Ducks Class

Class News Autumn Term 2022

16.9.2022

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome everyone to the new school year! Here in the nursery, we have very much enjoyed welcoming back our returning families and we would also like to say a warm ‘welcome’ to our new families too!

The purpose of the ‘class email’ sent fortnightly is to provide you with an overview of some of the learning and activities that have taken place in nursery to hopefully aid discussions about what has been happening at school. The emails are also a way of communicating with you, key dates or ‘reminders’ that we hope may be of use.

The nursery staff have been extremely impressed with how well all the children have begun to settle into their nursery sessions. For some it’s a familiar routine, whilst for others it’s a whole new and daunting experience. However, they have all done so well and have displayed great resilience, trust, understanding and bravery.

Much of the children’s first full week has included settling in activities. The children have been getting to learn each other’s names and trying so hard to listen to adult instructions. It has been wonderful to see the children becoming more and more confident each day, not only in the routines and expectations required of them, but also through developing positive relationships with their peers and adults too! Some of the more popular activities have included playing in the sand and water trays, building using construction, painting and riding the bikes and diddi cars outside.

This week we also began our new learning theme called ‘All about me!’ we listened to a story called ‘Super Duper Me’ and discussed how and why we are all special and ‘unique’. The children then used mirrors to identify and talk about the features on their faces, before using appropriate colours to paint a self portrait. They looked amazing and are certainly unique! Keep a look out for your child’s painting which will be shared at some point next week on Tapestry.

Reminders:

• Please could you ensure items of clothing are clearly named. Particularly, coats, jumpers and cardigans and that your child recognises the clothes they are wearing.
• Lark Rise Academy is a NUT FREE school. Therefore, please make sure nuts are NOT included in your child’s lunch box.
• Next week, we would like to begin offering milk to the children (morning session). If you have not yet responded to the recent email questionnaire, please could this be done as soon as possible.
• We have noticed that there are a number of children attending the nursery wearing shoes with laces. Much of the Early Years curriculum is based upon the children displaying independence, therefore, please could we politely ask for children to come to school wearing shoes that they are able to put on and take off and ‘do up’ independently, ie. Shoes with Velcro straps, elasticated laces, zips and pull on/off shoes.
• Next week, we would like to begin to upload observations/photos of your children onto ‘Tapestry’. If you have not yet downloaded the app or activated your account, please could this be done as soon as possible.
• You will have noticed that your child came home with a book on Monday. These books are their library books which your child has chosen themselves to read with you and enjoy at home. Each Monday we ask that this library book is put in their book bags to come back to school to be changed for a new one.
• You will have noticed that your child came home with a book on Monday. These books are their library books which your child has chosen themselves to read with you and enjoy at home. Each Monday we ask that this library book is put in their book bags to come back to school to be changed for a new one.
• Each Friday we will be having a ‘Show and Tell’ session for any child who would like to bring in something special from home that they would like to show and talk about in front of the class. Their chosen item could be a small toy, a photo or an object of significance.
• Finally, to assist the children in settling down calmly on arrival at school, we would encourage you to please let the children walk into the classroom immediately on arrival - it is not necessary for you to queue at the door which we are finding is adding to any potential anxieties the children may be experiencing. Please rest assured that once in school, the children are settled and happy. 

Thank you in advance for your help and understanding in the matters above.

We wish you a wonderful weekend and congratulations again to all the children (and parents) for completing your first full week at school!

Kind regards,

Miss Swan and the nursery team 

30.9.2022

Dear Parents/Carers,

What a lovely couple of weeks we have enjoyed here in the nursery!

The children have really found their ‘feet’ and are engaging so well in the various activities and learning areas on offer to them throughout the week/s both inside and outside the classroom which has been so pleasing to see.

Some of the activities linked to our theme ‘All about me’ have included thinking about what a family is and who is in our own family. The children were able to name many different family members such as ‘mum, dad, brother, sister, nanny/grandma, grandad, auntie, uncle, cousin’ and identify who was part of their family. Following this some children drew their family and an adult annotated the children’s responses, some children used pebbles to create various ‘pebble families’ and some children developed their cutting skills through cutting out pictures of people. These discussions and activities also helped the children to understand that many families are similar but that families can also be different to our own too.

This week we have also been learning about shapes. We began by watching an episode of Numberblocks where ‘four’ went to visit ‘Flatland’. Here we discovered where some specific shapes live because they are flat and 2D (two-dimensional). Can your child name any of the common shapes we learnt about? (square, circle, rectangle, triangle, pentagon) Can they tell you anything about their properties? (how many sides and corners they have) Following on from this we were able to choose from a few activities in the classroom to reflect and aid our understanding of shape. These included using a lightbox to explore 2D shapes using different media, transient art using shapes and loose parts with a mirror for an effect, shape drawing and of course… painting.

Outside we have enjoyed discussing and exploring nature close at hand through collecting leaves and using them in our activities. The children have enjoyed being able to practise their cutting skills by cutting and snipping leaves and sticking them down to create some natural, abstract art. Then using leaves again, we thought about trying to identify and name some of them using an identification sheet. We used magnifying glasses to allow us to look closely at the patterns on and underneath a leaf, their various shapes and colour shades. Some children even used crayons to create another piece of natural art in the form of a leaf rubbing.

Linked to the whole school value of ‘love and friendship’, many of the children used their imaginations and magical creativity to concoct ‘friendship’ potions. Thinking about what special things we would like a friend to have, the children used their talking partners to gain some ideas before sharing them with the class. Some ideas included, ‘cuddles, fun, laughing, love, talking, kind and nice’. What recipe for a friend did your child create?

Notices:

• If you have not already completed the form regarding your child having milk, please could you do so as a matter of urgency as we plan to begin offering this option to the children during rolling snack time from Monday. If we have not received a response, your child will continue to access their water from their water bottle as normal.
• Please check your recent emails regarding attending the Early Years/KS1 phonics online meeting that is scheduled to take place on Tuesday evening (4/10/22). You may find the information and guidance that will be shared during this meeting useful and inform you of how phonics is delivered and progresses throughout these crucial years.
• You will notice that we have put a ‘WOW’ sheet in your child’s bookbag. Please feel free to complete one as and when you believe your child has done something of special significance that you would like us to be aware of. Their ‘WOW’ will be shared with the class, a special sticker is awarded and their ‘WOW’ is placed on our class ‘WOW’ board!

We hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Kind regards,

Miss Swan and the nursery team 

14.10.2022

Dear Parents/Carers,

Here in the Nursery we have enjoyed another wonderful couple of weeks of fun and learning. One of the particular highlights for lots of the children was seeing so many of you attend our ‘consultation open sessions’. It was so lovely to see so many of you attend and spend time with your child in ‘their’ environment. We as staff were so pleased to see the smiles of joy on your children’s faces when they saw you and couldn’t wait to show you everything. We really hope you found it a beneficial and memorable experience.

Recently, our learning has focussed on autumn as during our conversations about the weather after we sing the weather song (a song so many of you know so well now) the signs of autumn have been discussed. The children are also noticing the changes taking place in the playground with the different coloured leaves and the berries on the ground. One of the autumn activities we have enjoyed, has been going on an autumn walk around the school grounds. Here, the children used their senses to identify the signs of the autumn season. Leaves and twigs were collected and lots of discussions about what they could see, hear and feel took place.

Other activities have included ‘autumn potion making’, tree collaging using autumn leaves, conker rolling with the large construction equipment such as guttering and autumnal themed painting. 

Next week, we will be continuing our autumn learning, where we will think about ‘Harvest’ time and the celebration of ‘Diwali’.

Messages:

• It came up in conversation with a couple of parents during our open sessions, that some of you may benefit from further clarification about packed lunches and drinks:

• Please provide BOTH a drink of your choosing (non-fizzy) for your child’s lunch and a separate water bottle containing only WATER for the classroom.

• You can pack any food you feel your child will eat but please NO nut products and chocolate bars and grapes must be cut please.

• Most rubbish/leftover food will be sent home in their lunch bag so you can see what it is they have/have not eaten. If you have packed a carton drink and it does not come home, it is probably because there was left over drink in it that we did not want to leak in their lunch bag.

• Children have at least 30 mins to eat their lunch in a separate lunch room.

• We hope this clarification helps.

 

• If you have not already activated your Tapestry account, please can this be done ASAP by logging on and following the instructions; thank you.

• Please remember to send your child into school wearing shoes that they are able to put on/take off independently. I.e. no lace shoes please.

 

Just to say again, all your children are wonderful and we are so proud of them and the positive developments they have made; well-done children!

We hope you all enjoy a lovely weekend and half term holiday and we look forward to hearing all about what the children have been busy doing.

Kind regards,

Miss Swan and the Nursery team

4.11.2022

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to another new half term here in the nursery. We hope you all enjoyed a lovely half term break. Lots of the children have been telling us about the different activities and trips that they have been on and participated in whilst away from school so it sounded like you all had a nice time!

The children have returned with lots of energy and eagerness to play, learn and reconnect with their friends which has been so wonderful to see too.

Before the holiday, we began learning about the Hindu festival of lights called Diwali. One of the main activities the children participated in was creating a ‘diva lamp’ using clay. We looked at the shape of the lamp and manipulated the clay into a round shape by pushing our thumb into the centre of the lump and moving it around whilst squeezing the edges gently between our thumb and fingers in a circular motion. Eventually the lump of clap transformed into a pot shape. The children were very proud of their efforts and were keen to put their lamp to dry. We hope the children enjoyed showing off their efforts at home.

We then learnt about why diva lamps were so significant and important within the festival by learning about the story of Rama and Sita. The children followed this story by using masks to role play the different characters, including the 10 headed demon king ‘Ravana’ and Rama’s monkey king friend ‘Hanuman’. Some of the children wanted to help Miss Swan recreate the story for her Diwali assembly by acting it out and it being recorded using the ipad. They were great actors and the school very much enjoyed their performance!

This week we have continued to think about autumn and focussed on how pumpkins are very popular at this time of year. Many of the children were able to tell us about their pumpkin creations that were carved and decorated ready for lots of Halloween celebrations. We looked at lots of different types of pumpkins. Some were big, some were little and some we said were ‘medium’ sized. The children were also able to identify that not only were the pumpkins different in size but they were also differently shaped and were coloured differently, with some being orange, some white and some dark green! We used our sense of touch, smell and sight when carving the pumpkins and discovered the inside of a pumpkin was very interesting! There were so many seeds and lots and lots of stringy bits. Tweezers, forks and spoons were used to scrape and scoop the pumpkin centres and many of the children commented on how smelly the pumpkins were. The pumpkin activity also allowed for lots of vocabulary to be used when describing them such as ‘hard, smooth, round, bumpy’ and we even learnt a new word; ‘knobbly’ when describing one of the pumpkin’s skin.

We ended the week learning about another celebration that takes place on the 5th November… Bonfire Night. Lots of the children are very excited to be going to see some fireworks over the weekend so it was a great opportunity to learn about the story of the ‘Gunpowder Plot’. Can your child recall the name of the person who plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament?

Messages:

• Please could water bottles for the classroom only be filled with WATER.

• ‘Show and Tell’ takes place on FRIDAYS. Children are encouraged to bring in ONE item only please.

• We are in the process of developing and revamping our Early Years outside area and reviewing our resources and are looking for donations of the following items to support our project: 

-corks

-tiny containers (small plastic pots with or without lids)

-sheets, duvet covers, throws, offcuts of carpet

-large clothes pegs

-stones/garden pebbles

-seashells

-kitchen utensils including whisk, pestle & mortar, fish slice, spatula, slotted spoon, small sieve/colander 

-fir cones

-landline telephone (for use in the home corner)

• Maths Week takes place on 14th November – 18th November. Dress up like a ‘Rock Star’ will be taking place on Monday 20th November linked to the maths week.

• If applicable: PLEASE REFRESH YOUR 30 HOUR FUNDING CODE READY FOR THE SPRING TERM!!!!

We hope you enjoy a fun, exciting and safe weekend, especially if you are going to be watching fireworks.

Kind regards,

Miss Swan and the nursery team

16.12.2022

Dear Parents/Carers,

Well here we are. We’ve reached the end of the autumn term and what a wonderful term we have had in the nursery! This term has been full of amazing learning, discovery and fun. The staff and I in nursery have been so impressed with how well the children have settled and learnt the routines of their session and how confident and happy the children all are. It really is incredible to see how resilient and independent so many of them are!

The past couple of weeks have been extremely productive with lots of Christmas themed learning and making taking place. I think the main highlight for the children, us as staff and I think, for many of you, has been taking part in and performing our key stage and class Christmas plays. The children were absolute stars and we were so proud of them for trying their hardest to learn and sing so many Christmas songs. They were so brave and it was a real joy to see their faces and hear their voices beaming! Well done to all of them!

Back in the classroom, the children have enjoyed the process of making various festive items to take home with them in time for the Christmas holidays. I don’t want to spoil the surprise of what will be coming home with them so won’t explain what we have made, be assured however that they include lots of glitter and sparkle and of course the children’s own individuality is reflected in them. We hope you treasure them as fond memories of this magical age and time.

Other lovely festive activities have included our Christmas parties. Thank you so very, very much for your kind generosity in donating lots of yummy treats for the children to share and devour! They loved it! We were able to spread the party food over a couple of days which was very popular. The children also enjoyed taking part in some Christmas themed party games such as ‘pass the parcel’, ‘musical statues’ and ‘pin the nose on Rudolph’!

The morning children also enjoyed joining the rest of the school for our annual Christmas service which took place at school this year. It was lovely to take part as a collective and join in singing some traditional Christmas songs and hymns and also listen to the Christmas story read by various members of staff and children across the school.

Of course it wouldn’t be Christmas without a visit by the main man himself… Father Christmas, who came and visited us in nursery this week. The children were shocked and amazed to see him. We haven’t heard the children so quiet before whilst Father Christmas talked to us about where Rudolph was and how he was going to visit us. He reminded the children to be good and go to sleep nice and early on Christmas Eve, but to also make sure their bedrooms are tidy and to leave some carrots for the reindeer and mince pies for him. Father Christmas also asked that some milk be left out too (not beer so he said!). The children were asked what they would like and if they weren’t sure, he explained that he would talk to mummy and daddy or that they would be left with some surprises. The children were so pleased to find out that they had been awarded a certificate to say that they are on the ‘nice’ list and they were given a special lollipop each too! Wow! How lucky were we!

Messages:

• ALL children will return on January 3rd 2023 and will all now be part of the morning nursery session, known as ‘Ducks’. This session is from 8:45 – 11:45

Finally, we would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas. We hope you are able to take some time to relax and have fun. Thank you also for the lovely gifts we have received. Again, your kindness and generosity is so very much appreciated.

See you all in 2023!

Kind regards,

Miss Swan and the nursery team 

Class News Spring Term 2023

13.1.2023

Dear Parents/Carers,

We would like to start by saying a huge ‘welcome back’ to you all! We would also like to say ‘welcome!’ to our new Duckling children and families. We hope your children have enjoyed their first few days so far; they have impressed us greatly with their super behaviour and lovely personalities. We hope the children continue to enjoy their time in the nursery as the year progresses.

Over the past couple of weeks, the children have enjoyed lots of interesting ‘settling in’ activities, allowing them to get to know each other, the environment and the routines of the setting. It has been so nice to begin building new relationships with the Duckling children and for them to make their first steps in making new friendships with their peers.

Other activities have been based around our learning focus which has been the theme ‘When I grow up’. Last week the children learnt about firefighters! The children had great fun looking at pictures and learning all about a firefighter’s special job. Linked to this, the children painted their own pictures of fire engines; selecting the correct coloured paint to paint the various features on the vehicle. Another fun painting activity was drawing around one of the children and then painting the outline to make it look like a firefighter. The children discussed the uniform that a firefighter wears to fight fires and why they have to be protective.

This week, the children have been learning about ‘vets’. They have had great fun role playing being a vet and looking after poorly animals. The children displayed great care and attention when assessing the animal’s various conditions. The adults over saw some animals having broken legs and paws, a hurt wing, a poorly head and tummy and even sore tails and ears.  It was lovely to hear the different conversations that were taking place, which reflected the children’s understanding of the caring role that vets have to make animals feel better. Many doses of medicine were given, lots of bandages were wound around sore and broken parts and plasters were administered to poorly cuts and scrapes. Well done children for your great care and concern to look after the pet animals.

Next week, we will be thinking about the profession of being a ‘chef’ and we will also be learning about ‘Lunar New Year’. If children have anything at home that links to this learning, we will be so happy to see this being brought into school.

Messages:

• FRIDAYS are ‘Show and Tell’ days for all nursery children. These sessions allow children the time to stand in front of their peers and show and talk about their item with an adult. So many children really enjoy this time to have their own ‘special’ opportunity to talk about their chosen item. Items could be photos, pictures, learning, toys – anything that is special to them and can fit in their book bag (and is not overly precious/expensive).
• WATER only to be provided in water bottles for classroom use please. If your child has lunch at school and they would like juice/squash; please could this be provided in a separate bottle/carton in their lunch box.
• Could we request that all children, including Ducklings have their blue book bags with them each day; thank you. 

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Miss Swan, Mrs Tree and the nursery team 

27.1.2023

Dear Parents/Carers,

Here in the nursery we have enjoyed another busy fortnight and learning and playing through the theme ‘When I grow up’.

Last week, the children learnt about the festival of ‘Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year’ which is celebrated by many families across the world in recognition of the new year and zodiac year. To understand what the Chinese zodiac is, we listened to the story of ‘The Great Race’ where 13 different animals competed in a race across the river to have a year named after them. Unfortunately, one of the animals took too long to cross the river and was disqualified, leaving 12 animals to each have a year named after them. This year, is named ‘The Year of the Rabbit’.

We learnt about the different ways families prepare for their celebrations, including cleaning their houses, decorating their homes, making delicious foods, sharing gifts, including putting money in special red envelopes and wearing new clothes. Can your child recall what colour symbolises luck?

We also watched a video of a Chinese dragon dance and the children were very keen to learn more about this which we hope we will be able to do when the children participate in a Chinese dance workshop next week. We look forward to sharing photos and videos of the workshop with you on Tapestry!

Linked to our theme ‘When I grow up’, this week the children have been learning about the job of a dentist and what we need to do to look after our teeth. The children enjoyed sharing their own experiences of visiting the dentist and many children explained that they were rewarded with a special sticker for being so good and brave in ‘the chair’. Following on from this, the children further explored how to take care of their teeth by using the different resources, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, mirrors, model teeth and timers. Can your child tell you how long they (and us all) need to brush our teeth for?

On the last week of term, we will be completing our current theme. During the week we will be thinking about what the children would like to be when they grow. To celebrate this, we would like the children to participate in a dress up day where the children come to school dressed up as the profession/job/role they would like to have when they are older. 

This dress up day with be on Wednesday 8^th February.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for attending our recent Parent’s Review Meetings. We hope you found it useful and it was lovely for both of us to chat to you. It was a very busy evening with so much to discuss so our sincere apologies for over running; we thank you for your patience.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Miss Swan, Mrs Tree and the nursery team 

10.2.2023

Dear Parents/Carers,

What an action packed fortnight we have had in Nursery and a wonderful way to end our learning theme ‘When I grow up.’

Last week, the children learnt about the role of police officers.  From class discussions it was clear that many of the children thought that ‘locking up baddies,’ and ‘sending people to prison,’ was what police officers do.  We looked at the uniform and kit as well as the different modes of transport that they use. We learnt about how they help people in our community and many of the children used our role play area to play police games, helping one another. At the end of the week we were so lucky to have a police officer visit us in school.  The children listened well and found out more about the job.  We also had some thoughtful questions posed to the police officer. Can your child remember how police officers help us to keep safe?  We talked about the emergency services too.  Can your child remember the three emergency services and how to contact them in an emergency?

This week it was so lovely to see the children dressed up as what they would like to be when they are older.  The children took it in turns to stand at the front and talk about what they were wearing and who they were dressed as. The children had so much fun so thank you so much for your support with this.  

In our Maths learning we have been focusing on the composition of number four.  The children have been exploring different ways to make four; like showing three fingers on their right hand and one finger on their left, or building a tower with two blue bricks and two red.  This week we have begun to look at number five, recognising the numeral, counting accurately and representing five with fingers and objects.  Can your child show you ways to show four?  Can they remember ways to make one, two and three?

As a school we are developing our outdoor area, the children have shown great interest in exploring some of the new features.  They have accessed the sheds to select resources and equipment of their own choosing. The musical instruments and performance area have been popular, we have heard and joined in with many well-known songs. The mud kitchen is back in action, the children have learned how to change into the all in one outfits and boots and are loving the opportunity to be creative and messy.  The new water wall has been extremely popular, the children have experimented with the jugs, funnels and tubes with great pleasure.  

Following on what a great time your children are having accessing all the outdoor activities, can we please remind you to ensure your child has spare clothes in their blue drawstring bag in school. These have been sent home for you to check and replenish as required. Please send these back in with your child on their return to school after the half term break. We try to protect their clothing as much as we can; the children wear wellies when using the water wall and all in ones and wellies when using the mud kitchen. It is important that the children be allowed to play, explore and learn, this means sometimes they will get wet or dirty.  We can easily change the children into familiar clothes from their home, if they are in the bag.

Thank you for all the wow slips we are receiving, the children love the chance to share these with us and be celebrated in school.  If you need any more wow slips, please ask us at the door.  We have been so impressed with how many children are trying to be independent with their dressing for you at home.  We are always promoting independent skills in school, and even more so now that children are regularly changing into wellies and back into their shoes outside.  Perhaps your child could practise this during half term.

After half term our new theme is called ‘Once upon a time’ the children will be listening to, learning about and being involved with activities based on well-known stories. We look forward to finding out what their favourite stories will be.

Have a lovely half term.

Kind regards,

Miss Swan, Mrs Tree and the nursery team 

3.3.2023

Dear parents/carers,

What a wonderful couple of weeks we have enjoyed here in the nursery! We are well and truly underway with our current theme of ‘Are you sitting comfortably?’. Last week, the children were immersed in the traditional story of ‘Jack and the beanstalk’. Lots of learning centred  around producing work to add to a new display in the classroom. This work included practising writing the children’s first names on leaves to be added to a class beanstalk, paintings of ‘something’ from the story and completing a speaking and listening task to develop the children’s oracy skills whereby they had to verbalise their favourite part from the story using a full sentence! Look out for all this lovely learning going on display near the door soon!

This week the children have thoroughly enjoyed another traditional tale… ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. The children have been so busy again occupying their time in various activities and tasks. One of the highlights of the week has been the children using puppets in their own ‘Puppet Theatre’ and role playing the story of Little Red Riding Hood through the use of props and masks. An ‘invitation to play’ activity was also enjoyed by the children through exploring the colour red using different objects and materials of various textures and sizes. An art focussed activity had the children develop their colour mixing skills to create ‘grey’ to be able to paint and fill a whole class picture of the wolf from the story. Can your child recall the two different colours they had to mix? Some great discussions were had about making different shades and how adding more or less of white and black could create a darker or lighter effect.

Maths this week has included consolidating the children’s learning and understanding of numbers to 5. This included how well they can identify each numeral, what ways they can make the amounts and how they can compose the numbers. The children used their developing subitising skills to identify amounts to match a numeral. Can your child tell you what they are not to do when subitising?

We have now moved on to learning about number 6 and identifying the numeral and counting to that number. We even listened to a story about a cat called Sid who was very cheeky and lived in 6 different houses and enjoyed eating at these houses. How many meals did Sid enjoy altogether?

The weather has allowed some great use of the outside area; the garden. The children are really enjoying using their bodies to mount and play on the new swing. Children are using their creativity in the mud kitchen and on the ‘stage’ with instruments too.

Finally, we ended the week celebrating 'World Book Day' with the rest of the school. We watched a video of the wordless story 'Journey' which saw a little girl draw a red door which magically transported her into an imaginary land when she stepped through it. Here she drew other pictures with her red crayon and watched them as they came to life. The children were mesmerized and were tasked to draw their own pictures of things that they wished would become real/come to life using a red pencil crayon. Wat a lovely time we had!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Kind regards,

Miss Swan, Mrs Tree and all the nursery team 

17.3.2023

Dear Parents/Carers,

It has been a busy fortnight in Nursery as we continue our learning theme ‘Are you sitting comfortably.’

Last week, the children enjoyed another traditional tale, ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears.’ After being read the story, the children participated in a variety of related activities.  The children particularly enjoyed using spoons and scoops to explore porridge oats and pretend to make porridge for the bears.  They used their listening skills well to follow simple instructions to paint a bear. The children identified objects relating to the story and were encouraged to describe them and think about their materials. The children also worked so hard to learn the song ‘When Goldilocks went to the house of the bears.’ We wonder if your child can remember and sing any of the song to you? 

This week started with a science week assembly.  In class the children learnt what our five senses are and how they help us.  Can your child remember and tell you about them?  Some of the children used their sense of touch to explore what was inside feely boxes, they used their sense of taste to talk about their snack, and their sense of sight to complete a number hunt in the garden.  All of the children played a game in small groups, using their sense of smell to talk about the contents of some blacked out glass jars.  The children were encouraged to talk about what they could smell, attempt to describe the smell and guess what they were.  It is safe to say, nearly all the children correctly identified the chocolate! With Mothering Sunday looming, the children have been excited to work on a craft to take home to their Mummy or a special lady, we hope you enjoy these.  We think you will agree that this week ended on a high, with the wonderful singing performances from the children.  They worked hard on their singing and were so proud to have such an enthusiastic audience. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it.

In our Maths learning the children have been focusing on measuring and weighing.  Last week the children sorted items belonging to the Three Bears. They were encouraged to use the language, ‘big, middle sized and small’ to describe the items, the children also sorted them by size.  The children also learnt to use the words, ‘tall, short, taller and shorter’ to compare heights.  We thought back to the story of Jack and the beanstalk and compared the height of the characters and different size beanstalks.  Some of the children were interested to measure themselves on the height chart outside too.  This week we have introduced the language, ‘heavy, light, heavier and lighter to compare weights.  The children have used bucket scales to explore what happens when different objects are put on each side, and have been supported to use the new learnt language. 

Your child may have shared the exciting news that our school guinea pigs spent the week with us in our classroom.  Their names are Candy and Floss, and the children loved having them as our visitors.  The children all had a chance to stroke and have a cuddle with them.  Many of the children drew pictures and completed colouring in sheets of them.  We were really impressed with how calm and caring the children were, and with some of the children’s questions as they wanted to find out more about Candy and Floss.

You will have received an email this week informing you of the change of day for Library.  The children will have the opportunity to choose a new book every Tuesday from now on.  Thank you to all of the Parents/Carers who ensured their child had their book ready in their bag this week.  There were still a few children who did not bring their book bag and so did not get to choose a new book.  Please do let us know if you have any questions relating to the library books, it would be wonderful for all of the children to be able to share a school book with you at home.

We hope you enjoy a lovely weekend,

Kind regards,

Miss Swan, Mrs Tree and the nursery team

 31.3.2023

Dear Parents/Carers,

Is it really the end of the spring term already?! Wow! What a wonderful term of learning and playing we have enjoyed here in nursery. Here is a little overview of what the children have been up to these past couple of weeks.

Our maths learning has continued to explore weight (mass) and capacity. The children have enjoyed using various containers of different sizes and shapes to fill with various items such as liquids, pebbles, buttons, pom poms and natural materials. They have tried hard to use and apply the terms they have previously learnt to describe how much is in the container. Can your child recall these terms to tell you how much is in their cup/bowl/bath/bottle? We also used the terms to help us make different ‘meals’ in the mud kitchen. Some of the ingredients included ‘a nearly full cup of mud’, ‘a full cup of grass’ and ‘a nearly empty cup of stones’. How yummy!

Last week the children explored and learnt about the signs of ‘spring’. Although the weather isn’t reflecting too much ‘spring like’ weather at present, we were still able to discuss which animals are born around this time, what celebrations and festivals take place and which flowers we might see start to bloom and grow. One of the flowers that we seem to see everywhere at the moment and is one of the main signs of spring, is the daffodil. The children learnt about the different parts of a daffodil and explored observational drawing and colour through painting and creating pictures of spring flowers with various tools and techniques.

The children then moved on to learning about Easter and how Christians celebrate Easter. The children listened to the Easter story and explored signs and symbols such as bunnies, eggs and chocolate! The children had great fun being detectives outside in the garden and trying to hunt for pictures of the Easter bunny. On each picture was a shape that they then had to draw on their record sheet to aid their fine motor skills. The children have been busy making Easter cards and Easter treats to take home too! Whilst making our Easter treats, we discussed how chocolate changes from a hard solid to a soft liquid using heat to melt it. The children then took turns to mix in the corn flakes into the melted chocolate. Words heard to describe what they heard included ‘crunchy, crispy and scrunchy’ The temptation to not lick their fingers was intense to say the least!

Children are trying very hard with their phonics skills and have enjoyed ‘rhyme’ through creating a silly soup; putting various items into a bowl that all followed the same rhyme. The children then were very keen to repeat this activity independently during their choosing time. To aid the children’s communication and listening skills, the children have been listening very hard to Fred Frog and his fitness instructions. Oral segmenting and blending was the focus and Fred Frog gave the children a task to do using Fred talk and the children had to follow them. E.g. Can you j-o-g?

Messages:

• Blue change bags have gone home. Please could these be checked and replenished as required to include: trousers/leggings, top, socks, pants/knockers, flushable wet wipes.

We wish you and your families a restful and wonderful Easter break! Enjoy the chocolates and (fingers crossed) sunshine.

See you in the Summer term!

Kind regards,

Miss Swan, Mrs Tree and the nursery team

Class News Summer Term 2023

 28.4.2023

Dear Parents/Carers,

We hope you all enjoyed the Easter break, we have loved hearing from the children all about the adventures they have had during their time away from school.  We would like to welcome you back for the Summer Term and the final term for our Ducks Class.

Last week we welcomed the children back, a main focus was reinforcing the class rules and expectations.  The children impressed us with their ability to remember rules and explain why we should follow them.  The children showed continued confidence and independence in accessing a range of activities and playing cooperatively.  However, tidying up after activities is an aspect that we will continue to develop!

This week we started our new theme for the half term, ‘Let’s get packing.’ The children have been learning about London.  We looked at a map of the United Kingdom and talked about where we live and how London is our Capital City.  We met Paddington Bear and he showed the children different London Landmarks.  It was lovely for children to share some of their experiences and knowledge of seeing London on the TV and visiting with family.  The children enjoyed participating in a selection of London themed activities including, working collaboratively to make our own London bus. Can your child share with you any of the London landmarks they learnt about?  What was their favourite?

Last week in our Maths learning the children worked on their sequencing skills. They used the nursery rhyme ‘Incy Wincy Spider,’ a morning routine, and the story ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ to practise putting pictures in the correct order to make sure they make sense.  The children showed an understanding of the vocabulary; first, after that, next, before and finally.  Some children were also able to use some of these words to talk about their sequencing work.  This week we have focused on positional language. The children have completed a range of activities to support their understanding of the words on, under, in, out, in front and behind. 

This week has been extremely exciting for the Ducks Class who have started their formal phonics learning with their first Read Write Inc sessions.  They will be having daily sessions in which they will be learning a new sound.  They will also be reviewing previous sounds and learning to orally blend and segment words with the help of Fred (the frog) who only says the sounds in words.  As the sessions continue, the children will learn to blend sounds to read words. We hope you are as excited as we are to see them start their reading journey to becoming readers!  This week the children learnt the sounds m,a,s,d and t.  Perhaps you might look out for these letters as you see them in the environment?

A few reminders:

• Please can you ensure your child has their blue drawstring bag in school and that it has spare clothing.  The children participate in water and messy play and sometimes will need to change into clean, dry clothes.

• We love sharing your children’s WOW moments.  We have WOW certificates at the classroom door so please ask if you need extras.

• If you need someone different to collect your child, please email the school office or speak to us at the door to let us know.  It is also important that you ensure they know the password which they will need to tell us before we let your child leave with them.

Finally, thank you to the parents/carers who were able to join us on Thursday.  We hope you enjoyed spending time with your child and letting them share their school environment with you. 

We hope you enjoy a lovely weekend,

Kind regards,

Miss Swan, Mrs Tree and the nursery team 

12.5.2023

Dear Parents/Carers,

Here in the nursery we have enjoyed a lovely couple of weeks of fun and learning, including some much needed and appreciated spells of sunshine!

Last week, we were lucky (and excited) to receive a visit from a very enthusiastic and energetic man who introduced us to some African drums. Before his visit, we used the globe to locate the continent of Africa. We discussed how large it was, especially in comparison to the UK and talked about the types of animals that would live there and what the weather would be like in many of the countries there. 

The drumming man told us all about how one of the drums is made and how we can make different sounds and effects using the different parts of our hands and hitting various places on the drum. The children had an absolutely wonderful experience and all actively participated in the activities using their own drum. During the session we were split into 2 groups and were each taught a different ‘beat’ to drum along to. One group drummed the beat to ‘I like cake’, and the other group had ‘I like strawberries’. It was great to see so many children able to tap along to the beat accurately. Our drumming session culminated in us playing our drums along to the song ‘In the jungle’. We even got a chance to go a little ‘wild’ on our drums, just like some of the animals!

This week we ‘travelled’ to the extremely cold areas on our planet; the polar regions. We used the globe again to locate two areas. One is at the North Pole and one at the South Pole. Can your child recall which area the Arctic is found and which is where the Antarctic is? We learnt about some of the animals that live in the Arctic which include Arctic foxes, walruses and of course the polar bear! In the Antarctic we found out that many different penguins live here including the Emperor penguin, whales and seals. Linked to this learning, we were fortunate enough to be able to take part in a virtual talk with some lovely people from Edinburgh Zoo who helped us to learn more about the polar regions, its animals and how we can help to look after our environment. During the talk we were even able to see ‘real’ polar bears and rockhopper penguins. Can your child remember what colour skin a polar bear has? What does the ‘blubber’ do on many polar animals? It was a very informative and interesting talk!

Next week we will ‘travelling’ yet again to another area of the world that is quite the opposite to the polar regions… Australia.

Our maths learning is continuing at a pace and over the past fortnight the children have learnt about the terms ‘more’ and ‘fewer’, with lots of children trying hard to use these terms in their chosen activities. This week our maths learning has focussed on 2D (two dimensional) shapes and in particular; circles, triangles and rectangles. The children enjoyed watching a video about lots of shapes from the 2D family. Here is the link if you would like to watch it at home:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTeqUejf3D0&list=RDWTeqUejf3D0&start_radio=1

Our RWI (Read Write Inc) phonics lessons are also continuing to progress well. So far the children have been taught the sounds: m, a, s, d, t, I, n, p, g, o, c, k, u. Please refer to previous email correspondence for further information about how you can support your child at home.

We can’t end the email without mentioning the coronation celebrations that we enjoyed at the end of the last week. Hopefully you will have all managed to see the children’s artwork on display in the windows around the nursery classroom. They really are wonderful and the children worked so hard to create them. I think even King Charles himself would be very impressed!

Messages:

• Please can we request that children come to school preferably wearing shoes with straps (i.e not purely laces) therefore aiding their independence.

• At home time, please can the children refrain from playing with the outside area equipment such as the swing, mud kitchen and water station; thank you in advance.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Kind regards,

Miss Swan, Mrs Tree and the nursery team