Spring Nursery Newsletter

 

           

Term: Spring 2023          

Dear Parents and Carers,

The aim of this newsletter is to give you an overview of the learning that will take place over the spring term in nursery.

The nursery blog on the school website and Facebook page are a great way to keep up to date with what is happening in the nursery, along with any upcoming events. It is very important for all parents to check the blog regularly to know what is happening for your child.

This term our focus books will include:  The Three Little Pigs; The Tiger Who Came to Tea; Brown Bear, Brown Bear;  Jack and The Beanstalk; Jasper’s Beanstalk and The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Below is an overview of the learning focuses for this term which we will focus on during adult led activities and through supporting the children’s play.

Communication and Language 

We will be encouraging the children to speak in full sentences to express themselves. Each term there will be focus texts which will allow the children to become familiar with the story and retell the story using their own words. This will also support them to increase their vocabulary and learn the meaning of new words.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development 

This term the new starters will be settling into their new environment, ensuring they are aware of expectations and learning the routines within the setting. They will also be working on sharing resources and taking turns. 

Those children who are more familiar with the setting will continue to develop positive relationships with their peers and to develop special friendships with other children. The children will also explore the zones of regulation, a whole school approach, through stories and during play.

Physical Development 

This term there will be a continued focus on gross motor and coordination activities to strengthen the children’s shoulders and core muscles for whole body movements; this is a prerequisite to writing. They will engage in gross motor activities such as: hula hoops, climbing frame, basketball hoops, balancing on the logs and vertical painting. In addition to this the children will begin to collaborate with one another to move larger objects and engage in outdoor games such as skittles.

Children will continue to engage with finger gym activities as well as Dough Disco to support the development of their fine motor skills.

Maths

The children will work on number recognition and representing numbers in different ways. There will be a mixture of ordinal (numbers in order), cardinal (a number of objects to count or name by sight), nominal (using numbers as a name i.e. bus number). This will deepen the children’s number sense and basic math skills. These basic skills will set us up for the rest of the year. 

Children will also begin to develop language to describe 2D and 3D shapes in the environment. They will make comparisons between the sizes of different objects and explore capacity.

Literacy 

Stories are a key part of our curriculum and high quality texts will be used throughout the day to foster the children’s love of reading. We will also be starting the Bedtime Story Scheme where your child can take 2 books home each week. A blog post will explain more about the reading scheme and the different ways in which you can share your love of reading with your children.

Mark making opportunities will be available throughout the provision. 

Messy Play

Messy play, or sensory play, is the term for any activities allowing children to work with their hands to create a controlled mess. Often involving traditionally messy ingredients such as paint, sand, slime, water, clay or mud, it is geared toward exploring feelings and imagination. Your child will have opportunities to participate in messy play on a daily basis; you will see some of these activities on the blog (and occasionally on their clothes!).

Independence

In nursery, independence will be promoted for your child and encouraged through the daily routines. These include: walking in independently; using their coat peg; self-registering; toileting; changing into wellies for the outside area; pouring water into their cups; and cleaning their cups. Please support your child by practising putting on and taking off their socks and shoes at home, as well as their coats, hats and gloves.

Key Dates

Check the blog on a weekly basis to keep up to date with key dates this year. We do not send letters home. We will send you an email regarding any upcoming Focus Child parent meetings.

Important information:

     

• Please ensure your child has a named set of spare clothes in nursery at all times. 

• All uniform, bottles and packed lunch boxes should be labelled with your child’s name. 

• Please can toys from home stay at home. We have lots in school and it saves toys being lost or broken. 

• Your child does not need to bring snacks to school. Fruit and water are available throughout the day for the children to access. The children only need to bring food to school if they are having a packed lunch. 

We look forward to working with you over the upcoming term and thank you for your support. If you would like to contact a member of the nursery team via email, the address is: nursery@broadford.havering.sch.uk 

        

Kind regards,

The Nursery Team