This week in Nursery- Week beginning 24/06/19

Topic: How many pebbles on the beach?

Week 4

Our song this week will be:

A sailor went to sea sea sea

Our story this week will be: Starfish by Edith Thacher Hurd

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• Drawing round starfish and cutting them out. Decorating with glitter pens. 
• Investigating how much sand fits in a shell.
• Building lighthouses
• Making boats using junk modelling materials.
• Counting and recognising numbers to 10.
• Making meals in the beach café.

With your child at home this week you could:

• Look at pictures of starfish and talk about which ones are big, small and which is the biggest and smallest. 

• Practise writing your child's name.
• Counting objects to 10. 
• 

This week in Nursery- Week beginning 10/06/19

Topic: How many pebbles on the beach?

Week 2

Our song this week will be:

The waves on the beach go splash, splash, splash.

Our story this week will be: Warren and the Sandcastle By Liane Payne

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• Counting people into the boats. Deciding which boats have the most people in.
• Writing messages in a bottle
• Weighing pebbles, shells and corks
• Making sand paintings
• Fishing in the water tray. How many fish did you catch?
• Making sandcastles and designing flags for them.
• Role play in the beach café. What flavour ice cream would you like?

With your child at home this week you could:

• Write messages to people in your family.

• Writing your name

• Recognising numbers in the environment

• Reading stories about the beach at the library.

This week in Nursery- Week beginning 03/06/19

Topic: How many pebbles on the beach?

Week 1

Our song this week will be:

The waves on the beach go splash, splash, splash.

Our story this week will be: Look what I  found by Paul Humphreys

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• Looking at items that someone has found on the beach. Listen to each others ideas about who the items may have belonged to.
• Naming objects found on the seashore.
• Joining in songs about the sea.
• Matching the amounts of shells to numerals.
• Role play in the beach café and the holiday tent.
• Investigating shells.

With your child at home this week you could:

• Talk about holidays you have been on with the children. Share any photos with them that you may have.

• Look at books in the library about the beach. 

• Matching objects to the numerals to 10. 
• Practise writing their name.

This week in Nursery- Week beginning 20/5/19

Topic: Colours

Week 5

Our song this week will be: Put your hands in the air.

Our story this week will be: What the Ladybird heard.

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• Investigate the colour of minibeasts in the environment.
• Act out the story of What the ladybird heard.
• Match the correct number of ladybirds to numerals.
• Explore objects that are black and red.
• Painting ladybird pebbles.
• Drawing the map that the robbers used in the story.

With your child at home this week you could:

• Spot ladybirds in the environment.

• Look at their colours. Are they using camouflage?
• Matching objects to the numerals to 10.
• Practise writing their name.

This week in Nursery- Week beginning 07/05/19

Topic: Colours

Week 3

Our song this week will be: Mixing Colours

Our story this week will be: Monsters love colours

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• Learning what happens when colours are mixed.
• Making monsters with 2D shapes
• Joining in rhymes about colours, listening for the rhyming words.
• Printing patterns for wallpaper
• Making collage using one colour 

With your child at home this week you could:

• Mix different paints and food colouring to see what new colours you can make.

• Read the children rhyming stories.
• Spot 2D shapes in the environment.

This week in Nursery- Week beginning 29/04/19

Topic: Colours

Week 2

Our Value this week is: Respect

Our song this week will be: I can sing a rainbow

Our story this week will be: Rainbow fish

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• Investigating colour and pattern in natural objects
• Finger printing patterns on fish
• Catching plastic fish in the fish tank using tweezers
• Counting sets up to 10
• Talking about friendships and respecting others
• Making books about colourful fish

With your child at home this week you could:

• Look at colours on your walk to school.

• Look at pictures of tropical fish and talk about the patterns you can see

• Count objects around your house. What happens if you add objects? Will you have more or less?

This week in Nursery- Week beginning 25/03/19

Our Value this week is: Courage

Our song this week will be: If you are happy and you know it.

Our story this week will be: The odd egg

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• Investigating eggs. Looking at what happens when we crack open a raw egg and peel the shell off a hard boiled egg. The children will be encouraged to use descriptive language to talk about the eggs feel.
• Closely observing the eggs in the incubator and thinking about what will happen when they hatch.
• Using eggs to cook in the newly opened café in the garden centre.
• Counting how many dinosaurs are hatching from the eggs in the maths table.
• Finger printing chicks.

With your child at home this week you could:

• Talk about how you use eggs in your cooking and make encourage the children to cook an egg with you. Do they like scrambled, boiled or fried?

• Look at pictures of chicks hatching.

• Can the children use twigs and leaves from the garden to make a nest for the chicks?
• Let the children take orders for meals. They have been practicing being waiters and waitresses in our café.

This week in Nursery - Week beginning 04/02/19

Our Value this week is: Gratitude

Our song this week will be: Gung Hay Fat Choy

Our story this week will be:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• reading a story to find out and name the 12 important animals in the Chinese zodiac
• discussing why red is a popular festival colour 
• learning an action song about Chinese New Year
• watching a short clip about the famous Chinese dragon dance and then making up our own
• tasting some basic Chinese food and discussing texture, colour, smell etc 

With your child at home this week you could:

• Find out which Chinese animal year you were born in. What do you know about the animal?

• If you have 3 red lanterns and 2 yellow lanterns hanging in a row. How many lanterns are there altogether? You could draw a picture to help you work out the answer.

• During Chinese New Year celebrations, children are given red envelopes with money inside. With an adult, look at some coins and see if you can see any numbers on them. What numbers can you see? What shape are the coins? What colour are they?

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 28/01/19

Our value this week is: Cooperation

Our song this week will be: Shape Songs

Our story this week will be:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• learning to be more independent and recapping on different ways we could help to put on our coats.

• naming 2d shapes.

• looking for 2d shapes in our nursery environment.

• using magnetic 2d shapes to make arrangements and pictures.

• playing a 2d snap game.

•  beginning to discuss the properties of 2d shapes, such as: how many sides? Are the sides straight or curved?

• continuing to co-operate with each other and working as part of a teams, particularly during tidy up time 

   

   

With your child at home this week you could:

• Play a 'Guess the shape' game with a family member. Describe the shape, giving as much information about the shape as you can without saying the name. For example - What am I? I have 3 sides, 3 straight sides, 3 corners.   
• It is very 'wintery' weather this week. What signs of winter can you see? What do we wear outside when it is winter?  
•  
• Sit opposite a family member. Look at each other. Talk about things that are the same and different. For example, do you have the same colour of eyes, hair, same or different height.......

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 21/01/19

Our value this week is: Cooperation

Sesame Street: Big Bird sings "That's Cooperation"

Our song this week will be: Horsie, Horsie don't you stop!

Our story this week will continue to be:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• Finding a large, mysterious egg in a box. We will describe the egg and talk about what could be inside it!

• Making a Gingerbread Man as part of our Talk for Writing Story. We will be hoping that it wont jump out of the oven and run away on us.

• Using a Sesame Street song (see above for the link) to learn about what cooperation means (very popular with the children).

• Matching numbers and quantities using dragons and eggs.

• Painting our own dragon.

• Continuing to practise holding our pencil using a tripod grip.

With your child at home this week you could:

• Use the internet to find a version of the Gingerbread Man. Does it have the same characters in it as the story we are reading in nursery?

• Count a variety of different objects at home slowly and carefully taking your time. This is called 1:1 correspondence.

• When we will be baking gingerbread men, the individual ingredients will all be mixed together and will change and become a dough. Can you think of anything that you make/eat at home where the process changes from beginning to end (for example weetabix - solid/crumbly at the beginning and then becomes a soft mixture once milk or water is added to it or pasta, rice, potatoes etc) Talk about these changes.

This week in Nursery - Week beginning 14/01/19

Our value this week is: Gratitude

Our poem this week will be: 'Pussy cat, pussy cat'

Our story this week will continue to be:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• learning a poem about a very famous cat who goes to visit the Queen in London
• looking at the phrase 'run, run as fast as you can, you cant catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man' from the story of the Gingerbread Man and we will introduce other action words (verbs) instead of run, such as jump, swim, hop, wiggle etc
• naming the characters from the story of the Gingerbread man and then ordering them from first to last.
• playing sharing games
• looking at pictures and answering 'why' questions about them
• following an instruction with 2 parts. For example: 'Pretend to sneeze and then touch your toes.'

With your child at home this week you could:

• continue practising putting on and taking off coat, hat, scarves and gloves.
• name other people who help us as well as parents, teachers and doctors.
• think of a verb (action word) and ask your child to act it out (play a game of Simon says)

This week in Nursery - Week beginning 07/01/19

We are looking forward to starting the new term and hearing all about what you have been up to over the holidays. We have two new children starting this week (Airen and Finley) and we are sure they will be made very welcome as they settle in. The nursery staff would like to take this opportunity to thank our parents and children for the lovely cards and gifts we received at the end of last term. We were truly spoilt and you made us feel very special and appreciated, so thank you!

General Notices for this week

• Snack contribution of £5 for this term is due for parents who are paying termly.
• Applications for primary school places need to be completed by 15 January 2019.  If you require assistance, please use guidance for applying online. Click on the following link. Application process for starting Primary School in September 2019
• The morning session begins at 9.15am and ends at 12.15pm. Can parents please collect on time at the end of the session. The main nursery gates to the car park will be locked at 12.20pm so parents who are driving will need to remove cars by then. 

Our value this week is: Gratitude

Our songs this week will be: 'If you're thankful and you know it.....'

Our story this week will be: 

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• sharing our news about what we did over the holidays
• beginning to think about gratitude and singing an action song 'If you're thankful and you know it.......' (to the tune of: 'If you're happy and you know it...'
•  

Welcome to Autumn Term 2 2018

Autumn Term 2 Curriculum Coverage Overview 

Our Topic project  for this half term is called:

'Is it Shiny?

Autumn 2 Topic Outline for Parents

Stay and Play Session

and

Christmas jumper Day!

Wednesday 19th December 2018 

This week in Nursery - Week beginning 17/12/18

Our value this week is: Hope

Our songs this week will be: Christmas Songs, such as Jingle Bells, I'm dreaming of a White Christmas

Our story this week will be: 

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• moving along to the Hey Duggee Stick song (very catchy but maybe a little irritating!)  Hey Duggee Stick Song

• using a bath brush and paint to make a Christmas wreath

• making a Christmas Tree decoration using lolly lop sticks

• decorating biscuits

• writing Christmas cards

• watching the Stickman movie (whilst we eat popcorn)

• pulling a cracker and finding out what is inside it

• wearing our Christmas Jumpers

• playing games and singing songs at our Stay and play session (with Annette from Toddler Time)

• reading stories about Christmas

With your child at home this week you could:

• sing a Christmas related song (modern or traditional - do you have a favourite?
• practise writing your name on Christmas cards to your friends

Nursery opens again on Monday 7th January

This week in Nursery - Week beginning 03/12/18

Our value this week is: Thoughtfulness

Our song this week will be: Christmas Performance Songs 

Our stories this week will be:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• 'dressing' the nursery Christmas Tree.
• identifying numbers on Christmas tree templates and matching them with the correct number of baubles.
•  using our beautiful knitted characters to retell the story of the First Christmas.
• trying on our performance costumes to help us get into our roles.
• going to the main school hall to practise our Christmas performance on the stage.
• read the story of 'Whatever Next' by Jill Murphy and then using junk modelling to make a space rocket.
• making a paper plate bauble.
• showing thoughtfulness for each other by trying to look after our home corner and maths area better this week.

With your child at home this week you could:

• Do you have any special traditions as a family at this time of year?such as: opening Advent calendars, going to visit Santa, decorating the house etc. Discuss with your child. We will have a group discussion towards the end of the week.
• Sing, sing, sing our Christmas songs this week! 

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning26/11/18

Post Box Walk Wednesday 28th November Thank you in advance to the parents/family members who have volunteered to go on this walk with us. It is very much appreciated. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather (especially wet weather) - coat, gloves, hat and sensible footwear, with a spare change of clothes (in day bag to be kept in nursery) just in case! Doors will open at 9.15am as usual, send your child to the toilet if needed and then take your child to the carpet to to registered. Mrs Copeland will brief parents and then we will begin our walk as close to 9.30am as we can. We hope to be back in nursery for 10.30am at the latest. Any questions, please see Mrs Copeland.

Our value this week is: Thoughtfulness

Our song this week will be: Christmas Performance Songs 

Our story this week will be:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• reading the story of 'How to Catch a Star', focusing on the illustrations and answering simple recall questions.

• imitating movement in response to music - an Aerobic Fitness song for children about stars. Touch the Stars

• using the song 'Twinkle Twinkle' to play a parachute game.

• exploring different solutions to observe which one makes our pennies the most shiny.

• going on our walk around the block to look for shapes and numbers. We will also post our very important letters at the post box on the way back to nursery.
• learning that a group of things changes in quantity when something is added or taken away.

With your child at home this week you could:

• Go on a hunt around your house, see how many sources of light you can find (torch, candle fireworks etc)
• begin to practise/sing our performance songs at home 
• set out a number of objects (up to 5), can your child tell you what happened when you took 1 away? - encourage the language of "took away" "1 less"

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 19/11/18

Our value this week is: Self-Control

Our song this week will be: Christmas Performance Songs

Our story this week will be:'Were going on a Bear Hunt'

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• retelling the story of the Bear Hunt using illustrations and story actions

• painting a picture of a bear by using a fork to make marks.

• identifying numbers 1-5 and then putting the correct number of bears into the cave.

• looking at objects that create noise and then using our listening ears to say what noise is being made from inside the noisy box.

• beginning to sing our Christmas Performance Songs (Song sheets to go home later in the week).

• moving around in lots of different ways to keep ourselves warm when playing and exploring outside.

• learning how to hold our hands and arms when catching a ball.

• looking at advertising logos to see if we can recognise any.

• writing our letters to Father Christmas (ready to go on our Post Box  walk next Wednesday 28th November)

With your child at home this week you could:

• The weather has definitely turned colder this week. With your child work on putting on their coat independently, as well as hat and possibly mittens.
• sing the Christmas Performance Songs together. (Parts will be issued at the beginning of next week).

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 12/11/18

Our value this week is: Self-Control

Our song this week will be: 'My Teddy Bear has ..........'

Our story this week will be:'Were going on a Bear Hunt'

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• opening the treasure chest, exploring what is inside it, then grouping the items shiny and non-shiny.
• beginning to match numbers and quantity.
• thinking about our responses to 'why' questions
• following simple instructions
• exploring our new play equipment in the outside area

With your child at home this week you could:

• Give your child an instruction using the following positional language - in, on, under. For example put the plate on the table.
• Give your child a number between 1-5 and ask them to match it with that number of objects. For example, 3 - put down 3 spoons.
• Enjoy using the story map to retell the story of 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' together. Story maps are available on the table where you self register.

This week in Nursery in Nursery - Week beginning 05/11/18

launch our new topic for this Half Term, a treasure chest arrived in the classroom. I wonder what is in it? The children all got a chance to have a guess.

Our value this week is: Kindness

Our song this week will be:Tommy Thumb

Our number of the week will be: number 1

Our story this week will be:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• sharing our half term news with each other.

• learning about the importance of November 5th.

• using bright colours of paint and every day objects to make fire work pictures

• thinking about why people are wearing poppies at the moment. We will make our own paper plate poppies to put up on our class display.

• reading a story about a giant called George who is very kind and we will be thinking about how we can be kind at home and in nursery. 

With your child at home this week:

• Ask an adult to take you outside when it is dark. What can you see?  What can you hear?

• What does the word shiny mean? Can you think of any other words we could use for the word shiny? Go on a hunt around your house looking for shiny objects. Can you name them?

• Look through photographs that you have taken on a fun family day out. Discuss the photograph together. What can you remember about your day out? What did you enjoy most about your day out? Can you bring the photograph in to nursery to talk to us about it together and then to add to our 'Special times' display. 

 

 Autumn Term 1 2018

Our Topic project  for this half term is called:

'Why do you love me so much?'

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 22/10/18

Our value this week is: Kindness

Our song this week will be:Autumn Leaves are falling down

Our stories this week will be:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• discussing why leaves change colours during Autumn
• making our own leaf man
• painting Autumn trees using foil and sponges
• taking part in our funky fingers stay and play session on Thursday 25th October (all parents welcome to attend).Please see the nursery noticeboard for information.
• using our fingers to count to 10

With your child at home this week:

• look at the leaves on trees - what colours can you see? 
• set up your own funky fingers activity using objects you have at home
• enjoy the half term break. Take a photograph of something your child has done over the holidays. Bring in the photograph for your child to share with us.

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 15/10/18

Our value this week is: Honesty

Our song/rhyme this week will be:

Our stories this week will be:

Some of the children have come in to nursery and asked me had I seen the apple tree outside in the garden. They had noticed it when they were waiting to come into nursery. This week it will be all about apples!

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• using descriptive words to talk about apples
• reading a story about the secret shape that is found in the middle of an apple. (please do not try this at home until after your child has told you - it is a wonderful secret for us to share and then they can share with you at home) 
• counting to 5 and then learning a rhyme to count down to 0 from 5 (see above)
• celebrating National Chocolate Week by making something that uses an apple and chocolate
• printing using apples
• talking about our value of the week and why we should not tell lies, regardless of how small they are!
• making our charity Christmas card, organised by the Howe Park School Friends group. More information to follow about this in the coming weeks as these will be available for you to buy.

With your child at home this week:

• bake or make something together that has chocolate in the recipe

• look for objects at home that your child can compare using the words big and small. For example:

• sing a new nursery rhyme together. Use the BBC nursery rhymes website to help you. Click on the following link. BBC Nursery Rhymes

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 08/10/18

Our value this week is: Honesty

Our songs this week will be: 1 2 3 4 5 once I caught a Fish Alive and Dingle Dangle Scarecrow

Our story this week will be:

This story is about the most beautiful fish in the ocean who is asked to share one of his shining scales with a little blue fish, and to which he refuses. All the other fish in the sea leave him alone, and he wondered why. He goes to the wise octopus for advice, and she tells him to give away/share his scales. Rainbow Fish reluctantly does so, except for one. In the end, he is less beautiful then he was before, but he has new friends and is now the happiest fish in the sea

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• exploring what is means to be a good sharer when we are in nursery (some of us are struggling to share at the moment.)

• decorating our own rainbow fish and sharing out the special silver scales with each other. All fish will then be displayed on our display in the cloakroom area.

• drawing pictures to represent the idea of numbers

• reciting to 10 by singing a fish counting song

• continuing to learn how to work as part of a team to do good tidying up 

With your child at home this week:

• play a game that involves sharing. Do you think your child is good at sharing? If not, tell him/her talk about why it is important to share.
• practise putting on and taking off coat independently (the weather is getting colder and it will soon be time for the children to wear a coat all the time when outdoors)
• collect different coloured leaves. Count how many red, orange, brown, green leaves you have collected. Are they all the same size? You could play a sorting game sort by colour/size etc.

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 01/10/18

 General Notice for this week

• Please make sure the following are named fully:

       - coats

       - outside of backpack/bag

       - all spare clothes inside the backpack/bag

       - lunch bag/boxes

       - water bottles

• Snack and cooking money - a reminder slip will be given to you this week if you haven't already paid. Thank you to those who have!
• Our displays in the main room are starting to take shape - Gruffalo, Autumn and In nursery we are learning to..... Remember to take a look!
• It is not too late to sign up for free milk. Some children are asking for milk during snack time and unless you have registered we cannot give it out. The website is Coolmilk.com and you can register. We are called Rabbit class.
• We ask you politely to pick up your child promptly  at lunchtime. Please be at nursery for 12.15pm, not arriving at 12.25pm. This is having an effect on staff who need to have their lunch in order to be ready on time for their afternoon responsibilities.  

Our value this week is: Trust

Our songs this week will be:

 The Gruffalo Song             

Wake up dance - This is our morning song that we have been learning the words and actions to. We sing this just before we either go off to adult led time or off to explore and play. This helps us to be fully wake and ready to go off and learn. 

Our story of the week continues to be:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• thinking about what is needed to be a good listener.
• singing favourite nursery thymes, acting out the actions and filling in the missing gaps.
• joining in with key words and phrases from our story of the Gruffalo.
• joining in with and taking responsibility for tidying up the areas that are very popular and busy at the minute, such as the home corner, the construction area, play dough and book areas.
• using chalk outside to create marks representing the idea of number.
•  using glue and a spreader as well as different resources to make our own conker paper plate.
• identifying action words (verbs) by pointing to the right picture. Examples will include: jumping, eating, sleeping, swimming etc.
• recognising shapes in pictures and seeing what shapes we can name.
• having a "boogie" on Friday morning to the song 'I like to move it'

With your child at home this week:

• look for signs of Autumn as you travel to and from nursery.
• practise reciting 1-5 and then when confident then up to 10.
• encourage your child to help putting on and taking off their coat
• retell the story of the Gruffalo. 

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 17/09/18

The children have now completed their settling in sessions and they are beginning to make friends and explore and play in the nursery environment, both inside and outside. I am really proud of how they are coping so far and it is so lovely already to hear the chatter as the children are getting to know each other.

This week we will be continue to learn our nursery routines - using our listening ears, looking eyes, thinking heads, speaking lips and concentrating hands, washing our hands before snack, eating snack, walking instead of running and tidying up!

Our songs this week will be: familiar nursery rhymes  such as: Incy Wincy Spider, When I was 1 I sucked my thumb, Miss Polly had a dolly.

You can find the songs we will song this week on the BBC schools radio website. Click on the following link which will take you to the homepage. BBC early years nursery rhymes

Our value this week is: Friendship

Our story of the week is: 

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• exploring the nursery environment - inside and outside and beginning to express our own preferences and interests
• talking about how to handle books carefully, taking care to turn the pages one at a time.
• reading the story of the Gruffalo. We will encourage the children to use their listening ears and looking eyes. As we read the story hopefully the children will join in with some of the words and phrases from the story.
• use paint to paint our own picture of the Gruffalo
• make a Gruffalo using playdough and other resources
• exploring musical instruments, creating sound by banging, tapping and shaking.
• selecting a small number of objects from a group when asked, eg. ‘please give me one, ‘please give me two’.
• continuing to learn where to put away all the toys and resources after we have explored and played with them.

With your child at home this week:

• practise putting on and taking off their coat

• ask your child who she/he is playing with in nursery. Have any friends been made already?

• discuss what the name of our class is - can you find out any facts about rabbits?

  

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 10/09/18

The Plan for this week is as follows:

Monday - settling session with a parent(s) - 1 hour

Tuesday - settling session without a parent - 1 hour. Enter and leave the nursery via the nursery gates, not main reception.

Wednesday - settling session without a parent - 2 hours (9.15am - 11.15am). Enter and leave the nursery via the nursery gates, not main reception.

Thursday - children will attend for the full session - 9.15am-12.15pm. Some children will also attend the breakfast club, afternoon session and after school club.

Friday - children will attend for the full session - 9.15am-12.15pm.Some children will also attend the breakfast club, afternoon session and after school club.

Please remember to:

• return the parent information booklet
• pay for snack for either the Autumn term or for the full year 
• name all items of clothing, bag and water bottle 

This week we will:

• be observing the children expressing their own preferences and watching their interests begin to develop.
• sing familiar nursery rhymes
• share our stars from home
• learn our tidy up time song
• listen to a story
• talk about our hands and what we can use our hands for, focusing on washing our hands before snack.

At home you could:

• continue to learn and sing our tidy up song and put your fingers on your lips song (we sang these together on Monday during our parent and adult session)

Tidy up time, tidy up time

everyone, everyone,

put it all away now, put it all away now,

till its done, till its done.

Tune: Frere Jacques

Put your fingers on your lips on your lips,

Put your fingers on your lips on your lips,

Put your fingers on your lips on your lips,

Put your finger on your lips and seal it like a zip,

Put your fingers on your lips on your lips.

Tune: If you're happy and you know it

Please do not hesitate to speak to me if you have any questions - big or small!

Mrs Copeland 

Previously in Nursery - Week beginning 03/09/18

 Hello to our new children and their families!

We are very busy putting the final touches in getting the nursery ready to welcome you all! This is always a very exciting, calm time at the beginning of the year as everything is all sprarkly clean and tidy and all set up ready for the new children to arrive. 

I am looking forward to meeting you all this week when I come out on home visits. The nursery TA's will help to keep me right as we navigate our way around the area!

If you haven't done so already, have a walk to nursery or drive by this week and stop and have a look at your child's new environment! This will hopefully help to ease any little moments of anxiety that may be building up.

Remember to pack a backpack with 2 complete changes of clothing (including socks and pants, with everything named) and remember your child will also need a named water bottle as well.

Looking forward to meeting and chatting with you at some stage this week.

Mrs Copeland 

Welcome to Summer Term 2

Our Topic project  for this half term is called:

How many pebbles on the beach?

This week in Nursery - Week beginning 16/08/18

Dear Parents,

 I cannot believe we are beginning our last week of the school year. It is always a busy week, as well as an emotional week for both children and adults. Please see the arrangements for the week below for nursery:

 Monday 16^th July (normal nursery day)

 There will be a variety of fish (plaice, sea bream, plaice, trout) from the fishmongers to observe, touch, ask questions about etc. Please sign beside your child’s name on the board to give permission for this activity.

 We will also read a story called ‘Goodnight beach’ and we will reflect on and say goodbye to our beach topic.

 Tuesday 17t^h July – Stay and Play

 Younger siblings can join us this morning (with parental supervision). We will ask you to sign in and out, so we know how many adults/children we have in nursery. We will be painting/decorating stones to finish our topic on: ‘How many pebbles on the beach.’ 

 Annette from Toddler Time  will be doing a 30 min 'seaside' themed show for us in the main school hall. This will be from 10.30-11.00. We will go over to the hall together as a class.

Your child is very excited to show you some of the things he/she has made during our topic, such as: binoculars, ice-cream sundae, lighthouse, seashore bowl. Please also look at our topic displays, which your child has contributed to.

 The parachute will be out for you to join in with a song/game as well.

 Wednesday 18^th July – End of Term picnic and party games– ALL CHILDREN

Children can wear party clothes with sensible footwear. We will play some traditional party games throughout the morning.  Please provide your child with a sandwich (no peanut butter/nutella etc as we do have some children with nut allergies) in a named bag and we will provide the rest of the party food.

All children are invited to an early lunch today (at about 11.45am) so that we can all sit down together as a class! I shall put a list of the party food up on the noticeboard for you to view but it will be things like pom pom bear crisps, a small bun, chocolate fingers….. the usual party food. We ask for parents to collect between 12.20-12.25pm today. Please do not come early, as the gate will not be opened until 12.20pm. Children staying for the afternoon session only need to bring a sandwich today, the rest of the lunch will be provided.

 Thursday 19^th July - Water Play Day - for those children who want to join in – Weather depending!

 Please send your child to nursery in their swim-wear, with a t-shirt/shorts/sun dress etc on top. Your child will also need to wear shoes/trainers for this activity. Send a towel and a spare change of clothes and footwear (including underwear) in a named bag. We will help the children to get changed after the activity. Children may also bring water toys with them if they so wish to do (again named). There will be alternative activities arranged for children who do not want to take part in our water play.

 Friday 20th July (normal nursery day)

We will attend assembly with the rest of school and we will perform a song (Oh I do like to be beside the seaside and a song/dance (Baby Shark).

 BIG SING on the main school playground at 2.30pm. You are more than welcome to return to school at this time to attend this event with your child. This activity will not be supervised by the nursery staff, so you will be required to stay with your child.

 Please remember to empty your child’s green tray and make sure you bring all belongings home! Have the most fantastic, relaxing summer. We wish you all the very best in the next stage of your learning journey whether it be at Howe Park School or as you prepare to begin a new school.

Mrs Copeland and the nursery Team

This week in Nursery  - Week beginning 09/07/18

We will be observing and exploring fish from a local fish monger this week. Please sign beside your child's name on the class register (on the noticeboard) to give permission for your child to take part in this activity. 

Our song/poem this week will be:1 2 3 4 5 Once I caught a fish alive and The animals in the Ocean

Our value this week is: to review the values we have covered over the year

Our story this week is: Commotion in the Ocean and Tiddler

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include

• reading the story of Tiddler and talking about the importance of always telling the truth

• practising our songs for the end of term assembly over in main school

• having a special visitor this week (Wednesday) for story telling and a Punch and Judy puppet show

• playing a parachute game that involves doing the actions of 1 2 3 4 5, Once I caught a fish alive

• continuing with our under the sea yoga theme. This week we will be learning about an octopus called Nibs (the children are definitely proving to be more flexible than the adults!) Cosmic Kids Yoga Nibs the Octopus

• making a bowl out of clay and then decorating it with objects we would find on the seashore (pebbles, shells etc)

With your child at home this week:

• join in your child in doing a yoga session we have been doing from Cosmic Kids Yoga - Squish the Fish/Nibs the Octopus (You Tube)

• ask your child to talk to you about their special visitor - what was the Punch and Judy Show all about

• help your child to learn the words of: 'Oh I do Like to be beside the seaside' Mrs Copeland will send the words home at the beginning of the week. This will be one of the songs we will sing at the end of term assembly.

   

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 02/07/18

Monday 2nd July - If you are staying at Howe Park School in September, please take your child to main school this morning for your parent and child visit. Do not come to nursery first to register. If your child is coming back to nursery after the visit, please let the Foundation 2 staff know and they will arrange for your child to be picked up and brought back to nursery.

Have you visited a beach as a family?

Have you given Mrs Copeland a photograph of your child at the beach?

I would love to create a photo display of the children's first hand experiences of the beach.

  Some children so far have really enjoyed sharing their photo with the rest of the class during our carpet time sessions! I would like to put up this display towards the end of the week.  Many thanks!

Our song/poem this week will be: The animals in the Ocean

Our value this week is: begin to review the values we have covered over the year

Our story this week is: Commotion in the Ocean

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• using the binoculars we made last week to go on a bird hunt around nursery to explore birds that can be found on the seashore (children will be looking for a variety of bird pictures) 

• naming sea animals and then make up movements for each of the animals

• exploring the water tray which will be full of sea animals. We will catch fish, count fish, use the language one more, one less, how many altogether etc

• discussing our visits our new schools/classes. We will read a story about a little hedgehog as he prepares to go to school. He had butterflies in his tummy. What does that mean? Did any of the children have butterflies in their tummy's when they visited school for the first time. What did they enjoy? What are they nervous about?

With your child at home this week:

• together make an under the sea scene, maybe in a shoe box. Bring into nursery to show us if you do.
• if you have time, visit the fish section that is available in a few of the garden centres around Milton Keynes. Can you name any of the fish? Can you count how many fish there are in different tanks?
• talk with your child about what they have enjoyed most about their time in nursery? Is there a favourite story or song or activity that they have done? What is their favourite area in nursery - inside/outside? Why?  

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 24/06/18

Our song/poem this week will be: Row, row, row the boat/A sailor went to sea.....

Our value this week is: Understanding

Our story this week is:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• learning about the concepts of floating and sinking - we will carry out an experiments to see which every day objects will float or sink.
• using 2d shapes to draw our own boat
• making a sandwich by following a sequence
• making binoculars using junk modelling to go on a hunt around nursery to explore birds that can be found on the seashore (children will be looking for a variety of bird pictures) 

With your child at home this week:

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 18/06/18

Our song/poem this week will be : She sells sea shells on the seashore

Our value this week is: Understanding

Our story this week is:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• talking about what a lighthouse is and why they are important

• using every day junk modelling to make a lighthouse

• continuing to add to our main 'beach' themed display boards by making seagulls, lighthouses and starfish 

• learning how to make a sandwich by following a sequence

• exploring our water area which will have seaweed from the beach in it

• learning the tongue twister 'she sells seashells on the seashore'

• using our pincer grip to place golf balls carefully onto tees

• showing an interest in shapes by playing with shapes or making arrangements with objects.

With your child at home this week:

• count objects at home which cannot be moved. For example:

  photos on the wall, pieces of furniture in you lounge, TV's,  windows in your room, lights in a room, the number of cupboards in your kitchen etc.

• hears and say the initial sound in words - play a game of 'I spy with my little eye, something beginning with .........' (We have been looking at the sound s)

• find things at home that have different textures (how do they feel? soft, hard etc). Encourage your child to use words to describe the different textures.

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 11/06/18

We will continue to sing: : Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

Our value this week is: tolerance

Our story this week is:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• exploring what is inside a 'beachcomber's basket (things that are collected when you go to the beach.) We will develop our vocabulary by naming the items and we will discuss how those items were found on the beach.
• offering a range of different containers to make sandcastles, towers and other imaginative structures that you might find on a beach. What makes a good sandcastle?
• explore shells by counting them, sorting them by size and pattern etc. 
• thinking about the term alliteration. We will be using a tongue twister about sea shells to help introduce this concept. 

• making something special for the male's in our lives
• creating some work for our 'How many pebbles on the beach?' display. We will be thinking about things we can find in/on the sand. For example - starfish, crabs, beach huts etc

With your child at home this week:

• If you have visited a beach, do you have a photograph of your child? If so, please give us a copy and we can then display it on our 'At the seaside' display. Your child could also share this with the other children during carpet time. 
• Go on a 's' sound hunt around your house. Can you find anything that begins with 's'. For example: spoon, sock, sandwich, salt, sandals, spaghetti, sunglasses etc 

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 04/06/18

One of our project songs that we will start learning this week is: O I do like to be beside the seaside

Our story this week is: Kipper the Dog - The Seaside by Mick Inkpen

Kipper the Dog - The Seaside

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• Talking about the changes that have been made to our nursery environment and introducing our new summer project! - Talk about the seashore that has been set up in the setting. What they can see? Has anyone been to the beach before? What is the theme of our book area? We will watch a short video ‘What can you do at the beach?’ 

• Letter and Sounds. We will continue to look at how we can make different sounds with our voices. We are going to talk like a robot to name different objects by sounding out the letters and blending them together.;

• Circle Time. We will revisit the value of being kind, by thinking about kind hands and what we should/not use our hands for. This will be to remind all children at the beginning of term how we need to treat each other in nursery and at home.

• Science Morning. Over the course of the morning we will take part in 4 different activities:

1. explore what happens when we mix primary colours (red, blue and yellow)

2. make pop corn. We will talk about the changes from the kernel to the pop corn.

3. sort different animals (sea creatures, farm animals, wild animals, minibeasts) into groups

4. Mrs Copeland’s umbrella has a hole in it! We will test different materials to find a suitable material to use as an umbrella.

With your child at home this week you could:

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 21/05/18

This week is Wellbeing week. We will focus on the wellbeing of everyone in school (adults and children). Our Topic of ‘Game, Set and Match’ has been all about being healthy through exercise and healthy eating. I have been so impressed by the responses from the children to the question ‘How can we stay healthy?’ Many of their responses have been recorded in their Learning Journey’s that you will be receiving via email in the next few weeks.

The week is designed to link with Walk to School Week. This is a national campaign by the charity Living Streets, designed to encourage everyone to walk to school. I am aware that many of our nursery children travel to school by car, so during our group times next week, we will go to the nursery car park and we will collectively walk for 5-10 minutes each morning. The children always love going to the car park as they feel it is a real treat and somewhere we don’t go to very often!

The value of the week is: Responsibility

Our stories this week will be:

Our songs this week will be: Head, Shoulders, knees and toes......If you're happy and you know it .........Parts of my body

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• carry on thinking about our value of responsibility. We will learn a special chant to remind us what we need to do.

• explore our artist of the term - Anthony Gormley and we will make a mini person using clay (to represent one of his very famous sculptures)

• collectively walking every day for approx. 10 minutes to improve our sense of wellbeing.

• act out the story of the bear hunt using different yoga movements.

• help to create our own assault courses outside where we will move in lots of different ways, including in, under, on top, through as well as focus on our balancing skills

• looking at the different parts of our bodies through singing familiar songs

With your child at home this week you could:

• continue to encourage independence and responsibility - ask your child to recite the responsibility chant

• move in different ways - such as: shuffling, hopping, skipping, jumping etc

• spend time as a family on an activity makes improves all of your wellbeing and makes you happy and healthy!

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 14/05/18

The value of the week is: Responsibility

Our story this week will be: Oliver's Fruit Salad/Kitchen Disco

Our song this week will be: BBC Nursery Rhymes - Oranges and Lemons

 Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• naming as many different fruit as we can think of
• weighing different fruits and using the balancing scales to see which is heaviest/lightest
• exploring the value of responsibility - we will be thinking about how we could act more responsibly at nursery and at home.
• playing a circle game called fruit salad
• joining in with Outdoor Classroom Day (we hope to have all of our activities outside on Thursday 17th May)
• making fruit salad

With your child at home this week you could:

• continue to practise holding a pencil near the point between first finger and thumb, with the second finger resting underneath (lots of children are interested in writing names and words in nursery at the moment)

    
• practise reciting beyond 10 - how far can your child accurately count to 
• give your child a small challenge/responsibility this week - for example: trying to make their bed/laying the table for tea/putting on their clothes/shoes by themselves

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 07/05/18

The value of the week is: Perseverance

Our story this week will be: Oliver's Vegetables

Our song this week will be: One potato, two, potatoes, three potatoes more.....

 Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• looking at and naming different vegetables
• using vegetables to print with
• planting some vegetable seeds and to watch them grow over the coming weeks
• beginning to recite beyond 10
• clapping out some simple rhythms
• using play dough accessories to make potato people

With your child at home this week you could:

• plant some vegetables seeds of your own. Watch them grow. Encourage your child to comment on the changes
• Practise saying the number that is 1 more than a given number. For example 1 more than 3 is....., 1 more than 7 is etc.
• play a game with a favourite toy. Place the toy in different positions, for example: in the .........., under the ......., behind the ......., in front of the .........., next to the ............ Ask your child to say where the toy is.

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 30/04/18

The value of the week is: Perseverance

Our story this week will continue to be:           

Our song/poem this week will be: When Goldilocks went to the house of the bears

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• using our voices to make the story of Goldilocks more exciting

• ordering pictures from the story of Goldilocks by height

• talking about how the three bears would have moved and using this to retell our story

• thinking about our value of perseverance - we will link it in with exercise. We will time ourselves when doing  a series of exercises and we will ry not to stop even if we are finding it difficult. 

• practising our cutting skills by making our own stick puppets of the characters from Goldilocks and the Three Bears

• having a visit from a doctor (one of the children's parents) to come and talk to us about why it is important to look after ourselves. This is provisionally booked for Friday morning. 

With your child at home this week you could:

• think about the term 'perseverance' - is there anything you find difficult to do at the minute but you are working hard to master? (please let us know via the slips that you can fill in)

• go to the supermarket and look for green vegetables. Can you name any of them? Discuss the phrase "it is important to eat your greens".

• play a game of Simon Says: Gradually increase the length of the command when playing this game (e.g. “Simon Says pat your head”; “Simon says first pat your head, then touch your nose”).

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 23/04/18

Our story this week will continue to be:

We will also begin to look at the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

The value of the week is: Respect

Our song/poem this week will be: When Goldilocks went to the house of the bears

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• starting to think about what we understand by the word healthy and how we live a healthy life (we will talk about things like: the food we eat, the exercise we do, getting enough sleep, keeping ourselves clean - washing our bodies, hands and teeth.)
• making, eating and tasting 3 different types of porridge and deciding on which one is our favourite)
• talking about what happens to our bodies when we exercise (we feel warm, our heart beats faster and we should feel happy)
• exploring our value of respect by talking about how Goldilocks treated the bears when she visited their house 

With your child at home this week you could:

• Look in the food cupboards/fridge in your kitchen - talk about some of the healthy and unhealthy food you have. 

• Time yourself for a minute doing different types of exercise like walking on the spot, jumping, running on the spot etc. Do you feel warm? Has your heart started to beat faster?

  Ask you child to answer the following questions: How do you brush your teeth?                    How do you get ready for bed? How do you eat a banana?                           How do you make a sandwich? 
• You will notice all the questions begin with the word 'How'. Encourage your child to speak in a full sentence and to use words like: First I....then/next......lastly/finally.......

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 16/04/18

General Notices for this week

• Please return your  'chicks visiting nursery' reply slip
• Snack  and Cooking money for parents who pay termly is now due. Mrs Copeland will send out reminder notes this week.
• Please make sure that it is only water in the your child's bottle - not juice or cordial/squash etc.  

Our story this week will continue to be:

You can listen to the story on: Oxford Owl - Story time: Little Red Hen

Our song/poem this week will be: Chick, Chick Chick, Chick, Chicken

The value of the week is: Repsect

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• observing the baby chicks and looking after them
• preparing our display for the main school hall - our topic is chicks and we will produce art using different media - paint brushes, scouring brushes, forks, potato printing, collage etc
• retelling the story of the Little Red Hen by using illustrations/story map
• representing numbers using fingers, marks on paper or pictures.
• playing a parachute game that will make us think of different types of spring weather.

With your child at home this week you could:

• talk about the phrase 'April showers, brings May flowers'
• make your own picture using marks for numbers/using numbers
• find about about Goldilocks: Who is she? What did she eat? What do you eat for breakfast? Bring in a photograph of you eating your breakfast to share with us.
•  

This week in Nursery  - Week beginning 19/03/18

General Notices for this week

Wednesday 21st March - Easter Egg Hunt organised by the Friends. It is due to start at 2.45pm on the main play ground area. You are more than welcome to come back to school at this time and join in with the fun. Tickets are £1. If you require a ticket(s), please let me know and I can organise this for you.

Thursday 22nd March  - Parent Stay and Play Session - you can stay for a part of the morning or the entire morning. It is entirely up to you. Please let us know if you intend on staying and how many. 

Friday 23rd March - last day of term. Please make sure you empty your child's green tray in the cloakroom area.

Our story this week will be:

We will also continue to learn use our story actions  to retell the story of the Three Little Pigs

Our song/poem this week will be: The bunny hokey cokey (tails, ears, nose, paws), 5 little chicks went walking one day and our poem from last week 'I am special'

The value of the week is: Courage

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• thinking about the celebration of Easter and what it means

• making easter cards for our families

• hiding and looking for coloured eggs around the nursery environment

• inviting members of our families to come and stay and play with us in nursery (activities will be Spring/Easter related)

• comparing two groups of objects, saying when they have the same number.

• join in the the rest of school in the end of term assembly (Friday)

With your child at home this week you could:

• Next half term we will have a display on: Special events in the life our our families - look through your family photographs of a special event in the life of your family (special birthday, wedding,  holiday, day out, religious festival) and decide which photo your child will bring in to nursery to share with us and then to put up on our display.

• find objects at home that you can put into two groups and compare. Can you child use language such as: more, less, same, different?

• use your name templates and your "magic" writing pens to trace over your name, to building up to writing your name independently. Use the dots on the template to help you with the formation of the letters.

  

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 12/03/18

General Notices for this week

Monday 12th March  - wear odd socks to nursery. This is to launch our anti-bullying week focus of ‘all different, all equal’.

Wednesday 14th March - Parent/Teacher Meetings - the list is up on the board in the cloakroom. Meetings will take place across in the main school and not in nursery. Enter school via the main school reception door and follow the signs to the seating area. Mrs Copeland will collect you from there.

Data Collection Forms - these will be given out to you this week. Please check your details that are on the sheet, make any necessary changes and hand back in please.

Our story this week will continue to be: The Three Little Pigs

Our song/poem this week will be:  'I am special as I can be' poem

The value of the week is: Patience (a value that we are constantly learning in nursery and I am sure at home! If your child shows patience at home, please fill in a slip and share with us)

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• discussing what we did over the weekend to make our mummies/nanna's/grandma's etc feel special.

• thinking about our similarities and differences and what makes us unique and special.

• talking about what is a friend? how can we be a good friend? 

• making a cupcake to get across the message that it takes individual ingredients to make a beautiful cupcake (it is the same in nursery - it takes all of us as individuals to make up our wonderful nursery class).

• beginning to think about Spring - our snowman display will come down this week and will be replaced with a Spring theme.

• continue to retell our story of the Three Little Pigs.

With your child at home this week you could:

• go for a walk - can you notice any signs that Winter is passing and Spring is now on the way.

• recite numbers beyond 10 (most children in nursery can now confidently recite up to 10). How car can your child count to accurately?

• ask your child to tell you the story of the Three Little Pigs in their own words - make sure he/she includes the phrases: 'I will huff and I will puff and I will blow your house down.' and 'not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.). Can he/she remember any of the actions we have been learning?

   

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 26/02/18

Jessie dog's visit on Friday past was a huge success. The children listened carefully to how Mrs Copeland and her family care for and look after Jessie.Those children that had permission to came and stroke Jessie did so very gently and calmly. Well done!

(I will put some photographs on here of our week of Chinese New Year celebrations during this week.)

General Notices

At home time - if your child is being picked up by someone other than parents or regular adults that pick up, can you please let us know in advance. If there is an emergency, please ring the main school reception and leave a password for the adult to give to Mrs Copeland at pick up time. 

Weather this week - We are forecasted to be having weather that has been nicknamed 'The beast from the East'. This is a very cold weather spell that is coming in from Russia. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for outdoor playing and exploring. Although the sun has been shining over the weekend, it is bitterly cold when outside!

Visit of Local Author - Wednesday 28th February - the Author will come and read a story to the nursery children about dragons. The children will then complete an activity related to the story.

World Book Day - Thursday 1st March  children are invited to come to school dressed in the whole school theme of: Queens/Kings, Princesses/Princes, Knights, Dragons

Parent/Teacher Meeting - Thursday 1st March This is only for the children who started in September 2017. All parents that this involves should have received their time slot. Mrs Copeland will hold the meetings over in main school and not in nursery. Please go to the main school reception and follow the sign to the sitting area. Mrs Copeland will come and collect you from there. Please make sure you are punctual.

Our story this week will be: The Three Little Pigs

Our song this week will be: Three Little Pigs Song

The value of the week is: Caring (we will be focusing on looking after and caring for our nursery environment)

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• reading the story of the Three Little Pigs and will be beginning to join in with the repeated words and phrases
• beginning to explore the concept of conservation of number (this is when a number of objects is arranged in different ways but the total remains the same). We will be doing this for 3, 4 and 5 objects.
• meeting a local author and enjoying a picture story book about dragons.
• enjoying World Book Day and sharing lots of wonderful stories!
• learning about the festival of ‘Holi’ which is a Hindu spring celebration that is sometimes called the 'Festival of Colour.'

With your child at home this week you could:

• talk about stories - does your child have a favourite story? What is it called? Who are the main characters? Where is it set? Can they retell you the story? Bring the story in to nursery to share with us. 

• count a number of objects together (start with 3, if doing this confidently increase the number to 4 and then 5 etc.) Start with the 3 objects in a straight line and count, then move the objects into a different arrangement, such as 2 on one line and 1 on a different line. Do you still have 3 objects? The purpose of this activity is that you haven't added any or taken any away. The total is still the same. Children find this really tricky to understand initially. Keep working on it!

•  you may have noticed your child singing the chorus to the famous 'We will rock you' song by Queen. During carpet time we have been clapping out the simple rhythm in this song. As your child to show you! 

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 19/02/18

Over the weekend past, it was Chinese New Year. This week we will look at the traditions and celebrations of Chinese New Year. This is a very exciting and colourful celebration which the children always thoroughly enjoy.

Our story this week will be:

Our song this week will be: Gung Hay Fat Choy

The value of the week is: Caring (we will dis cuss how to care and look after a dog)

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• reading a story to name the 12 important animals in the Chinese zodiac
• discussing why red is a popular festival colour (story of Nian)
• learning an action song about Chinese New Year
• watching a short clip about the famous Chinese dragon dance and then making up our own
• tasting some basic Chinese food and discussing texture, colour, smell etc (permission slips will go home on Monday)
• having a dog visit nursery. The children will ask Mrs Copeland questions about how to care for and look after a dog.
• attempting to use Chinese symbols to write numbers
• learning to draw a dog
• developing our cutting skills to make a Chinese lantern 

With your child at home this week you could:

• Find out which Chinese animal year you were born in. What do you know about the animal?

   

• Together make a model dragon - you could use cardboard tubes and boxes etc. Take a photograph of your finished model or bring in your model to show us.

• If you have 3 red lanterns and 2 yellow lanterns hanging in a row. How many lanterns are there altogether? You could draw a picture to help you work out the answer.

• During Chinese New Year celebrations, children are given red envelopes with money inside. With an adult, look at some coins and see if you can see any numbers on them. What numbers can you see? What shape are the coins? What colour are they?

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 05/02/18

On Tuesday 6th February we will be taking part in Safer Internet Day 2018.

This will be celebrated in the UK and globally with the slogan “Create, Connect and Share Respect: A better internet starts with you”.

Our story this week will be: Buddy the Dog's Internet Safety story

and Mr Wolf's Pancakes by Jan Fearnly

Our song this week will be: Buddy's 'Use your tablet safely' song and Pop a little pancake into the pan (song sheets will be sent home for you to sing together)

The value of the week is: Quality

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• asking the children do they know what the internet is.
• looking at what we use the internet for in nursery and at home
• discussing how we can use the internet safely
• naming some grown ups we can ask for help if we need it
• looking at the traditions of Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday)
• decorating our own pancake with yoghurt and fruit (this will happen on Thursday and will be eaten during snack time)
• taking part in our own pancake race
• having a go at tossing a pancake
• revisiting 2d shapes and counting how many sides each shapes has.
• looking for objects in our nursery environment that are circular in shape
• continue to use the iPad to take a photograph

With your child at home this week you could:

• talk to your child about internet safety and asking for help if they are unsure what to do.
• What things do you use in your house to connect to the internet? Go on a technology hunt around your house.
• Make a pancake and see how many times you can toss it in the air without it falling off. What toppings do you like on your pancake?

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 29/01/18

Our story this week continues to be: The Gingerbread Man (last week)

Our song this week will be: Tommy Thumb and other songs we have learnt over the half term

The value of the week is: Quality

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• using our fingers Tommy thumb, Toby tall, Ruby ring to hold our pencil in the correct position

• putting the story of the Gingerbread Man together using our story map - we will be particularly looking at the role of the fox.

  develop our listening skills and awareness of sounds in the environment.

• experience and develop awareness of sounds made with instruments and noise makers.

• sharing our baby photographs and talking about similarities and differences and of course growth and change.
• practising our cutting skills by cutting around a gingerbread man template
• using the camera icon on the iPads to take a photo and then locating the photo using the photograph icon.
• beginning to represent numbers using fingers, marks on paper or pictures.

With your child at home this week you could:

• Make your own noisy box ( put things inside it that make a noise!) Children need to look and listen carefully to hear the name and sound of each instrument or noise maker (keys/crisp packet, squeaky toy etc) and then guess what the noise is when the item is in the box out of sight.

• What technology does your child use at home?

• Give your child a number between 1-5 first and then if confident 6-10. Can he/she draw a picture with that number of objects in it. For example 3 balls, 2 mountains, 5 rain drops etc.

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 22/01/18

Our story this week continues to be: The Gingerbread Man

Our song this week will be: Horsie Horsie don't you stop. You can find this song on the BBC Nursery songs and Rhymes link above. We will also learn a rhyme called: Pussy Cat,Pussy Cat.

The value of the week is: Cooperation

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• adding to our Gingerbread story map and looking at the role of the fox in the story
• thinking about how we could change the end of our story to make it a happy ending
• learning the poem Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat
• continuing to play games that make us think about cooperation
• revisiting safety on using scissors and how to hold scissors correctly
• looking at child friendly advertising logos to see how many we can identify

With your child at home this week you could:

• ask your child yo look at the illustrations (pictures) in a favourite story book. Can they retell you the story?
• clap out the rhythm in the poem Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat. 
• play a game that encourages cooperation (working together, sharing, waiting turn) 

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 15/01/18

Our story this week is: The Gingerbread Man

Our song this week will be:The Gingerbread Man song

The value of the week is: Cooperation

Sesame Street: Big Bird - Cooperation

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• continuing to retell the story of the Gingerbread Man using actions.
• using a Sesame Street song (see above for the link) to learn about what cooperation means (very popular with the children)
• baking a gingerbread man to take home (please look at the board in the cloakroom for the list of ingredients and sign beside your child' name to give permission for this activity. We will be baking on Thursday 18/01)
• looking at the phrase 'run, run as fast as you can..... and we will introduce other action words (verbs) instead of run, such as jump, swim, hop, wiggle etc
• painting different characters from the story

With your child at home this week you could:

• use the internet to find a version of the Gingerbread Man. Does it have the same characters in it as the story we are reading in nursery?
• count a variety of different objects at home slowly and carefully taking your time. This is called 1:1 correspondence.
• When we will be baking gingerbread men, the individual ingredients will all be mixed together and will change and become a dough. Can you think of anything that you make/eat at home where the process changes from beginning to end (for example weetabix - solid/crumbly at the beginning and then becomes a soft mixture once milk or water is added to it or pasta, rice, potatoes etc) Talk about these changes.

Previously in Nursery  - Week beginning 08/01/18

General notices for this week:

• Snack and cooking money is now due for children who pay termly (Mrs Copeland will hand out reminder slips this week)
• Please remember to make your school choices by Monday 15th January 2018. Click on the following link to give you further information - Starting school for the first time in September-2018
• Please bring in a baby photograph of your child that you don't mind us using  as part of our 'Great Events in our lives' display.  

Our story this week is: The Gingerbread Man 

Our song this week will be: 'The kiboomers: If you're thankful and you know it

The value of the week is: Gratitude

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• reading the story of the Gingerbread Man
• naming the characters in the story
• using our creative skills to make a fox
• playing a circle game to help us learn the main phrase in the story 'run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man.'
• playing games that require us to wait our turn and expect delay.
• woking in small groups to prepare our winter display.
• looking for the gingerbread man in nursery as he has got lost (will be in a different position every day)

With your child at home this week you could: 

• talk about trust. Who should we trust/not trust? Should the gingerbread man have trusted the fox?
• Recite to 10, support your child with any numbers that are missed out along the way. If confident, begin to count beyond 10
• encourage your child to fasten their coat independently (most children can now put on their coat by themselves)

Previously in Nursery

Week beginning 01/01/18

Welcome back to our nursery children and their families. We cannot wait to hear all about your holiday news!

The whole school topic for the spring term is Great and Ghastly events in history. In nursery we are going to focus on great events in our lives so far.... birth, 1st birthday, starting nursery, special events/celebrations in our families. Alongside this, our stories will focus on traditional tales where we will discuss good and bad characters. There are many spring celebrations we will explore along the way.

The value of the week is: Gratitude

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• sharing our news about what we did over the holidays
• talking about why the beginning of a new year is important and what do we mean by the word resolution.
• beginning to think about gratitude and singing an action song 'If you're thankful and you know it.......' (to the tune of: 'If you're happy and you know it...'

With your child at home this week you could: 

• look for a baby photograph of your child that you don't mind giving away to put up on our new class display which will be called 'Great events in our lives'
• How can you tell we are now in the season of winter?
• Do you have a favourite story? What is it called? Can you name the characters in the story? Where is the story set?

Previously in Nursery

Week beginning 27/11/17

Our story this week will be: Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

Click on the following link to watch the story: Owl Babies

Our songs of the week are: Christmas Performance songs

The value of the week is: Hope

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• reading the story of owl Babies and naming the main characters and joining in with the simple repeated refrains
• labelling the different parts of an owl
• making an owl using various resources - cotton wool, card, twigs
• going to the stage in the main hall to look at where we will be sitting during our Christmas performance
• finding out our part in the performance and will try on our costumes

With your child at home this week you could: 

find out the answers to the following questions about owls:

• What is a baby owl called?
• Where do owls live?
• Do owls come out in the day time or night time?
• What does an owl eat?
• Are there different kinds of owls? 
•  
• Keep practising our songs for the Christmas performance
• If you celebrate Christmas at home, talk about the preparations you make to get ready for Christmas. If you don't celebrate Christmas, talk about how you prepare for a special event/festival that you do celebrate. 

Week beginning 20/11/17

Our story this week will continue be: Whatever Next! By Jill Murphy

 We will also look at non-fiction books about astronauts.

Our songs of the week is: Zoom Zoom Zoom we're going to the moon

The value of the week is: thoughtfulness

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• using the internet to research and answer the following questions:

• What is an astronaut?
• What do astronauts do?
• Where do astronauts live in space?
• What does as astronaut wear?
• How do astronauts sleep?
• What do astronauts eat when in space?

• having a talk from a parent who works for Royal Mail

• going for our walk around our school area. We will look for numbers and shapes in the environment and will then post our very special letter in the post box.

• practising our Christmas performance songs

• counting to 10 and beginning to count back from 10

With your child at home this week you could: 

• look for the post box near to school - what colour is it? what does it say on it?

• get ready to blast off up into space in your imaginary space shuttle - count enthusiastically starting at 10 all the way down to 0.

• talk about our value this week - how can we show consideration for others at home and in nursery.

  

 Week beginning 13/11/17

By Friday 17th November:

• photograph orders and payment to be returned to nursery
• let us know if you can accompany us on our Post Box walk on Thursday 23rd November.  
• Children in Need Day on Friday 17th November - children can wear their own clothes or dress up in the 'spot' theme of Pudsey. £1 donation is suggested.

Our story this week will be: Whatever Next! By Jill Murphy

Our songs of the week are:Teddy bear, teddy bear turn around and Climb aboard the spaceship...

The value of the week is: Self-control

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• using props and a story picture map to retell the story of Whatever Next!!
• going on a listening walk inside and outside nursery (listening for different types of sounds)
• making a space rocket out of 2d shapes
• learning the following prepositions - in, on and under
• baking Pudsey Bear biscuits
• making rockets out of junk modelling
• exploring our new 'People who help us' small world
• making different sizes of stars out of play dough and discussing basic concepts such as big/little
• reading stories and books on Space in our book area
• dancing to songs that give us verb instructions, such as jump, hop, fly, squash 

With your child at home this week you could: 

Week beginning 06/11/17

Our story this week will be: How to catch a star by Oliver Jeffers

Our songs of the week are: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, 5 little men in a flying saucer

The value of the week is: Self-control

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• reading the story of How to catch a star, focusing on the illustrations and answering simple recall questions.
• imitating movement in response to music - an Aerobic Fitness song for children about stars. Touch the Stars
• using the song 'Twinkle Twinkle' to play a parachute game.
• writing a very important letter that will be posted in a few weeks time.
• making firework paintings using cleaning brushes, sponges and cardboard tubes (carried over from last week)
• discussing Remembrance day and talking about why people wear a poppy this week
• preparing a Remembrance Day display for our classroom.

With your child at home this week you could: 

• talk about what is up in the sky. Our Amazing Places, Amazing Spaces topic is now going to take us up into the sky, with a focus on Space.
• see how many sources of light you can find (torch, candle fireworks etc)
• begin to practise/sing our performance songs at home 

Previously in Nursery

Week beginning 30/10/17

We will go across to main school on Friday 3rd November to have our individual photographs taken

Our story this week will continue to be: The Gruffalo

Our song of the week is: The Gruffalo Song

The value of the week is: Kindness

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• playing a gruffalo game where we will have to really concentrate and focus to see which character from the story is missing
• making our own gruffalo using cereal boxes and other accessories
• talking about what we did over the half term holidays
• exploring fireworks that we have seen and heard (lots of them going off around MK at the minute)
• making firework paintings using cleaning brushes, sponges and cardboard tubes
• talk about how fireworks affect our pets and other animals that live outdoors
• Mrs Copeland demonstrating safe sparker use
• will our own sparkler using a breadstick, chocolate and hundreds and thousands

With your child at home this week you could: 

• play a game using action words - jump, eat, swim, walk, run, hop, drink etc. Ask your child to act out the word.
• set your child a daily challenge where he/she shows kindness at home
• ask your child to retell the story of the Gruffalo in his/her own words

Week beginning 09/10/17

Our story this week is: The Gruffalo

Click on the following blue link to watch the story of the Gruffalo narrated by Ollie Heath -The Gruffalo

Our song of the week is:The Gruffalo Song

The value of the week is: kindness

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• having visitors from the Friends Association to help us make our charity Christmas cards (these will be available for parents to preview when we come back after half term)
• introducing the story of the Gruffalo and looking at how we should always treat books carefully and with repsect everywhere (some books got ripped last week in nursery)
• painting our own pictures of the Gruffalo
• talking about the exciting Hindu festival of Diwali and making a traditional Hindu sweet called barfi. This will be on Thursday of this week.If your child is celebrating Diwali, please let us know at the beginning of the week 

• challenging the children to think of as many different ways to show kindness at nursery and at home.
• moving and dancing during our 'boogie' session on Friday morning. Does child have a favourite dance song? Please let us know!

With your child at home this week you could: 

• put on some lively music and move and dance together.
• sing a few action nursery songs with your child. For example head, shoulders, knees and toes, wind the bobbin up.
• make some autumn leaf prints using red, yellow and orange paint. Mix red and yellow together to make orange.

Week beginning 09/10/17

Our story this week is: Autumn non fiction books

Our song of the week is: Do you know how pumpkins grows? (Click on the blue link to follow the song). This song will teach us about the lifecycle of a pumpkin. 

The value of the week will continue to be: honesty

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• talking about the season of Autumn and thinking about what the season brings

• learning to put on our coats independently - we will teach the children 2 different methods

• going to our Forest school area for a walk to look for the signs of Autumn 

• looking at autumn colours we can see on trees and we will be creating our own tree painting using corks for the leaves.

  

• making art pictures by matching numerals and quantities with autumn resources

• creating pumpkins out of play dough

• looking at a pumpkin and painting it (observational painting)

• using a paper plate to make a collage of a pumpkin

• exploring and examining what is inside a pumpkin and talking about what if feels like   
• continuing to strengthen our fingers (ready to be great writers) at the Funky Fingers table. We will be reminding ourselves of some of the shapes we have been learning about - making shape pictures using stickers.
• reading the story of the boy who cried wolf during our circle time and talking about why it is important to tall the truth.

With your child at home this week you could: 

• talk about our special word of the week - honesty. Stress to your child why it is always important to tell the truth.

• count objects at home  touching each object as you count and do so slowly and carefully, only counting each object once. Quite a few children are counting objects in nursery but doing so very quickly and inaccurately.

• As you walk, look at the changing colour of leaves on the trees. Are all the leaves still on the trees? Enjoy kicking through the leaves/rolling in the leaves or gathering the leaves and throwing them up in the air. Have lots of fun and laughter doing this activity.

  

Week beginning 02/10/17

Our story this week is:

Our song(s) of the week are:

The fish is the ocean .......	Tommy Thumb
Week 5 02/10/17 Song of the Week The fish in the sea.doc

The value this week is:

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• going into our small groups and learning our make a circle song
• learning about the special skills we need for circle time
• reading the story of the Rainbow Fish
• making a fish collage for our display in the entrance area
• sharing and waiting our turn to decorate a biscuit
• creating a rainbow fish using a paper plate
• exploring our new farm small world area
• using our thumb and finger (pincer grip) to put the coloured discs into the holder.
• playing with magnetic shapes to make pictures and seeing if we can name any of the shapes we will be using.

With your child at home this week you could: 

• ask your child to retell you the story of the Rainbow Fish in his/her own words? Why was the Rainbow fish unhappy/happy?
• play a sharing game
• look around the home - can your child find any shapes, such as a circle, triangle, square or a rectangle? (For example a clock, your front door, a plate, a slice of pizza etc)

Week beginning 25/09/17

Our song(s) of the week are: familiar nursery rhymes, such as Old McDOnald had a farm, Miss Polly had a dolly, Humpty Dumpty, 1 2 3 4 5 once I caught a fish alive, A Sailor went to sea sea sea.

All of the nursery rhymes this week can be found on the BBC School Radio Nursery Songs and Rhymes website. See the top of the page for the link.

The value this week is: Trust 

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• continuing to explore the nursery environment

• developing our understanding of the nursery routines
• decorating a fish template with celery and paint to give the fish beautiful multi coloured scales. 
• practising our pencil control by making straight line marks
• using various construction like sticklebricks and mobilo to make wonderful creations
• free painting and encouraging the children to talk about what they have painted
• playing maths games on the ipads
• strengthening our fingers and hands at the Funky fingers table - matching colours of clothes pegs to the colours on a CD disc. 

With your child at home this week you could: 

• Autumn is upon us - talk about the changes in the weather, trees etc that Autumn brings with it
• Ask your child to give you a different number of items in a random order between 1-5. For example "Give me 2 spoons", Give me 5 cars"
• Play a game where your child has to wait his/her turn.  

Week beginning 18/09/17

This week we will have a full class. Our children who have returned have settled back in to the nursery routines so quickly and calmly - we are very proud of them. Home visits as well as settling in sessions are now completed for our new families. Thank you for inviting us into your homes. We are looking forward to 'Exploring and Playing' with your child over the coming weeks and months.

We will continue to develop the whole school topic of 'Amazing Places, Amazing Spaces' this week as we begin to look at life under the sea.

Our story of the week is:

Our song(s) of the week are: familiar nursery rhymes, such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, Incy Wincy Spider, 1 2 3 4 5 once I caught a fish alive, A Sailor went to sea sea sea.

All of the nursery rhymes this week can be found on the BBC School Radio Nursery Songs and Rhymes website. See the top of the page for the link.

The value this week is: Trust 

Some of our learning opportunities this week will include:

• exploring the nursery environment - inside and outside and beginning to express our own preferences and interests
• hopefully separating from our parents without too much upset

• using paints and different fish stencils to make fish shapes on paper.

• using resources in the craft area to make a jelly fish

• reading our story Commotion in the Ocean and looking at different creatures that live in the Ocean.

With your child at home this week you could: 

• encourage your child to put on and take off coat by him/herself.

• sing our Wake up dance, Tidy up and Come to the Carpet songs

• we are rabbit class - find out 1 or 2 facts about rabbits. You could bring these facts to nursery to share with us.

Week beginning 11/09/17

Our first whole school topic this year will be 'Amazing Places, Amazing Spaces.' We have introduced this topic by talking about our summer holidays and looking at a map of the world. We then looked at the song 'It's a wonderful world' Click on the link to watch and listen to the song!

The returning children and their families have been busily preparing a display for our classroom on different aspects of the song. We have had many parents singing/humming the song in the last week. The display should be finished this week . Please remember to have a look! 

Week beginning 04/09/17

Welcome back to our children and their families who are returning. This week we will focus on settling back in to the nursery environment. We will begin to learn our new morning wake up song (see the top of the page for the link.)

In the afternoons this week Mrs Copeland and Mrs Hoskin will be out on home visiting our new children and their families.