Nursery coffee morning
Celebrations
This week, we’ve been talking about some different celebrations. Children were very excited on Tuesday when they returned to Nursery; there was a lot of talk about witches and bat costumes and tales of trick or treating in the dark. We also learnt about Diwali, the festival of lights. We watched some short video clips to find out about how some people prepare for Diwali and enjoy celebrating with family. We learnt about rangoli patterns and loved looking at the special sweets that were part of the celebrations.
In the dough area, we made our own Diva lamps by rolling a ball and pushing our thumbs into it to make a ‘thumb pot’. We added patterns with the tools and put a candle inside. In the garden, we created some rangoli patterns on the floor using chalks.
Outside, children helped to tidy the garden after the holidays; there were a LOT of leaves that needed sweeping up!
In phonics this week, we listened to sounds in our environment. We enjoyed reading ‘Peace at Last‘ and hearing all of the noises that stopped poor Mr Bear from getting to sleep. In the Nursery garden, we heard a helicopter flying above us and the leaves rustling in the wind. What can you hear in your house? You could also listen to the different sounds that fireworks make if you go to see any. Do they pop, crackle, hiss, sizzle or BANG?
Finally, towards the end of the week, we began to talk about another celebration that lots of children might take part in at the weekend – Bonfire Night. We talked about how to stay safe and next week, we’ll continue our learning as we’re sure you’ll all hear and see lots of fireworks in the sky this weekend!
If you have joined in with any Diwali celebrations, or are going to take part in Bonfire night celebrations, please send us a photo of your child celebrating for our ‘Home learning’ display. Children love to share their photographs and talk about their adventures. Email us at scholesnursery@spherefederation.org
Have a good weekend and stay safe!
Increasing/changing sessions for January
Thank you to those parents/carers that have contacted us after receiving the letter regarding increasing or changing your child’s hours (if your child is currently attending for less than 30 hours) in January.
If your child is moving from morning sessions to full days, we will send you further details of a short transition plan soon.
Parent Teacher Consultations
Nursery Parent Teacher consultations for Nursery children will be held on the following dates:
- Monday 21 November from 3.30pm until 5.10pm
- Wednesday 23 November from 5pm until 6.50pm
Room on the Broom
Harvest time
Thank you for your generous donations for our Harvest Festival on Tuesday. We watched a short clip together and talked about harvest time. Outside, children have really enjoyed playing in the farm small world area and ‘harvesting’ the vegetables on the farm. We’ve also enjoyed sorting farm animals in our maths area (by type and size), singing ‘Old Mac Donald had a farm’ and completing some farm animal jigsaws.
We continued learning about autumn and used all of the treasure that we’d collected in our autumn bags to create some Andy Goldsworthy inspired art outside. We looked at some of his art and talked about what he had used and the shapes that we could see. We noticed leaves, sticks and stones and lots of circle shapes. Children also enjoyed playing in our new woodland small world area in the Sunshine room. What animals might you find in the wood?
Following on from an interest in ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ last week, children have enjoyed mixing porridge oats and re-telling the story with their friends.
We’ve been busy ‘mark making’ in a number of ways, including drawing and also dipping conkers in paint to see what marks they make when they roll!
Reminders
- Nursery closes on Friday 21 October for the half term holiday. We will see you again on Tuesday 1 November following the training day, when school is closed, on Monday 31 October.
- If you are thinking of increasing or changing your child’s sessions at Nursery, please speak to Mrs Beesley or Mrs Long this week.
Autumn
Thank you for returning your autumn bags! This week, we began to look at their contents. Children enjoyed talking about what they had found and where they found their autumn treasure. Don’t worry if you haven’t had a chance to go for a walk yet, there’s still time. Please return your bag to Nursery over the next two weeks.
We’ve been learning all about autumn this week; we talked about the changes that we could see around us in our Nursery garden. Children noticed that the leaves were changing colour and falling from the branches. We listened to a song about autumn leaves falling down and named lots of different coloured leaves that we could see outside. We also began our group time learning activities this week; one of our maths activities was to sort a box full of autumn treasure. Children talked about big conkers and little conkers and sorted them into piles. We also sorted the autumn things into ‘types’ of things such as conkers, sticks and leaves.
In our story corner, children have enjoyed listening to the story of ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. They’re getting really good at re-telling the story and joining in with the repeated refrains. We loved listening to the author telling the story, too. Have a listen at home and join in together with the sound effects!
Outside, children went on their own bear hunt. We took our shoes and socks off, to see what ‘squelch, squerch’ in the mud and ‘splash splosh’ in the cold river felt like. It was great fun!
Next week, we’ll continue to learn about autumn and will look at some artwork by Andy Goldsworthy. We also noticed that some children were talking about part of the story from ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears‘ last week, so we’ll follow this interest by reading the story and exploring porridge oats in the sensory area. If you have a copy at home, please share it together at bedtime or watch this CBeebies story time, to help familiarise your child with it.
Sorting, threading and making friends
We’ve had a great week; there’s a lovely atmosphere in Nursery when everyone is busy and engaged in their play. Children are beginning to make friends and are chatting to staff and their peers as they play.
In our maths area, children have been exploring sorting objects in different ways. Some children sorted them by colour and others grouped them according to the size or type of object.
Have a go at sorting some toys together at home. How could you sort the cars or buttons?
The ‘Fiddly fingers’ area of the Rainbow Room has been popular this week, too. Children have enjoyed making chains out of the linking shapes and carefully threading beads onto a lace. These activities are great for strengthening children’s fingers and developing their fine motor skills.
Outside, in the garden, children are beginning to notice some signs of autumn. They’ve been collecting conkers and talking about where they found them. Next week, we’ll be learning all about autumn. Look out a brown paper bag coming home with your child this week.
Please enjoy going on a walk together over the next few days and see what ‘autumn treasure’ you can find. When you’ve filled your bag, please return it to Nursery for us to share and talk about with our friends next week.
Here are a few other photos from our fun in the September sunshine. See if you can spot what we found jumping at the bottom of the garden!
Reminders
- Please remember to send us a family photograph photo to display in our Home corner.
- Whilst we’re still enjoying the sunny afternoons, the weather is chillier in the morning and we’ve had a few showers. Please make sure your child has a warm, waterproof coat at Nursery every day.
Family photograph
As we’re getting to know everyone, we like to talk about our families and home life. To encourage children to tell us more about their family life, please e-mail or bring a photograph of your child with their family to Nursery next week. These will be displayed in our home corner for children to look at and talk about with staff and their friends. scholesnursery@spherefederation.org
Lunches & exploring outside!
This week, many children have stayed for their first lunch time and full day; we’re really proud of how well they did. Everyone happily sat down in the Nursery dining area and tried some delicious school meals or tucked into the contents of their packed lunch box.
Is your child having a school dinner? Have a look at the current menu here so you know what options are available to choose from each day. If you’ve opted to send your child with a packed lunch and need a few extra ideas of what to include, please have a look at our Healthy Packed Lunch Guidance.
As children have become more settled in Nursery, we’ve gradually been introducing them to our Nursery routines. We know that when we hear “3,2,1, Stop!” that we need to empty our hands, have a silent voice and to stop and look at the person who is speaking. Children have been learning how to use all of our labels, pictures and templates to help tidy toys away into the right places and we’re beginning to form a line when going to play outside.
Here are a few photos of our learning and playing this week. Favourite activities have included:
- collecting conkers
- using the tools to ‘cut’ outside
- chalking patterns and pictures
- singing and playing instruments to accompany nursery rhymes
- developing our climbing and balancing skills
- making cookies in the dough
- creating collages using craft materials
