Week 8

This week has been another busy week.  As part of science week we have explored lots of different ideas doing fun experiments.  Our first experiment was making fireworks in a glass bottle.  We had to add food colouring to oil and water in a bottle.  When we tipped it upside down the different ingredients reacted with each other and made tiny fireworks.

We loved doing to tasteless tongue experiment because we got to have sweets!  We started off blindfolded and we had to pinch our noses tight , this was to make sure we couldn't see or smell the sweet.  We then started to chew our sweet but were amazed that we couldn't tell which flavour sweet we had.  After a while we took off our blind fold and were able to stop pinching our noses.  This was like magic because all of a sudden we could taste which flavour sweet we were eating.  Why don't you try it home?

Our last day of this half term has been lots of fun, because it was Oreo's 4th birthday.  This week we have been very busy preparing for his surprise party.  We all helped to make and decorate birthday buns and we wrapped up Oreo's present together.  At Oreo's party we sand to him and gave him all our cards that we had made and then we had a game of pass the parcel.  We giggled lots as we played the balloon game, passing the balloon over and under to each other.  It was a great way to end a very busy half term.

Week 7

We started our week with a wonderful visit to the local library.  We were all really sensible walking to library and enjoyed talking about the things that we saw and heard.   We listened to the traffic on the main road and heard lots of different sounds.  When we first arrived we had a story all about animals living in the jungle.  One of the stories was called "Little Monkey".  It was a fun story all about the troubles of being small.  After the story we worked in small teams and  went on a hunt around for pictures of the monkey. It was lots of fun!  We also enjoyed a special snack and a play in the library.  Before we left we all got to choose a book to take back to nursery,  Each day we have been voting for whose story we would like to hear next. 

This week in phonics we have started to learn all about instrumental sounds.  We have practised listening carefully to the different sounds that they make and have even played guess my instrument.  We were all very good at listening carefully but we enjoyed playing the instruments more.  We have even made our own instruments by recycling bottles and yoghurt pots.  We put lentils, rice or pasta in the bottles to make shakers or rainmakers and elastic bands helped us to make guitars and harps.  

This week we have started to do 'Write Dance'.  This is a programme that helps us to develop our motor skills.  We start by listening to a story and a piece of music.  After this we practise adding moving to the music with our arms.  We felt a bit silly at first but then we used wet cotton wool on the table or small pieces of crayon on a huge piece of paper to repeat the movements.  It is very good because we have to use both hands so it helps us recognise which hand is the strongest and has the most control for mark making and writing.  We can't wait to do it again next week.  

Week 6

It has been a brilliant week in Nursery with lots of things happening and many things to celebrate. In maths we have been practising ordering hand and foot prints from the biggest to the smallest.  We have also learnt all about Freddie Four.  He has helped us to recognise the numeral 4.   We love listening to the characters story and song before we explore counting and recognising the numeral in the environment.  This week we have used our measuring skills to help us to bake shortbread biscuits.  We cut them into the shape of hearts to go with our topic all about love.  

On Tuesday we had our first parent session.  We invited all of our grown up to join us in lots of fun activities. We decorated our heart shaped biscuits and painted our salt dough hand prints.  We created a beautiful heart for our grown up whilst they wrote to tell us why they love us so much.  It was lovely reading what all the grown ups said about us.   Our grown ups also had fun in our learning environment.  They helped us to build tall towers, played in the water with us and even helped us to create play dough families.  It was great to see all the children have such fun with their families.  

Health and self-care is a prime area in the Early Years curriculum.  This area of learning helps us to understand the importance of food and drink and eating a healthy diet  and it also teaches us how to take care for ourselves, including getting dressed and undressed.  This week Mrs Blakemore was very proud of all the Superheroes in Nursery because we can all put our coats on independently.  It has been fun and a little bit tricky along the way, but we have now mastered putting our coat on the floor and flipping it over our heads and pushing our arms through our sleeves.  If your not sure what we mean then just ask the children and  they will proudly demonstrate.  

This week we have also enjoyed sharing our achievements outside of school. Some of our achievements include being player of the match and learning to ride a bike with more independence.  It really has been lovely sharing your WOW moments and we hope to receive many more.  Remember to ask for more WOW moment slips from any of the adults in nursery.

Next week we are looking forward to going on our first visit to the Library, so please don't forget our coats! 

Week 5

It has been another fun filled week in nursery.  Being imaginative is an important part of learning in the Early Years and this week we have had lots of fun using our imaginations both indoors and outdoors.  We have pretended to be dinosaurs roaming around the woodland and chased our friends.  We have also used our imaginations to create all sorts of wonderful thing in the construction area and we have created our own adventures using the small world.  You can help us develop these skills at home by encouraging us to use our toys and add a storyline to our play.

In maths we have enjoyed singing the song "Five Little Speckled Frogs."  We loved using the little frogs to jump off the log into the pool.  We even sang the song by ourselves and found the matching Ten Town characters as we counted back.

We had fun playing a game of 'Mirror, mirror on the wall', where we had the use a mirror to look closely at ourselves.  We talked about the things that we could see and how we are similar and different from our friends.  We quickly recognised that our hair and eyes are different colours.  We found it funny talking about the shape of our noses and our mouths.  We discovered that although we all had two lips, they are all different shapes and sizes, just like our noses!  What do you see when you look in the mirror?  You could try this at home and investigate if you have the same shape nose and lips as other people in your family.  

On Friday we enjoyed our British Values Day by starting the day with a vote on our story of the day.  We each had a cube to use as a vote and Mrs Blakemore read the story with the most votes.  We are going to continue to use this strategy to help us to understand how we each have the right to a voice.  

Week 4

This week we have read the story, 'Stick Man' by Julia Donaldson.  It is a wonderful rhyming story all about a Stick Man "who lives in his family tree with his Stick Lady Love and their stick children three".  Using the theme of the story we used the woodland area to collect lots of different sticks.  In maths we used the sticks to play a game of 'pick up sticks' and we counted who collected the most sticks.  We compared the height of the sticks by saying which one was the tallest and shortest.  Also in maths this week we have been learning to recognise the numeral 2 with the help of Tommy Two from Ten Town.  We went on a hunt around the classroom for the number and then counted the correct number of objects to match the number.

This week we started to learn all about environmental sounds by going on a sound walk around school.  We heard lots of different things like the photocopier, the hand dryer, the bell, doors creaking, people talking, car horns and we even heard chickens!  We had lots of fun making loud and quiet sounds outside using the beaters.

Our collective worship this week focused on loves.  We thought about who we love and tried to give reasons why we love them so much.  We remembered that God loves us all. 

Week 3

It has been another busy week in Nursery and the children are all doing so well. They are all much more confident and are getting used to the daily routines.  We are much better at being "Give me 5 champions" when sitting on the carpet and are remembering to use our quiet voice when moving around school too.  We were much better at sitting quietly in assembly and enjoyed celebrating all the children's achievements.  

This week we have continued with our topic "Why do you love me so much?" by talking about the people and things that we love.  It was great to find out more about themselves and their families.  As part of our topic we went on a walk around our playground and thought about the things that we like and don't like.  The children were very funny making happy or sad faces to show their feelings.  

Inside the classroom this week we have been very busy developing our finger muscles.  We have made playdough and spent a lot of time squashing and shaping it into different shapes.  We have even made birthday cakes for our friends and sang the birthday song.   On our 'Busy hands' table we have been trying to squeeze the tweezers to pick up the pasta.  It's a lot trickier than it sounds and we found this a challenge.  

Outside it is beginning to feel more like Autumn everyday!  We have had fun kicking and playing with the leaves and yesterday we found our favourite leaves and tried really hard to draw around them. It was tricky but fun!

In our circle time this week we have celebrated who we are and enjoyed thinking about how special we are to our family and friends but also how we are all precious to God too.  We used our hand print to sign our class hearts to symbolise that we are all part of Nursery and we love each other.

Next week we are going to spend time looking at photographs of each other as a baby and with our families.  If you have not brought yours to school yet please bring them next week.  We can't wait to see your cute baby pictures.

Week 2

This week has been a very busy week having lots of new experiences.  On Monday we were very excited to have a poet visit school.  We started the day in the hall where Paul told us lots of funny poems that he had written.  Later in the morning he visited us in Nursery and we created our own poem.  It went something like this....

     "Who do we love?

    What do I love?

I love my mummy,

I love my brother

And I love my dog.

Yeah!

I love my daddy,

I love my sister

And I love spider man! 

Yeah!

Who do I love?

What do I love?

I love school,

I love my teachers

And I love all of you!

Yeah!"

We have also had our first PE lessons with Mr Johnson.  We went into the hall and explored different ways of travelling and we did some great listening to instructions when we played the traffic light game.  We can't wait to see him again next week.

On Friday we went on an adventure around school.  We had to find all the classrooms and we even went in to say hello to all the older boys and girls.  We loved reading books in the library and had a big run around on the big playground.

It has been a very busy week and we are all settling in so well.  We are looking forward to having fun and do more exciting activities next week. 

Week 1