Colours in the sky.
The children were very excited when they returned to Nursery, sharing their experiences of Halloween with their friends. There was a lot of talk about witches, bat costumes and skeletons.
We began the week finding out 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 diva lamps.
In the dough area, we decided to make 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. We created some rangoli patterns too by following patterns with jewels and gems.
Wednesday was Bonfire Night, the children played with the bonfire themed small world area adding the sounds of the fireworks to their play. “whoosh, bang, zoom, whizz”
Along with hearing lots of different sounds the children had seen lots of bright colours in the night sky. They used spinners to make firework pictures, the faster it spun the bigger the splash ! At group time we used chalks to create the Bonfire Night sky.
As part of our phonics learning, we’ve introduced the letter ‘s’ this week. We took turns to pull some objects out of a bag that all started with the letter ‘s’ We talked about the ‘s’ sound that we could hear at the start of each word. In Nursery, we focus on our listening skills. We’re not learning about letter formation just yet.
We show the children this picture card and use this pronunciation phrase. You could try this at home.
Show your teeth and let the s hiss out sssssss sssssss
Help at home: What can you find at home that begins with the letter ‘s’? Go on a sound hunt together and look for some. Let us know what you find.
Reminders
- It’s “Odd Socks Day” on Tuesday so wear odd socks to Nursery for the day
- It’s Children in Need on Friday and it’s a non-uniform day. Please remember it will be a usual Nursery day, so please dress your child in clothes that are appropriate for outdoor and messy play.
Next week
It’s World Nursery Rhyme Week so instead of our usual Nursery Rhyme of the week our provision will be Nursery Rhyme themed. We’ll be singing lots of our favourite rhymes. If you’d like to send us an email with your child’s favourite rhyme and we’ll try to sing it at Nursery next week. scholesnursery@spherefederation.org
Sound of the week – Aa for astronaut and apple
Open your mouth wide and make the a sound at the back of your mouth a a a
Is there room on the broom?
We’ve enjoyed re-telling the story in the book corner using props and puppets, joining in with the repeated refrains “…and whoosh they were gone!” In group time, we drew patterns on the witch’s hat and we had to use our listening ears to listen carefully to the description and animal noises to work out who was hiding from the story. Was it the cat, dog, frog or bird?
In the sensory area, we loved exploring the inside of some pumpkins. We added some sticky spaghetti worms too, they were ” gooey”
Outside, children loved searching around the garden to find all of the hidden characters and props from the story. Where was the broomstick hiding?
Have a look at some of the other activities from this week.
When we return to Nursery on Monday 04 November, we’ll re-cap on the story before we begin to think about Bonfire night.
Reminders
Please send any photos of your half term adventures to our email address scholesnursery@spherefederation.org. We can share them at group time.
Our Nursery coffee morning is on Tuesday 05 November at 9am.Come and join us to meet other nursery parents In the Hub.
Have a happy and healthy half term.
Nursery Coffee Morning
Please join us at 9am on Tuesday 5 November for our Nursery coffee morning. It’s a great chance to chat to other Nursery parents and carers. After you’ve dropped your child off at Nursery, make your way to the Hub. We hope to see you there!
Applications for Reception 2025
Applications for a Reception place for September 2025 can be made from 01 November 2024 until 15 January 2025. Guidance on applications can be found on Leeds City Council’s You Tube video
A quick guide to school admissions
If you’d like to come and look around our school, the next open sessions are on Thursday 14 November at 1.30pm and Friday 29 November at 9.30am. No need to book just turn up!
Please remember that you still need to apply for a Reception place even if your child attends Scholes (Elmet) Nursery.
Harvest Time
It has been a very busy week in Nursery. We have noticed the children enjoying building and designing, using their imagination and skills of cooperation to work together with their friends. They have also been using construction kits to create their own designs.
“Will this fit?”
“Try this one, we need a straight bit”
“It’s an aeroplane with wings, here are the windows”
We have also been thinking about harvest time. We talked about all the vegetables that are harvested in Autumn. We made our own farm outside with vegetables to harvest and used our senses to explore corn.
We also continued our interest in conkers by rolling and balancing them, using our fine motor control to help us. It was tricky!
Thanks to everyone who brought in Autumn treasures we shared our final few this week. So many interesting things corn, pumpkins, conkers and acorns. We have really enjoyed exploring their contents and finding out all about them.
Help at home
This week we have been working very hard at taking care of ourselves. One of the Prime Areas of learning in Early Years is Personnel, Social and Emotional Development, so learning to take care of ourselves is very much part of our curriculum.
We encourage the children to put on their coats and fasten them up independently.
Changing from wellies to shoes is something that we do many times throughout the day. Pushing your foot into your shoes can be tricky but with some practice we can do it.
We have had quite a few coughs and colds this week so our ” nose blowing area” has had lots of use. Getting a tissue and looking in the mirror to check that your nose is clean helps to develop independence.
These skills of independence are something that you can help with at home. Supporting your child to put on their own coat and shoes, to wipe their nose independently and to wash and dry their hands.
Next week in nursery will be our final week of the half term. Our story next week is Room on the Broom, it’s written by the very popular author, Julia Donaldson. You may be familiar with the story from the BBC version. You can watch it on BBC iplayer
Our Nursery Rhyme of the week is Incey Wincey Spider Can you sing this at home?
Reminders
Nursery closes for half term on Thursday 24 October.
We will return to Nursery on Monday 04 November.
Let’s get creative.
Talk of Autumn filled nursey this week as we continued to share our amazing Autumn treasures. If you haven’t returned yours to nursery yet, don’t worry, we will continue to share them until Friday.
We enjoyed using some of our Autumn treasure to create our own autumnal artwork inspired by the artist, Andy Goldsworthy. Whilst doing this, we also used some of our sorting skills to sort the leaves into different colour piles.
In the Maths area we used our Autumn treasures to copy and continue repeating patterns. Why not try this at home with toys eg car, brick, car, brick, car.
Autumn has inspired our learning in the sensory areas too. We have scooped and poured red and green lentils and barley. We listened to the sound it made as it dropped onto the tray and how it felt as it trickled through our fingers. We used the light frame to create pictures with leaves made from various materials. We watched how the light made the leaves change.
Group time learning activities began this week. We enjoyed drawing different patterns on some wellies. We drew horizontal lines, spots and some children created their own patterns including ‘x’ and zig-zags.
Help at home
Next week our Nursery Rhyme of the week is Humpty Dumpty
Can you join in with this rhyme?
Reminders
- We have been sharing lots of family photographs at group time this week. If you are still to send yours in its not to late send it to the nursery email address scholesnursey@spherefederation.org
- Please make sure that your child’s shoes are named. We have some identical pairs this year.
Parent- Teacher Zoom Appointments
Nursery will hold our parent-teacher Zoom meetings after half term, in the week commencing 25 November.
Please look out for further information when we return to Nursery after the half term break.
Amazing 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 week.
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.
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.
Next week, we’ll continue to learn about autumn and will look at some artwork by Andy Goldsworthy so don’t forget to bring your autumn treasure bag back to nursery.
Help at home
Next week’s nursery rhyme is Baa Baa Black Sheep Can you join in with this nursery rhyme?
We are continuing to explore “We’re going on a bear hunt” Here is the author telling the story. Have a listen at home and join in together with the sound effects!
Reminders
- Our individual photographs will take place on Tuesday 08 October. If your child does not attend nursery on a Tuesday but you would like them to have their photograph taken please contact school.
- Please ensure that your child has a waterproof coat at nursery every day. We go outside to learn, whatever the weather!
Down on the farm
We’ve had another busy week in nursery, continuing to explore the provision and making friends. Our new small world area, the farm, has sparked a lot of interest. We talked about the different animals that we see on a farm and the sounds that they make. The children enjoyed adding the animal sound effects whilst playing.
As part of our early phonics learning, we encourage children to listen to the sounds that they can hear around them, such as an aeroplane flying above or birds singing in the trees. We also explore the different noises that animals make.
Help at home: If you visit a farm or see some animals in a field, remember to use the animal names and talk about the noises that they make. You might like to play a game where you use some farm animal toys and choose an animal to describe. For example: It has 4 legs, a curly tail and a snout. Can they guess which animal you are describing and make the animal noise? Can they give you some clues? This is a great way to add new words to your child’s vocabulary and to develop their listening skills.
The children have enjoyed retelling this weeks focus story ‘The Three Little Pigs’ joining in with the repeated refrains “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down”.
As the children continue to explore the provision lots of different interests have been emerging, rolling cars down ramps being a big favourite. We experimented with other things that roll in the paint this week and tried our hand at painting with rollers. This up and down motion will help us later when it comes to developing our skills as a writer.
Here are some of the other activities from this week
- bug hunting
- friendship making
- brick house building
- sorting and matching in the maths area.
- imaginative play
Next week, we’ll talk about the changes that we are noticing outside. Look out for a brown bag in your child’s folder – we’d like you to fill it with autumn treasure that you find and return it to Nursery.
Our focus story is the popular story “We’re Going on a bear Hunt” We will be exploring this story using our own puppets and props.
Our Nursery rhyme of the week will be Row, row, row your boat Can you sing along with the rhyme at home?
Reminders:
- Please don’t forget to send a family photograph for our home corner display Please send it to scholesnursery@spherefederation.org
- We play outside in all weather – please remember to send your child with a waterproof coat everyday.
- Please remember to check the school menu each day. School Lunch Menu
Family Photographs
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. These will be displayed in our home corner for children to look at and talk about with staff and their friends. scholesnursery@spherefederation.org