Big Bedtime Read

We held a Big Bedtime Read in Nursery . We came back to Nursery in our pyjamas, and got cosy with blankets and teddies, sharing our favourite stories.

 Mrs Briddon shared her favourite story, “Can’t You Sleep Little Bear?” by Martin Waddell whilst we listened and ate biscuits. She showed us her favourite part of the story, when Big Bear tells Little Bear he brought him the moon.

We chose books from the book area, and shared them with friends, sisters and grown ups. 

It was a really special and lovely evening.

Spring Daffodils!
We walked toStand Road Park to see the daffodils we had planted in the Autumn. We were amazed at how they had grown! They were so bright and beautiful.

Then it was time for a drink and a biscuit after a long walk down to the park.

Finally it was time for a play in the park. We had great fun on the swings, slides and roundabout!

Nursery children have been planting daffodils at the park for ten years!What a great way to be involved in the community, and to learn about plants, growing and seasons.
We will be back in the summer for a picnic.

Bread and Porridge!

We have had a busy couple of weeks in Nursery trying new things.

We read the story of The Little Red Hen, and then we had a go at making bread. We followed the recipe, and learned all about kneading the dough.

We baked the bread, then ate the bread! It was so good!

We have been sharing Goldilocks and The Three Bears stories. We set up a story tray for the children to act out the story. There was some great story book language being used-“who’s been eating my porridge?”

We had porridge for special snack, and played with dried porridge oats in the water tray with different sized bowls and spoons.

We dressed in outfits that make us happy for Comic Relief. In response to the children’s interests, we had a Frozen sing-a-long.

Enjoy!

World Book Day

This week we celebrated World Book Day. The whole school focus was all about reading and sharing our favourite books 📚 

There was a bookshop in the hall, and we went to choose a book. Then we sat and read our new stories!

We joined the Reception classes to share our favourite books. We were so confident in a new classroom, and loved listening to our Reception friends tell the stories.

Some Y6 friends came to join us to read books to us.

We have added some story sacks to our lending library! Please let us know if you want to borrow one.

We have been sharing the story of the Little Red Hen, and next week we are going to bake some bread.

Mr Tumble tells a version of the story here…

Family Time

We loved having our families join us in Nursery this week. We sang Nursery Rhymes, and it made us happy when the grown ups joined in 😊 🎶 They even joined us for a dance at the Friday disco! 

Nursery Rhymes are so important for language development. The more rhymes and songs we know off by heart, the better!

We launched our Lending Library. Now we all have a book bag, and we can borrow books to share at home.

Sharing books with children is so important! Reading to young children helps with listening and attention skills, teaches vocabulary, and supports communication…so please keep borrowing and sharing books 📚 

Sharing Nursery with our grown ups was good fun. Thank you to everyone who came to support Family Time ❤️

Mental Health Week

This week in Nursery we have been learning about how to keep our minds healthy.

Being outdoors is a great way to look after our mental health, and we enjoyed our time in nature at camp on Muddy Monday!

We shared a book about feelings, and talked about what to do if we feel sad or worried. We know it’s good to talk to people when we feel this way, and we practised some breathing techniques.

Yoga is a good way to relax, and focus on our bodies and our breathing.

Exercise is good for our bodies AND our minds! We spent time in the hall on a Gruffalo hunt, running and climbing, and swimming in the river.

Try some Cosmic Yoga at home!

Nursery News!

A warm welcome to Tom Allen who has recently joined the Nursery team. Tom is covering Ellen Groves’ maternity leave. Tom was a pupil at Highfield Hall, and was in Sally’s Reception class many years ago!

Welcome to Nursery Mr Allen, it’s great to have you with us!

Naughty Bus!
This week we have been sharing a book called “Naughty Bus” by Jan Oke. The children have loved helping to re tell the story, and make predictions about what the naughty bus might get up to at night!
Outside, a big box became a bus, and we went to Whitby for fish and chips. We took hot chocolate for the journey!
We have also been making marks with pens attached to different vehicles, and making buses from boxes and paper, using glue, tape and scissors.

We have been watching a short film of the story. You can watch it here...

At camp we enjoyed more mark making, chalking on walls and trees. Using chalk outdoors is a great way to encourage mark making-it simply washes off in the rain, so we can chalk anywhere!
We also loved digging for worms. Digging is a good for developing those shoulder muscles. These muscles are really important for children to gain stability, ready for controlling their hands and fingers to use pens and pencils effectively.

In response to the cold weather, we froze water with animals in. The children then tried to free the animals using different tools. This led to conversations about freezing and melting, and an experiment to find out whether water would freeze outside over night.

Celebrating Lunar New Year 🧧 

This week we have been celebrating Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year as it is sometimes called. We learned that it is celebrated in many parts of the world.

We made lucky red envelopes, and watched videos of the lion and the dragon dance.

We talked about how fireworks are part of the celebrations, and printed firework pictures.

We decorated boxes to create dragon heads.

Then we took part in our own parades, saying “Happy New Year!” and “Kung Hey Fat Choi”

We learned a new nursery rhyme called Two Tigers, and we tried to learn it in Mandarin too.

And we watched a little girl and her family prepare for, and celebrate, Lunar New Year. You can watch the short films below.

It's important for young children to learn about different cultures, to develop tolerance and respect for different ways of life.

Happy New Year!
It’s been lovely welcoming our Nursery friends back, and now we have some new friends to play with too!
 

Let’s go fly a kite🪁 

When the wind blows…we make kites!
On Friday it was so windy, so in response to what is happening here and now, we made simple kites and went out to fly them.

We had to fold, staple and hole punch, with a little help from a grown up.

We took our kites onto the field and waited for the wind to blow!

Or had a great time jumping and spinning!

Responding to the weather and what’s happening here and now is a great way for children to learn “in the moment”

See the video below for instructions on how to make a simple kite🪁 

Christmas in Nursery 🎄

We have had a great time getting ready for Christmas in the Nursery.

We enjoyed a Christmas craft session with our grown ups…

And we were animals in the Christmas play!

We enjoyed dressing up as Santa (and having a bit of fun with selfies!)

And sharing the Christmas story with friends, learning about the birth of Jesus.

We made reindeer food ready to put out on Christmas Eve, and decorated trees.

And of course, we had parties! With visits from Santa, games and party food.

Merry Christmas everyone!  🎅 

Week beginning 14th November

Patterns!
This week we enjoyed printing repeating patterns. We used vegetables, to link to our half term book “Supertato”

Patterns are everywhere! Patterns are important to young children, as they help them make predictions and understand what comes next.

At home you can make patterns with anything! Even with sounds eg “clap, clap, stomp” 

Jigsaws are great for problem solving. Look how we worked together to complete this one.

Then, one Nursery friend decide to fetch the small world people to play with on the jigsaw of the house. What a great idea! This is child led learning at its best, making links and coming up with good ideas.

Week beginning 7th November

This week we enjoyed making marks in glitter! We used paintbrushes to copy patterns. At home we could use sugar, flour or salt. Or simply a paint brush and water in the bath!

Some of our grown ups came to play in Nursery. We had a lovely time showing them around and playing in different areas.

We used a potato and a carrot to print with…and made poppies. We learned about a special day when we wear poppies to remember soldiers.

We watched a short film to help us understand.

We started sharing our new book “Supertato”, and loved making superhero masks to carry out daring rescues.

Week beginning 31st October
A busy start to our new half term!

When you start back on Halloween there’s only one thing to do-get spooky!
We made skeletons, rescued spiders, and explored pumpkins.

What did we find inside? 🎃

We walked to Stand Road park to plant daffodil bulbs. We planted 1,800! The Nursery children have been doing this for the past 8 years. It’s such a great way to help out in the local community, as well as learning all about the environment, seasons and how plants grow.

Afterwards there was a chance to play on the park, and have a well-deserved drink and a biscuit, all provided by Graham and the Friends of Stand Road Park.

We’ll be back in the Spring to see the daffodils 🌼