Weekly blog
W/C 17th May 2021
The children spent a lovely week at nursery, exploring and having lots of fun in the inside and outside environment.
W/C 10th May 2021
We had a fun week of learning at nursery this week - enjoying lots of outdoor fun. At Wellywood, the children enjoyed lots of muddy activities, after all the rain which had fallen the children got very muddy. We enjoyed playing in the mud, making mud pies and also leaf rubbing on the trees.
The children also enjoyed playing in the nursery outdoor area - jumping in the water tray in their wellies and splashing in the water. We also looked at problem solving activities - how to make the tyres roll - building a ramp to slide the tyres down with the pieces of wood, leaning against the crates.
We have also been learning about butterflies and caterpillars - so we made our very own caterpillar, from a sock filled with soil and grass seeds, with holes in the sock so we can watch how they grow. The children also collected resources from around the nursery outdoor environment - such as twigs to make its' legs and pinecones for eyes.
We also had fun burying our beautiful stone ladybirds in the soil and digging them out. We even found a spider and we all sang "Incy Wincy Spider" together. It was lots of fun!
W/C 4th May 2021
The children returned after the long bank holiday weekend, excited to start another fun week of learning at nursery. We have had a real mix of weather this week including rain, hail stones and sun, but this has not stopped us enjoying ourselves inside and outside.
The children made the most of the wet weather, jumping in the puddles in their wellies. We added different colour powdered paint to water, and the children loved mixing the colours together with the paintbrushes and lots of splashing in the puddles. They also used their imaginations and mark making skills to make a bridge on the ground with the chalk.
We also were excited to build with our new go kart wheels. The children worked together to build a racing car with the wheels. They used various other materials to make the fuel cap and other parts of the car, to fill it up with petrol, and make it go super fast. They did a brilliant job - well done children.
In Wellywood we enjoyed more outdoor learning - looking for bugs with the magnifying glasses, looking at the changes to the wood and trees and the white blossom which had fallen from the trees and covered the ground in a pretty white blanket. As the hail started to fall, we sheltered under the trees, looking at the hail we had caught in our hands and talking about what it looks and feels like - icy and cold. We then went back to nursery to enjoy our cup of hot chocolate indoors.
W/C 26th April 2021
We started our fun week at nursery by discovering our dinosaurs were all trapped and stuck in a cage and couldn't get out! But the children used their good thinking and talked as a group to problem solve and decide how to set them free. They decided to use scissors to cut the ribbon - using their fine motor skills, and hooray the dinosaurs were free! Later on, we found the dinosaurs trapped again - all tied up together in elastic bands... but the children used their fine motor skills once again to untangle them and set them free. Well done children!
We had two fun trips to Wellywood this week, enjoying lots of outdoor fun and learning. We talked about the differences we could see in the wood since last week. It was lovely to see the beautiful buds and blossom growing, which lead on to us planting our own sunflower seeds, so the children can all grow their own sunflowers - which the children were very excited about. The children will now learn how to look after their sunflowers and watch them grow. We talked about how they need sun and water to grow, and as the children's sunflowers grow, we will use our mathematical knowledge to compare the sunflowers - for example, looking at which are the tallest and shortest.
The children had shown an interest in butterflies, so on our second visit to Wellywood we made our own butterfly with the natural resources collected in the wood, such as sticks, leaves and pinecones. To end our visit to the wood, the children enjoyed a lovely cup of hot chocolate together.
W/C 19th April 2021
It was lovely to see all the children back after the Easter holiday break! In our first week back, we had a lovely week in nursery, with lots of fun outdoor play - enjoying the fresh air and lots of outdoors learning with our two visits to Wellywood and also learning about dinosaurs - as many of our children had shown an interest in dinosaurs.
The children loved playing in our wonderful "Dinosaur Land" tuff tray - with all the dinosaurs, logs, salt dough fossils, and brushes. The children brushed the fossils with the paintbrushes, using their fine motor skills. We learned about the different names of the dinosaurs (some were very tricky and long), and how the dinosaurs look different to each other.
We read the "Harry and the Dinosaurs" books, and in one book they go on holiday - the children showed an interest in learning about different countries. This lead on to us talking about
W/C 29th March 2021
We have had a lovely, exciting, sunny week in nursery, looking forward to Easter! We have had lots of outdoor fun and play in Wellywood, as well as indoor Easter activities and fun!
The children loved having two visits to WellyWood this week - we had fun exploring the wood, talking about the seasons changing and springtime, digging, making dens and homes for the animals and enjoying a lovely cup of hot chocolate afterwards.
The children loved running and moving in different ways on the school field - playing different running races where the children were galloping horses, jumping bunnies and slithering snakes.
We enjoyed doing lots of fun creative Easter activities - making Easter cards, bunny ears and colouring in and decorating Easter eggs with cotton buds dipped in different colour paint - using the children's creative and fine motor skills.
On our last day, the children were so excited to hear the Easter bunny had visited nursery! We all went into the wood, where we found the Easter bunny hiding in a tree, and she had left all the children an Easter egg to find. We had lots of fun searching for the eggs. Thank you Easter bunny! When we got back to nursery, we enjoyed some tasty hot cross buns.
Finally, this week, we all gathered around our lovely little Easter garden and had time to reflect about the meaning of Easter - remembering Jesus in a little prayer.
Previous Nursery Blogs
Week ending 15th November 2019
We were very lucky this week to have a visit from one of our Parents who is a Firefighter. He came to nursery and showed the children his uniform and talked about a Firefighters day at work. We also discussed fire safety and which number to call in an Emergency. Thank you for the visit!
Our topic this week is 'Space'. We have been learning about planets and rockets. The children have made their own 'moon sand', foil 'moon rocks', their own control panel and used fine motor skills to make potato aliens, threading cheerios onto pipe cleaners. The children have been counting forwards and backwards from 10 to "blast off" and have enjoyed learning the '5 little astronauts' rhyme and listening to the 'Aliens love underpants' book. We will be continuing this theme next week as the children are still really interested in their learning.
Week ending 22nd November 2019
We continued our 'Space' theme this week. The children were given the opportunity to pretend to be an astronaut walking on the moon! They walked along bubblewrap listening to the noise it made and talking about how it felt, and also experimented by walking in slow motion.
The children also used their fine motor skills to make 'aliens' from hand prints and googly eyes.
The children really enjoyed exploring the outdoor area this week in the Autumn weather, finding natural resources, jumping, running and balancing and had fun helping to sweep up all the leaves.
We also visited Welly Woods this week with Reception. We played hide and seek, finding all the soft toy woodland animals, created leaf patterns, and enjoyed a yummy hot chocolate.
What a wonderful end to our week.
Our trip to Smite Farm Friday 29th November 2019.
Our question for the day was - How do trees help wildlife in winter? We started the day by listening to the story of ' The tale of the little bird and the evergreen tree '. The little bird had broken his wing and could not fly away with all of his friends so he looked for shelter in the trees. But it was the spruce tree with its evergreen branches that provided shelter for the little bird all through the winter.
The children listened beautifully to the story told in the barn decorated with Christmas trees.
After the tale we made an animal bird feeder . We used our fine motor skills to push sunflower seeds into the apple. Some of us made patterns with the seeds, some of us made our initial sound for our name and some of us made a shape.
We talked about where would be a good place to hang and bird feeders and took them home in a paper bag.
We were very sensible and very safe around the campfire. We compared the corn to how it looked after it had been cooked on the campfire . We enjoyed listening to the corn popping and best of all , having a taste !
The ancient art of wassailing
The children decorated the trees by finding natural resources and sticking them onto the materials that were then hung on the trees . We made smelly tree potions and emptied them around the roots of the trees . Finally , we made music and sang to the trees to wish them good health .
Think the grown- ups might have had more fun doing this than the children !
In groups we followed a trail to find 6 Christmas trees around the farm with information about how the trees help wildlife . At each tree there was a wildlife stamp to add to a Christmas tree card. We found out that trees provide a home for squirrels to build their dreys, Owls build a home In a hole in tree trunks, the hedgehogs use all the fallen leaves to build a warm shelter in the winter and fruit trees and berries provide food for the animals such as foxes and birds.
We are very grateful for trees .
The trail ended at a very special post box where we posted our letters that we had written in school earlier in the week .
Some of the highlights of our week ending 13th December 2019
Show week! The cast of Songs Around the Christmas Tree were absolutely fabulous !
We talked about the Christmas Story this week. We were very impressed by how well all the children took in the information and could retell parts of it in their own words, using key phrases and words such as Bethlehem, stable and baby Jesus.
The children have also been busy making Christmas Cards, calendars and Christmas crafts, but we haven't posted any pictures of their creations so they can all be a surprise when they bring them home!
On Friday we made Christingles for our special service.
As well as raising money for Save the Children by wearing our Christmas jumpers.
Week Ending 20th December 2019
What a fabulous week the children have had to finish this term at nursery. We have enjoyed finishing off our Christmas cards and crafts and using fine motor control to create festive stencil pictures.
Who knew how much fun a bowl of sprouts could provide?! In our home corner and Christmas corner this week the children have had fresh sprouts and new potatoes to add to their resources. They have spent extended periods of time role playing different uses for them from sprout soup and dinner to sprout milkshakes! They have also peeled the sprouts using their fine motor control and filled the different bowls and cups with the leaves, then finally used them to roll down large tubes and work out which would get to the bottom the fastest!
On Thursday this week we joined up with Reception for a Christmas lunch and party. The children enjoyed plates of party food followed by party games, dancing and a visit from the big man himself!
Thank you for a fabulous term at nursery and we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, healthy New Year!
Week Ending 10th January 2020
Winter
We have been busy making snowflakes for our seasonal tree in the cloakroom. The children learnt about the different seasons by talking about the weather and seeing the changes when we go to welly wood.
Our Winter display board was filled with lovely shaped snowmen. The children learnt about different shapes as well as using their creative skills to make them all look different.
The tough tray was turned into a 'Frozen' effect, using puppet Polar bears and penguins. Pretend snow was added then figures were added such as Elsa and Olaf. The children were then able to use their imagination skills to make up their own stories.
Week ending 17th January 2020
Our story this week has been 'Stickman'. The children have enjoyed listening to the story read in different ways every day.
We used Stickman props and made up our own stories. We made a Stickman tree and added lots of characters from the story.
Some children showed an interest in why 'Stickman' floated and didn't sink in the water. So in a group we experimented with our own sticks using a bowl of water to float them. The children then went around the classroom collecting more resources to experiment with. We had lots of fun guessing what was going to happen next.
We've used our creative skills by painting, drawing, colouring and making our own stick men pictures.
Week ending 24th January 2020
This week nursery have been learning about Chinese New Year. The children have enjoyed a range of activities and learnt how to say 'hello' in Chinese.
We made 'Lai See' which are lucky red envelopes and added a chocolate coin inside.
The children enjoyed making colourful lanterns, practicing their scissor skills when cutting out the lantern and adding sparkly stars to finish. They also extended the practice of their scissor skils with a free choice activity of cutting up noodles!
The children enjoyed using scarfs outside to dance with and make themselves into Chinese dragons. They also had access to a sensory tough spot, filled with red rice where they practiced measuring and weighing. They were also able to use the area for mark making using chopsticks to make patterns and form letters, developing their fine motor skills.
The children finished this enjoyable week by visiting a 'Chinese Restaurant'. They put on their coats and walked across the school playground to enter the Restaurant and were then shown to their seats in the hall. Here they looked at menus created by Reception class and chose their food by telling the 'waiters' what they would like to try. They enjoyed watching the ribbon dancing entertainment (Mrs Hayes!) whilst they waited for their food and then practiced using chopsticks to eat their meals. A fabulous end to an enjoyable week!
Week ending 31st January 2020
This week, as it is RSPB weekend, nursery have been learning about birds and have been busy bird watching.
All the children made their own binoculars and decorated them with green tissue paper and other resources then used them outside on the field to look for birds.
We transformed part of the nursery into a bird watching area, with binoluars, cameras and clipboards that had information about different birds on them. The children enjoyed sitting inside the camouflaged tent spotting the different birds.
The children also made their own birds using colourful feathers and glue to go on our nursery tree.
The children enjoyed being creative and made some very colourful creations which look beautiful on our tree.
Our rhyme of the week was '5 little ducks' and we enjoyed practicing our counting, which was fun.
This week's word wall.
