Summer Term 2024

This term we will be welcoming new children to our nursery and developing relationships with our new friends. In our learning we will be leaving the UK behind and exploring new countries that have a hot climate. Nursery will look at the animals that live there and discover the main features of the environment and how to navigate these on a map. In PE we will be starting ball games and preparing for the school sports day. Children who are starting school in September will be taking part in lots of transitional work and will have a few taster swimming sessions. Watch this space for more information.

Week beginning the 15th July

We have had a lovely last week in Nursery. We have really enjoyed spending the year with your amazing children. Thank you so much for the very thoughtful gifts and messages. We really love working with you all. Have a lovely break and we will see you soon. 

Week beginning 1st July

We have had a very busy week at Nursery! This week we have started to think about how our new school year might look. Some of our children have started to visit the reception rooms and take part in some of their activities. The children loved using the role-play area and taking part in some butterfly craft and maths activities. 

Over the last few weeks we have been exploring caterpillars and how they change into butterflies. In our nursery we have cared for several caterpillars as they have built their chrysalis and transformed into butterflies. This week the butterflies were ready to be set free and the children enjoyed seeing them fly into the sky. 

We have also been practising and preparing for sports day. The children had a fantastic time taking part in the races and using their throwing catching and balancing skills in our afternoon session. Well done everybody. You have done a fantastic job! 

Week beginning the 17th of June

This week we continued with our Mantle story. As part of a Mantle we created our very own beach within the classroom. The children took ownership of creating the seaside area using sand and the buckets and spades. They loved taking off their shoes and socks and exploring the sand in a whole different way. We also used our drama to explore the other creatures that might live in the ocean. As part of our drama we were introduced to a new fish, the shark! The children have enjoyed creating their very own shark pieces of artwork and learning about some of the different sharks that live in the sea and what they eat.

Week beginning 10th June

This week we have been exploring the world under the sea. The children have created their very own ocean in the class room and started to learn all about the different creatures who live there. 

They have loved using their fine motor skills to use different brushes and even used pipettes to drip the paint onto the paper to create the sea. They have also chosen how they would like to make their own sea creature. 

This week the caterpillars also arrived and each day we have been looking at them and seeing how they are changing. This is a great way for the children to learn about changes over time and how to care for living things. I wonder what our caterpillars will look like next week? 

Week beginning 20th May

This week the nursery children have been enjoying a week of music, movement and role play. The children have loved our music week where we have been exploring the sounds of our voices, bodies and instruments. The instruments have been called, maracas, tambourines, bells and shakers. 

The children have loved using their imaginative skills to create their own instruments in our junk modelling area. They have had to used the resources to join and stick pieces together using glue and masking tape. They have developed their fine motor and problems solving skills during this activity while also experimenting with the different sounds that different materials make. 

The children have also been introduced to a revamped area in the undercover part of our Foundation Stage. They have loved exploring the materials, hoops, quoits and beanbags while expressing their movements to music from the CD player. They have also used the instruments to enhance this. This has been a great way to develop their fine and gross motor skills. They have also loved the new construction area which has a variety of different sized bricks and blocks and role-play resources to develop their imaginative play.

Nursery have had a fantastic half term. We hope everyone has a lovely break and look forward to the last part of the Summer term. 

Week beginning 13th May 

The nursery children had a fantastic trip to Attwell Farm this week. They really enjoyed feeding the sheep and the goats and remembered how to do this safely and hygienically. They looked at  huge stick insects, cockroaches and spiders in the bug hut and even stroked a rabbit, chicken and a guinea pig.  The loved riding on the tractors and testing out the life size fire engine. All the children had a fantastic day, they listening well and showed that they could be ready, respectful and safe in a new environment. What a great day! 

Week beginning 6th May

The nursery children have loved using the outside area this week in the sunny weather. We introduced sheets and camping equipment to inspire role play.  The children created caves, houses, tents and even bbq’s. 

Inside, the afternoon session continued their work with the vulture. The team were able to make the vulture feel healthy again and she flew back to her nest and was reunited with her eggs. In the morning session, the team were still battling though the storm to find the eggs that had drifted into the river, they were just about to swim through the water to collect the eggs, when they spotted something in the water. The team had discovered a giant anaconda. Through our learning they measured out a life size snake and created one themselves, it was huge! 

The enhancements to our provision have created lots of opportunity for further storytelling and creative language. We have used scissors in the creative area and pipettes in the indoor water to develop hand strength, control and problem solving. The children have also loved exploring the foam, thinking about how it feel, moves and smell. A busy and exciting week in nursery. 

Week beginning 29th April

In nursery this week the children have continued exploring their Mantle stories. In the morning session their task for the animal protection officer was to move the eggs successfully. To do this they need to train and practise, once they were ready they trekked into the rainforest to find the eggs. As they got closer to the nest there was a storm. The children used the instruments to make the sounds of the rain and the thunder as it poured. Once they reached the eggs they realised they had been washed away into the river, setting the team on the journey down the river to the waterfall. The team used their maps carefully to ensure they knew which way to go. The children really enjoyed acting out the story of our Mantle in the outdoor area, they used the instruments to narrate the storm and loved experimenting with the eggs, guttering and water, seeing which way they flowed as they went down the waterfall. As part of our learning we also explored what might be inside the eggs, eventually learning that it was chameleon’s that would hatch out. The children were fascinated by how the chameleons can change colour and loved learning about their log and very strong tongues! 

In the afternoon session they had helped Mr Sand with some delicate eggs and tried to predict what was inside. Then Mr Sand contacted the team again, there was an emergency in the desert and he needed their help. As the team approached they noticed something on the ground, as they got closer they saw an injured vulture who needed their help. Through drama the children helped the vulture, taking on the role of vets. Out of the story they learned about vultures and the different features that they have. They added these to the birds they were creating. 

In addition to our mantle work the children have also being developing their knowledge of rhymes through rhyming games, creating large structures with the bricks, developing their storytelling skills in desert and rainforest small world play and  counting, matching and subitising using number up to 5. Another busy and magical week in nursery. 

Week beginning the 22nd April 

The children in nursery have loved learning more about our Mantle story. The teams have now been sent a special job. In the morning session the team needed to get to the rainforest in Madagascar as quickly as possible, as there is a special object waiting for them that needs to be cared for and moved quickly. In the afternoon session the team have arrived in the Egyptian desert. Mr Sand has commissioned the team to join him at a cave. The team have explored inside the cave and found some abandon eggs. I wonder who has left them there?

The children are learning all about animals that lay eggs at the moment and all of their knowledge will feed into our mantle story and help us decide the best way to solve our problems. The children are really developing their vocabulary and ability to explain their own ideas as well as communicate as a team. Our maths learning has focused on the numbers 1, 2 and 3 and finding sets within a group. 

In the provision we have explored using clay and how it feels when it is wet and dry. We have also used the outside area to explore water and how it travels. Just like the rivers and waterfallls in our Mantle stories. The children have loved using the chalk to draw around each other. And they have been practising their large movements and anticlockwise circles while dancing to music with the pom-poms and the ribbons. It has been a fun and very creative week at nursery.

Week beginning 8th and 15th April 2024

The last two weeks have been very busy in nursery. We have welcomed some new families to our nursery and the children are settling well. The children have all enjoyed coming back after the Easter break and have loved starting to learn more about the world around us. We have begun our new Mantle stories and started to learn about new environments, including the desert and the rainforests in Egypt and Madagascar. The children have loved learning about the waterfalls, rivers, hills  and pyramids in these place. The children have been working very hard developing their social and emotional skills and communication and language. We have been challenging them to learn and use new vocabulary and also communicate with our new members of the class.