We have started a well-being Wednesday on Tapestry. Each week you will be sent home a link, activity or idea for you do do with you child. The idea is to take a few minutes away from the stresses and strains of our busy lives and do something that will help us have fun and be present with each other.❤️
Have fun and send us some photos of how you got on.⭐️

Don’t forget to send us some photos in via tapestry so your child can take part in show and tell.😊

Inflatable fun day was amazing. The children had so much fun.❤️
    

We had a lovely leavers celebration for our school leavers this week. We played some games, enjoyed refreshments and had an award celebration.

We wish them well and know they will be fantastic in their next adventure to reception.❤️⭐️
    

We have been exploring technology, the children have enjoyed operating a mechanical crane and completing a challenge to move a cargo crate from one side to the other. They have demonstrated skill and focus to complete the task. The remote control cars have been popular this week and the children are now understanding not to move the cars with their hands but to use the remote control to make them go forwards and backwards.

We have explored torches and how to turn them on and off, the children have enjoyed following the beams of light on the floor and ceiling. 

This week the children have been curious learners and have followed instructions, they have shown perseverance when trying new skills.

we were very lucky to have a visit from the baby chicks that were hatched in our reception class. 

the children are really enjoying learning about the creatures that live under the sea. We have made up our own song, ask the children to sing it to you and we have created a wonderful display of magnificent sea creatures. We have taken part in lots of activities relating to the sea. 
 

Our STEM building activity was engaged by all this week. Some children linked their creativity to our theme of Commotion in the ocean and made jellyfish and an octopus. This activity helped the children’s fine motor skills, creativity, perseverance and their own way of thinking of ideas.

Our first week of Commotion in the ocean has been so popular. 😊 The children have all been so engaged with every activity both inside and out. They are using new language in their play linked to the theme and getting excited when they tell us new facts they have remembered about one of the sea creatures. 
We have sent some things home on Tapestry that we have found fascinating. The daddy seahorse giving birth and the octopus changing colour was two of our favourites.❤️🐙

Look out for the pufferfish next week!!🐡👍

Our first week back was engaging, fun and extremely busy. We can’t believe we are in term 6 already. Our parents consultations went really well and we would like to thank all our parents who joined us for them.😊

The children loved a surprise visit from Hugo. They were really confident and careful when handling him. They stroked his head and shell then discussed how it felt. We then got creative and worked together as a team to create a collage of Hugo.❤️🐢

This week the children have been creating pictures using shapes. They have made rockets, people, homes and cars. We played group games with the mark making dice to draw big shapes on the floor and children enjoyed painting shapes on the sheet outside.❤️

Following a couple of our children’s interests we made a tornado using empty water bottles this week. The children were all completely engaged and excited throughout this activity. They even came up with their own ideas of what we could do when the water started to leak out, “I know we could use more tape on it or use some different glue maybe?”

They worked together as a team and took turns making sure everyone had a go at doing something on this very exciting science project.❤️

Watching the tornado in the bottle was amazing as the children were fascinated with how it actually happened. This was discussed in detail and the children asked many questions along the way.

We are very lucky to work in Early Years as days like these means we can spontaneously change our planning and go with the children’s fascinations and interests. ❤️⭐️🌪

So much fun, exploring and learning took place.👍🌍

Our role-play doctors this week was a huge success. The children took on roles as patients and doctors really well. They interacted with each other in a caring manner and showed good understanding of what a doctor does and what a patient may need to get better.
They were able to use all the instruments/equipment correctly,  listening to each other’s heart beats and made comments on what they heard, “I can hear boom, boom. It sounds like a drum. It’s going fast now.”

We can’t wait to see how the children extend their play next week.❤️🚑

Extending the theme The very Hungry caterpillar we have been exploring lots of different bugs. The children are fascinated with this topic and have loved finding bugs in our outdoor space and looking at them through our magnifying glasses. We have noticed the detailed features of the bugs such as the colour, size and how many legs and used this information to create fantastic drawings and paintings.

We had a visit from Sanchez the African land snail and some of the children were brave and held him. We talked about how we need to be kind and caring to all living things.

We have been practicing using our pincer grip as we threaded string through pictures of bugs and threaded very small beads onto a pipe cleaner, the children demonstrated concentration and perseverance with this activity.

The very hungry caterpillar has been a huge success with all the children. We have introduced the children to the story, created their own caterpillars using a variety of construction, made caterpillars in the sand, and introduced them to symmetry.

Our Wendy house turned into a bug hotel where the children shared stories together, looked at real life pictures of bugs and used magnifying glasses to notice the detailed features of each one.

By the end of the week the children were using the props and were retelling the story by themselves and also with others. 
Keep an eye out for next week as we are continuing our bug theme.🐜🪳🪲🦗

We have been exploring the Season Spring. We have looked at the new leaves growing on our trees and talked about how the weather is getting warmer and the flowers are growing in our environment. 

We have been singing a new song all about spring, we have added a link to each child's tapestry account for you to join in. 

We have been very creative making decorative playdough flowers and flower collages.

The children who are moving to Reception have been trying really hard with their scissor skills and pencil control, we will continue to practice these until the end of the Summer term. 

      
The children enjoyed describing daffodils and then using the correct colours to paint them, the results were very impressive. 
As you are out and about look for signs of Spring with your children. You could even take some photos and upload them to your child’s Tapestry account. 

We would like to welcome you all black after the Easter break. The children have come back and settled into the routine really well. Our new children have finished their first week of settling in sessions and are enjoying exploring the environment.❤️⭐️
We have been singing lots of number songs this week. The links are below for you to enjoy and sing together at home.😊

The children have been singing along with words, actions and they have also been representing number using their hands when each animal from the song gets taken away.

Five green speckled frogs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtX8yVEF0-w

Five little ducks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZw9veQ76fo

Five little monkeys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0NHrFNZWh0

Ten green bottles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPCzwqbFAn0

Here are a few photos of the children exploring and learning this week.⭐️

    
This week the theme is ‘I can.’

The children have been developing their perseverance, resilience and independence. They have been accepting challenges and showed us their determination.
We are super proud at how well they got on. Below are some photos from the week.

I can...

persevere with puzzles         pour with control                 build a tower
    

use alternate feet               build enclosures            look after living things

       

take turns in games        make up my own songs     jump confidently 

The children have also been developing their independence skills at snack time, toileting, washing their hands, tidy up time, taking off and putting on their coats. 
If you would like any ideas and tips on how to support and encourage your child’s independence then don’t hesitate to ask a member of staff.😊

When you child has managed to complete something independently don’t forget to share this amazing news with us on Tapestry. We love to hear all about your child’s home learning.❤️

Calling all super heroes to nursery for a fun filled theme of Supertato!
The children enjoyed many stories and activities linked to this theme. They loved dressing up and expressing their creative sides and taking on roles with other children.

The children tasted new fruit and vegetables and discovered their likes and dislikes. They discussed if it was sweet, sour, soft or crunchy. 
The curiosity cube had fruit and the super veggies from the stories. Everyday the children would ask questions and discuss what they saw with staff and each other.

    
You can send us photos on Tapestry of your children eating their favourite healthy snacks at home.👍😋

The children created their very own superheroes together. They shared equipment and talked to each other about what they could look like, what powers they could have and if they were bad or good.

Introducing Evil Green. “Evil green is a green colour and fights the bad guys. So he is a good guy really. He has got icy powers and has a strong ability and can pick up cars just like Hulk. He is the best jumper in the world. When people touch his hair they freeze cause he has freezed powers.”
    

Introducing Lexi Rainbow. “This name is Lexi Rainbow with unicorn powers and rainbow powers. She’s a superhero with glitter hair. When she presses the green button she gets Evil Pea away. The blue button shoots out ice and the purple button shoots out webs.”

We think they look absolutely amazing and we hope you agree. They are up on our wall for everyone to admire and talk about.👍❤️👀

Comic relief tied in with our theme perfectly and we all dressed up as superheroes. We had nurses, marvel characters, DC characters, princesses, characters from the Supertato stories and many more. So much fun was had by all.😊👍

World book day was celebrated by children engaging with stories 1:1 and in groups. We had a visit from our very good friend Winnie the witch who read us her favourite story.

On Tapestry we sent home a story read by Nursery staff everyday so that these can be shared together with your child. ❤️📗

Mark making is really important in a child’s development. By providing fun and new ways to experiment and explore marks the children become fascinated and more confident which will then lead onto them becoming better writers later on in their school life.

This week we have used natural resources (sticks and mud) to create marks on the easel outside. The children have been drawing round each other and then adding detailed features of the body. Whilst playing with the trains in dry sand they noticed the marks left behind which led on to a discussion about long and short and how we compared the lengths.

Using clear easels and mirrors gave the children a new way of exploring how to paint portraits of each other. They thought it was so much fun and stayed in these activities for periods of times wanting to repeat them over and over again.😊

We created a large mark making activity on the floor where we listened to different genres of music and made marks on the paper inspired by the music. We especially loved classical music as the children found this calming. The children also loved the dance music as the movements they made were fast and energetic. 🖍🤩
    
 

Flour, glitter and a range of mark making tools was also a hit.👍 The children explored the sensory tray and found they could make different marks using different tools.
They were strengthening their muscles and gaining control of the tools as they used them.❤️

Below are some useful links to do with mark making.

Pinterest mark making ideas.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jodytaylor22/mark-making-early-years/

Why is mark making important?

https://www.pacey.org.uk/mark-making/

We have celebrated Chinese new year by creating a beautiful dragon, digging for gold coins in the bright red rice, practicing Chinese writing and tasting Chinese noodles kindly made by Mrs Sutton. We also took part in a Chinese animal yoga session where we held poses of all the zodiac animals.

The children loved the story of the great race and how Chinese people celebrate their traditions. We have provided you with the links below to enjoy these at home together.

Celebrating Chinese New Year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cRMRp9-Z08

The Zodiac story (The great race)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVClAj8q_lY

Chinese New Year song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D5afVVBjY4

As a part of Mental health week one of our days was focused on sensory play. Whilst we listened to calming music the children immersed themselves in a variety of sensory activities. 
They made mud dough (warm water, soap flakes and tissue all mixed together) cloud dough (conditioner and cornflour mixed together) They also explored the sounds rice made falling into metal bowls and made potions with coloured foamy water.

The energy levels in the room was calm and focused. The children confidently explored the room and interacted with each other in a kind and friendly way. So much fun was had.❤️👍😃

We have sent a link home on Tapestry for other sensory play ideas. Have a go at home with your child and send us some pictures through your child’s account.

 

❤️❤️Our families at home have been super busy with all their own learning. They have been learning how to care for their pets, bake, be creative, use scissors and write numbers. Here are a few photos they have sent us on Tapestry. We really do love looking at all the children’s remote learning. Keep it up. ❤️❤️
    

Following the children’s interest and fascinations with animals we adapted our environment and planning. Having done this the children were excited and involved in everything that was going on. We read animal stories, encouraged and modelled how to use ICT to find out facts, used animals in numerous maths and creative activities.
We all took part in Dear Zoo yoga and many fun physical animal songs, animal boogie still being their favourite.❤️

A tough tray of water turned into ice over night and kept the children engaged and fascinated for long periods of time. They independently got tools and other items to explore the ice. They engaged with each other and shared resources, taking turns beautifully. ❤️ 
The children noticed that the ice started to melt and they were trying to figure out how they could freeze it again, “We could put it in the fridge. I know. We could put it in a cold place, not by the sun.
    

Here is a fantastic playdough recipe. The children enjoyed making this with us and then we had a playdough gym session together. The children followed our instructions and was able to squeeze, roll, pinch, squash and poke the playdough. 

Later on the children used the playdough to cover all the animals. This helped to develop their perseverance, pincer grip and focus on an activity for a long period of time.

Have a go at making playdough together at home and send some photos of your child using the playdough on Tapestry. 

This week we have looked into our snack time and developed it so the children can be more independent. They have prepared their own toast, bagels, porridge and a selection of fruit. 
The children have enjoyed this time together and we have noticed the social interaction grow between them. Their understanding, and confidence is growing and are able to make their own preferences known.❤️😋👍

Below is a link to the relaxing music we have listened to in the background whilst we have been exploring. It has helped us to stay calm and focused. Try it at home and let us know on Tapestry how you get on. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqklulvlTls

Our shape hunt activity was a huge success. The children used their shape finders and found their matching shape in the environment. We used positional language to help the children find more. We left them out for the rest of the week and the children independently used them many times each session.
    

Some of the children showed a real interest in the story of Cave baby. This interest led onto an amazing creative painting session where the children created marks like the baby did in the story. They modelled kind behaviour towards each other and shared the resources beautifully.

We created a display in our room where the children can be reminded of the story and the learning they experienced together.

The children made bird feeders this week using lard, seeds and worms. They found their own sticks and squashed all the ingredients together on there. They will be bringing them home for you to place in your garden for the birds to feed on. Let us know how you get on. You can upload photos onto tapestry.

We took advantage of the cold mornings by exploring outside. The children found out what happened when they touched the leaves and grass. We talked about how things felt and also explored the marks we could make on some surfaces. 
If you are at home with your child explore a frosty morning together and send us some photos on Tapestry for us to see.

    
🎄🎄We would to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. We look forward to seeing you in the new year.🎄🎄

The children...and staff had a fantastic time at the nursery disco. The children played games and showed us their amazing dance moves.

    
We had a visitor in the night!🎅🏼 He left us some delicious cakes to eat at snack time.😋

The children really loved making Christingles and reindeer food. They will be taking them home on their last day with all the other creative things they have made.❤️
    

Christmas has arrived in nursery!🌠🎄

The children’s role-play area has been turned into a Christmas shop and the children have dressed up and taken on the roles of Father Christmas and elves.

Some of the other activities were exploring numbers, ice, creating pictures on the light box, cutting out snowflakes and also being introduced to the Nativity story.

Our curiosity cube has also taken on a festive theme and the children have been fascinated by the different shapes and items in there.👀

We ended the week with so much energy and fun😊 Friday was our Christmas jumper day and we also took part in the Santa dash with the school.
We showed determination and a ‘can do attitude’ as we all ran around our playground many times earning ourselves a medal and certificate.📜🥇

We are super proud of you all.❤️👍

The whole school focused on a short clip/video this week and planned activities around it. We chose ‘The big night’ Sainsbury’s Christmas advert. 
We watched this advert with the children everyday and discussed how the children felt at the beginning of their show and at the end. 
Next we chose ‘reach for the stars’ to sing and dance to. The children did a fantastic job at singing and dancing to this and it was amazing to watch their confidence grow as the week went on.

Below is the link to the advert and song for you to watch and join in with your child at home.

The big night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvXBbsRU83Q

Reach for the stars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50kP4S0peAs

The Christmas story in sand.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/lets-celebrate-christmas-story

Our space theme has continued this week and the children have blown us away with all the new words they are using in their play. We have explored exciting new objects in our curiosity corner, matched the pants from the aliens love underpants story and explored paint with various utensils to create a space effect on black paper.

We had an exciting delivery of tall cardboard box this week. The children decided we could turn it into a rocket so we looked at the big box story as an example of what we might need to do. They worked together as a team and helped to decorate it with paint, pens and stars.

We think they have done an amazing job and it will be an exciting item to our space role-play resources for next week.

World nursery rhyme week has been a huge success. The children have developed their singing and enjoyed many activities linked to nursery rhymes, their favourite being ‘I’m a little teapot’ with the real china teapots and cups.

We have sent nursery rhymes and links home everyday on Tapestry so the children can continue their fun and learning with their families.

Here are some links to some of the things the children have loved this week.

Solar system song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ-qLUIj_A0&list=RDBZ-qLUIj_A0&start_radio=1

Whatever next story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0XQ9YhWd_Y

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blast off! 
The children have been excited and fully engaged with our new theme Space. 
We now have a space station in our room with astronaut costumes and props. They have to navigate through space avoiding all the planets using the control panel.

Outside the children have been mixing colours to create planets and developing their gross motor skills and perseverance with the rocket ring toss.

Our curiosity cube has provoked thinking and thoughts this week. The children have noticed if something has been added and they have been asking each other questions or making comments about the natural world and objects inside, “What planet is this? Where did that come from? This is Mars it’s hot and red.”

Following on from our story Aliens love underpants the children used play dough and a variety of items to be imaginative and create their own aliens. They had so much fun that they stayed at this activity for long periods of time. We decided to keep this out for them to revisit for the rest of the week. They adapted their models, extended their learning and language throughout the week using new worlds linked to our theme.

The children have loved exploring our new room and spacious outdoor environment. They have enjoyed all the new areas and independently accessed the equipment confidently both inside and outside.👍

Autumn has been our focus this week alongside settling into our new environment.

The children have explored leaves in depth and learnt all the different colours they change into. They investigated them on the light box, in our new curiosity cube and moved them around to create imaginative pictures.

We have been counting conkers, going on nature walks and used our senses with all the interesting things we found.

Halloween fun was had by all. Lots of creative and interesting activities were explored independently by the children. We especially loved learning a new song called '5 little Pumpkins' You can click on the link below to sing along together at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trDl36m9pgA

The children have been developing their problem solving skills this week. They were set different challenges to think about how they could solve the problem. We have been so impressed with their thinking, ideas and how they tested their theories.

One challenge outside was to get the water from one box to the other without lifting the box. The children thought about how they could do this for a little while. They were able to tell us their ideas and then put them into practice, "I know lets use our hands. We could use a scooper. Not this one it's got holes in it. The water will go."

There was so much energy, focus and resilience throughout the whole activity. The children were helping each other if they noticed their friend needed support, they were able to select their own resources independently to complete the problem and were proud of their accomplishment when they had completed the challenge.

Inside the children had a Numicon challenge where they were asked to fill the board using all the pieces, thinking about how they needed to turn them around to fit correctly.

A dinosaur also came along and destroyed a numbered tower that the children had to build again with the numbers in the correct order.

We are working very hard to encourage the children's independent skills when it comes to putting on/taking off coats, hand washing, toileting and tidying up. It would be really good if you could support us with this at home. Let us know if there is anything you need support on.

Our focus this week has been colour, shape and number. The children have enjoyed many fun and engaging activities. They have especially enjoyed learning a new counting and shape song. Please find the link below to these songs and you can sing them together at home.

The magnetic shapes have been a great way to recognise and create shapes but also it has sparked the children's imagination as they made pizza, castles, houses and chocolate.

We went on a number hunt outside together and the children were able to find all the hidden numbers. Some were able to recognise the numerals 1-5. Inside we played the colour train game. The children had to find different objects from around the room and match them to the correct coloured carriage. As you can see in the photos the children did an amazing job. 

The children have been so creative using the shaped paper to create their own masterpieces. We have put them up in class for them to see as they were all so proud of them.

The Gingerbread man has been our focus this week. We have modelled how to tell the story in many forms for example books, video clips, puppets and acting. By the end of the week the children could all join in with the repeated refrain. The children played with puppets and retold parts of the story together.

Our role-play area got turned into the gingerbread mans house and the children shared resources and acted out everyday actions.

We used the chalks outside to explore large mark making on the floor and drew characters from the story and lines on the floor for him to follow modelling directional language along the way.

We set a challenge for the children. We created a river for the gingerbread man to cross and then we asked the children to think of different ways  he could get across without getting wet. The children amazed us with their ideas and came up with, "On a boat, on the fox, build a bridge, go around and jump over."

Together they decided to build a bridge and demonstrated perseverance whilst using new resources that were  tricky to use.

We have introduced the children to beat baby this week. Everyday we took part in a new rhyme/game which helps the children with their listening and attention, following instructions, keeping a steady beat and building up self confidence by joining in with others.

This week we have focused on music and movement. The children have all been highly engaged with singing, dancing, tapping out rhythms and developing their gross motor skills by using the items from our windy day box outside.

We have especially enjoyed dancing and moving along to the story Animal Boogie. Please click on the link below to enjoy this story at home with your child.

We explored different ways of moving outside by reading action cards. The children jumped, ran, rolled, tiptoed and took long and short strides. 

This week the children have enjoyed our theme of nursery rhymes. We have practiced many rhymes together and are extremely impressed with how they are remembering the words. We used the tap sticks to help the children to keep a steady beat and they were able to follow instructions to tap them fast, slow, loud or quietly.

Some of the children's favorite rhymes and activities were Polly put the kettle where they made tea in our real china tea pots taking care not to break them, they created spiders for Incey Wincey and made marks using gross motor movements to colour sheep for Baa baa black sheep. Singing nursery rhymes really helps with your child's memory so if you could sing some everyday with your child at home this would be really beneficial to their development. 

The children have been confident, creative and imaginative in their play and are really beginning to engage with others in many role-play games. 

We have played lots of memory and listening games in small groups and have noticed that the book area is always occupied with children sharing stories with each other.

We have had a fantastic couple of weeks settling back into Nursery. 

This week the children have been engrossed in the nursery rhyme and story about Humpty Dumpty.

We have been practicing singing the rhyme together both inside and out alongside many fine and gross motor activities linked to this theme.

The story After the fall is all about Humpty Dumpty and how he over comes his worries and challenges himself to achieve a goal of getting back up onto his wall after falling off. The children were so proud of Humpty Dumpty when he eventually got back up on his wall they were all cheering together.

We have been encouraging the children's own perseverance in challenges at Nursery and we are super proud at how well they are coming on. They are showing real pride in themselves and developing their own resilience. Please encourage your child to keep going when tasks get hard. This will help them massively in their future.

Below are a few more photos of the children being confident explorers and learners.