Ducklings Class

Class News Autumn Term 2024

13.9.24

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to Nursery for a new school year at Lark Rise!

Although for some of us it seems a distant memory now, we hope you enjoyed a wonderful summer holiday with your family; it has been lovely to hear the children talk about some of their favourite activities during this time.

It has been so pleasing to see lots of familiar faces returning to us as Ducks and of course welcome our wonderful new Ducklings who have amazed us with how well they have begun to settle into new routines in a new environment, let alone making friends and building new relationships with peers and adults! Well done children and well done also to our Ducks who are helping the newer children get to know the classroom and understanding expectations by trying so hard to be positive role models; thank you children!

Over the past few days our main emphasis has been settling the children and role modelling how to navigate the classroom and understanding what is expected of them. The children are trying so very hard and each day the progress the children are making in their confidence and calmness is evident!

Our focussed carpet sessions this week have centred around some maths learning where we have been learning to identify objects by their colour and sorted them by grouping. Can your child recall the three colours we learnt about?

One of the whole class stories we have read was called ‘The Rainbow Flamingo’. Through the story we learnt about a flamingo called Adele who was very upset that her feathers were not all pink like everybody else’s. She became very worried that she was different and tried to talk to her mum about her feelings. At the end of the story we found out that her mummy loved her no matter what she looked like and that she should be happy and proud of who she is. We discussed that it is important to feel ‘unique’ as we are all different and we are all special. Following on from this story, Mrs Lang tasked us with drawing around our hands and decorating them in our own ‘unique’ ways. These hands will be put together to create feathers which Mrs Lang will use to then make a whole school Flamingo display which will be seen in the entrance corridor, so keep a look out for it in the next coming days!

Messages:

• Please ensure your child comes to school with a NAMED water bottle each day and that the bottle is filled with WATER only. Therefore, no juice or squash please in order to protect the children’s teeth and healthy diet. 

• Please could you help and encourage your child to put on their own coats. This will aid their independence and development greatly.

• FRIDAY is ‘Show and Tell’ day for both Ducks and Ducklings. We find that this activity helps develop children’s oracy skills and confidence. If your child would like to bring in ONE item from home that they are able to talk about in front of their peers, please ensure it is able to fit inside their bookbag and it would be very beneficial to discuss the item with your child beforehand to aid their ‘telling’ about it. Item examples: a toy, a photo, an interesting object or a picture.

Thank you in advance.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

The Nursery staff

 27.9.2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

It has been a very busy fortnight here in the nursery. One of our main highlights has been witnessing the children becoming much more settled in the setting and developing relationships with new friends and adults. We have also been impressed with how well the children are responding to the nursery’s routines. This has been particularly evident recently when we took part in a whole school ‘fire drill’. The children were very calm and sensible upon hearing the alarm, lining up, following the adults to walk outside and join the rest of the school on the field; how exciting it was! Another ‘new’ experience for our Ducklings and some of our Ducks was to join Reception and Key Stage One in an afternoon ‘celebration’ assembly. Here, the children are celebrated for their efforts and achievements and are awarded with certificates and stickers. Initially a few children were a little apprehensive but they were very brave and sat in our class line beautifully and quietly with the other children who attended. We will try to attend this assembly fortnightly and gradually build up to whole school assemblies too!

Back in the classroom we have been enjoying lots of learning opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom, as many of you will have seen from posts appearing on Tapestry. It has been pleasing to see the children gaining in confidence when using the large loose parts when constructing outside. There have been cars, buses, houses, rockets, paths and bridges all constructed using wooden planks, wooden blocks, crates, tubing, guttering and tyres; how imaginative and creative they have been!

In the classroom we have begun our theme ‘All about me!’. We read the story ‘Marvellous me’ and talked about the ways in which the little boy in the story thought the things he did and how he looked made him ‘marvellous’. Following this we discussed how we are ‘unique’ and ‘marvellous’ and the children were tasked to think of something marvellous about themselves that they could share with their talking partner and then the class. We used the stem sentence ‘I’m marvellous because…’ to help us to express our ideas. The children then became very creative and applied their art skills to paint a self-portrait. A mirror was used to help the children focus on their facial features and colouring then they got to work to paint their faces. The results are so lovely and have been displayed on the cloakroom board for all to see as they enter the classroom. Keep a lookout on Tapestry for a photo.

Messages:

·         Please continue to support your child’s growing independence and self-care needs by encouraging them to put on and take off their coats themselves.

·         A reminder that the nursery school day ends at 3:20pm. Thank you to the many of you who are on time to collect your child.

·         There are still a number of children who do not have a change of clothes bag in school. If you are unsure whether there is a bag for your child, please check with one of the nursery adults who will be happy to find out for you.

·         Due to the weather being so wet of late, understandably some children have come to school wearing wellies. If your child wears wellies to school, please could they be named and a change of shoes be provided too.

* When emailing school to ask questions or request information, please use the school office email address: office@larkrise.com to contact us. They will then forward your correspondence to us where we will be able to respond to it in a timely manner.

Thank in in advance.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

The nursery team

11.10.2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

Your children have continued to impress us with their enthusiasm for coming to school.  They are settling into the daily routines and hopefully having lots of fun as they learn through play.  During our carpet sessions the children are practising sitting cross legged and are developing their listening skills.  In their choosing time, the children have been participating in a wide range of activities both inside and out.

Our learning theme for this half term is ‘All about me.’  Last week our focus was families. We read ‘We are family’ by Patricia Hegerty.  The story featured lots of different families participating in daily activities. The children talked about their families and loved sharing their family photos.  They talked about who was in their family, describing each member and counting how many in the photo.   We talked about how families are different and learned about the names we give to our parents and grandparents.  This week we have joined the whole school in celebrating National Biology Week.  We read the story ‘Ollie’s garden’ by …. The children learnt about the process of planting and what plants need in order to grow.  The children then went on to plant seeds.

In our Maths learning, the children have continued to focus on matching.  We have practised matching buttons, clothing, numicon shapes and 2D shapes.   The children also identified matching handprints.  They had to think about the size, shape and colour and use their talking partner to discuss their ideas and reason how they know the handprints were a matching pair.  They then went on to make handprints in paint and continue their mathematical discussions. This week we have moved on to begin some work on sorting.  The children have been practising sorting objects by colour, size and shape.

Last week the children played lots of name games.  The children practised saying their names aloud; choosing to use a quiet or loud voice.  They rolled a ball to children in the circle, attempting to say a friend's name before rolling the ball.  The children practised recognising their names on name cards and completing a puzzle by putting the letters in order to spell their name. There was lots of discussion around how many letters in their names and if anyone had the same as them.  We also worked on hearing the initial sound in their name, they went on to decorate the first letter in their names.

We do lots of fun activities to develop the children’s fine and gross motor skills.  Over the last two weeks the children have enjoyed using the parachute for games and songs.  They have also joined in with dough disco, where they have rolled, poked, squashed, squeezed and pinched the dough along to music, building strength in their fingers, hands, arms and shoulders.  If you have any playdough at home, perhaps you could try dough disco.  There are lots of videos which you can copy on Youtube or make up your own moves to your favourite songs.

A few reminders for you:

• Please ensure your child brings a coat to school every day, particularly now that the weather has started to get cold.  During the nursery session the children have the opportunity to choose to play both inside and out.

• If your child is sent home in clothes borrowed from the school, please can you ensure they are washed and returned as soon as possible.

• We post photos, observations and updates on tapestry every week. We hope you have been able to view your child joining in with a variety of activities.  We also encourage you to post photos, videos and information of anything your child would like to share with us.  They always enjoy seeing their photos on our big screen.  Thank you again for all the weekend news information and family photos that were posted recently.  For tapestry you should have received login details for you to activate your account.  Please make us aware if you cannot access tapestry and we will support you to do so.

We hope you enjoy a lovely weekend,

Kind regards,

The Nursery Team

25.10.2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

We have reached the end of our first half term and what a fantastic half term we have had here in the nursery! So much learning and exploring has taken place, not to mention the personal developments in communication, confidence and independence so many of the children are displaying and will of course continue to build upon as the year goes on – well done children; we are all so proud of each and every one of you!

Last week we welcomed many of you into the classroom to spend some time with your child and speak with the adults who support them. It was lovely to see so many of you to talk about your child and how they are settling into nursery life. The children loved having you in to spend time with them and are already looking forward to the next opportunity for this to happen. We hope you found it a positive and useful experience too.

In the classroom we have focussed our learning on the season of autumn. To begin our week, you will have seen on some recent Tapestry postings that the children enjoyed going on an ‘autumn walk’ around the school grounds. The children had a wonderful time exploring and were able to identify many of nature’s signs that reflected the autumn season. So many different shaped and coloured leaves were collected which we used to compare, sort and group. What other signs of autumn did your child identify?

In the classroom we became ‘autumn detectives’! Our special task was to identify what was hiding behind a blacked out image. The only help we had was some magical binoculars which moved across the blacked out image and showed us a tiny part. We had to think about shapes we could see, any features, any colours as they were all clues. Great discussions were had during this time and the children are trying hard to listen to each other’s ideas. Eventually the images were revealed and we were able to see if our guesses were right or not. Some of the images included conkers, a spider’s web, pumpkins, a hedgehog and a combine harvester.

Much of our maths learning this week has centred on the number 1. The children have looked at how the numeral one is formed and what it can look like in different places in the environment, such as on house numbers, a racing track, a racing car, a keyboard key etc. The children have also thoroughly enjoyed singing along to the number song ‘1 finger, 1 thumb…’ Maybe they could sing it to you! To aid their understanding of the amount of one, the children were tasked to use their talking partners to discuss which object did not belong on Number One’s tray. Some great conversations were had which supports their developing reasoning skills and oracy communication.

To end our email, we would like to say again how proud we are of the children for their hard work and efforts they have all shown this half term. We hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break!

Kind regards,

The nursery staff

 Messages:

* Your child's change of clothes bag has gone home with them today. Please can you check it and replenish as required. Items to include: tops, bottoms (leggings, trousers/tracksuit bottoms), knickers/pants, socks, flushable wipes. Please return on their first session back in a clearly named bag.

* As the weather continues to become colder, hats and gloves are beginning to be worn. Along with their coat, please ensure your child's clothing is clearly named and recognisable to them.

* We are continuing to develop our outside area and would be very grateful to receive any unwanted cookery items such as pans, utensils and muffin tins.

Thank you very much in advance!