Headteacher: Anna Moss

Another week in the Forest has flown by and even more children have joined us and are settling well! :-)

Outdoors Mrs Allen has been showing us how we can use clay in our Outdoor Creative Area.  You have put your dough disco skills to the test to make clay bears and created your own individual clay patterned plates by using sticks and stones.  Lets just hope we can get these dry enough to send home now!  We have had fun playing Follow my Leader and this was put to good use this morning when we had a fire drill and had to follow the leader out of the cabin and into the playground.  We have shown our new friends how we can stack and transport the red and blue crates and you made an excellent bear cave for some bear friends.  A favourite outdoor activity this week was making jam sandwiches for a Teddy Picnic - yum yum!

In the cabin, we have been practising our new Listening Rule of "Staying Quiet" with the game of Chinese Whispers.  How funny it is to hear what you hear when one word is passed around the circle.  This is usually the hardest listening rule for children of 3 and 4 but it is so important in your journey to be "school ready" and allow your friends to talk and share their ideas.  In Maths you have blown us away with the "Show Me" game  of numbers from 1-5.  You are able to see, spot and show me these numbers in lots of different ways e.g. egg box style, dice pattern, tally and numicon.  During C&L we have been sharing our "Brown Bear" story and have enjoyed matching the toy animals to the animals in the story.  Have you sung the song with your family yet?  "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see.....".  Our Dough Disco has had us passing our hot dough from hand to hand with the song Hot Chocolate - can you remember the sign for Hot Chocolate?

It is our last week of the Bears topic next week and we then move on to lifecycles.  With two of our parents expecting babies in the next few months, we are taking the opportunity to talk about the human lifecycle.  Please could I request that a baby photograph of your little one is emailed to me for us to play some fun games with!

Early Years After School French class will be beginning after half term on a Wednesday.  Please see the attached flyer on the school website and if you want to join in, give the school office a call.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Mrs Lewis, Mrs Barrett and Mrs Flynn

How lovely it has been to have most of our Forest Friends join us over the past two weeks (still a few more to go!).  You have began to settle into how our Nursery day works with the help of the visual timetable and a big thank you to our current friends who have supported you in this.  You can see and feel how far you have come in one term!

In the cabin we are in full swing with our Bear topic as we have been dancing and mark making to our Goldilocks song and sharing a lot of Bear stories during transition times.  Thank you to those of you who have brought in your Bear stories from home - it is always lovely to share a familiar story with your friends.  We have had fun dancing in, out and around the hoop and you are starting to understand the direction of clockwise and anti-clockwise - very tricky concepts for 3/4 year olds.  This week we have been learning about the number 5 and our favourite activity was completing a "tally 5" by counting cars that come past the school.  It is lucky we are in a quiet village where the vehicles are few and far between!  Our C&L bear sessions have had us singing the Nursery Rhyme "Round and Round the Garden" and like Goldilocks when she meets the bears, we have been talking about what makes us feel scared.  We always finish our day with a favourite circle time of Dough Disco - the past two weeks we have been discoing to Annie (thank you Sophie and Charlotte!!!!) and a Frozen song courtesy of Belle.

Outdoors, Mrs Allen has been reintroducing the areas of Forest School to remind us all of where we can/can't go.  The use of the Red hand ensures we know when to "stop" and turn around to keep us all safe.  We took our bears on a tour and showed them where they can and can't go and we have been searching for paw prints in the Forest where those bears have been stomping.  The fairies have been a huge hit with you all as Mrs Allen has opened up our story area shed around the corner and you have been drawing some wonderful pictures of your families on the chalkboard in the same area.  This week, the focus has been on colour as you have been outdoor mark making rainbows, painting with mud (always a favourite!) and yesterday, you even had the chance to grate chalks.  Although the weather hasn't been cold, it has been a little wet which has created a very wet mud kitchen - it is great to see those muddy fingernails have made a return.

Now we have some new sleepier Forest Friends, our Quiet Time runs from 12.30-2.00pm and so if you are doing a 1.40pm pick, could we ask the buzzer isn't pressed (it is loud in the cabin) and instead, we will get them ready and bring them down to the gate for you.

Have a lovely weekend all!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Mrs Lewis, Mrs Barrett and Mrs Flynn

What a super Christmas show you performed this afternoon! Those children that arrived 15 weeks ago are virtually unrecognisable. You sang, you danced and you smiled - what more could we ask for! A HUGE thank you to all of your grownups that came along to support too.

It has been a long long term and the most difficult one for transition to a new setting with new expectations, but you did it, we all did it! Now it is time for a well-deserved break from it all with your loved ones, it definitely seems like lots of you need it.

So on behalf of all of the team – thank you for these cards and gifts. It is really generous of you. We all hope you have a wonderful Christmas and we will see you in the New Year ready for some more Forest School fun with some new friends!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Mrs Lewis, Mrs Barrett and Mrs Flynn xx

Just a reminder that the Nursery Christmas show is tomorrow at 2.30pm in the school hall.  If your child does not attend on a Friday, please bring them along to the cabin between 2/2.15pm and head back down to the hall.

If they could come in wearing something Christmassy and if they want, bring a small teddy to join them in the show.

After the show, we will take all the children back to the cabin and you can come and collect them via the usual route.

With only just over half of our children being part of the show this year (more children to join us in January), we hope to see lots of extra grownups/siblings at the show to cheer them on!

We also still have some Christmas produce that the children made with Mrs Allen available to buy for £2.50 that didn't get sold at the Christmas Fayre.  We will put these out in the hall, please do collect if you want to buy.

See you all there!

Mrs Mander

What a fun packed Christmas week we have had.

Indoors, Holly and Jolly have been up to their usual mischief by hiding things around the cabin - what fun we have had trying to find them first thing in the morning.  We have enjoyed practising our Christmas songs and dances for a very special show (see below).  We have been recreating the Christmas story with our Small World props - I wonder if you can remember the names of any of the characters in the story so far?  Mrs Lewis and Mrs Allen have been making Christmas hats for most of you ready to wear today for our Christmas lunch.  It was delicious - thank you very much Mrs Barker and Mr Hopkins!

Outdoors, Mrs Allen has gone Christmas tree crazy and has shown you lots of ways to create them using outdoor equipment.  You started off by sorting different lengths of sticks and tied them together with rope to create the tree shape and added the Forest decorations afterwards.  On Wednesday you all enjoyed hammering nails into a wooden frame and used wool to wrap around to create another tree shape.  You have even had a go at making trees out of pine cones, glue and glitter - please do not add glitter to your tree at home in the same way!

Next week the whole school will be performing their Christmas shows down at Blackwell Church and we will be performing ours.  Our Christmas show will be in the school hall on Friday 20th December at 2.30pm.  Please bring all your family and friends and come and enjoy watching the children show off their learning so far with a Christmas twist!  If you child does not attend on a Friday, please drop them at the cabin between 2-2.15pm and head on down to the hall to find your seat.  Could we request they come in dressed in Christmassy clothes and bring in a Christmas cuddly toy/teddy to join the show.

We hope to see you all their next Friday to help us enjoy and celebrate our last afternoon of what has been a long term for both the children and the adults.

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Mrs Lewis, Mrs Barrett and Mrs Flynn

Christmas is coming and we have had two new friends to help build up the excitement.  Holly and Jolly, our resident Nursery Elves, have not only been up to mischief in the nursery but are doing a super job of keeping an eye on how friendly we are with one another to report back to Father Christmas himself in two weeks time.

Indoors, we have been recapping on some of our favourite listening games, creating body sounds as part of our Phonics topic and learning all about the number 4 and the different ways it can be seen e.g. in a row, as a curved line, dice 4.  We have had fun with Mrs Allen to our Dough Disco tune "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".  I have a real Christmassy treat for dough disco next week which Erica in particular is going to love!

Outdoors, you have been very creative with the pine cones and created your own Rudolph's as well as making some excellent carpenters with your sawing skills.  You enjoyed Mrs Allen helping you to make some wood cookies for our mud kitchen and were very sensible about this sharp tool.  These skills are going to be key to help you next week to create your own outdoor Christmas tree.

It was lovely to welcome our new nursery friends on Tuesday morning to their "Stay and Play" session, we are looking forward to having all of you with us in the New Year. 

Next week we will start practising and choosing some of our favourite songs, dances and action songs to share with you, our "audience", at our very own Nursery Christmas show.  This will be on the last day of term, Friday 20th December, at 2.30pm in the school hall.  If your child does not attend on this day and you want them to take part, please drop them at the cabin at 2.00pm and head on to the hall.  Everyone is welcome to come and have a hot drink and mince pie - the more the merrier!

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Mrs Lewis, Mrs Barrett and Mrs Flynn

We will be repeating our Nursery Information Evening next Wednesday at 6pm for parents that did not make it in the summer term and for parents of children who will be starting in January 2020.

Please do come along as it gives you a good insight into Nursery life.

Happy Friday Everyone! Can you believe we have been back for two weeks already?

In the cabin, we have been playing/learning:

Listening Games. We have moved on to our second Listening Rule which is “Good Listening is Sitting Still”. Sitting still during circle time, meal times and around the log circle is important to “show” that you are listening and learning. Your sitting skills are being put to the test with bubbles, disco music and having to wait to play an instrument only when a visual cue is given.

Phonics. We have moved on to our new Topic “Instrumental Sounds” and the musical instrument basket has made an appearance! Last week we explored the sounds an instrument can make – loud/quiet and we created a Musical Nursery Band to find items around the nursery – when the band played loud, you were close to the object. This week we have matched the musical instruments to ways we can move our body e.g. maraca = footstep, drum = march. Your favourite game was “Grandmother’s Footsteps” where the unseen instrument was played and you had to make it to Grandma (or even Grandad today!) – definitely the hardest part was freezing when the instrument stopped.

Number. We have been learning a new song “In a Week” to help us with our days of the week – I wonder if you can remember which day of the week we rub our tummy, which is the naughty day and which is our friendly day? We have been comparing lengths of different things – sticks, ourselves and ripped paper to help us create our very own Christmas cards (order forms for these have now come out). This week we have added the Number 3 to our Number Line and played lots of 3 games including seeing whose letter shape we can create with 3 sticks.

Nursery Rhyme. We have added to our Nursery Rhyme collection with the “Grand Old Duke of York” and “Row Row Row the Boat”. We enjoyed making our own soldiers to follow the Duke up and down the hill and then used these at 11am on the 11th November to complete our very first minute’s silence. This week we have been rowing our boat and learning the signs for boat, crocodile, polar bear and lion. We enjoyed Ariana’s story about her holiday on a boat where she told us there were little boats on the big boat in case of an emergency. This leads us beautifully into next week’s Nursery Rhyme about a sailing ship that sinks.

Write Dance. We finished off our mark making element with the song “The Rainbow” where we colour mixed two rainbow colours with our hands to create a new rainbow colour. Can you remember what colour yellow and red make when mixed? This week we have moved on to a new song/dance with “Down at the Station” - a popular song for lots of you as you enjoyed picking up the hose and putting out the fire. We definitely have a team of future firefighters this year!

Dough Disco. New dough = new dance moves. We have enjoyed Sophie’s choice with a song from Moana. Creating water drops and an island for Moana to live on helped us with our ball and pinching skills. We have returned to a Rory favourite from last year of “I Like to Move, Move It”. This song has had us passing from one hand to the next, taking the dough around our body; let’s not forget the wiggles/jiggles that this song makes us all do. J

Outdoors, in Forest School, we have been playing/learning with:

Firework fun. We enjoyed watching a clip of fireworks on the balcony and then we tried to create the sounds ourselves with musical instruments. Can you remember an instrument that made the best firework sound? Mrs Allen also showed you how you could use the coloured chalks and paint with water on the patio to create a firework pattern/picture.

Magnifying glasses/Binoculars. To put our looking skills to the test, Mrs Allen created some photocards of things you could hunt for in Forest School. Using the magnifying glasses, you all had a lot of fun finding and sometimes collecting (!) the smaller bugs/leaves and the binoculars helped you with your bird spotting. A designated area in Forest School for all those budding bird watchers definitely needs thinking about.

The Swing. On Tuesday, Mrs Allen and a team of carpenters managed to get the tree swing back into action. Hurrah! You helped to cut the rope with a hacksaw, found a perfect length stick to sit on and even had to help a very short Mrs Allen, get the rope over the tree branch. Taking turns on the swing is the next challenge as it is a popular choice with both Nursery and Red class!

Stick Shakers. To link in with our Phonic “Instrumental Sounds” theme, Mrs Allen helped you to create your own musical instruments using a Y stick, some string and pasta. This was a popular choice as we are all keen to create some tracks for the Nursery Music Band this term. These threading skills are excellent to support your fine motor control – have a go at home with some string/dried pasta.

Obstacle Courses. Using ropes, tarpaulin and cargo netting, you helped to create an excellent obstacle course to match up to the “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” story. You enjoyed stepping over ropes, balancing on wooden beams and crawling on those hands and knees to go under the cargo netting (definitely the hardest part of the course).

Dens. Following on from the obstacle equipment coming out, you took on your own play ideas and used them to create a den and didn’t we need it!!! Thank you for creating a dry space for us all to hide under when that rain came on Thursday!

I am really looking forward to seeing you all at the Parent Consultations this week. At your given time, please come to the main Reception. On the main table there will be a Nursery photobook of our learning for the first half term for you to look through whilst you are waiting.

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Mrs Lewis, Mrs Barrett and Mrs Flynn.

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Happy Half Term Everyone!

In the cabin, we have been playing/learning:

Listening Games. We have finished off our final “Looking” game with “Who is Hiding Under the Blanket?” We chose a friend to hide their eyes whilst we hid another friend under the blanket. You had to work out who was missing, sometimes needing clues of their voice or looking at their slippers. Always a favourite game. We move on after half term to a new listening rule of “Good Listening is Sitting Still”.

Phonics. We have finished off our Phonics work on Environmental Sounds by exploring “Mrs Mander’s bag”. We sang our song and then you had to listen to objects that were in the bag and work out what they were. Can you remember the five objects? It made us smile to hear what are in your mummy’s bags too!!! “My mummy has lollipops in her bag for me” Erica. “My mummy has cream for her eyes in hers” Harry.

Maths. The “Cheeky Monkey Counting song” has had us counting backwards by placing our ten monkeys in our ten frame and watching them fall out of their tree. We have been sorting objects first by colour – which has led us into one of Belle’s favourite songs “I can sing a rainbow” - and sorting objects by shape. This is something we will be revisiting next half term as “same” and “not same” are difficult concepts to understand.

Nursery Rhyme. Our Nursery Rhyme this week has been “I’m a Little Teapot”. We have been singing and dancing to the rhyme and sssshhhhhh, don’t tell your grownups, but we used our very own mini teapot set to make a real cup of tea and most of us even had a sip! Can you remember what we did to make it?

Write Dance. We have moved on to a new song/dance of “The Rainbow” – what beautiful rainbow shapes you can create with your fingers. The tricky part was swaying left and right and keeping your feet on the floor – have a practise over half term.

Dough Disco. The poor monkeys have worked hard this week as we had to replace the dough with them. We created a little dance for them to “Dance Monkey”. I am sure this is song that will be played at many a party in years to come – a great song! We are moving on to a Sophie favourite after half term courtesy of Moana.

Outdoors, in Forest School, Mrs Allen has taken us to:

The Gully. We have now been shown how we can keep it clean and clear of sand, leaves, bark and mud! The brushes box has been added with a range of shapes and sizes to keep us busy cleaning. What a difference it made to have the water flowing through the gully – a definite job to revisit every Monday! She has also added in the syringes and pipettes and talked to us about how we can now transfer water from the gully to other areas of the Forest School by filling pots and cans.

The Balcony. We now have another activity that we can do on the balcony by using the wooden table as our base. Mrs Allen has shown us how we can use the natural materials in pots e.g. cones, shells, rocks to create our very own natural artwork. When the rain comes, this is the part of the Forest School that will definitely become a popular choice!

Painting. You had fun on Tuesday with Mrs Lewis when you did some outdoor sponge paintings using autumn colours. Your creations have been cut out and turned into leaves which now make a beautiful display in our window seat in the cabin. Have a look next time you are up on the balcony.

The Patio. A popular choice this week has been using the long wooden sticks as a form of transport with our friends. I think the maximum number of friends to fit on the “Broom” was four but how much co-operation did you need to ensure you were all facing the same way and moving at the same speed – hilarious to watch!

What a long half term it has been but you all – you are certainly ready for a well-deserved rest with your families. Enjoy every second!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen, Mrs Franklin, Mrs Lewis, Mrs Barrett and Mrs Flynn.