Nursery Certificates 26.1.26

 

Congratulations to Ann-Marie who has awarded the E for Excellence certificate this week. 

Ann-Marie has been listening really well this week. She has enjoyed our small group sessions and has been able to talk about what she can see happening in the story. 

Congratulations to Rayyan who has awarded the E for Excellence certificate this week. 

Rayyan has been trying really hard to write his name independently this week. He has remembered how to hold his pencil correctly and has formed his letters really well. 

Nursery Learning WC 26/1/26

Dates to remember:

Tuesday 2nd February - Wellgate Farm visiting the school

Friday 13th February - School closed for inset day 

This week, the children have been exploring the book Little Monkey by Marta Altés. They have thoroughly enjoyed following the little monkey’s big adventure and sharing their thoughts along the way. We have spent time learning about the features of different jungle animals, and the children have worked really hard to describe them through a fun game of “I Spy.”

In our maths area, the children have been enjoying using the banana maths counting frame. They have explored numbers by using cubes and magnetic tiles to represent different quantities, carefully counting along the frame to see what each number looks like. This hands-on activity has supported the children in developing their counting skills, number recognition, and understanding of quantity, while encouraging them to explain their thinking and work together with their peers.

This week, the children have been working really hard on their observational drawing skills. They carefully observed flowers and bananas, focusing on adding fine details to their drawings. The children explored a range of materials and surfaces to represent their observations in different ways, including painting on cling film, painting on the underside of a table, and using pencils, paint, and crayons. These creative experiences encouraged close observation, experimentation, and confidence in expressing their ideas through art.

Taking care of ourselves and each other is an important part of the early years curriculum. This week, the children worked really hard to care for their babies by cleaning, feeding, dressing, and washing them. They thoroughly enjoyed this experience, engaging in thoughtful role play as they spoke to their babies in gentle, calm voices and soothed them to sleep. This activity supported the children’s social and emotional development, encouraging empathy, responsibility, and nurturing behaviours.

This week, we made a new kind of playdough: banana playdough! Made with real bananas, this sensory activity encouraged the children to talk about the texture, colour, and smell of the playdough. The children were highly engaged as they explored the dough, supporting their language development and curiosity while enjoying a fun, hands-on experience.

In other areas of our provision, the children enjoyed exploring the firefighter role-play area, dressing up and playing with the fire engines. They also engaged in imaginative play with diggers in the sand tray and developed their fine motor skills while fishing with magnetic rods in the finger gym area. These activities encouraged creativity, coordination, and cooperative play across the setting.

Nursery Team

Reception Learning - W.C 19.1.26

 

Reception: What We Are Learning 

Reception have been working really hard this week. Our focus book was Little Red Riding Hood.

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Here is what we have been up to:The children have been listening to the story, learning about stranger danger, writing get well soon cards to Grandma, learning all about wolves and making great choices during independent learning time.

The children have also been working hard in Read, Write, Inc this week. In Literacy, we have been writing wanted posters for the Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. The children used their sound knowledge to write words including sharp claws, long tail, grey fur and mean. Please continue to read 5 times a week with your children and work on set 1 sounds as well as word time words (1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc). Watch this video for set  1 sound practise - Set 1 sounds

In Maths this week the children have been focusing on capacity. Capacity is the maximum amount that something can contain. We tested out how many animals our boats could hold before sinking and practised using scales. We learnt words such as heavy, balanced and light. 

Well done Reception for an amazing week - keep up all your brilliant work!

Nursery Learning 23/1/26

 

Lost Property – Trainers

We are trying to locate a pair of black Adidas trainers that may have been taken home by mistake. They may be a little small for your child.

One of our children has gone home wearing black Adidas trainers in size 8, however his own trainers are smaller (approximately size 6.5).

If you think you may have a pair of black Adidas trainers at home that do not belong to your child, please let a member of staff know. Thank you for your help.

This week, the children have been enthusiastically engaged in a range of activities inspired by our focus book, What the Ladybird Heard. At the playdough table, the children worked with great concentration and creativity as they moulded and shaped their playdough to create their own ladybirds. They carefully added details such as spots and legs, using black straws and pom poms, helping to develop their fine motor skills and attention to detail. The children showed pride in their creations and enjoyed talking about the features of their ladybirds as they worked.

At the maths table, the children enjoyed a hands-on counting activity using ladybirds. They carefully counted the spots on a range of different ladybirds and then used cubes or black pom poms to represent the total they had counted. This activity supported the children in developing their counting skills, number recognition and one-to-one correspondence, while also encouraging them to check their work and talk about their thinking with others.

At the art table, the children took part in a creative activity where they made puppets of the animal characters from our story, What the Ladybird Heard. After carefully cutting out their chosen animal, they selected different coloured lolly pop sticks and used glue to attach them, creating their puppets. Once finished, the children used their puppets to act out and retell parts of the story, encouraging imaginative play, storytelling and communication skills, as well as developing their cutting and sticking skills.

This week, the children enjoyed playing with the diggers and sand. The sand had a different texture to our outdoor sand, which sparked their curiosity. They loved making tracks, building mounds, and exploring how the diggers moved through the sand.

Dress-up, construction, finger gym and the farm tray provided the children with a variety of engaging play-based activities. The children thoroughly enjoyed exploring and immersing themselves in these experiences. At the writing table, they focused on developing their fine motor skills by drawing ladybirds and other animals from our story. They worked really hard to use a correct writing grip while colouring and carefully shading their pictures.

Our outdoor area was bustling with activity today. The children thoroughly enjoyed exploring the assault course, where they challenged themselves by jumping, balancing and climbing, helping to develop their gross motor skills, coordination and confidence.

We also played a fun and challenging game using hoops and cones, where the children practised aiming and trying to land the hoops onto the cones. This proved to be quite tricky, but the children showed great perseverance and enthusiasm as they kept trying and celebrated their successes.

In addition, the children took part in a planting activity with Mrs Luca. They carefully mixed topsoil with compost, focusing on planting bulbs gently and with care. We were very impressed by the children’s interest, patience and attentiveness during this activity. Many more planting lessons are planned, and we look forward to continuing to build on this growing enthusiasm for gardening. 🌱

Nursery Team

Nursery Certificates- 23.01.26

 

Congratulations to Kevin who has awarded the E for Excellence certificate this week. 

Kevin has shown fantastic imagination and leadership in his role play this week. He has created exciting stories using the police roleplay resources. He led adventures, and made new friends while using his creativity and confidence. Well done, Kevin, your role play has been brilliant!

Congratulations to Gabriel who has awarded the E for Excellence certificate this week. 

Gabriel has been a helpful gardener this week! He carefully planted strawberries, watered them, and looked after them with great care. Gabrielle has shown responsibility, creativity, and a love for growing things. Well done on being such a fantastic gardener! 

Nursery Learning- 16.01.26

 

A quick safety note about grapes 🍇

We love seeing all the healthy snacks coming in! Just a friendly reminder to please make sure that any grapes in your child’s lunchbox are cut into halves or quarters (lengthways).

As I'm sure you know, whole grapes can be a bit of a choking hazard for little ones, so taking that extra moment to slice them really helps us keep the children safe during mealtimes.

Thank you so much for your support!

Our "Small World" corner was transformed into a bustling farmyard this week! The children have had a wonderful time exploring the barn and meeting our new animal friends.

We’ve been practicing our "animal chatter," and the classroom has been filled with the sounds of mooing, oinking, and some very enthusiastic quacking! This wasn't just about making funny noises, though, by imitating these sounds and naming the animals, the children are building their early language skills and learning to recognise the world around them.

It was so lovely to see them creating their own farmyard stories, making sure the cows were fed and the tractors were parked just right!

Our water station got a magical makeover this week! By adding a splash of blue paint, we transformed our water tray into a shimmering "Blue Lagoon." It wasn't just about the bubbles and the ducks, though, our little explorers were actually becoming mini-scientists and engineers!

As the children used different jugs and tubs for scooping and pouring, they were secretly mastering the tricky concepts of capacity and volume. They’ve been busy predicting which container holds the most and watching the "cause-and-effect" as the water overflows or trickles away.

The children chose pictures of their favorite farm animals and carefully stuck them onto folded paper to create their very own "Farm Books." This was such a wonderful way to encourage the children to see themselves as writers.

We’ve seen some fantastic "emergent writing" from zig-zags and circles to careful lines, as the children "wrote" the stories of their animals. These early marks are the secret building blocks for writing letters and words later on. Watching them proudly "read" their stories back to us was the highlight of our week!

In our Malleable Area this week, we set the stage for a rolling green countryside. We provided fresh green playdough, farm animals, and tiny trees, hoping to see some farms being built. However, our little creators had a much "tastier" idea!

The farm animals were quickly invited to a party as the children transformed the green dough into a magnificent range of playdough cakes and treats. While they weren't building fences, they were doing something even better! By squishing, rolling, and pinching the dough, they were giving their finger muscles a massive workout (essential for future writing!). They also showed wonderful creative thinking by deciding to change the activity and follow their own interests. Who knew farm animals loved green cake so much?

Nursery Certificates- 16.01.26

 

Congratulations to Amelia D! Amelia D is awarded the E for Excellence certificate for her fantastic contributions during group time this week. It is wonderful to see her growing in confidence and bravely sharing her ideas with her friends. Keep up the amazing work, Amelia!

Congratulations to Lilly! This "E for Excellence" certificate is awarded to Lily for her wonderful social skills. It has been a joy to watch Lily’s confidence grow as she builds new friendships and enjoys playing so beautifully with her peers. We are so proud of your independence, Lily!