Nursery

This week, we challenged ourselves  to get changed for PE as independently as possible!  We had to listen really carefully and watch as the grown ups showed us where to put our clothes and how to keep them safe so that we all go home wearing the right clothes.

We all challenged ourselves and persevered  – this is the first time some of us have ever got dressed by ourselves! We think we all did a fantastic job!

To help us even further please can you check every item of our clothing is labelled clearly with our name and encourage us to practise getting dressed on our own at home!

In Nursery, we have also been learning how to put our coats on independently. Ask us to teach you how to do the ‘flip trick’! You can watch a video below.  We have other things around the classroom to help us too. Some of these things are below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Hohc3mkjA

We will be practising these self help skills everyday in Nursery and whilst we are learning we may come home with our T-shirt inside out or our jumper back to front…..please be patient with us and notice how hard we are trying!

We have also been learning about the Golden Rules. We have had a different focus each week. So far we have learned about being kind and helpful; listening to others and being gentle. We have been working really hard to follow these rules and be good role models for our peers.

How you can help at home:

• check your child’s clothes are all labelled, including shoes, wellies and plimsolls!
• provide spare labelled clothing that can be left at school
• Practise the ‘coat flip’
• Talk about and recognise when your child is being gentle, kind and helpful

We have been incredibly busy in Nursery this week!

We have been developing  our gross motor skills in our PE lesson and been learning how to balance a ball on a racket. It is really tricky but we are trying really hard!

When we come into Nursery in the morning, we are remembering to put our coat, water and book bag in the right places. We put our book bag in our colour group box. Ask your child whether they are in red, blue, green or blue group.

In our Literacy time, we have been reading ‘Spot Goes to School’ and talking about the different activities that Spot does when he is at school. We have found that many of the things that Spot does are the same as we do in Nursery! Share the story with your child and see if they can tell you about the things we do in Nursery that are the same as Spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G84Ote230N4

We have been loving our time exploring in the forest! Look at what we found! We are learning all about how to explore safely in the forest and how to be respectful towards nature.

How you can help at home

• Talk about your child’s day with them – what did they enjoy doing the most?
• Ensure all your child’s belongings are clearly named . If you would like to put one small key ring onto your child’s book bag, it would be helpful as a way of enabling your child to recognise  their bag.
• Support your child’s independence skills – give them time to learn how to put their shoes on, their coat on etc.
• Talk to your child about the importance of a healthy diet and get them to help you prepare the food you will all eat

Welcome to all our new Nursery children! It has been wonderful to meet such bright, happy faces, as well as see a few familiar ones! We’ve had a fantastic start to the new school year and we are so proud of each and every one of you already! 

At the beginning of the week, our headteacher, Ms Adams,  sent out a letter sharing our school vision. A key part of this vision is ensuring that every child feels happy and ready to learn. With that in mind, we’ve dedicated this first week to focusing on the “happy face” element—making sure that every child feels welcomed, secure and excited about the year ahead.

We have seen many happy faces in nursery this week and can’t believe how well all the children have settled already. We’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the parents for supporting their children as they make the transition into school and we look forward to working with you as the year progresses.

We look forward to sharing some of our learning with you over the next few weeks.

The Nursery Team

Wow! What a brilliant first full week we have had in Nursery! We have been busy familiarising ourselves with the classroom, making friends and beginning to learn about the Golden Rules for keeping everybody safe and happy at school.

This week we have been focussing on ‘Do be kind and helpful’. Have a look at us in Nursery demonstrating that we know how to do this so fantastically!

This week was very exciting for us as we had our first PE lesson! We even braved the rain and went up to the big playground where we practised some of our hand-eye coordination skills. Some of us are brilliant at rolling hula hoops and we will continue to practise our hula hooping skills.

How you can help at home

* talk to your child about their day – what went well or made them happy?

* share your child’s library book with them or visit the local library

* narrate your day as you go about your daily activities and encourage your child to help or get involved

* support your child’s independence skills – give them time to learn how to put their shoes on, their coat on etc.

* establish good bedtime routines and morning routines before coming to school

How is it possible that this year has flown by so quickly?  The days are long but the years are short!

During our Jigsaw sessions, we have talked a lot about the children’s transition into their new classes, with new friends,  different adults or even different schools.  He children have taken on board our discussions about growing up and changing over time and we had a fantastic time talking about all the fun things we have done and learnt this year.

Looking over our photos taken this year it is amazing to see how the children have grown, not just physically but also in their skills, their friendships and their abilities.  It was fun to reminisce about this year but mostly is was lovely to see the children’s excited faces when they were talking about their new challenges!

Just like our Very Hungry Caterpillar, the children started out with a hunger for learning, devouring all of the topic knowledge and skills this year.  Now it is time for them to rest in their cocoons, ready to emerge as the beautiful butterflies they have been waiting to become and fly off to their new adventures!

Thank you to all our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who have supported the children this year, helping them be ready for each day and encouraging them every step of the way.  We would not be able to do our job if it wasn’t for all of you!

Now, as a final goodbye for this year– we hope you all have a well deserved holiday, hopefully full of sunshine.  Best of luck for those families who are moving on to new adventures and for those returning next year… we can’t wait to welcome you back!

Love you all,

The Nursery Team xxx

We have had another lovely week in Nursery!

With the warmer weather we tried to make the most of the outside spaces and spent as much time as possible outside of the classroom.  We had plenty of time to explore cause and effect in the water tray as well as creating habitats for the small world animals while playing under the willow tree on the field!

In Literacy we read “What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside” and it is a lovely crossover between our minibeast and seaside holiday topics! In the next few weeks, the children will learn to act out the story then change the characters and the ending in order to create their own version of the story.

The children enjoyed having their maths lessons outside, looking for 3D shapes in the playgrounds and our forest area. We were delighted to spot cubes, cylinders, spheres and cones!

We have continued with our Van Gogh art and the children are working hard to produce a class picture to display during the open afternoon.

How you can help at home:
Can your child spot different 3D shapes in their environment? Can they find a pyramid or a cone? When you are in the shops, can you spot any cylinders or cuboids?

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

The Nursery team xx

The teachers were very impressed with how well everyone took part in the different activities and by the children’s eagerness to try new games.  I think the children especially enjoyed the water race and getting wet to cool off in the hot sun.

The races went very well and everyone had a fabulous time.  We are extremely proud of how well the children coped with a very different type of day, how well they listened to our instructions and their ability to work together as team and demonstrate true sportsmanship!

We hope you have a fabulous weekend!
The Nursery team xx

This week we might not have enjoyed the best weather, but that definitely did not dampen the children’s excitement and engagement in their learning this week.

The children enjoyed listening to different fictional stories about spiders and this led to us focusing on facts about spiders during our science lessons this week. Not only did they compare different minibeasts to classify them as insects or arachnids, but they also gathered information about the ways different types of spiders hunt for their food.  The children were intrigued to learn about the Goliath bird eating spider from the Amazon Rainforest! Why not ask your child if they are able to tell you any of the facts they have learned this week?

In maths we have continued to work on number formation and the children have made good progress in being able to correctly form some numbers from 1-10.

Our art project is progressing very well and the children have enjoyed using a variety of materials to make their own version of Vincent van Gogh’s Starry night.

How you can help at home:

Choose a letter sound from the alphabet and have your child make a list of all the words they can think of that starts with that sound.  Who in the house can make the longest list?

It is almost impossible to think we are now starting the last half term of the academic year. We are incredibly proud of all the progress the children have made so far and we still have half a term to go!

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This week has absolutely flown by! It has been a fun filled week with lots of learning being consolidated and the children working as hard as always.

We have been looking at non-fiction texts about different lifecycles and the children enjoyed comparing the life cycles we have learned about.  We had class discussions about where you can find information about different topics and this led to us to talk about internet safety and knowing that we always have to ask a parent to help us when we are using the internet.

In maths, we have continued to develop our understanding of addition.  We looked at a variety of ways to work out the answer when  adding 2 single digit numbers together to find the total. We are very impressed with the children’s understanding of numbers.  They are becoming more confident when comparing numbers, recognising when a number is more, less or the same.

How you can help at home:  

Currently we are working on identifying initial sounds in words and thinking of more words that start with the same sound.  Can they make a silly sentence with words that start with the same sound as their name, e.g Lana likes lemon lollipops.

We hope you have a wonderful half term, full of family time and hopefully sunshine!

xxxThe Nursery team

It has been another fabulous week in Nursery with a range of activities and lots of learning happening in and outside the classroom.  The children enjoyed the sunny spells in the garden  and made the most of the water puddles  this week.

Carrying on with our growing topic, we have been looking at fiction and non-fiction books about different life cycles.  The children were fascinated with the lifecycle of frogs and we decided to explore this in more detail. When learning about different types of frogs the children discovered the multiple sounds frogs and toads can make! Not to mention that some frogs use their unique colouring to warn off predators while others choose to use it as a way to camouflage themselves.

In maths the children have continued to grow in confidence when looking at adding and taking away single digit numbers from numbers up to 10. They were experimenting with writing their own number sentences using mathematical symbols.

This week during PE we particularly focused on throwing and catching skills. The children were able to take turns with a partner to throw and catch balloons. We chose to use balloons because they move slower than large balls and this gives the children more time to arrange their bodies into the correct position to catch confidently.

How you can help at home:

As we continue to learn how to distinguish between phonics sounds, why not have a sound hunt at home? Ask your child to find as many objects or toys that starts with a specific sound e.g  S = sandal, slipper, scissors, spoon, stickers, sand, slime…

We hope you have an amazing weekend.
The Nursery team xx

Although we had a shorter week, it does not mean we have been doing less work. With the lovely weather, we made the most of our outside areas and chose to do our learning in the fresh air.

Continuing with our growing topic, the children have enjoyed learning about the lifecycle of the sunflowers and we have now linked it to lifecycles of animals.  In Jasper’s beanstalk, the children learned the sequence of the days of the week and this carries on with our current book, The very hungry caterpillar.  This is a much loved story and the children already know it off by heart, but it still offers a range of activities to embed their learning in a fun, familiar and engaging way.

In maths this week, we continued with our theme of more and less. In class children are able compare 2 numbers up to 20 and say which number is bigger or smaller.  They also did incredibly well in recognising + and – symbols and explaining what they needed to do for each symbol.  We have moved on to adding 2 single digit numbers together with a total up to 10 as well as taking away 1 or 2 from numbers between 1 and 10.

Our art project based on Vincent Van Gogh is also quite impressive! The children have used a range of media to create their sunflower artwork and they enjoyed the process of planning, adapting and finishing their art pieces.  In using a range of strategies, the children can experiment to find what they feel gives the most pleasing outcome.

How you can help at home:

Have a number hunt at home, in the shop or on the way to the park.  Can your child say what number is 1 or 2 more than the number they found? Can they say what the number will be if you had to take 2 away from the number they have found?

We hope you have a wonderful, sunny weekend!

xxx The Nursery team