Tadpoles
Have you seen the tadpoles in Nursery? Children are fascinated watching them wriggle and swim around the tank. We’ve been learning about the life cycle of a frog and know that the next stage in the cycle is for the tadpoles to grow back legs. We keep looking at them closely to check for signs of legs.
In maths, we’ve been singing ‘5 Little Speckled Frogs‘ and have been carefully counting how many frogs are left on the log after each verse.
How many frogs jumped into the pond?
How many are on the log?
If there are 3 frogs on the log, how many are there in the pond?
In the sensory area, children loved playing in the ‘frogspawn’ (or tapioca)! It was very gloopy and had lots of tiny little jelly balls that were very tricky to hold between your fingers.
We looked at pictures of frogspawn and had a go at printing using bubble wrap. It looked just like the balls of jelly in frogspawn! In the fiddly fingers area, we used used our pincer grip to pick up the marbles and balance them on the suction pads.
Outside, children have enjoyed playing with some bats and balls. We used the bats to knock the balls of the cones and had great fun running to pick them all up again. We also practised our throwing skills; we aimed the balls at the 5 speckled frogs on the log and tried to knock them off. When we’d had our turn, we collected the frogs that we had knocked off and put them into a five frame to see how many there were.
Incy Wincy Spider
This week, children have been searching for spiders in Nursery, although not everybody liked it when we found them! We sang Incy Wincy Spider and enjoyed building a channel using the guttering to wash the spiders into the water tray outside.
We made spiders in the malleable area using playdough. First, we had to roll a ball to make the body and then we rolled sausage shapes to add on the legs. Some children managed to count 8 legs to put on their spiders!
In our phonics group time, the older children learnt a new sound – J. We looked at some objects and had to listen carefully to the sound that they started with. Can you hear a ‘j’ sound at the beginning of the word? Which is the odd one out?
Help at home:
For children moving into Reception in September, play games like ‘I spy’ where you have to listen carefully to the initial sounds in words. Get three objects, two that begin with the same sound and one that starts with a different sound. Can they spot the odd one out and tell you why? E.g. car, cookie, banana.
For children that are in yellow group and will stay in Nursery next year, begin to listen to sounds around you as you’re out and about. What can children hear in their environment? Can they hear birds singing, a fridge humming, a bell ringing?
Next week, we’re looking forward to watching the chrysalides that we’ve put into the butterfly garden. Will we get to see them hatch? Watch this space!
Have you seen the tadpoles in the Rainbow room? We’ll also be learning about the life cycle of a frog and singing the number rhyme 5 Little Speckled Frogs. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip).
Coronation celebrations
We had a great time joining in with the coronation celebrations on Friday. Children looked at pictures of royal crowns and loved trying to pick up the tiny jewels to stick them onto their own crowns. It was very tricky to get the jewels to stick – a great fiddly fingers activity to improve fine motor skills!
In maths, we’re learning about the number 5 . We’ve been looking at the numeral 5, showing 5 on our fingers and noticing the pattern of 5 dots on a dice. We know that when we have 5 things, a five frame will be full.
Help at home: Can you put 5 strawberries on your plate? Remember to count each one carefully and stop when you reach the ‘stop’ number of five. If you have 4 Duplo bricks, how many more do you need to add to make a tower of 5? Spot the numeral on doors and signs when you’re walking to Nursery. Sing number songs such as 5 Little ducks, 5 Currant buns or 5 Little frogs. If you’re drawing, can you add 5 fingers to your person, 5 flowers or 5 bees?
We hope you enjoy the long weekend and look forward to hearing about any coronation parties next week.
Wiggly worms!
We’ve loved searching for worms in the garden this week and learning about where they live. In the maths area, we compared the length of different worms and sorted them into short worms and long worms.
We continued sorting worms in the sensory area; children enjoyed using the tongs to try and pick the longest worm that they could find!
Here are a few other photos from this week, including making perfumes with flowers in the water area, exploring spirals in the creative area and using paper clips to help develop our fine motor skills in the Fiddly Fingers area.
We’ve been watching our caterpillars getting bigger and bigger. We’re waiting to see what happens next. In the book corner, children have been retelling the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ using the props and the puppet theatre.
Help at home: If you have a copy of the story at home, use the illustrations to help your child retell the story in their own words. Can they use some of the repeated language from the story? For example…He was still hungry!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Children returned to Nursery brilliantly this week and settled in happily. We heard all about your Easter holiday trips and visits from the Easter Bunny.
This week, we read the very popular story by Eric Carle, called ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and started to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly. We’re hoping to have some tiny, wriggling guests in Nursery very soon. Watch this space!
In the Sunshine room, you may have noticed that we have a new cafe role play area. It was a hive of activity last week, with children busy taking orders and serving food to the hungry customers.
Children showed an interest in looking for creepy crawlies outside. We found lots of creatures hiding under logs including wood lice, slugs and some very long worms. We’ll continue this interest in worms next week and learn all about wriggly worms!
Easter
This week, we’ve been learning about how some Christians celebrate Easter. We’ve made Easter cards, printed spotty patterns on eggs, enjoyed catching floating eggs in the water tray and loved going on egg hunts in the garden.
In the playdough area, we used the dough and decorations to create our own Easter eggs and we also made little chicks using eyes and feathers.
We enjoyed tasting Hot Cross Buns at snack time and we spotted the important symbol of the cross on the top. Children also joined in with some some other traditional Easter themed activities including making Easter nests, rolling eggs and going on an egg hunt.
Outside, children have been noticing lots of changes in the garden. They loved looking for signs of spring using the clipboards and spotter sheets. They found leaves, buds, flowers, insects and heard birds singing. We talked about the changes in the weather and seasons.
In group time, we learnt a new letter – b for bear and b for bunny!
Help at home – Some of our older children are learning to hear the initial sounds in words. What can you find that begins with a ‘b’? You might find a ball, a biscuit, a badge or some butter.
For our younger children in yellow group, this might be a little tricky. You could enjoy singing a rhyme related to Easter such as ‘Chick, chick, chicken‘ or ‘Little Peter Rabbit‘.
We hope that you all have a lovely Easter holiday and enjoy some family time together. We’ll look forward to hearing all about your adventures when we return to Nursery on Monday 17 April.
Oliver’s Milkshake
We enjoyed reading ‘Oliver’s Milkshake’ this week, which is part of the same series of books as ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’ written by Vivien French. We found out about where milk comes from and learnt that milk is good for our teeth and bones.
As we drank our milk at snack time, we continued to talk about how to keep our bodies healthy and how to look after our teeth. We used toothbrushes in the sensory area to clean the dirty teeth and we listened to some songs all about how to brush our teeth. This song was our favourite!
We loved making some ‘milkshakes’ in the water tray and whisking the water to make it frothy.
Help at home – Talk to your child about looking after their teeth and why it’s important to brush them at least twice a day.
In maths, we’re learning about the number four. We looked at four counters in a five frame and noticed that there’s one space left. Outside, we tried to get four bean bags into the buckets. We also tried to draw just four candles on a birthday cake. We counted carefully as we drew each candle and tried hard to remember to ‘STOP’ when we got to four.
Help at home – Look for groups of four things. There might be four apples in the bowl or four trains on the toy track. Look for the numeral four when you’re out and about. You might see one on a button in a lift or on a bus number. Can you jump/hop/clap four times? You could ask for help to set the table. Do you need four cups or plates?
Next week, we’ll learn all about Easter and have some Easter-themed fun!
Oliver’s Vegetables
This week, children enjoyed drawing and painting daffodils to create a Mother’s Day card. Before children drew them, we talked about the shape and colour of the stem and the petals on the flower. They were all really proud of their pictures and couldn’t wait to take them home; we hope you liked them.
To continue with our ‘growing’ themed learning, during group time this week, we talked about fruit and vegetables and how to eat healthily. We listened to lots of stories about vegetables, including ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’, ‘The Runaway Pea‘ and ‘Colin and Lee, Carrot and Pea’.
In the Sensory area, we explored lots of different vegetables. We enjoyed popping sugar snap peas open and chopping a cauliflower into pieces. We also had great fun peeling layers off some brussel sprouts, which was a super fiddly finger challenge, as well!
Next week, we’re going to talk about how we keep our bodies healthy. One of the things we’ll discuss is how to look after our teeth. When your child is brushing their teeth, talk to them about the importance of good oral hygiene. When do they brush their teeth and how often? How do they brush their teeth? What do they use? Have they ever visited the dentist? What happened?
Snow!
Children had great fun in the garden exploring the snow on Thursday. They tried to catch the snowflakes on their tongues and enjoyed making snowballs. We talked about the changes in weather and what would happen to the snow if the sun came out.
Before we went outside, we talked about what we needed to wear. We put an extra set of layers on to make sure that we stayed warm and dry. Children also wore hats and gloves. Can your child put on their own coat, hat and gloves? We’re always looking for ways to help children become more independent; this is a great place to start and something that you can easily help with at home. Try getting ready a few minutes earlier. Depending on what your child can already do, try challenging them to do the next thing independently. If they can put their coat on, can they put on their own mittens, or even trickier, some gloves?
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Jack and the Beanstalk
Fee Fi Fo Fum! We loved reading Jack and the Beanstalk this week and re-telling the story using the props in the book corner. Outside, we listened to an audio book of the story, too. We painted beanstalks, explored differed types of beans in the sensory area and we even rolled long ‘sausages’ using dough to make beanstalks in the play dough.
In the maths area, we counted the correct number of bean seeds into the pots and we also practised our subitising skills, saying how many beans (1-3) we could see without counting them.
Your child might have also told you all about planting their own magic bean; we’ve planted some bean seeds and are hoping that our bean stalks will soon start to grow.
Thanks to everyone who has sent in a baby and toddler photograph for our learning next week. If you haven’t had a chance to yet, please see our previous post and e-mail us one if you can.