Another week of exploring and learning

This week we have had another week of embedding rules and routines and exploring the environment. We have continued with enrichments during group time and the children have managed this so well especially the new children giving all of the activities a good try- we are so impressed.

We have been exploring the musical instruments as well as doing some action songs. We have also been playing games with the Lycra.

We have been practising our fine motor skills completing lots of activities such as jigsaws and threading. We have also been practising our cutting skills and discussing scissor safety. Some of the children have also drawn a self portrait of themselves.

It has also been lovey for us to get outside this week now the snow and ice have gone. The children have really enjoyed exploring the garden and getting very wet and muddy- this is what nursery is all about having fun!

Our little rays of sunshine this week are Mason Freeman as he did a great job at completing the repeating patterns. He then found his name card and tried to write his name. Declan Singleton as he has settled into nursery so well. He joins in with every activity and gives everything a good try. He is even starting to join in with the hello song and helper of the day routine. Percy Atkinson as he has had a fantastic week. He blew our socks off during a colour sorting activity where he matched the colour spikes to the hedgehog. Eric Hendry as he did a fantastic job when playing our sound lotto game. He listened carefully to each sound and was able to correctly identify most of the sounds. He also waited his turn to put the token on to the picture. Grayson Hicks-Henry as he has settled into nursery so well. He has picked up on our group time routines really well and is giving our activities a really good try. Finally Willow Mash as she has settled into nursery really well. She started full days and has taken it all in her stride and is already beginning to understand the rules and routines of nursery life. Well done to you all, what superstars.

Next week we are going to be learning all about the season Winter.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all. I Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Welcome back to the returners. It has been lovely to see you all come back happy and getting straight back into routine. We would also like to welcome all of our new friends who have just started with us this week. They have all settled really well and are doing amazing for their first week. Our older children have been helping to look after them and make sure they are already following our routines.

Nursery's Christmas Singalong

Another festive week

We started the week by making crowns for our Christmas party next week. The children were left to decide how they wanted to decorate their own crowns and they came out lovely……. It's our favourite time of year to use the glitter!

We also have been reminding the children about what our senses are and what we use them for. We had many festive objects in a bag and we had to use different senses to touch objects and describe how they feel, look at objects to guess what they are, smell different things and guess what they are as well as tasting things that we thought they might not have tasted such as stollen and Christmas cake. The children were very good at using their senses and trying to guess what the different objects were.

Before Christmas jumper day we designed our own Christmas jumpers during group times and there were some amazing designs. We enjoyed wearing our Christmas jumpers on Thursday too!

This week's little rays of sunshine are Erin Hodkinson as she did a great job at our sensory activity. She had some great guesses and was able to tell me things felt “fluffy” and “spiky”. She also did really good waiting for her turn each time. Jaxon Comby as he did a great job when doing our senses activity this week. When smelling the peppermint he told me “smells like toothpaste”. When tasting the gingerbread biscuit he said “It's making my tongue spicy”. Erin Hanmer as she did a great job at the Christmas senses. She smelt the peppermint and told me “toothpaste”. Erin also tried the Christmas cake and stollen. Nova Richards as she always gives 100% in everything she does. This week she made a great party hat and designed a fantastic Christmas jumper. She has also had numerous super singer stickers for her super effort when singing and joining in with the actions to our Christmas songs. Finally, Louie Hopper as he has had a good week. This week when we carried out the senses activity, he smelt peppermint and told me “chewing gum”. Louie also tried the Christmas cake and stollen. Well done to you all, what superstars!

Next week is a very busy week so here is a reminder of what is happening.

Monday- Children to come to nursery in their Pyjamas (movie day)

Tuesday- Christmas stay and play. Children will be performing their songs at 9.15am followed by a stay and play. We will be having festive treats, guess the name of the Robin, tombola, raffle, face paints etc to raise a little money for Nursery.

Wednesday - Christmas Party Day. Children to come to nursery dressed in their party clothes

Thursday- Pantomime day- children need to be at nursery no later than 8.50am

Friday- Last day in Nursery- children can be collected at any point throughout the day if you would like them to finish early for the holidays!

Thank you for all of your support and co-operation this term. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year to you all!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This week we have been making our Christmas cards for you in Nursery but we are not revealing any secrets yet…… you will have to wait until we send them home for you. This also involved us practising to write our names and some of us are getting so good at this now.

We had some visitors this week from school - some of the Year 6 children came to see us in Nursery to show us their toys they have been making in Design and Technology. They wanted us to test them out and feedback to say if they liked them or not and why. We enjoyed seeing the older children and there were some very good toys for us to have a play with. Thank you, Year 6.

We have also been singing 5 fat Santas jumping in the snow in group time as one of our activities and we were playing the Santas. We were trying to match quantity to numeral and also do 1 less each time a Santa fell down. We had lots of fun doing this activity.

Nursery is like a winter wonderland now with all of our Christmas activities out and the children are just loving dressing up. It is lovely to hear some of them practising our Christmas songs while playing in nursery. They are getting very excited for Christmas……… as are the adults.

Our little rays of sunshine this week are Coby Dent as he did a great job when singing 4 Fat Santas jumping in the snow. When one fell down Coby was able to tell me how many were left and was able to represent this number by using his fingers. Bertie Cavagin as he is doing so well in Nursery. He tries really hard at group times to join in activities. This week Bertie tried really hard to write his B in his Christmas card. Hyden Clough as he has been really creative this week. He has been collecting junk modelling at home and has enjoyed making different robots every day. He has also been doing really well with singing our Christmas songs. Finally, Ethel Ross as she has been doing some great writing this week and trying to copy words. During free flow Ethel took herself to the writing table, got herself a large notebook and a green and red pen. She then asked “What do you do at Christmas Mrs Blackett?” This was our group activity and it was lovely to see Ethel re-enacting this. As I told her what I do at Christmas she made marks as if she was writing it down. She then asked “How do you write your name?”. I wrote my name on a piece of paper and she copied it. Well done to you all, what superstars!

Just a reminder that Children need to wear their Christmas jumpers on Thursday and Friday in Nursery. We are recording our Christmas songs on Friday so any afternon children who would like to be involved in this please swap your session.

I am aware school are having their Christmas jumper day on Tuesday so if nursery children also want to wear their jumpers on that day too, that is fine.

The Jolly Postman

This week we did a very special job of writing letters to Santa. We did lots of talking about what we have asked for from Santa and then drew some pictures to show him what they looked like. We used some catalogues to help give us ideas too. This job got the children very excited and they are hoping for a reply from him so fingers crossed!

As this was our main job this week we also linked this to the story The Jolly Postman and we discussed how important his job was as he has to deliver all of the letters to different people. After this story we handed our letters to the ladies in the school office who is going to post them to Santa Claus for us. Thank you all!

We have also been looking at shapes this week and we received a letter from Santa's elves asking us to find some shape letters to match and post in our post boxes. The children had to match the shapes and also see if they could name them and talk about some of their properties.

Lots of maths has been happening this week as we also sang the song '5 Fat Santas jumping in the snow' looking at how many we have then when one falls down how many we have left. It was lovely to see the children repeating this activity in provision independently.

Our little rays of sunshine this week are Marley Hall as he tries so hard at group time to join in with all of the activities. When finding the shape letters for Sana, Marley named a circle! Sheldon-lee Norman for being such a kind friend. When another friend had the car ramp the wrong way, Sheldon showed them how to use it and what to do. They then started a lovely turn taking activity. He is also doing well with having no accidents when in pants. Miley-Rae Dawson as she did a great job at our shape activity and when I asked her if she could find a circle around the room, she was able to do so. Isla Maskell as she is doing an amazing job at practising our Christmas songs. Isla knows all of the words and actions and is often spotted around the nursery singing along. Nate Gilbert as he has been such a kind friend as when one of his friends did not find a shape letter and began to cry, Nate comforted them and gave them some of his shape letters. Finally, Amari Cavagin for having such a lovely week. She has explored the playdough and engaged with some other friends when exploring the torches, giving eye contact and smiling at them. Well done to you all, what superstars!

Next week we will be making our Christmas cards in Nursery and continuing to practise our Christmas songs.