Nursery Update 10.11.23

Dear Parents,

We’ve had an amazing week filled with meaningful Remembrance Day activities! The Pre-Schoolers crafted their own poppies using cupcake cases and delved into poppy-themed focus tuff trays, enhancing their language skills. Meanwhile, in Acorn class, we skillfully fashioned poppies from tissue paper and crafted our unique Remembrance Day candles. Sapling class opted for a creative approach, using sponges to print poppies and immersing themselves in the exploration of colours and colour mixing.

As the week comes to a close, we wish you all a fantastic weekend and eagerly anticipate celebrating Interfaith Week together in the coming week.

Best wishes

Nicole Miles   

Nursery Manager

Term dates:

Please see year-round and term time-only dates for Nursery, by clicking here.

Stars of the Week

Acorn: Star of the week goes to Penelope. Penelope has settled incredibly well and is demonstrating confidence with her colours, shapes and numbers up to five. Well done Penelope. 

Sapling: Star of the week goes to Harriet, for excellent toilet training. Well done, Harriet!

Beech: Star of the week goes to Hasan for making fantastic progress in writing his name. Super Job Hasan!

Oak: Star of the week goes to Frankie. Throughout the week Frankie has positively contributed to the Nursery Nativity rehearsals. He has demonstrated great vocalisation with the songs, supported by his actions. Well done Frankie!

Acorn

We kicked off the week with a bang, crafting our very own rockets and launching them into space to discover which ones soared the farthest. The challenge didn’t stop there—fine motor skills took centre stage as we delicately plucked stars from our night sky using tweezers. Counting skills also came into play as we determined who had more or less.

Transitioning into Remembrance Sunday, we immersed ourselves in the spirit of reflection. Creating personalised Remembrance candles to light at home and engaging in a vibrant paint-printing session with poppies, the week became a canvas of red, green, and black hues.

In our exploration of early mark-making, we ventured into the Forest School, using our fingers to etch meaningful marks into the soil. Leaves and sticks became our tools, adding layers of creativity to our outdoor adventures. Delving into the world of shapes, particularly those found in our surroundings, Wednesday’s welly walk became a captivating journey as we identified shapes in trees, leaves, and grass, and experimented with sticks to craft our own shapes.

Sapling

This week, our story of the week was Stick Man. Delving into wordless books, we encouraged the children to identify objects and characters in the pictures, fostering their creativity to craft unique stories.

In our mathematical adventures, we used a frog teddy to engage with numbers. The challenge was to throw the teddy onto a number and then express that number using our fingers. It was a playful and interactive way to reinforce numerical concepts.

Promoting sharing and turn-taking, we engaged in group time Jenga. Collaboratively building a tower with the blocks, we focused on following instructions, taking turns, and offering encouragement to one another.

In the spirit of Remembrance Day, we discussed the concept of helpers and engaged in imaginative play with fire stations and small-world toys. The children crafted their own poppy templates and flowers, adorning the room with these heartfelt creations. Our artistic endeavours extended to painting with fruits, using apples to craft poppy flowers and mixing blue and yellow paints to create a vibrant green grass backdrop for the poppies—a beautiful tribute to Remembrance Day.

Pre-School

This week in Pre-School, our story of the week was ‘First Festivals: Diwali Board Book,’ weaving together our themes of Diwali and Remembrance Day. Throughout the week, the children embarked on a journey of investigation and exploration, delving into their knowledge of Diwali. Alongside this festive exploration, we also delved into Remembrance Day, unravelling new vocabulary and diverse family traditions associated with the occasion. The children actively identified areas of curiosity about Remembrance Day, sparking their inquisitive spirits.

With the start of the new term, we introduced Phase 2 Phonics, honing in on the letter ‘S’ as our sound of the week. The children dedicated their focus to refining their listening and comprehension skills, actively engaging with the sound and incorporating a memorable action to aid retention. Practising the formation of the letter added a tactile dimension to our phonics journey.

In our mathematics sessions, the children continued their grasp of 2D shapes, engaging in discussions enriched with both informal and mathematical language. Concepts such as ‘sides,’ ‘corners,’ ‘straight,’ ‘flat,’ and ’round’ came to life as the children immersed themselves in understanding and articulating these geometric attributes. Adding an element of play, we introduced a puppet tasked with identifying shapes, and deliberately making mistakes. Together with the children, we established a playful signal to mark each whimsical error, fostering an interactive and engaging mathematical exploration.