Nursery – Mrs Briddon

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!

Friday was Mud Day! We had a lot of fun standing in it, feeling it with our hands,painting with it and even sitting in it. Even Miss Thring got covered! There's nothing quite like it......

Life's A Beach

Last week the Foundation outdoor area became a beach! There were different sorts of sand-fine sand to pour and fill, kinetic sand to mould, and a beach to sit on and build sandcastles! We paddled in water and discovered interesting things in rock pools and ponds. We played beach games on the field with balls and hoops. And we ate ice pops to cool us down!

Storyteller's Chair

We love the new storyteller's chair that Ruby's Grandad made for the school. We went there to share the book "Sharing a Shell" by Julia Donaldson-one of our favourites at the moment. Thank you to Ruby's Grandad and to the working party who are improving the school grounds.

Musical Gems

We had a lovely time at the Musical Gems workshop with Brigid and Ju. We did really good listening and learned some new songs and rhymes,as well as exploring instruments. We can't wait for next week!

Transient Art

To start our new topic, "All At Sea" we were outside creating pictures and patterns with shells and natural resources. This is "transient art"-art which isn't permanent. We created some wonderful,imaginative pieces.

Stay and Sing

Thank you to all the parents and other family members who made it to our Stay and Sing sessions. We had a lovely time singing with you and for you!

Let It Grow

During this topic we have been busy learning about plants and flowers and how they grow. We have planted beans after reading "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Jasper's Beanstalk" and planted vegetables in the Nursery garden. We used tape measures to measure things and each other to find out if we were as tall as the beanstalk! We explored flowers and leaves frozen in ice, printed with flowers and leaves, and used scissors to cut up leaves. We counted beans, sorted beans and made pictures and patterns with beans. And we ate beans on toast!

Our New Umbrellas!

The children are enjoying playing under our lovely new big umbrellas. 

The afternoon children fetched boxes and crates and simply chose to "be" under the umbrella.

Young children love to make and play in dens. Dens are a me-sized space where children can use their imagination. Remember using clothes horses and sheets when you were young? Even being under a table can spark imaginative play!

Welcome to Miss Longden!

Ellen Longden has joined the Nursery team as a full time teaching assistant. She joins us from Promises Day Nursery, and has lots of experience of working with young children. We are really looking forward to working with her. Make sure you find her and say hello!

Easter Outdoor Learning Week

As always, we really enjoyed learning outdoors. This time some of our parents joined us too! We hunted for numbers on eggs and for real chocolate eggs! We made meringue nests and decorated Spring twigs. We acted out the Easter story and listened to the story of naughty Little Rabbit Foo Foo-can you remember who he bopped on the head?

Grandparent's Day

What a lovely way to end the week-our Grandparent's came to play in Nursery! We showed them around and played outside. One Nana played football, Grannies and Grandpas read to us, Grandads played in the play dough and built outside, and  Grandmas watched us run and balance. One Great Nana came to our school when she was a little girl, and she enjoyed having a look around. We served biscuits which we had baked with drinks, and sang them some songs. Thank you for being our lovely Grandparents!

We love our Mummies!

We loved having our Mummies in this week to play with us. We painted Mum's hand and they painted ours, to make some art work. It caused lots of giggling! Look for the display soon on the big wall outside the reception classrooms.

Thank you Mummies!

Biscuit Faces

We decorated biscuits to look like our faces. Can you tell the difference?!

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

For the next two weeks in Nursery we will be celebrating Chinese New Year, so look out for the photographs of all the exciting activities we are going to do. Talk to your children at home about the celebrations. You can find videos and activities on Cbeebies.

We made paper chain dragons and made ourselves into a dragon on the playground. We played with red play dough (red is considered a lucky colour in China) and had a go with chopsticks. We even tried some Chinese writing! And built The Great Wall of China. We learned a Chinese nursery rhyme called "Two Tigers"-can you remember it?

Building the Great Wall.....

The children showed great co-operation when building the Great Wall of China. They looked at photographs and talked about what to use, discussing ideas and improving their work as they went along. Candles were added "for people to see in the dark". In the afternoon the wall was very long-it went right out of the verandah door! Bridges were built and children declared "it's finished...it's very big!" 

Dragon Dance

We enjoyed making our Chinese dragon and taking it around the school to show everyone. We sang the Chinese Nursery rhyme and made lots of noise with our instruments. Later this prompted a performance in Nursery with Mrs Briddon as the conductor!

Goodbye Mrs Davis....

After a long career in the Nursery Mrs Davis has retired. She loved the flowers from the children at Highfield Hall. We will really miss her and we're sad to see her go, but she has promised to come and help us in the garden.

Mr Potato Head

The children have been making Mr and Mrs Potato Heads with play dough and talking about different features. Some of the children described their characters and recorded their descriptions on the talking clipboards. Here's what they said....

Dominic "Blue shoes and he's got arms and he's got a nose and eyes."

Emily "He's got blue shoes and a funny nose."

Evie W "He's got big lips and big arms."

Elise "Big whiskers and a big nose and a three family."

Lilly "Red hat...some arms...some eyes...a tummy and a hat and some big toes."

Bailee "Green shoes and a hat."

Look at the pictures. Can you guess which one they're describing?

Winter Fun!

We have had a good time learning all about Winter and the cold. Look at all the activities we have been doing...

Arctic Animal Yoga

We learned about Emperor Penguins and how the daddy penguin looks after the egg. Then we tried some arctic animal yoga poses-the caribou, the polar bear, the walrus and the seal. Try it at home!

Penguin Walk!

We had a go at walking with a ball between our feet, just like the daddy Emperor Penguin looking after the egg. It was tricky!

Snow Day!

We had great fun in the snow. It was good snowman building snow! And we chased Mrs Briddon and Mrs Strong with snowballs...

Happy Christmas!

We loved being in the Christmas play-Born in Bethlehem. We all dressed up and our singing was fabulous!