Welcome to  Nursery!

2023-24

Understanding of the World: Earth Day - w/b 22.04.24

Earlier this week, we celebrated Earth Day. For this, the children in the nursery planted their own sunflower seeds with the help of children from year 5. First, the children poured the soil into their pots and then they hid the sunflower seed in the soil. They really enjoyed the activity and will be looking after their planted seed at home, providing it with water and sunlight.

Writing - w/b 15.04.24

The children in the nursery love to make marks during messy play and they enjoy drawing pictures of familiar objects and people. Some children have been practising tracing over patterns and some have been tracing over their sounds. During these sessions, they usually choose their own sheets and activities. They are great at being ‘Tryatopses’, as they really enjoy completing their work!

Easter - w/b 25.03.24

Easter is an important Christian festival. It’s when Christians celebrate Jesus’ love for mankind. We took part in lots of fun activities and we made some delicious chocolate nests. We watched the chocolate melt, we mixed the cereal in with the chocolate and then we decorated it with little chicks and chocolate eggs.

Number - w/b 18.03.24

Numbers are everywhere in the nursery… we sing lots of number songs, we explore the big numicon shapes outside and we count the big circles to find out what number it is. We also count the number blocks outside, we count our jumping, the fruit, the children when we line up …numbers and counting is a lot of fun!

Fine Motor Skills - w/b 11.03.24

This week the children have been learning some life skills which are really important in order to support their development. They have been learning how to do their zips up not only on a little zip but on their jackets too. They have been practising to do the buttons up on a colourful butterfly and at the same time they were learning their colours by matching the loop to the button. The trickiest one was doing the shoelaces and they really enjoyed trying to tie the laces up. We will definitely be revisiting this activity again.

Physical Development - w/b 04.03.24

Physical development in the nursery takes place every day inside and outside. The children enjoy copying some large body movements outside and they use their fine motor skills to thread the colourful beads inside to make a necklace or a bracelet.

Reading - w/b 26.02.24

The children love to read in the nursery, they read a range of books in the classroom and in the outside area. They also used the props outside to act out a story this week and they found it really funny!

Understanding the World - w/b 19.02.24

We enjoy exploring the natural materials in our nursery, linked to ‘Understanding the World’. In our provision, we have some farm animals in the mud, as well as animal masks. During free flow, we enjoy playing with the animals and singing lots of animal songs too!

Personal, Social and Emotional Development - w/b 05.02.24

Every day, the nursery children help themselves to the activities on the Self-Regulation trolley when they are unsure of how they are feeling. They spend some time exploring and playing with the activities so they can regulate how they are feeling. The activities on the trolley have really been helping and settling the new children.

Number and Numerical Patterns - w/b 29.01.24

The children have been really busy in the nursery this week. They have been exploring our mud kitchen with the new tools and they have really enjoyed pretending to cook some food for their friends. They have been learning how to share and how to take care of the area by tidying it up daily. Through sharing and sorting, they have developed their take on numerical patterns.

Pre- writing Skills - w/b 22.01.24

In the nursery we are always learning through play so while we are doing some fine motor activities it is helping us develop our pre-writing skills. It is making our fingers and hands stronger while we are playing with the magnetic toys and while we are sorting the coloured links by colour. It is a lot of fun!

Reading - w/b 15.01.24

The children in the Nursery love to read, this week we read a range of books in the garden reading area. Currently, we are learning how to handle books carefully and learning how to turn pages one at a time. We enjoy looking at the pictures to retell the story!

Communication and Language - w/b 08.01.24

This week in the nursery the children have been settling back after the festive break. They have taken part in lots of new activities involving using their communication skills and they have even welcomed some new friends too! They have been learning to share and take turns, using language. It’s been a fun week back!

Christmas - w/b 11.12.23

This week we have been learning all about Christmas. We made some paper chains outside and decorated the mini Christmas tree with sparkly decorations. We used coloured counters to decorate a small tree and we counted how many we used. We also made a wish list and posted it into the Christmas post box. We enjoyed exploring lots of fun activities…Christmas is just so much fun!

Understanding the World - w/b 04.12.23

This week in Understanding the World we observed what happens to ice when left in a tray over a period of time. We took turns to touch the ice and used pipettes to drop some food colouring onto it. Following this, we witnessed the ice change colour! Although it was really cold, we held it in our warm hands to see if it would melt. Playing with the ice was so much fun!

The Tiger who came to tea - w/b 27.11.23

This week we read the story ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea.’ The children created their own tiger patterns, using orange and black cubes. They also used strips of black and orange paper to create more tiger patterns. Adding onto this, they retold the story by looking at the pictures and by joining in with the story during carpet time.

Understanding the World - w/b 20.11.23

This week we have been exploring everything linked to the season we are in; autumn! We used magnifying glasses to look closely at the leaves, conkers and some bark in our ‘Autumn area’. We went on an autumn hunt in the garden and then we made our own collages using the leaves and other natural items that we found.

Diwali - w/b 13.11.23

This week in the nursery we have been celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights. We made Rangoli patterns in the pink sand and we made some colourful bracelets using some coloured beads. We drew some fireworks on black paper using different coloured chalk. Our favourite activity was cooking some vegetable rice, we enjoyed chopping the carrots, onions and the potatoes. We took it home to enjoy with our families, 
 

Celebrations - w/b 06.11.23

In nursery, we have been reading the story ‘Happy Birthday, Cupcake!’ We looked at the pictures and we enjoyed retelling the story. We then helped to transform our role play house into a birthday party house, where we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Cupcake and to our friends. We loved the party hats and we took turns to cut our new birthday cake. Using play dough, we made some cupcakes and we added sprinkles and candles. What a fantastic celebration we had!

Healthy Teeth - w/b 30.10.23

This week we have been learning the simple steps on how to brush our teeth. We explored brushing the big teeth with toothpaste and toothbrushes. We are very excited that the dentist will be coming to visit us this Friday.

PHSCE - w/b 16.20.23

In the nursery we explored activities around Black History Month and Diversity. We enjoyed making our hand prints for ‘Our Kindness Tree’ which is very colourful!

Knowledge and Understanding of the World - w/b 09.10.23

The children have really enjoyed retelling the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and this week they drew/painted their own butterflies, based on part of the story. They used their fine motor skills to correctly grip their pencil/paintbrush and even mixed paint to create their preferred colours!

Science - w/b 02.10.23

In science this week we mixed cornflour with some food colouring and water to see what will happen. Some of the cornflour turned really hard and some of it turned to liquid. It was really fun but so messy!

Reading - w/b 25.09.23

Reading is lots of fun. The children love looking at a range of books in the nursery. They are learning to turn the pages and they enjoy looking at the pictures to tell the story.

Mathematics - w/b 18.09.23

In the Nursery, mathematics is everywhere. This week we made shapes and patterns using elastic bands. We used some colourful blocks to build towers; learning how to construct tall and short towers. We also sang a range of number songs during our carpet time and our favourite song was ‘Five little monkeys swinging in the tree’.

Mark Making - w/b 11.09.23

Mark Making is lots of fun in the nursery. We use our fine motor skills to help develop these skills. This week, we made patterns in salt, drew with cars and crayons and we made rainbow marks on the drawing pads!

Welcome Back! w/b 04.09.23

It has been an exciting week back at nursery and we have had some new friends starting too. We are learning how to share our toys. We cannot wait to learn some new skills and to become confident learners!

Welcome to  Nursery!

2022-23

13.07.2023- Being a Focussaurus

Everyday we are learning to engage in our learning. This week we have been focusing on developing our attention skills through painting and writing. We have worked hard to develop our motor skills which allow us to form recognisable letters. We are also using long, thin brushes to paint a rainbow. We are proud of how long we can stay focused on an activity.

5/07/2023- PM Nursery Visit Barleylands farm

The afternoon children were super brave at the farm! We woke up early and got ready to travel on the coach. Once we arrived we saw many goats, different sizes and various colours. We went on the tractor ride and horses. After lunch, we saw snakes, frogs, newts and tortoises. We had a busy day so some children had a nap on the way back.

27/06/2023- Nursery am and full time children visit Barley Lands Farm

On Monday, the morning and full time children visited Barleylands farm. We sat on the coach with our parents and teachers, fastened our seat belts and started our journey. On the way we noticed traffic lights, lots of buses and also passed some train stations. Once we arrived we walked around to see the goats, chickens, ducks and reptiles. We enjoyed going on the bumpy tractor ride too. By the end of the day we were exhausted but we had a great day out.

21/06/2023- Mathematics

This week we have been learning to use vocabulary linked to weight including heavy and light. We are using tweezers to collect toys and place them into the balance scales. We are observing to see what happens to the scales. We now know that some objects are heavy and some are light. We were fascinated to learn that sometimes the scales are balanced!

15/06/2023- Living Things

This week we have been focusing on our mud kitchen. We have lovely new plants and flowers growing in our mud kitchen and we have been talking about how to look after living things. We are learning to understand the key features of the life cycle of a plant and an animal. We water our plants everyday because we know they need water to survive and grow. We are beginning to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things.

07/06/2023- Reading

We love to read books in our nursery. We can choose a book we like and sit on the carpet. We handle our books carefully and turn the pages one by one. We love to look at the illustrations and discuss what we can see. We are now beginning to identify some of the letter sounds we have been learning, including m, a, s, d and t. Our focus story is called ‘We’re going on a lion hunt’.

24/05/2023- Expressive Arts and Design 

This week we are making our own Numberblocks using coloured paper. We made different numbers and talked about what the number looks like.

At the playdough table we are using the playdough to create the sounds we have been learning. This requires us to manipulate the playdough with our hands.

We’re also using cotton buds to make marks on foil with paint. We dip the cotton bud into the paint and start creating. 

16/05/2023- Developing Our Communication Skills

In our nursery we are using talk to organise ourselves and our play. We can now use longer sentences of four to six words and be able to express a point of view. We are developing our speaking and listening skills by reading books with our friends and our teachers. 

In maths, we are using shapes to make shape faces whilst learning the names of some 2D shapes.

10/05/2023- King Charles III

Last week we were learning about the Royal family and our new King. At the creative table we painted our own Union Jack flags using red, white and blue. In maths we recognised numbers and matched jewels to the numbers. We also made our own crowns and decorated them using colourful jewels.

04.05.23- Developing our Motor Skills

This week we are focusing on developing our motor skills. We’re using long paint brushes to paint and trying to colour within the lines. In the garden we have been using the funnels to fill containers. Pouring water from jugs also supports our hand-eye coordination. 

26.04.2023- Climate week

This week we are learning about the importance of our environment. We used tweezers to remove the rubbish from the ocean. We talked about ways we can keep our oceans clean and recycle more. We have also been exploring colour mixing. We used the pipettes to collect coloured water and see what happens when we mix two different colours. 

18/04/2023- Welcome Back!

We are pretending to be superheroes. In the role play we have been dressing up and helping others. We’re making food in the superhero cafe and eating some baked treats. On the creative table we have been making our own superhero characters. We used googly eyes, glue and paper for the cape.

29/03/2023- Easter!

This week we are learning about Easter. We are making Easter cards which we have decorated with colourful sequins. Some of the nursery children can write their own name!

At the playdough table, we are rolling and moulding the dough to make an egg shape. We are using buttons to decorate the playdough egg. In maths we have been finding the mini chicks and exploring the egg moulds. 

22/03/2023- Number

We love learning about numbers and shapes in our nursery. We have been using elastic bands to make 2D shapes. We use our finger muscles to pull the bands in different directions. This activity helps us learn with our fine motor and maths skills. We use our number tiles to help us recognise numbers 1-5. In the water tray, we have been scooping and counting the different sized pom poms. This is one of our favourite activities this week as we’re developing our maths vocabulary and having fun!

14/03/2023- Making Story Books

This week the children have been creating their own story books with Mr Leak. The children put paper together to make the book. Then, they used feathers, paper, card, flowers and glue to make the front cover. They worked hard to write their name and draw a picture of their family. We love to see children making special creations to take home.

07/03/2023- Physical Development

We are super excited to use our new garden this week. We will get the opportunity to build our motor skills by moving our bodies in different ways. We have been very careful when accessing the new equipment. We love the slide!

Our role play area has transformed into an animal hospital. We put on the doctor's clothes and use the stethoscope to help the sick animals. We are picking up pom poms using our fingers to make the medicine.

We have been squeezing the toothpaste onto the toothbrush to clean the teeth. This is helping us build the muscles in our fingers. We can move the brush back and forth.

1/03/2023- Shapes

We have been finding and naming 2D shapes. We can name shapes including square, circle, triangle and rectangle. This week, we used familiar shapes to make a face. We have been going on shape hunts around the classroom to support us. We have also been using positional language. For example, we can say ‘on’, ‘under’, ‘inside’ and ‘between’.

22.02.2023- Communication and Language

We love to talk! In the nursery we initiate play and start conversations with our peers. We take turns to speak and express our ideas. We use talk to organise our play, particularly in our role play area. Our teachers give us time to process our thoughts and join in with our play. We also use our snack table as an area to develop our communication skills. 

07/02/2023- Mental Health Week

We love to use our sensory trolley every morning. We have access to squishy toys, cuddly bears, fidget toys and calming toys. We pick one if and when we feel like we need to regulate our emotions. It can be tricky expressing our emotions so we use this trolley to help us. We use it for 20 minutes each day and sometimes during the day. During circle time we talk about our feelings using words like happy, sad, angry or worried and we are beginning to understand gradually how others might be feeling.

31/01/2023- Knowledge and Understanding of Our World

This week we have been using our senses in hands-on exploration of natural materials. We mixed dried rose petals in the playdough for a sensory experience.

Everyday we explore natural materials, indoors and outside. We are also discovering what happens when we put two magnets together. Exploring and talking about different forces helps us understand our world.

24/01/2023-Pre-writing Skills

We have been focusing on our pre-writing skills. Pre-writing skills are the fundamental skills children need to develop before they are able to write.  These skills help children to build finger dexterity, support hand-eye coordination, give strength to the grip and even in wrist movement. 

19/01/2023- Reading

We have been reading the story Jack and the Beanstalk. We love to look at the illustrations and talk about what we can see. When our teachers read to us, we sit on the carpet and listen carefully. Sometimes, we also like to join in with repeated phrases from the story. We enjoy using our body in different ways to act out the scenes. Our key reading skills include choosing a book, holding it carefully and talking about the pictures.

12/01/2023- We love to talk!

This week we have welcomed new friends to our nursery. We have been busy talking to our peers, teachers, parents and carers. We are learning to develop conversation, often jumping from topic to topic. Occasionally, we start a conversation with an adult or a friend and continue it for many turns. We love it when the adults engage in our play, focus on our interests and give us time to share our ideas. The toys in our nursery such as the lego and dolls, support our language and cognitive development.

7/12/22- Characteristics of Effective Learning

Over the past few months, children have been demonstrating various behaviours through which they learn. The nursery children are selecting and using activities and resources independently. The children use their senses to explore the world around them. On a daily basis, they are showing curiosity about objects, events and people as well as maintaining focus for a period of time.

29/11/2022-Reading

This week we are focusing on our reading skills. We are trying to find sounds we have been learning in class. Last week we learnt the ‘m’ sound, this week we are learning the ‘a’ sound. 

We love to be read to and use our listening and visuals skills to engage with books everyday.

We are excited to welcome our parents to the Nursery Together session on Thursday. 

24/11/2022- Mark Making

We love a challenge in the Nursery. This week we have been finding new ways to make marks on paper. We laid on our backs to make marks on large paper. We have started to make some Christmas decorations for our school. We are using tinsel, sequins and pom poms to decorate Christmas trees.

16/11/2022- Nursery Rhyme Week

We are celebrating Nursery Rhyme week. All our activities link to nursery rhymes we love to sing. Singing songs everyday helps develop our oracy skills. We can remember and sing entire songs and sometimes we love to create our own songs! When we are singing in the garden, we enjoy using the instruments too. We can sing loudly, quietly and use different voices and tones.

8/11/2022- Fine Motor Skills

In the nursery this week we are focusing on developing our fine motor skills. We are using the shapes, hammers and nails to create our own 2D shape picture. We have to carefully place a nail in the shape and hammer it into the board. This can be tricky but supports our hand-eye coordination. We have also been using scissors to cut magazine pictures. We are being a focusaurus because we are focusing on moving the paper as we cut.

1/11/2022- Being a confident learner

This week we have demonstrated our personal, emotional and social skills. We are playing with other children, extending and elaborating play ideas. We are beginning to find solutions to conflicts and challenges. We use our listening skills to follow the rules and routines independently. At the start of the day, we move our picture to our emotion faces. We are learning to talk about our feelings using words like happy, sad, angry or worried.

18/10/2022-Black History Week

We are learning and talking about Black history month. Some of our provision activities this week are based on African-American influences. We are creating some art work inspired by Alma Thomas who was an expressionist artist. The children used coloured squares to glue onto paper, creating a class masterpiece! We have also made our very own bracelets using beads and string.

12/10/2022- Diwali

We are learning about the festival called Diwali. This year it will be celebrated by Sikhs and Hindus on Monday 24th October. 

We used clay to make our individual diva’s which we will paint and take home. Clay is much harder to mould but we tried to pinch, roll and squeeze with good control. 

We are creating our own firework pictures using chalk and paint. We talked about the sounds and colours we can hear and see. During our carpet session we are listening to the story of Diwali and the many ways it is celebrated.

Happy Diwali to everyone celebrating.

5/10/2022-We are explorers!

In nursery this week we are challenging ourselves to try new skills. Using scissors to cut patterns on paper develops our motor skills as well as our hand-eye coordination. We are working together to roll the large, heavy tyres outside to build an obstacle course. 

We have been using our listening skills to engage in our activities and explore our environment. 

What will we explore next week?

28/09/2022- Reading

Our nursery offers us a range of exciting books to read. We help ourselves to the books on the bookshelf everyday. We also enjoy choosing a book and relaxing in our cosy reading garden where we read on our own, with our friends and our teachers. 

We love it when adults read to us and talk about the books. We are learning to read but it’s so important that we talk about the illustrations to build our reading skills. We take a new book home each week to read with our parents and carers.

21/09/2022-Number

Counting to 5 everyday helps us with maths knowledge. We love lining up and counting all the children. This week we are exploring maths in various ways- threading coloured beads to make a pattern, building towers using cubes and even using tweezers to pick up pom poms. We are extending our learning by counting the number of beads, cubes and pom poms we have used. In the garden, we sing songs to help us memorise numbers. Our favourite one this week is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I caught a fish alive.

Can you think of any other number songs to sing?

14/09/2022-Owl Babies

This week we have welcomed more new friends! We are learning to share our toys and listen to the teachers. We love making marks on paper using paint and crayons. Every day our teacher reads a story to us on the carpet. During this time, we are learning to sit, look and listen. Our focus story is ‘Owl Babies’. The owls miss their mummy but she comes back. We are adjusting to saying bye to our parents and carers as we get used to new faces.

07/09/2022- Welcome back!

We have been very brave settling in the Nursery this week. We are learning to share our toys and become familiar with our new environment. Our teachers have been reading stories with us and supporting us to manage our needs. Some of our old friends are back and it’s been great building new friendships. We’re looking forward to learning new skills and becoming confident learners.

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Nursery

2021 - 2022

20/07/2022- Keeping Cool in the Heatwave!

In the Nursery this week, we've been trying to keep cool! We have been immersed in lots of water play activities and have enjoyed keeping cool in the heat.

13/07/2022- Feeling hot, hot hot!

We love water play, especially in the hot weather. We enjoyed filling up the water pistols and spraying each other. We are learning ways to stay safe when it is very hot. We know we can drink water, have a rest and stay in the shade when it is too hot outside. It is very important we drink enough and wear sunglasses and sun hats to keep us safe.

06/07/2022 - We enjoy pretend play!

This week in our nursery we have made our own ice creams using foam, cones and sprinkles. We’re always focusing on our motor skills so this week we used the pipettes to collect water and soaked the cotton pads. We were filling the clouds with rain water to see what happens. 

It was so much fun pretending to be firefighters and using the hose to put out the fires. We had to focus on where the fire was and aim the hose correctly. We managed to soak some of the teachers too…oops!

29/06/2022- Our Visit to BarleyLands Farm!

We went on a visit to the farm! We travelled on a coach, fastened​ our seatbelts and waited patiently. When we got off the coach we walked to the barn where we used the toilets and started our adventure. First, we got onto a tractor which took us around the farm. We were very excited to see the goats, cows, geese and meerkats. We stayed together, walked sensibly and even fed the animals. After, we ate lunch and continued to see more farm animals. We safely got onto our coach and had a nap- we were exhausted from all the fun. All the adults are very proud of how we behaved on our visit and we are excited for our next educational adventure.

22/06/2022- Reading

We love to read everywhere! Our focus story is ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and we have been re-telling the story and sequencing events. Using familiar language from the story helps develop our vocabulary and our reading skills. This week we made story maps using various textures to represent the grass, mud, river and snowstorm scenes. We are learning to ask questions about the book and make comments and predictions about what happens.

16/06/2022-Mathematics
In the Nursery this week we are focusing on numbers and shapes. We have been reciting numbers past 5 and saying one number for each item in order. We are using the coloured links to match quantity to number. This also supports our motor development because we have to join the links together. We are using 2D shapes to make shape faces. We have to think about the shape we want to use and try to find it. In the Nursery we always sing number songs. Our favourite is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Once I caught a fish alive. Singing nursery rhymes is a great way to help us recite and sequence numbers.

09/06/2022-We are Brave!

We are adapting well to changes in our life. It can be difficult to settle after the holidays but we are finding different ways to help us. We love coming into class to see the activities and start playing. This week we are exploring 2D shapes and using shapes to make models. We are trying hard to problem solve and put puzzle pieces away. We’re excited to see the learning we will engage with next week.

12/05/2022-We are artists!

We have loved having paint outside during this wonderful weather. On the mark making table we were exploring paint, using fingers and other parts of our bodies as well as brushes and other tools. We were using the water colours to express ideas and feelings through making marks, and we sometimes give a meaning to the marks. Sometimes we create new colours by mixing colours together. Painting is great for our motor skills but also supports our communication skills.

6/05/2022-Superworm!

We have enjoyed listening to the book Superworm. Superworm is super long and super strong! We have been making our own playdough worms and measuring to see how long they are.

At the mark making table we are drawing our own Superworms and gluing tissue paper to resemble the main character from the story.

In the garden, we are using water colours to paint. Using a paintbrush to make marks supports our motor skills. We are very proud of our achievements this week. We wonder what exciting activities we will explore next week…

28/04/2022- Developing Oracy

We are learning to use a wide range of vocabulary and develop our communication skills. Our small world area supports our pretend play and extends our sentences.

In mathematics, we are starting to make comparisons using language related to size, such as tall, taller, short and shorter.

We love having a snack in class and we can now use the snack table independently. At the snack table we talk to our friends and teachers about what foods we like and dislike.

21/04/2022- Superheroes!

We have enjoyed playing in our new role play area. Dressing up is exciting and challenges us to get dressed independently. We are using pencils and scissors with good control by cutting patterns and writing some letters. In mathematics, we are measuring using cubes and problem solving during tidy up.

01/04/2022-Understanding the World

We loved having the parents in for our Nursery Together session on Monday to support us with our learning. We are learning about the features and changes taking place in our environment. In mathematics, we had to find the hidden eggs. This was tricky as they were hiding in the shredded paper. In the garden, we made Easter cards with our parents and drew pictures of daffodils. We are beginning to talk about the different parts of a flower and what they need to grow.

17/03/2022- Oral Health

This week we had a visit from the dentist. They checked our teeth and applied a fluoride varnish to help prevent tooth decay. We lined up in a line, walked down the corridor and waited for our turn.

In our provision, we have been using the toothbrushes and toothpaste to brush plastic teeth. We know it’s very important to brush twice a day and look after our teeth.

10/03/2022- Nursery Together

This week the parents joined us for our learning. They supported us with reading activities in the class and the garden.

We used coloured laces to thread letters and tried to identify the sound of the letter. During the carpet session, we used our listening skills to join in with the story and say repeated phrases.

We have also been developing our PSED and communication skills with our friends by joining in with each other's play.

3/03/2022-Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Our nursery allows us to share our own ideas and opinions. We are developing confidence to be increasingly able to talk about and manage our emotions. In the morning, we put our face photos onto the emotion we are feeling. This helps us to talk about our feelings with our teachers and settle us.

We are developing friendships with other children. This requires us to use our communication skills such as listening and speaking. We can play with one or more peers, extending and elaborating play ideas.

24/02/2022-People who help us

This half term we are learning all about animals. Our role play area has been transformed into a Veterinary surgery. We love using bandages and plastic injections to help the animals. The role play area helps develop our oracy skills by listening and talking to one another. In mathematics, we are learning to recognise numbers and put quantity to number.

10/02/2022- Reading

We love reading everyday in the Nursery. We enjoy looking at the illustrations and listening to a story. Our reading den is comfortable and cosy but we also enjoy reading on the carpet. Our teachers read the same story over time so we become familiar with the language which helps us join in. Over the past few weeks we have read Goldilocks and The Three Bears and The Three Little Pigs. We can confidently talk about these books and join in with repeated phrases.

03/02/2022- Chinese New Year

This week in Nursery our provision has linked to the Chinese New Year. We used brushes to form Mandarin numbers in the tuff tray. It was a challenge to copy the same shapes but we tried our best.

We decorated our own lanterns using gold and red paper. We used PVA glue to stick the paper and left it to dry.

Sensory play helps develop our motor skills and we love it! We used the Numicon to form marks in the shaving foam.

28/01/2022-Mathematics

We love problem solving in the Nursery! This week, we have been sorting links by colour and making chains. We can count how many links we have used and find the number in our environment.

Some of our 2D shapes were hiding! We found them in the tray with straw. We can identify and describe some 2D shapes.

Working together helps us share ideas and take turns. We love using the wooden blocks to build towers. This week we have been building a house for the Three Little Pigs- The Big Bad Wolf blew their house down so we’re trying to find a stronger material.

20/01/2022-Goldilocks and The Three Bears

This week we have enjoyed reading our focus story. At the mathematics table we used sticks, eyes and stones to make a bear's face. We had to think about the features and try to create our own.

We have been exploring and talking about different forces we can feel. Our investigation area allows us to explore and talk about what we notice.

Our role play area represents the bears cottage. We use the bears and props to act out scenes from the story. Our favourite part is when Goldilocks runs away!

13/01/2022-Welcome back!

We are pleased to be back in school and learn. This week, we are using Bee Bots- trying to navigate them is exciting. We are learning to use words such as forwards, left, right and backwards.

Our focus story is Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We used the small world tuff tray to retell the story. At the mark making table we have been drawing pictures of Goldilocks and the Bears.

In mathematics, we are sorting bears. We can sort the bears by colour and size. 

17/12/2021-Nursery Tea Party!

This week, we had a Christmas tea party with our parents. We ate cheese sandwiches, drank juice and iced biscuits. 

We have been very busy making Christmas decorations for our tree. We carefully glued 3 lolly sticks together and added sequins.

In mathematics, we are learning to use numbers in our play and count to 10.

In our mark making area, we cut pictures of toys from magazines and wrote a letter to Santa. We are learning to give meaning to our marks and write recognisable letters. 

It has been fun listening to Christmas songs. Our favourite song at the moment is Jingle bells. 

9/12/2021- Understanding our World

In mathematics we are learning about length by using words such as long, short, longer and shorter. We used these key words when making our Christmas Tree’s.

In phonics, we have learnt the sounds m, a and s. We are learning to identify these sounds in our environment and make marks to represent sounds.

Our Elf workshop is now open! We are super busy wrapping presents to place under our Christmas tree. It can be a tricky task but working together makes the job manageable.

02/12/2021-The Tiger Who Came To Tea

We have been exploring our focus story this week in the Nursery.

In Maths we made tall towers using orange and black cubes. We tried to make an ABAB pattern- orange, black, orange, black. Can you count the number of cubes we used?

At the playdough table, we used orange playdough, googly eyes and black pipe cleaners. We looked at a picture of a Tiger and made our own stripy tigers.

Mr Ervalho made fruit smoothies with us. We put bananas, mixed berries and milk in a blender. We enjoyed making and trying a new healthy snack.

24.11.2021-Understanding the World

We are learning about the celebration called Christmas. This week, we decorated our own stockings using sequins and stars. We have been listening to the Christmas story during carpet time and trying hard to remember key events.

There was something different about our mark making table this week. The paper was underneath! We had to lay on our backs and look up to make marks. 

Outside, we used paint brushes to make marks with water. We enjoyed making big and small circles by moving our bodies.

We are developing the muscles in our fingers every day. Our challenge this week was to hang socks using wooden pegs. 

Next week we'll be learning more about Christmas and how it is celebrated. We’re looking forward to new activities!

18/11/2021-Mathematics

Nursery have enjoyed counting and recognising numbers. We used our toy cars to go over the road numbers. This supports our number knowledge and motor skills.

Some of the toy cars had crayons attached. We used the cars on big paper to make marks. It was interesting to see the marks made when we moved the cars back and forth, applying pressure.

We have noticed changes in our garden so we decided to go on an Autumn hunt. We were looking for different coloured objects outside and collected these in our paper bags.  We found some green, orange and yellow leaves as well as plenty of sticks. 

Our teachers know we love to be a Challenge- Rex. This week, we had to rescue the animals. They had lots of elastic bands wrapped around- we had to remove the elastic bands one by one then count how many we collected. 

11/11/2021-  Little Shoppers

On Monday, some of the children walked to Tesco Express to buy snacks for our snack table. They chose a healthy snack, gave money to the cashier and walked back to school. We can’t wait to do this again next week.

Our focus story Happy Birthday Cupcake has inspired us to make our own playdough cupcakes. We added cocoa powder to make it smell and look like chocolate. 

We also made birthday cards and collaged balloons to help us talk about birthday celebrations.

In the mathematics tuff tray, we tried to pick conkers using the big tweezers. We counted how many we collected and tried to find the number.

We enjoy choosing a book from our reading den and sitting with our friends. We found new books and we can’t wait to read them in class.

We used the balance bikes in the garden and it was so much fun! We remembered to wear helmets and wait our turn. Using balance bikes helps develop our core muscles.

4/11/2021-Diwali

This week Nursery have been learning about the festival called Diwali. Hindus and Sikhs around the world celebrate this special festival.

We made rangoli patterns using different shapes. Rangoli patterns can be square, rectangular or circular – or a mix of all three. They are often symmetrical. 

During this time of year, you may hear fireworks outside. The children used chalk on black paper to create their own fireworks. They described the fireworks using words such as ‘loud’, ‘bang’ and ‘shiny’.

The children drew around their hands to make a mehndi pattern. They used squiggly, straight and wavy lines.

21/10/2021- Boo!

This week Nursery have been hammering golf tees into pumpkins! We talked about the size, texture and weight of the pumpkins. We held the golf tees in one hand and the hammer in the other.  There were some creepy crawlies hiding in the mathematics tuff tray! We looked carefully and used the tweezers to take them out. We helped the adults make a race track on the floor using masking tape. We placed our cars at the starting position and pushed them to see who went the furthest. On your marks, get set, go!

14/10/2021-Exploring 2D shapes

This week in nursery we have been playing with 2D shapes. Making shapes using elastic bands can be challenging but it supports our mathematics and fine motor skills. We used the large foam shapes to create pictures. In the garden, we created shapes using coloured sticks. We can notice some shapes in our environment and use shapes in our play.

7/10/2021-Communication and Language

This week in Nursery we have been busy talking! We love talking to our friends and teachers about our learning.

We created our bodies using googly eyes, wool for our hair and tissue paper for our clothes. We talked about the way we look and our features.

In mathematics, we are learning to say numbers. We used the Numicon to count and playdough to create our own numbers.

Our role play area gives us plenty of speaking opportunities. We act out our experiences from home with our friends. Making tea and food and looking after the babies.

30/9/2021- The Very Hungry Caterpillar

We are enjoying having tea parties with our friends. We use the role play area to act out our experiences from home. Pre-writing skills develop muscles in our hands to help us write. We love getting messy with different textures like rice, sand and salt. We painted our own caterpillars using pom poms and paint. In mathematics, we are learning to find the number 1. I wonder what number we will find next week?

23/09/2021- Being Brave!

We have had a fun week in Nursery. We are starting to settle without our parents and carers, this can be scary but we are brave! We have enjoyed using the train tracks to construct. Joining pieces together means we are problem solving. Our focus story is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We used green and red playdough to make our own caterpillars. We’re excited to see what skills we use next week.  

16/09/2021-Construction, Water Play and Painting

Construction

We are learning to stack blocks horizontally and vertically. We can work together to share ideas, take turns and use construction blocks.

Water play

Playing with water is a fun sensory experience. We are learning to remember to wear our aprons and share our toys.

Painting

Developing our motor skills can be tricky, but we always try hard. Holding and using paintbrushes helps to develop muscles in our body which supports our grip and movement.

10/09/2021- Starting Nursery

Nursery Children have had a great start to the new term as they have started to settle back into the school routine.

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Nursery

2020-21

We are enjoying our topic on superheroes. This week we have been making Captain America’s shield using coloured tissue paper.

Developing our motor skills is always fun! Recognising numbers 1-10 can be tricky but we always do our best.

Mark making in a quiet area is relaxing. We like to find small spaces where we can write and draw our ideas and thoughts.

We loved our Forest School today, we played exciting games and loved playing inside the tent that we made. We laughed and smiled a lot and ran around in the fresh air. We are growing in confidence in our Forest School and have lots to talk about when we finish our session. 

We loved our First Forest School session today, we explored our forest and thought about what we could see and hear. Miss Josson is a trained Forest School teacher and she made our first session lots of fun, we are really excited about the weeks ahead and learning in the outdoors.

Benefits of Forest School

Forest School sets learning in a different context for children where they can undertake a range of practical activities and carry out small achievable tasks. At Forest School children can develop their team working skills and also learn to become more independent. Those who are unfamiliar with woodlands and green spaces can become confident in using them and this can form the basis of a life-long relationship with natural spaces.

Colour mixing - We are scientists! We used pipettes to collect coloured water and create a new colour. 

Animal tuff tray - We have been exploring farm animals. We can identify animals by their appearance and the sound they make.

Geoboards - Using elastic bands to make 2D shapes can be challenging for our little fingers. Being a Tryatops helps us develop our motor skills and shape knowledge.

We are using magnets to find letters in the rice. Using phonics helps us to read the words. We can read the words cat, mat and sat.

Using tweezers can be tricky but we never give up. We read the number in the bowl and collected the correct amount of pom poms with the tweezers.

We have been exploring textures and colour patterns while we develop our number skills. 

We are working together everyday and learning to take turns. We are considerate of others’ needs. We use our kind words to communicate with our friends when we play.

Sensory play is an important part of our development. We use the nets to try and catch as many fish as possible. Filling empty bottles helps support our gross and fine motor skills.

Exploring magnets is great fun! We pretend to make different flavoured ice-cream using the magnets.

We have been are learning about animals and some of us have been matching the animal to the print. We have loved finding different sized tigers and zebras

We are working hard to write our names and form recognisable letters, some of us can hold and use pencils with good control. We really enjoy writing the sounds we have learnt. 

Playdough is excellent for developing our fine motor skills, it helps us develop our finger muscles that we need to write. It is soft and squishy and we can make anything out of it. We can mould, flatten, squish, pinch, break and roll the playdough into all sorts of creations. As we worked on our creations we formed new ideas and concepts and our teachers helped us to extend our vocabulary.  

We are being encouraged to make marks this week with an exciting activity. We love how the crayons have been attached to the cars and have enjoyed pushing them around to make our marks. We give meaning to our marks and enjoy sharing this with our teachers. 

2019-2020

We have been thinking about shape. We used the wooden shape box to connect and layer shapes to form pictures and patterns. We are learning to name shapes and to think about their properties, we have been using language such as straight, curved, corner and side. 

Here are some of our ideas:

“It is a Elmer bus because it has lots of squares and rainbow colours”

 “This is my brother….the round one matches…...I am not making my brother now, I am making a truck.

Today was brilliant, we had our parents and carers in to see how we have been learning how to ride the balance bikes. They could see the hard work we have been putting in, learning with our teachers. Jeremy was showing them how he taught us to ride the balance bikes and the steps we went through. It gave our parents lots of help to support us at home riding a bike and now they know that stabilisers are banned because they don't help us learn to balance.

The session wasn't just for us though, we also gave our parents and carers the opportunity to ride the bikes too! Some of them had never been on a bike before and some had not been on one for a very long time but Jeremy worked with them, going through the steps that he taught us. 

Nursery Yoga

In Nursery to promote good mental health we have started mini yoga sessions. 

Yoga teaches children that their bodies are different; different bodies do different things and all of them are okay. There is no one better or worse at yoga than anyone else; we are all having fun,  exploring our bodies and learning from them in our own way.

Any exercise begun in childhood helps children to remain physically active and healthy as a lifestyle. Exercise makes us feel good about ourselves and develop better confidence and self esteem. 

We have been using the Cosmic Kids Yoga videos. We had lots of fun practising ‘The Bouncing Bunny.’

We had to follow the instructions carefully. Learning how to bounce our legs from the floor whilst balancing on our hands took some practice and coordination. We were nice and relaxed for our story time afterwards.

Rockets, Rain and Roads

We have been mark making using the large chalks. We thought about what we were going to draw and observed the marks we made.

Fatin talks about a spider she saw at her home

“I saw a spinder on my home….it was a big one….I say arrrrgh!”

Teen and Toddler Project 

We are hosting a 'Teen and toddler' group in our Early Years setting. Working with 'Power 2' who work with young people aged 13-16 to achieve their full potential. These young people will volunteer for 1.5 hours per week for the next 16 weeks. Each of them becomes a one-to-one mentor for someone in our nursery or reception. We are working with pupils from Little Ilford School and today was their first visit. They were all great at using the strategies needed in the Early Years to interact and communicate with us and we all loved meeting our new friends today.

Friday 4th October

We had our very first 'Nursery Together' event today where our parents and carers came into our nursery. Today they learnt about how important it is to develop our communication and language and some of the strategies our teachers use in school such as; child directed speech, self talk and parallel talk to develop this area of our learning. They found out about why we have become a mobile free zone and the importance of making opportunities to have high quality conversations with us outside of school. The best bit of all though after Miss Allen had brought them all down into our nursery was when they all joined in with our learning and had conversations about what we were doing. Some of our parents and carers were even using the strategies our teachers use, they were all amazing!

Our amazing parents, carers and families were helping us today with our Communication and Language:

Here are some of the things our parents said about today's Nursery Together: 

"I will try to communicate with my child with new vocabulary and language."

"I will communicate with him in different times like mornings and evenings."

"The session was very helpful, I will do self talk with my child at home. I think it will be helpful for my child."

"I will let my child talk more about school, about what he did and how he enjoyed school."

Wednesday 2nd October

We are so lucky to get to ride our balance bikes and we are making lots of progress. Lots of the teachers in our school have never learnt to ride a bike so Jeremy who comes in to help us is helping them too. We all cheered for Mrs Begum today, after she kept trying Mrs Begum learnt to ride the bike with us.

We are Poets

We used our imaginations and used a familiar song to create a song of our own. We included our own sound effects and actions.

Miss Harris has a Nursery ee-i-ee-i-o,

And in that Nursery she has a slide ee-i-ee-i-o,

With a zing zing here and a zing zing there

Here a zing, there a zing, 

Everywhere a zing zing. 

In that nursery she has some glue ee-i-ee-i-o,

With a stick stick here and a stick stick there

Here a stick, there a stick, 

Everywhere a stick stick.

In that nursery she has some bricks ee-i-ee-i-o,

With a bang bang here and a bang bang there

Here a bang, there a stick, 

Everywhere a bang bang.

In that nursery she has some paint ee-i-ee-i-o,

With a paint paint here and a paint paint there

Here a paint, there a paint, 

Everywhere a paint paint.

In that nursery she has a bridge e-i-ee-i-o,

With a wobbly wobbly here and a wobbly wobbly there

Here a wobbly, there a wobbly, 

Everywhere a wobbly wobbly.

2018-19

What an exciting end of year visit we had!

On Tuesday 18th June we went on our end of year visit to the Olympic park and explored the Tumbling Bay playground. We enjoyed going down the really fast slide, being chased along the wobbly bridge, and making  sand castles in the enormous sandpit. Our day ended with a delicious picnic in the park with our parents and a nice walk around the park where we saw a family of ducks. It was a very fun day and we really enjoyed it!

Zoolab

Tom from Zoolab came to visit nursery, he brought lots of his favourite pets for us to find out about. We met Peter the Giant African Snail, he has 10,000 teeth!

“He is so hard and so big!” said Abdulrahman touching his shell.

We met Arthur and Albert the millipedes. They have 112 legs and no teeth. Nailah held the millipede, she thinks they have twelve feet and decides that they feel like a hair brush. We saw Trevor the Australian Tree Frog. Trevor likes to live high up in the trees.

Araf said ‘Ooooh' when Trevor jumped high.

We met George a Fire Corn Snake. Did you know snakes use their tongues to smell?

We also met Harry and Ron the gerbils, they were small and had little whiskers. They were very friendly but we had to be careful because they like to bite!

Shoppers

This term we started our Shoppers project in nursery. Every week we take orders from all our friends in nursery, for what healthy food they want to eat at our snack table. We take our shopping bag, count and collect our money from the office and then set off into the local area to visit the shops. It is great for developing our language as the experience gives us lots to talk about.  

Friday 29th March

To celebrate Mother's Day we had someone close to us join us in our nursery today. We decorated tasty cakes and gave hand massages as a lovely treat for that someone special. 

Tuesday 19th March

Today we had our families in to visit nursery to share in our learning, as part of our Number Day. Our teachers had set up lots of different activities for our parents to play along side us and find out how we learn in school. What a lot of fun we had!

Ten Frames

Some of us in nursery are enjoying using the ten frames to show what one more and one less than a number is. We can count the pegs to make sure that the correct number has been made and then add one more. 

What a fantastic time we had mark making with our parents!

We had our parents into our Nursery to share in our very special mark making event to explore how we begin the journey from mark making to writing. There were a range of activities including playdough to strengthen our hand writing muscles, messy shaving foam to practice lots of different lines and shape patterns. We even came away with our own box of crayons to mark make at home!

September 2018

This term has seen Nursery learn about Nursery Rhymes. We have been doing our best to sing a long and remember them as much as possible. The children have also spent time making Nursery Rhyme related crafts to go on our displays.

The start of the year has also meant settling children in to Nursery, establishing routines, and making friends. The children have spent time learning each other’s names and learning to play with other people. It has been a fun first few weeks!