Welcome to Nursery

Mrs Smith, Mrs Coyle and Mrs Briant welcome you to our website!

We will be adding lots of information and pictures throughout the year to share many of our exciting activities, special events and ‘wow’ moments of learning.

General Information

School starts with registration at 8:55am, please try to be prompt!

Snack money can be paid each week or for the half term, at £1.00 per week. Please try to bring this in as promptly as possible!

Please make sure that all of your child’s uniform and spare clothes (including shoes) have their full names in.

Spring Term

2019-2020

Dates for your Diary

Friday 7th February – Non-uniform day (unwanted gifts)  

Thursday 13th February – 9am Stay and Share & Break up for half term (3.00pm finish)

Monday 24th February – Return back to school

Monday 2nd March – Parents’ Evening

Friday 6th March – 9am Stay and Play

Friday 13th March – Non-uniform day  

Friday 27th March – Non-uniform day (chocolates)   & 9am Stay and Play (Litter Picking)

Friday 3rd April – 9am Stay and Share - Easter Bonnets and Raffle & End of term  (1.30pm finish) 

World Book Day - 'There's a Rang-Tan in my Bedroom'

We have thoroughly enjoyed the last two weeks studying such a thought-provoking and moving story. From this the Early Years team have focused upon the need to recycle to help save our world in addition to the whole school focus on understanding products that contain sustainable palm oil. We have produced so many amazing things over the fortnight from making orangutan models and recyclable musical instruments to dancing the palm oil conga! We have also made a recycling centre role play area and the children have begun to recognise the different types of packaging and can now identify the recycling logos to sort and classify materials.   

When reading the story the children reflected on how it made them feel: 

Dylan: "It makes me feel worried that the jungle is getting destroyed because the orangutan is on one of the last branches in the jungle."

Alfie: "It makes me feel upset that the jungle is getting ruined." 

Teddy: "It makes me feel angry that they're taking the trees away."

3D shapes - Rockets

The class have been learning lots about 3D shapes and their properties. As they explored each shape they gained confidence in using language of corners, faces, sides, curved and straight. They then began to reason about whether they thought the shapes would or would not roll based on these properties. Afterwards they built a 3D rocket and drew their designs. 

Space Projects 

A huge thank you to everyone who helped at home to create such an amazing array of fantastically creative models! 

R.E Gathering Topic

The children have been learning about being welcomed into Church and the different things they may see in a Church. They have become familiar with things such as the font, pews, hymn books, Parish Family and the priest and are using these words to describe different elements of the Church and its community. This week we have used role play to enact a Priest welcoming the Parish Family into the Church and handing out hymn books. 

Ariana: "Thank you for coming to see God."

Dylan: "Please come in and do your prayers."

Jacob: "God bless you."

Reece: "Welcome please come in and sit on the pews."

Numicon Twist

We were set a numicon challenge below to either make the 10 shape in as many different ways as we could think of to explore the many different possibilities and recognise the the same total quantity can be split into a range of groups and still be equal.

Thomas: "The 2 and the 1 makes a 3."

Teddy: "I did a 3 and 3 and 4 and it looks the same as 10 now."

Ariana: "It is full so it is equal." 

Lucas: "I just need 1 more."

Chinese New Year Explorations 

We have already learnt so many things about how the Chinese culture celebrates this special event. Here's some of the things we have found out:

- It is the year of the rat

- Red is a lucky colour

-The loud noises of the firecrackers scare away all the bad things 

- Every household cleans to start afresh for the new year

- Children get new red outfits and money wallets 

- Typically a family has 8/9 dishes as it is a lucky number 

As well as learning these very interesting facts we also had a special Chinese banquet in class. We enjoyed tasting prawn crackers, noodles, fried rice and we even made our very own spring rolls!!

Identifying and extending the pattern 

Using the Numicon pegs the children were presented with a range of patterns and challenged to see if they could spot what was the same and what was different. The activity was then extended to encourage the children to use this knowledge to begin to reason what would and would not come next and why. 

Isaac: "They are getting longer in this pattern."

Theo: "Purple won't come next because they are all blue at the start."

Leo: "Because it is always red for the second one."

Collective Worship - Celebrations Topic

To reflect upon the learning from our recent RE topic of 'Celebrations' we gathered together for a collective worship to think about how it is important to include others in our celebrations and how this makes us feel. We listened to the parable of the great feast and reflected on this message. Afterwards the children went forth with a special invitation to invite a friend into their play and they were both encouraged to reflect on how this invitation made them feel. 

Jasmine: "I would feel lonely if I was the man and people didn't come to my party."

Dylan: "I don't need lots of people at a party just the people who are special to me."

Thomas: "I get excited when people come to see me for my party." 

Chinese New Year - Maths

As part of our topic we have been finding all possibilities of decorating a dragon using 2 pegs for the body and 2 colours. We have also played a game using the zodiac animals to encourage our subitising skills in recognising the got patterns on a die. 

Artist Study - Georgia O'Keeffe

We have loved studying our chosen artist and so far this week we have already experimented with pastels, collage techniques, acrylic paint and watercolour to explore ways of creating different textures and effects. 

STEM Fairytale Challenges 

In class we having been investigating the properties of materials and exploring language such as rigid, flexible, hard, soft, strong, weak, heavy, light and waterproof. This week the class were set two challenges. First they were challenged to get Jack safely down from the beanstalk and escape the giant by making a parachute. After predicting which materials would make the best parachute the children were able to make their own versions using a range of materials and do an experiment to find out which was the best after all.

Alannah: "My one goes slow because it is light and bendy."

Teddy: "It is strong and heavy so it is too fast." 

Ewan: "it can't float in the air because it is too stiff."

From this they were told about the Gingerbread Man's dillemma of needing to cross the river without the help of the sneaky fox and they decided the solution was to make a sturdy bridge. 

Archie: "I picked the card because it was strong and I made it tall so it is up far away from the water." 

Joseph W: "I need to support my bridge at the sides."

Luna: "I found a cylinder to lift up the bridge." 

Isaac: " I put circles on the sides to make it higher."

Practising Writing our Names 

Experiment - Blow away or Stay in one place

Today we became the Big Bad Wolf as we tested a range of objects to see if they would blow away or stay in one place. We also began to think about why this happened by considering what type of materials stayed in the same place. We found out the that heavy materials did not move and the lighter ones did. 

Three Little Pigs 

The class have really enjoyed reading the 'Three Little Pigs' and became particularly animated during the role-play! This helped them to consider how the characters may have felt at different points in the story and begin to use time language to order the main events. 

Making Crowns

As part of our 'Traditional Tales' topic, we have been exploring how to help our friends make their own crowns. To do this we had to first find out how to carefully compare and order different lengths by using comparative language of longer and shorter. After this we learnt how to measure our friend's head and to make a mark so we knew where to cut to make it 'just right'!

RE - Advent Topic

As part of our topic we have been exploring the Nativity story to find out why Christmas is such a special time of year. From this we have been making links to birthday celebrations in class to help us understand what we are celebrating when we talk about Christmas. We made party hats, party food (playdoh) and cards and we have also made advent wreaths to help us count down until Jesus' birthday. 

Theo: "I know we use advent wreaths to count down until Jesus' birthday."

Jacob: "I know the wreath is a green circle with 3 purple and 1 pink candle."

Lucas: "It gets lit up every Sunday just in time for Jesus' birthday."

Trashion Show 

Thank you to everyone's involvement at home, the final products whether that be a bag, t-shirt or cape looked incredible! We are so appreciative of the time, effort and creativity that has gone into making these wonderful designs by recycling old clothes. To celebrate we had our very own Nursery catwalk, complete with music, lights and beautiful little models! Enjoy looking at some of their poses below...

Imagine That Trip

We had so much fun at our fabulous trip to Imagine That. It was such a busy day because we had so many different activities planned including: decorating Christmas baubles, making reindeer food cones, doing an experiment to create never freezing snow and creating an erupting volcano! On top of all of that we had chance to play in the amazing role-play areas and went for being a vet to a chef in the blink of an eye! 

Autumn Craft: Making Nests 

After reading 'Hoot and Honk Just Can't Sleep' by Leslie Helakoski, the class have been exploring a range of nocturnal animals and their habitats. Based on this story we considered the criteria for building a good nest. We decided it should let the water through (so the birds don't get wet), be strong (so it doesn't blow away) and be comfy (so the birds can sleep). After this the children used a variety of natural and craft materials to design and build their nests. At the end they shared and evaluated their designs to the rest of the group by using the 'Sharing Your Learning' prompt.

Big and Small Animal Shelters

Firstly in groups the children sorted a range of animals into a big and small tchart. After this the children picked a big and small animal and built a shelter for each animal. They carefully had to consider and compare a range of sticks and think about their comparative lengths to make sure they would be suitable for the different sized animals. 

Children In Need 2019 

Thank you for your continued support and kind donations!

Maths - Making Repeated Patterned Necklaces

This week we consolidated our previous week's work, when we used autumnal objects to make repeated patterns, by using coloured pasta to make a two or three coloured repeating pattern. 

Remembrance Day Worship 

The class were very respectful and considerate during the collective worship. After watching the CBeebies 'Poppies' animation they began to reflect about how the bunny felt throughout the video and they made links to this when talking about the importance of Remembrance Day. 

Dylan: "We remember all the brave people now and then who keep us safe."

Friendship Fortnight 

We have read lots of stories this week to encourage lots of discussion and reflection about what it means to be a good friend to others, we particularly enjoyed the story 'Something Else'. During the fortnight we have made a friendship recipe using playdough to make models of characteristics that a kind friend would have and we have also made special hearts to give to a friend. 

Reece: "For my Dad because he hugs me."

Ewan: "For Thea because she shares with me."

Joe: "For my Mummy because she makes me the food."

Ethan: "For ym Mum because she kicks a ball with me."

Acting out a Baptism

We have been learning lots of new words related to baptism and to bring this to life we acted out a baptism in different groups. The children have been learning about the font, holy water, godparents and the baptism candle. They were especially excited to learn they joined God's special family after a baptism. 

Maths Museums Autumn 

Whilst gathering concrete resources for the maths museum the class were interested in selecting different resources to represent a number in different ways and some even began adding in symbolic numerals! They also enjoyed trying to be organised and systematic in their presentation of the museum. It was a great start to exploring how to build a maths museum!

Autumn Themed Maths 

This week's maths activities were built around the use of natural autumnal resources. For one activity the children were challenged to organise the different sticks by height order and for another the class experimented with repeated patterns. 

Jacob: "Conker then a leaf..it makes a pattern."

Emily: "I used 2 conkers together then 2 sticks together."

Joseph W: "You have to remember leaf, stick, conker and it goes again leaf, stick, conker."

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears 

We have come to the end of our exploration into this traditional tale and the class have been retelling the story in their own words through using role-play in the 3 Bears' cottage area. They were so creative in how they independently chose their own props to enhance their role-play and they were all able to repeat phrases from the story to sequence the story. 

Ariana :  “Daddy Bear’s porridge too hot, Mummy bear’s porridge too cold and Baby Bear’s porridge is just right.”

Thomas:  “There’s Goldilocks in the bed!”

Alfie: “Who’s been sitting on my chair?”

This week we also pretended to be like Goldilocks and made porridge so it would be 'just right' by adding their own choice of ingredients. 

Joseph H: “This porridge is too hot!”

Thea: “This is just right for me.”

Making ghosts and thinking about their emotions

The children were enthusiastic and engaged when listening to the instructions for how to make the ghost model. Afterwards most children could follow each instruction carefully with some just needing some support when cutting and drawing to gain greater control. When exploring a range of ghost expressions, the class were able to identify which one was sad or happy and they were interested in learning new words.  

Jacob: “He sad because he doesn’t like being scared.”  

Isaac: “He is frightened by the other ghosts.”  

Ewan: “He is angry because he’s little bit scared of the other ghosts.”  

Mr Panda Story Maps

We have had such fun reading Steve Antony's Mr Panda's stories and to finish off our author study we created a story map in groups based on the book 'Thank you, Mr Panda.' The children began to use time language to order the main events and then they became illustrators as they each chose a character to draw. Using their drawings they could retell the story in their own words and to help their retelling they repeated phrases from the story. 

Maths - sorting socks by size

To apply their skills in ordering and classifying objects by size, today the class were set a challenge to organise the socks by size and if possible into matching pairs too. Along the way the children gained precision in how to measure the socks and confidence in using language of small, medium, big, long and short to talk about their ideas. 

RE - Baptism Topic

Through our topic 'Welcome' the class have been using role-play to imagine what it would feel like to welcome a new baby into their home. They were confident in discussing what a new baby needs and how it is a very special time. 

Joe: "My new baby is all cosy in her blanket because she is so little."

Archie: "We will look after her and love her."

Theo: "Thank you for the baby she is so special."

Thomas:"Hello baby I'm glad you've come into my house."

Observational Art - Sunflowers

The children had a great time carefully investigating and talking about what they noticed on the sunflowers. They showed high levels of focus as they talked about the colours and shapes they could identify. After exploring the flowers they decided on the appropriate colours and painted the sunflowers. Later in the week they developed this further by drawing them using coloured pencils. 

Maths - Numicon Staircase

This week the class explored making the Numicon Staircase from 1-5 for the very first time. They tried so hard and began to explore how the shapes are alike and different as well as working on their recognition of the shapes' numerical values. They also began to use the digit cards alongside the staircase and some children explored how to recreate the Numicon shapes through using pegs. 

Maths - Making Big and Small Bear 

Through reading 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' we have been focusing on using the language of size to compare big and small objects. From this we used different sized shapes to investigate how to make big and small bears. When making a choice about what shape to pick for each body part we needed to consider the shapes' size and properties. 

Theo: "I used a square body in the middle."

Leo H: "A triangle hat at the top."

Joseph H: "Body is circle."

Lucas: "I used square for mouth on bottom of head."

Steve Antony Author Study 

In English we have started looking at the fabulous author Steve Antony and started with the book 'I'll Wait, Mr Panda'. This book has taught us about how to us our manners and be patient when waiting for a surprise. We have really enjoyed the characters and particularly liked seeing the HUGE surprise doughnut at the end!! As part of this author study so far we have explored mark making to draw the characters, made paper plate panda faces and decorated doughnuts with paint and collage materials. 

Comments about their doughnut creations: 

Luna: "Chocolate pieces inside and it’s got sparkly sprinkles on.”  

Ariana: “It’s strawberry pink and delicious.”  

Jack “It‘s going to be delicious.”  

Heidi “It’s raspberry flavour with rainbow glittery sparkles.”

Jasmine “It’ll have ice cream inside and tasty sweets on top.”

Grandparents' Day

What a fabulous day we have just had in Nursery playing with our lovely family members! Thank you to everyone who came, the class thoroughly enjoyed sharing this special time with you all. During the morning there were different challenges out to explore with the children including making a bed for Goldilocks and decorating a paper plate as the child's face.

Maths - Sorting between big and small

In Nursery we have been investigating the language of size and this has come about through reading 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. After looking and comparing different objects to say which was bigger and smaller, we began to categorise animal pictures onto the tchart. 

AllDay's Farm Visit 

We loved our visit from the farm and it taught us how to care for the different animals by thinking about their grooming and dietary needs. It was a great opportunity to meet and handle a range of big and small animals, we even met a chinchilla!

Reece: I liked the pigs but the farmer said we couldn't get them out because then they dig up all the mud!
Archie: I liked the horses because they weren't jumpy ones like I have seen before. 

Ourselves - Expressions

During our first Nursery topic 'Ourselves' we have been exploring the different feelings we may experience. Through reading lots of stories we have introduced the Zones of Regulation, which helps us to recognise how we feel and we can now use the zones to talk to others about our emotions. As part of recognising our emotions we have been using the playdough to form a range of facial expressions and share a time we have felt like this. 

Ewan: “I get angry when I get playdough on my face.” 

Thea: “I am happy when playing with Sophie.”

Lucas: “I am sad when mummy gets sad.”

RE - Myself topic

During our first Religious Education topic, we have been learning about how we are all precious to God. We have also been thinking about how we all have similarities and differences and that these differences are what make us special. From this we have produced puppets and hand prints and used circle time to discuss why we are special. 

Leo H: “I am special because I can play the guitar.”

Scarlett: “I am special because I tell Kaiden I love him.”

Ethan: “I am special because like to help tidy up.”

Mission Statement Display 

In Nursery we have been exploring the book 'We're All Works of Art' by Mark Sperring and from this we have produced some beautiful collages. In Mark's words "We are proud of our uniqueness."