Nursery 2024-2025
Summer Term
May
We celebrated Pyjamarama Day today in support of our class charity 'Book Trust', whose work includes providing all Nursery and Reception children with the gift of a story book and encouraging them to read for pleasure.
The children were excited to explore the story tables set up based on familiar books 'We're going on a bear hunt' and 'Handa's Surprise'. They used the wooden characters to act out the stories together.
We shared the story 'Godfrey is a Frog', about a frog's transformation, and related it to our own tadpoles. The children then took turns to observe the tadpoles before our trip to the pond where we would return them before half term break.
Together, we walked over to the pond. Once we arrived, we made sure to distance ourselves from the edge. The children listened carefully to Miss Rickman and watched as she returned our tadpoles home. The children excitedly waved goodbye. We look forward to paying another visit to the pond and potentially seeing some fully grown frogs.
They also enjoyed a little run around on the pitch before we headed back to Nursery for snack time.
Reading with Year 6
Later, some lovely pupils from Year 6 paid us a visit to share stories with groups of Nursery children.
We had a relaxing end to our Pyjamarama Day. We drank delicious hot chocolate and watched a film from the author Julia Donaldson whose books we often explore. It was such a fun day! Thank you to the parents/carers who were able to donate to our class charity!
Honey Sandwiches
After seeing bees in our garden we have been sharing stories and rhymes about bees. We also made our own honey sandwiches.
Learning Outside
We have been enjoying the lovely weather and learning through play in our foundation stage garden.
April
Painting Dragons
When selecting a new colour, they cleaned their brushes by dipping them in water and dabbing them dry on a paper towel. They chose whether they needed a thicker or a thinner brush.
Fishing for tadpoles!
We had a walk over to the school pond to look for some tadpoles to take back to our classroom so that we could look at them closely. On the way we spotted some big work vehicles: a dumper truck, an excavator and a tractor. We liked watching them work. When we arrived at the pond, we had to take care not to fall in! We watched as Miss Rickman carefully dipped in a bucket and she caught some tadpoles! We are going to look after them in our classroom and watch how they change.
Parachute Fun
We had a really good time playing some parachute games in the hall. We had to take off our socks and shoes and listen really carefully. We worked together to make the parachute move up and down. We played games where we got to play under and on top of the parachute.
Spring Term
March
Growing
The children excitedly observed their bean plants starting to grow.
Eid ul-Fitr
The children learnt about the Eid festival and how families and friends come together to celebrate.
Freshwater Theatre visit
We had a visit from Freshwater Theatre and we went on a Fairytale Hunt. There were clues hidden around the hall that we had to find to help to tell three different fairytales. We really enjoyed listening to the stories and getting involved.
Planting beans!
We have been reading about 'Jasper's Beanstalk'. We have planted our own beans! We used our hands to pot the soil and bury the bean, then we gave it some water. We talked about all the things that plants need.
We are going to keep the pots in the classroom and watch what happens!
World Book Day
On world book day we could choose to come to school in our pyjamas or dressed as a book character. Reading is very important in nursery. We love to share books together every day. We choose a book to take home each week to share with our families.
February
Pancake Day
This week we have been learning about Shrove Tuesday. We watched some videos all about it. We took turns choosing our toppings and putting them on our pancakes. Then we rolled them up and ate them! They were delicious!
Keeping Safe Week
During our whole school keeping safe week the nursery learnt about staying safe at home and in school. They also learnt about the role of fire fighters and the ways in which they help us to stay safe. The children took on roles in their play, pretending to be fire fighters and call handlers.
The children enjoyed exploring blue spaghetti! They used scissors to cut the spaghetti into shorter pieces. Staff modelled comparative language 'longer' and 'shorter'. Children were keen to share their own experiences of spaghetti and noodles.
January
We had fun on the balance bikes in the big playground. We tried very hard to stay up on our bikes, we stretched our legs to move ourselves quicker.
After reading the story ‘The Gingerbread Man’ the children enjoyed making their own gingerbread people. They also enjoyed watching ‘The Musical Story of the Gingerbread Man’ featuring musicians from the BBC Philharmonic.
The children have had a range of opportunities to use one-handed tools. The particularly enjoyed making their own fruit salad. They chopped soft fruit including bananas, grapes and tinned pears.
After looking at photos of apple trees in the autumn we visited the orchard on our winter walk. We noticed the apple trees had no leaves or apples on them. We did see some brown mushy leaves on the ground.
After reading the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears the children had the opportunity to explore both wet and dry porridge oats. They also enjoyed making their own porridge to eat.
Welcome to the Spring term! We have already had a fantastic start to the new year and we are really excited about all the fun learning we have planned over the coming weeks.
We would also like to welcome our new families who will be joining us this term.
Please take some time to read the newsletter. As always, if you have any questions please come and speak to us,
Miss Rickman and Mrs. Brawn
Autumn Term
December
We had lots of fun celebrating Christmas in December. We decorated our classroom and made some cards to take home. We had a Christmas party and even had a visit from Santa. We heard stories about the first Christmas when Jesus was born.
November
Nursery have enjoyed reading the story of 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen. As a class we have read and re-told the story through small world activities and sensory experiences. The children had lots of fun touching and describing the different materials that appear throughout the story.
In provision Nursery have focused on creating bear pictures using handprints and paint as well as creating bear masks from paper plates, brown craft paper, paint and markers.
Nursery had lots of fun learning about bonfire night both indoors and in the EYFS garden. We built a pretend bonfire by collecting lots of sticks and leaves. Some children even used toy fire trucks to "put the fire out!"
During continuous provision, children made paper sparklers from coloured tissue paper and paper straws.
At carpet time Nursery watched and listened to videos of fireworks before using coloured scarfs to pretend to be a firework.
September
This half-term Nursery children have begun to settle into their new classroom, becoming familiar with routines, rules and having enjoyed exploring the many resources available within the indoor and outdoor areas. Children have begun to form friendships and started to understand the qualities of kindness, sharing and turn taking.
Nursery and Reception have chosen to support the BookTrust as their class charity.
Autumn Theme - 'Let's Celebrate'
This term our theme is ‘Let’s Celebrate’. This theme will give the children lots of opportunities to learn about themselves, their friends and their teachers. We’ll celebrate one another’s achievements and the qualities which make us each unique and special. We’ll celebrate friendship, family and the people who are important to us. The children will also learn about and celebrate a selection of autumn festivals including Harvest, Diwali and Christmas.
We want to make learning exciting for your child and we welcome any ideas from home.
