Headteacher: Anna Moss

Happy Friday!

We have finally made it to the end of our “Circus” topic and the Nursery grown-ups have thoroughly enjoyed learning all about it with you.  In C&L we have enjoyed sharing our final circus story, At the Circus, and have been talking about the word ‘opposites’ and what this means.  It was funny listening to you share times when you argue at home just like our characters Eddie and Ellie.  In Write Dance we have been playing the parts of the circus characters to the music and today enjoyed sharing our circus show to Red class.  Take some time this weekend to watch/listen to the music and see if your family can work out who you are.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pct1uEhAqBQ  During our morning Forest School session Mrs Allen has been testing how strong you are by using the pipes to be strong “people” from the circus. Towards the end of the week, a stage was set using the crates ready for the outdoors.  In the afternoons, you have enjoyed mark making using your hands and boots; printing mud on paper. We took this piece of mark making, alongside our Write Dance juggling ball circles, to show to the rest of the school as part of the writing competition.  I think Mrs Moss was actually very impressed with our writing skills in Nursery!  Our dough disco song has been very non Circusy as Emily chose yet another Spice Girls song, Spice up your Life.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r03_iLh_ng . I don’t know about you, but that tune is going in circles around my head.  In the cabin we have learnt yet another new song as part of our daily Music session, Rain Rain Go Away.  We are moving on to learning about pitch this term with this call and respond song.  In Phonics we have been using our listening rules to pass the body sounds around the circle.  We moved on today by starting to create our first musical composition as you chose which two sounds you were going to combine to create your own piece of music.  In Maths we have been learning all about the square.  We all know you can recognise it when you see it but our focus has been exploring the properties – four corners, four straight sides that are all the same length.  We enjoyed watching you carry out your own investigation today as you had collected straight sticks and were trying to piece them together to make the square – tricky wasn’t it when they were all different lengths.  Have a go this weekend and see if you can find a collection of straight sticks and make the square. 

A message for parents – next week you will be given your allocated time to come and visit us in the cabin on 9^th February.  This is an opportunity for you and your child to take a tour, play with table top toys and find a seat somewhere to share the Learning Journeys.  Parent consultations discussing progress will take place after half term.  We have talked to the children about only being able to play with a few friends on that evening and how we will use the bell (they are used to) as their “time to tidy” warning and moving on to allow time for the next children to arrive safely. 

Have a lovely weekend.  It looks set to be tropical after the temperatures we had at the beginning of the week!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Miss Turner (am), Mrs Hampton (pm) and Miss Herlihy (student teacher) X

Happy Friday!

Another successful week of “Circus” as we learn more about them every day.  Our dough disco song, The Greatest Show, has been a huge hit as we have used our dough to be jugglers, strong “people”, clowns and make a ring of fire for our family of five.  Try and find some time this weekend to watch the clip – can you spot the ringmaster? The tall man?  The jugglers?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKLT6_7Y1nc .  In the Quiet area after dough disco we have enjoyed spotting these circus characters in our story Peppa’s Circus as part of our C&L story as well as clapping out the full names of Peppa’s friends.  We have learnt some more circus skills in Forest School as we had a go at walking along a chalk line, starting on the S and ending on the F.  Why did Mrs Mander draw these letters?  If you have some chalk at home, draw your own balance line and see if you can follow.  We made this balancing  task even harder as we had a go with the Red classes beams, creating our own straight and curved pathways.  In the afternoons, Mrs Allen has been teaching you how to make and create your very own paper plate map.  You used these with friends to move around the outdoor space.  In the cabin, we have been playing with our different voices with our daily Music song, “Have you brought your singing voices?”.  We have had fun singing our days of the week with sad, angry and quiet voices – quite a giggle.  We took our whisper voices to our Listening game “Chinese Whispers” where we had the challenge of taking a friend’s name around the circle through our ears.  We worked so hard on this game as, once we got past the need to change what we heard, the same name came back to the beginning.  With Miss Herlihy in Phonics, you have been extending those body sounds by creating sounds with your mouth, lips and teeth.  Get ready for some fun games next week where you have to recognise them when you can’t see the action.  With our subitising skills (counting up to 3 with our eyes) firmly in place, we have moved on in our daily Maths session and begun our counting journey as we have learnt about the number 4.  Our first challenge was making different arrangements of four as we played Musical Fours – numicon/dice style and in a row style.  We then had a go at collecting four and knowing to stop when we have four – quite a challenge for some!  We then linked the two and made our two arrangement with them.  Seeing numbers in different ways is a key skill!

A message for parents – the children are so excited to welcome you in to the Nursery for play with them on the 9^th February.  We are all so excited to finally be able to have you come in and share their learning journeys with you so you can see all the hard work they do.  Please do return the slips to the office or in the children’s bags so we can allocate spaces safely.    

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Miss Turner (am), Mrs Hampton (pm) and Miss Herlihy (student teacher) X

Happy Freezing Friday All!

Gosh the weather has turned cold but it doesn’t seem to stop you from wanting to be playing outdoors.  Thank you for bringing in those warm hats and gloves from home.  We have found that you are all so keen to wear your own gloves and so we are happy for you to do so as long as you aren’t wearing them in the mud, sand or gully – it is important to look after our own things.  We are now full swing into our second term and very much enjoying our circus topic.  During our C&L sessions we have been sharing the story – “You see a Circus” and we have been talking about the funny characters that we would see at a circus.  It was fun to watch you become clowns when you were wearing Mrs Mander’s shoes. We did giggle.  Miss Herlihy has been teaching you some circus skills in Forest School as you have been jumping through a ring of fire and balancing on stilt cups.  She has more to teach you and then we all look forward to you putting on an outdoor circus show for our friends in Red class in a few weeks’ time.  Mrs Allen has been teaching you how to be gymnasts as you have been swaying with and looping ribbons on sticks to the music.   In the afternoons, she has been showing you how to use sticks, twigs and a little bit of mud to mark make on paper – have a go at home at making your own and find some mud to mark make.  In the cabin, we have been having fun in Music with the Tambourine Game and you enjoyed having to show three actions depending on what the tambourine was doing – clap, slap knees and roly poly.  The first two actions/sounds tied in beautifully with the Phonics topic Body Sounds that Miss Herlihy has been teaching you all about.  It was fun for me to come in and watch you perform these body sounds to the circus tune.  In Write Dance we have been flying in the sky as jet planes and birds and have now moved our learning on as we have been mark making on the tables.  With your hands, you have been drawing horizontal and vertical lines and for some of you, with blue paint this morning.  Please say sorry to your grownups if you have come home tonight with blue paint under your nails.  During dough disco, Poppy O chose yet another Spice Girls song, STOP.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JD6ejmlpa8 – can you spot Baby, Posh, Scary, Sporty and Ginger Spice doing their stop hands like we did with the dough?  Maths has been all about turning flat shapes (circles) into fat shapes (cones) as we learnt a new magic trick.  Enjoy sharing this with those paper plates at the weekend.  I wonder what you will use your new shape for?  We also all enjoyed eating our very own cones today for our pudding – a cookie cone is definitely something we need on any menu!

A message for parents – With the majority of the children now being able to read their own name, we move on to drawing their initial sound on arrival.  In nursery, we focus purely on the capital letter only and how to form this correctly as the lower case letters can be taught so differently in the range of schools the children all move on to.  You are doing so well with this daily practice – keep it going.  Next week, for those that are ready, it is going to be our number formation.  For those keen mark makers at home, feel free to encourage the drawing of this first shape only, and the number 0 1 2. 

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Miss Turner (am), Mrs Hampton (pm) and Miss Herlihy (student teacher) X

Happy Friday!

What superstars you all were on Wednesday for our filming day.  You coped so well the costumes, being in the big hall with a lot of unfamiliar faces and singing some songs a few times through so we have the best version for the finished show.  We are all waiting patiently for the show to be put together and then we can watch it together – I for one, cannot wait to see it.   We will be singing a few of these Nativity songs on the front steps on Wednesday morning at 8.45am, come along and join in with us! 

Nativity week is always a challenging week with our daily routine but we did manage to play a few games.  In the cabin we have started talking about the Christmas story as you are now familiar with the characters – Mary, Joseph and Baby Joseph.  Today we used our Russian doll versions and have begun our own role-play story.  We, of course, managed to fit in our daily Dough Disco to a classic Christmas song, “Merry Christmas Everyone” by Shakin Stevens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-PyWfVkjZc It is a good job we had a photo of the Shakin to help support as Miss Turner and Miss Herlihy weren’t even very sure who he was!  The rest of us, the older generation, remember him well!  Holly and Jolly have continued to bring in a new daily Christmas story which Miss Herlihy has been sharing with you after lunch.  In Forest School, you have been playing “Santa Says” with Miss Herlihy where you have had to listen to the words and follow the action but only if “Santa Says”.  Mrs Allen has been sharing “Stick Man” with you with her very own Stick Man.  You then found and made your own using sticks found in Forest School.  Later in the week, you had the chance to create some of the settings from the story by collecting objects around Forest School and laying them out in the tuft tray.  In the afternoons, you have been decorating the sand netting with tinsel to create our very own Forest School Christmas tree.  You have also been shown how to create a sleigh using the crates; it was fun watching lots of you play the reindeer role!

A message for parents – For those parents making a claim for additional hours in the Spring term, could you check you have a working code that takes you beyond 31^st December.  Mrs Bailey has noticed some codes haven’t been renewed to a date in the New Year which will sadly mean hours will be payable.  Please check this weekend.

Have a lovely weekend!  One more week to go!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Miss Turner (am), Mrs Hampton (pm) and Miss Herlihy (student teacher) X

Happy Friday All!

We are almost ready for our Nativity show performance thanks to our morning Music and Write Dance sessions where we have been singing new songs and learning new routines. Next week, we will start splitting the children into teams of angels, travellers, innkeepers and shepherds ready for the recording on Wednesday.  It is lovely to hear that the children have been coming home and singing (with hand shapes) to you all.  You are in for a treat.  You have all had a chance to play an indoor and outdoor game for our morning circle time.  A Listening Game with Miss Herlihy where you had to hide and help a friend to find the present in the cabin and outdoors with Mrs Mander where we have been listening and matching instrument sounds for our Phonics topic this half term.  In Maths this week we have been putting all of our subitising learning to the test as we have been naming “what numbers we see”.  Seeing (without counting) numbers 1,2,3 in everyday life is a key Early Years skill – hearing children talking at the lunch table “I can see one cookie or two cookies on the tray” or “I can see one girl, three boys and one grownup” is the building block for understanding how numbers work together to make bigger numbers.  Please take time this weekend to ask the children “what numbers do you see?” both indoors and outdoors.  It is OK that we see different arrangements!  Our dough disco song this week has been chosen and taught by Miss Turner, a clear Take That fan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1GMpz5i01I.  Miss Turner has also been sharing some new Christmas stories with you thanks to the kindness of our elves Holly and Jolly.   In Forest School this week, Mrs Allen has gone all Christmassy on us as she has been showing you how to make stars using sticks and string.  She then used the star to play a favourite game of yours, “Follow the Leader”.  It was fun following the star around Forest School – we never did make it to Bethlehem though did we? It is such a long way away!  In the afternoons, you have had fun hunting the present bows – “look high, look low, look everywhere you go”.  You sang the song as you had to find five bows with your eyes and when you had spotted them all; high five a grownup!  Which grownup did you high five?  Parachute games were on the agenda with Miss Herlihy as you had fun making it turn in a circle, lifting it high and low and swapping places with a friend of your choosing. 

A message for parents – Our self-registration is in full swing and the children are doing so well at recognising their name.  For some children it is more challenging as they share the same initial sound with their friends.  For these children, we are asking them to look at the first and second letter in their name.  If they come home with a sticker with these sounds on, either on their sleeve or upside down on their top, this will be the reason why.  Next week we will begin writing their initial letter (capital only) in a special card we have made.  For those avid mark makers at home, feel free to encourage the drawing of this first shape only, the cursive lower case letters are for another time…..

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Miss Turner (am), Mrs Hampton (pm) and Miss Herlihy (student teacher) X

Happy Freezing Friday!

Many thanks to those of you who have ordered your little ones Nursery Christmas card packs – these should have come out to you in their bags this week.  The children did a wonderful job creating their own Christmas tree using a fern leaf, we hope your families will enjoy these. 

In our morning Music session this week we have learnt our first call and respond song “Who stole the cookie?” and have been joining Reception for some singing practice of songs in our upcoming nativity show.  In Write Dance we have continued to travel, but this time we have been bears and climbed over the top of the mountain to see what we could see.  In our Listening Game we have been practising “Staying Quiet” but this time with our quiet feet.  The grownups enjoyed a snooze in the corner of the cabin and it was your job to see if you could move to sit behind us WITHOUT waking us up.  We have taken our Phonics circle time sessions outdoors where you have had to listen to the instrument sounds (maraca, bell, castanet, hand drum) and find the matching chalk picture.  Poppy B made us all smile when the game had finished and she said “I loved that game, can we play again?”  In Maths this week we have been learning all about the direction of moving forward and backwards through dancing to the songs Hokey Cokey and The Keep Fit Song.  You enjoyed playing with Mrs Mander’s remote controls as you became robots and had to use the buttons – forwards, backwards and stop to move around Forest School and the cabin.  Take time this weekend to look for the symbols of these on your own remote controls at home.  Our dough disco song this week has been chosen by Will, “Crazy Frog” by Axel F -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTEKeUrEDjw  I hope you get time this weekend to watch the clip as we have talked a lot about what happens during it and matched our disco actions to it.  During our C&L sessions we have continued sharing our family photos and we even managed to take them for a walk around the Forest School.  We have shared a popular story “Box” and how wonderful to spot Erin’s word medium and a character called Nancy in there!  In Forest School this week, Mrs Allen has been creative with clay as you have been making a family face using only objects you can find in Forest School.  We have a whole new group of faces living on our creative shelves in Forest School.  Some of you had the opportunity to create your family using sticks and wrapping material around them for clothes.  Yesterday, some friends collected those Autumn leaves and you had a go at creating faces using just leaves.  During the morning session, Miss Herlihy has also been playing a family game “Mother May I” – a little like Simon Says with a twist. 

A message for parents – On arrival, we have introduced the children to our self-registration as they are now having to look, recognise and collect their own name before popping on their slippers, washing hands and playing.  Please help support us with this at home by displaying their name in different ways, different places, different fonts.  When we are confident children are able to do this, and if they are showing signs of a comfortable tripod grip, we begin to draw the initial sound of their name.  You may spot a few of these marks in their Christmas card home.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Miss Turner (am), Mrs Hampton (pm) and Miss Herlihy (student teacher) X

Happy Friday!

What an exciting topic we have begun – Families.  Thank you all for your photos! I can’t tell you the language we get from the children when they are talking about familiar people and the stories they tell us.  This has helped support our C&L session after lunch.

To settle the children after a morning play, we have now started our Music sessions where we learn a new music song every week. This term focuses on feeling the pulse through songs and actions.  Johnny and his hammers and Buster climbing a tree are just two of our songs that you may hear them singing this weekend.  Circle Time 1 – In Write Dance we have been travelling around the mountain in different vehicles and creating rainbow arcs singing “ay yay yippee” – share with your family this weekend.  We have begun work on a new listening skill “Good Listening is Staying Quiet” and our Listening Game “Giant's Key” has had you using only your eyes to hear who is hiding the keys.  We have used these skills for our Phonics circle time sessions as we have begun work on instrumental sounds.  You enjoyed playing a game of “Hide and Seek” with the instruments and exploring the different sounds you could make with your hidden one.  Circle Time 2 – In Maths this week we have been learning all about the circle shape.  You giggled when Mrs Mander put on her circle glasses and helped me find circles in the Forest School.  We have begun talking about the properties of this shape too as we have found it only has one curved side which makes it roll.  Go on a circle hunt this weekend!  Circle Time 3 – Our dough disco song this week has been taught by Miss Herlihy and she chose the song “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2ybiYN24MM.  This clip isn’t Taylor but couldn’t resist sharing as it is a favourite film of mine.  As well as sharing our family photographs in our C&L sessions, we have been joining in with our first poem “What I Like” and talking about four new words – spinning (Theo), medium (Erin), crouch (Poppy B), parents (Robyn).  How lovely it is to hear some of you stealing your friend’s vocabulary during Play and Explore.  In Forest School this week, Mrs Allen has shared the story “Little Home Bird” by Jo Empson in our outdoor story area.  She has talked about how birds create their nests with their weaving skills and you have had a go at being these little birds with weaving ribbons and weaving wool on the frames.  You have linked your learning of creating a safe space to live by making your own den with an old clothes frame and camo netting.  You used this, with the binoculars, to spot the birds.  In the afternoons, you have been playing the game Grandma’s footsteps with Miss Herlihy – a little like “What’s the Time Mr Wolf” with a family twist.  You have also enjoyed the circle time game “Farmers in the Den”.

A message for parents – The temperature has definitely started dropping in Forest School, please ensure you send them in with double layers of clothing (plus a warm coat) and a warm hat on their head (not cap).

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Miss Turner (am), Mrs Hampton (pm) and Miss Herlihy (student teacher) X

Happy Friday!

Another special one off topic week this week to commemorate “Remembrance Day”.  It was lovely to see some children wearing the poppy this week and Poppy O in her poppy dress.  We have talked a lot about the importance of the poppy this time of year.  In Circle Time 1 – In Write Dance we have been marching to the Grand Old Duke of York, or in our case Grand Old Duke/Duchess of Blackwell/Burcot.  We have talked about the Grand Old Duke marching men and women up the hill encouraging some of our girls, Carly, Emily and Robyn to want to be soldiers when they grow up.  We have learnt a new song for our Listening Game “Blink Your Eyes at me” to the tune of “Wind the Bobbin Up” and in Phonics we have been singing about noisy objects in Mrs Mander’s bag to the tune of “Old McDonald”.  Using familiar nursery rhymes and changing them is a fun way to introduce new concepts to nursery age so that they retain them.  Circle Time 2 – In Maths this week we have been learning all about the number 3.  We have been making teams of three, collecting three objects (for a poppy shop), looking at the shape of it and we are now beginning to explore ways of making numbers.  It has been lovely to see lots of you making those repeating patterns from last week’s learning.  This weekend – collect three and see how many ways you can arrange them e.g. in a row, on top of each other.  Circle Time 3 – Our dough disco song this week was “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles, Evan’s choice - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-G3DPx0pzE Thank you Evan for choosing such a catchy song, I know I have been singing it all week and doing the spin/reach action.  During our C&L session, we have been listening to soldier songs, including “The Last Post”, and talking about how important their job is in keeping us all safe.  We have also started naming the pictures on our picture cards.  Little Wandle is a whole school approach to teaching Phonics and for us, it is matching up the picture to our sound.  For example, Joshua’s sound is the jellyfish.  Can you remember which picture matches your sound?  In Forest School this week, Mrs Allen has continued the Remembrance theme as you have been painting the collected bark to create your own Forest School poppy shop (Hugo’s idea).  You also have had fun printing poppies with potatoes, making poppies from our DIY poppy box (very challenging) and planting poppies into a green playdough field.  Today you had fun arranging the crates into the poppy shop and selling your “bark poppies” to your friends.  I hope you raised a lot of money for the poppy appeal.  In the afternoons, Mrs Allen has been practising the listening rule of Staying Quiet when we had to put our hoods up, lie down and listen.  It was lovely to hear some of things you heard; leaves falling, leaf blowers and the wind (you have much better hearing than the adults).  Taking time to just sit/lie in the outdoor environment is something you can have a go at this weekend, don’t forget those hoods up!  We finished the week with a playground game – “1,2,3 where are you” . The game involved hiding from a friend who covered their eyes and then they had to use their listening ears to find you by your calls.  Luckily the Forest School isn’t too big!

A message for parents – Our half term Nursery Newsletter comes out during the first week back after a holiday with important messages , please take time to read it on the parentapp or website.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Miss Turner (am), Mrs Hampton (pm) and Miss Herlihy (student teacher) X