and encourage your child to act out the story using toys, drawings, or homemade props.

Look for things around your home or when you are out and about that begin with the sound v, and practise saying the sound together.

Talk about staying safe in the sunshine by practising applying sun cream, wearing a hat, finding shade, and remembering to drink water regularly.

What a wonderful week we have had in Nursery! We continued our Traditional Tales topic and this week we explored the story Stone Soup. The children absolutely loved this story and enjoyed talking about the important message behind it: when everyone shares a little bit, everyone can have a lot.

Inspired by the story, we went on our own adventure to the forest to search for the perfect stones to make our very own stone soup. The children carefully thought about which stones would work best, using their measuring skills to check that their chosen stone was the right size to fit into our pretend cooking pot and not too heavy to carry. There was lots of wonderful mathematical language being used as the children compared the size and weight of different stones.

The children also enjoyed practising their pouring skills as they carefully added ingredients to their soup. They concentrated hard to make sure they did not spill any of their delicious lunch. It was lovely to see them using their imagination, working together and developing their problem solving skills as they created their own version of the story.

The warm weather gave us lots of opportunities to talk about how we can look after ourselves and stay healthy during sunny days. The children shared some fantastic ideas, including having a paddling pool to cool down. Although we could not make that happen, we created our very own bubble foot spa instead and the children absolutely loved it! We also enjoyed lots of water based activities to help us stay cool whilst learning and having fun.

We talked about the importance of drinking plenty of water, wearing a sunhat, applying suncream and finding shade when the sun is too hot. The children showed a great understanding of how these small actions help us to look after our bodies and keep ourselves safe.

We have also been busy creating our very special Father’s Day cards. The children used their impressive fine motor skills to create line drawings of their dads, carefully adding details that made each picture unique. They then explored different patterns, textures and materials to create beautiful textured backgrounds. We are sure all the dads will love their extra sparkly cards, especially the thoughtful messages explaining why they are so special.

It has been lovely to see the children’s creativity, kindness and curiosity shine through this week. We are so proud of all their learning and the wonderful ways they continue to explore, share and learn together.

How you can help at home:

Read or retell the story of Stone Soup together and encourage your child to create their own imaginary soup using household items or play food. Talk about what ingredients they would add and why sharing helps everyone.

Find objects around your home and encourage your child to compare their size and weight. You could ask questions such as which object is heavier, which is smaller or which one would fit inside a container.

Talk about ways to look after ourselves on sunny days. Encourage your child to fill their own water bottle, choose suitable clothing, wear a sunhat and find shady places to play.