Nursery Zoom meetings
Have you checked your inbox today? Everybody has been sent an email with further details about all of our Zoom meetings this week. You will need to use the link provided in this email.
If you haven’t received yours (remember to check your junk mail too), please contact school as soon as possible to let us know. Please email scholesf1@spherefederation.org or call the school office 0113 264 9149.
We’re looking forward to seeing you all on Zoom this week and in Nursery next week!
Watch this space…
This week, staff have been in school, busily getting Nursery ready to open soon. We can’t wait to welcome our older children back and to also welcome our new families.
Watch this space for more information next week. Remember to check your inbox on Monday 07 September in the afternoon/evening to find a link with an invitation for your Zoom meeting next week.
Have a great summer!
What a year it has been! It’s certainly not a school year that we will forget. We’re sorry that we’ve been unable to finish our year together, but we hope that you’ve all enjoyed some extra family time where possible. Thank you, again, for all of your emails with regular updates and photographs of your home learning. We have loved reading each and every one of them.
Instead of being sad on our last day of term, we thought that we’d enjoy looking back on all of the fun and learning that we managed to fit in before we had to close in such exceptional circumstances in March. We hope that you enjoy watching today’s video and spot a few of your friends.
Yellow group – We’re looking forward to seeing you return to Nursery in September! We can’t wait to welcome you back.
Red, Green and Blue group – For those of you that are returning to Foundation 2 at Scholes, we’ll pop into your new classrooms to say ‘hello’ and see how you’re all settling in. Whilst it’s going to be a little bit different to Nursery, we know that you’ll recognise lots of familiar places to play and you’ll soon love it! There’ll be lots of your old friends there to play with and some new ones, too. If you are leaving us to start Foundation 2 at a new school, we’d like to say ‘good bye and good luck’! We wish you all the best in your new school and we know that you’ll have a great time. If you’re not too busy, let us know how you’re getting on in September or send us a photo of you in your new uniform!
Wishing you all a happy, fun and hopefully, sunny summer holiday. For one last time this year – have fun!
*Music in first video with thanks to Scottholmesmusic.com
Teddy bear’s picnic
Those of you that had chance to have a Teddy bear’s picnic inside, or in between the rain showers, told us that you really enjoyed it. We were pleased to hear that you joined in with making sandwiches and counted out the correct number of items for everybody. Well done!
Finally, for anyone who needs any other ideas to keep you busy during the holidays, here are a couple of suggestions.
- Look at the previous post about independence – these are very important skills and will be especially beneficial to your child whether returning to Nursery or starting Reception.
- There are several ideas and links listed in this bank of Summer activities.
Bears
Have you been on a ‘Bear Hunt’ recently? We started our school year in September by reading ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ because so many of you talked about it being your favourite story during our home visits. So, we thought that we’d end our year by revisiting the story.
- We love this version of the story, performed by Michael Rosen. See if you can join in with the sound effects and actions.
- For those of you that have enjoyed the yoga activities, we’ve found a Cosmic Yoga for you to take part in that tells the story through yoga poses and balances. Have fun!
- We love to retell the story outside at Nursery. Have a go at re-telling it on your next walk. What will you have to walk through?
Finally, have you had your teddy bear’s picnic yet? It’s not too late to join in and send us a photo. All you need is a blanket, a teddy and a snack! Enjoy your picnic and take a snap. Email us – scholesf1@spherefederation.org
Remember, there’ll be a special ‘end of year’ Nursery video for you to enjoy on Friday!
Where’s my Teddy?
We can’t believe that this is our final week of home learning activities. Look out for something special arriving in the post this week and remember to check back on Friday for a special video.
We’re going to finish our home learning activities with ‘Where’s My Teddy?’ written by Jez Alborough.
We often celebrate our learning and the end of our time in Nursery with a Teddy Bear’s picnic party. Sadly, this isn’t going to be possible this year but we didn’t want to miss out on all of the fun. So, this week, we’d love it if you could have a Teddy Bear’s picnic at home (inside or outside depending on the weather!) and send us your photos by Thursday.
Remember to email your photos to scholesf1@spherefederation.org
We’ll share all of your photographs on Friday. We thought that this would be a lovely way to end the year – to fill our Class News Page with all of your happy, smiling faces.
Where’s My Teddy
- Did you enjoy the story?
- How do you think Eddy felt when he lost his teddy?
- Do you have a favourite teddy bear or soft toy? Talk to your family members about their favourite toys as children. They may still have an old favourite teddy hidden away somewhere that they can show you.
Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.
Mark Making – Draw or cut out an outline of a bear. Ask your child to add eyes, a nose and a mouth to the bears face. You could encourage them to draw some clothes on the bear or a bow tie and decorate it with patterns. There are also some free printable pencil control activity sheets to download on Twinkl.
Music – Sing along at home to this well-known family favourite all about a teddy bear’s picnic.
Cooking – Find a recipe to bake something to eat at your Teddy Bear’s Picnic this week. There are lots of recipe ideas on the I Can Cook website. Some bears like to eat honey; you might like to make a honey sandwich! Ask your child to help butter the bread and add their choice of sandwich filling. With help, they can cut their sandwiches carefully into squares or triangles.
Understanding the World – Do you like honey? If you’ve never tried it before, have a try. What does it taste like? Where does honey come from? Maddie Moate knows all about where honey comes from because her parents are bee keepers. Watch these short clips to find out about how bees make honey and how Maddie harvests honey from her bee hives.
Mathematics
1) Top Marks has a teddy bear counting game that children really enjoy playing at Nursery. We help children to recognise the number so that they know how many cupcakes to feed the bear.
2) Ask your child to choose some soft toys/teddies to invite to the picnic. How many have they chosen? How many plates and cups will they need?
Watch – Teddy bears are obviously very popular as there are lots of programmes available to watch all about bears! Here’s an episode from Postman Pat about a Special ‘teddy’ Delivery or you can find out what happens in the town of Biggleton when too many bears arrive for the picnic.
Never Forget
We’re nearly at the end of this crazy year.
It’s been a long time but we’re not too sure where we’ve been.
We’ve had good times …
Do you know what? I’ll let Take That say the rest.
(If they refuse to sing or you can only see half of the screen, slide the image to the far right and click on the full screen icon.)
Story Time
Well done! You’ve just completed another week of home learning. What was your highlight of this week? We have one more week of activities planned before we break up for the summer holidays. Next week, our usual Friday story time will be slightly different; visit our Class News Page on Friday 17 July for a special ‘end of year’ Nursery video.
This week, Miss Morris is going to read our final story of the year. We know that many of you have loved listening to them each week so we hope that you’ll enjoy today’s story, too. Can you guess which story it is from these clues?
- The main character has long ginger hair that she wears in a plait.
- She meets a fearsome creature that wants to have ‘witch and chips’ for his tea.
- There’s a cat, a dog, a bird and a frog in the story and they all help to make a spell using the magic words…Igggity, zigggity, zagggety, zoooooom!
That’s right! Miss Morris is going to read ‘Room on the Broom’ by Julia Donaldson.
Independence
It is really important that you help your child to be as independent as possible. Here are some essential skills that we’d like you to encourage your child to practise so that they can try to do them independently on their return to Nursery or Reception. Over the summer holiday is often a great time to work on these skills; you may have a bit of extra time and aren’t as rushed by time deadlines.
Whilst some of these activities may be more suited to our older children that are moving to Foundation 2 (Reception) in September, most of them are things that our younger children could be working towards too. It’s never too early to encourage children to be as independent as they can be.
- Encourage your child to put on their own coat and shoes. When you’re buying shoes, try to choose shoes that have Velcro fastenings or that children can do themselves.
- Can your child use the toilet independently? Try to help your child recognise when they need the toilet. Encourage them not to leave it until the last minute so that they have time to remove their own clothing. Can your child wipe themselves afterwards? These are all skills that children will need in Reception and that would also be very beneficial in Nursery.
- Encourage your child to be independent at lunchtime. When you’re at home or on a picnic over the summer, teach your child how to open food containers and to remove packaging themselves. If they have a carton drink, encourage them to put the straw in independently. All these things will be really helpful on their return to school so that we can minimise our close contact with their lunch items.
- If your child is already well on their way with these skills, you could look at other ways to build their independence. Can they get dressed themselves? Can they put on their own socks? Do they know how to put a t-shirt / jumper on and take it off ?
- Watch – There are lots of programmes about starting school or nursery on this CBeebies page all about being ‘Ready for School’.
Home Learning
Here are your friend’s photos from this week.
Floating and sinking
We hope that you’re having a good week so far. Today, we thought you might like to investigate floating and sinking. You could gather a few items from around the house to investigate which ones float and which ones sink. Alternatively, wait until bath time and investigate in the bath tub!
Watch – We know that some of you love Maddie; here she is singing a song about floating and sinking.
07 July 2020 : Whole school home learning (Let’s get sporty!)
Whole school sporting activities
Sharing a Shell
Whilst going on a big holiday might be less likely this year, we know that everyone loves a trip to the seaside. This week’s story is another of Julia Donaldson’s popular books, it’s called ‘Sharing a shell’.
You can also listen to Julia Donaldson singing the ‘Sharing a Shell’ song here.
Talk about the story with your child. Have you ever visited the seaside and had a look in the rockpools? You may have some photos that you could look at and talk about what you saw whilst at the seaside.
Here are some activities that you could try that are linked to the story.
Listening skills – We might not be able to visit the seaside as much as we’d like to at the moment, but we can still listen to some seaside sounds. Listen to the beginning of the recording and see if you can guess what some of the sounds are.
Fiddly fingers – Can you make a snail out of playdough? Roll a really long sausage shape and then carefully curl it back around to make a snail shell.
If you want to make some shells or sea creatures that you can keep, you could make a batch of salt dough and when it’s dry you can paint them too.
Make a sandcastle – Don’t worry if you don’t have any sand! Have you ever made cloud dough at home? Whilst it can be messy, it’s great fun and very easy to make. All you need is some flour and oil (vegetable oil or baby oil) and to mix them together in a bowl. There’s a recipe here, but you don’t have to add the extras like oranges or cinnamon. Once you’ve made your cloud dough, you can use small pots and spoons (yogurt pots or small containers) to scoop and mould it.
Creative – Have a go at making a flag to go in your sandcastle. You could use a bamboo skewer or find a small stick when you go for a walk. Cut out some paper to make the flag and decorate it with a picture. Will it be a triangle or rectangle shaped flag? Make sure that you keep it somewhere safe so that you can take it to the seaside, the next time you go. You’ll be able to look forward to building a giant sandcastle!
Lego challenge – Build a lighthouse using your Lego/Duplo bricks. How tall can you make it? Is it stable or does it fall over? Here’s a very short clip of Maddie learning about lighthouses.
Role play – Do you like to eat fish and chips at the seaside? You could have a go at creating your own fish and chip shop. Cut out a circle to make a cone and use some dry penne pasta for chips. You could make a fish using some brown cardboard. If you have an old newspaper or magazine, you could use that to wrap them up. Add a note pad to take orders and some money for the customers to pay. Have fun!
Watch – Join Barnaby Bear on his visit to the seaside.
Health and self care – What would you wear to go to the seaside? Being able to get undressed and dressed independently is a really important skill. Encourage your child to get dressed by themselves when you’re not in a rush. Can they put their own shorts and t-shirt on? How about tricky socks?
Sports Week
This week, children’s learning will include lots of health and sports related activities across school. If you’d like to join in as well, we’ve posted a few activities to get you started. Also, watch out for a new post about a fun sports event for the whole school later today.
- We love making obstacle courses at Nursery and we often count how many times children can go around in a set amount of time. Can you make one at home? You could include something to balance along (like our walk the plank activity last week), markers to create a slalom course for children to run in between, a bucket/hoop to throw balls into (or similar items – like rolled up socks!) and try to create something to crawl under or through. Be creative and have fun setting it up! Take a photo of your course and let us know how you get on.
- Get active! Have a go at some activities to raise your heart rate. Try some games involving running, jumping, hopping and star jumps. How does your body feel before the exercise? How about afterwards? What happens to your breathing/heart beat/temperature?
- Talk about other activities that you can do to keep fit and healthy. We know lots of you love to ride on your bikes and scooters. Put your helmets on and go for a ride/scoot!
- As well as exercise, what other things do we do to keep a healthy body and mind? Talk about all of the things we do to stay healthy. You could think about the foods we need to eat to have a healthy, balanced diet. Given the current situation, it’s always a good idea to revisit the importance of hand washing and general good hygiene habits, including looking after our teeth. These are important things to begin to teach young children.