Living and Learning : NSPCC PANTS rule
We have been talking about pants again! Children love talking about pants and find them funny but we use it in school to deliver a serious safeguarding message. The NSPCC have created some fab resources for us, and you, to use when teaching our children how to keep themselves safe. Ask your child about the PANTS rule and sing along to the catchy song!
Virtual after school clubs
Aimed mainly at primary-aged children, a different theme has been assigned for each day of the club – Adventure Monday, Tuesday Play, Wild Wednesday, Thinking Thursday and Fun Friday.
Find out more: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/AfterSchoolSportClub
Children in Need
A Big Thank You!
The children came to school in non-uniform and we asked for voluntary contribution to support this cause. We’ve been completely blown away by your generosity as you’ve raised £566.35. Well done and a massive thank you.
Self-isolating at home?
This week, we will begin our December Christmas themed fun in Nursery! We’re going to start by reading the popular children’s book ‘Stickman‘. Here are a few activities that you might like to join in with at home.
- Listen to the story being read by the illustrator, Axel Scheleffler, by following the link above. You may also like to watch the ‘Stickman’ animation that’s available on BBC iplayer.
- Have a look in your garden (if you can), can you find any twigs that look like Stickman? If you have some googly eyes, you could stick them on.
- If you’re feeling creative, you could create a picture using twigs and leaves from your garden. Can you make Stickman a Family Tree?
- In maths, we’re going to compare lengths of pieces of tinsel. You could do this with sticks that you find or tinsel if you have some. Which is longest? Shortest? Are any pieces the same length?
- We’ll begin learning some Christmas songs, including ‘We wish you a Merry Christmas’ and ‘Jingle Bells’. Enjoy singing them at home and have a go at finding some items that you could use as instruments. What could you use that sounds like bells?
- During group time, we’re going to draw some baubles and tinsel on our Christmas tree outlines. Cut out a Christmas tree shape and use some coloured pencils to add on decorations. Can you you add a star on top?
Have fun! We’re looking forward to seeing you at Nursery again soon.
3,4O: Certificates
We had another super week and it was made extra special by welcoming back the children who’ve helped to keep us all safe by self-isolating recently.
Here are this week’s certificate winners.
For great learning…
Lacey & Amelie- You both made amazing progress with your arithmetic this week – well done!
For living and learning…
Maddison – you really understand emotions in yourself and others.
For sport and physical activity…
Tilly – great determination in PE – you always try your hardest. Well done!
For Times Table Rockstars…
Louis- you’ve massively increased your TTR usage this week – keep it up! Welcome to the TTR band!
Amazing Homework
This week, Year 5/6 S really impressed me with their homework. Lots of them emailed in with loads of creative ideas to do with anti-bullying. This followed on from our anti-bullying Living and Learning sessions. Some children created quizzes, posters and even cartoon strips. I’m really impressed with how much effort the children are putting into their homework, even though they can’t bring their homework books into school. I thoroughly enjoy receiving all the homework emails each week, so keep them coming. Thank you
!
Christmas dates
It’s nearly that time of year again, it always comes around so quickly! Obviously this year, our Christmas celebrations are going to be a little bit different. However, that doesn’t mean to say that we’re not going to have fun!
Here are some important dates and information about the next few weeks.
Christmas songs – Whilst it’s not going to be possible to host a Christmas performance that you can watch in school, we’re going to do our best to create one that you can enjoy watching at home! For this, we’d like ALL children to have a Christmas themed/coloured top in school by Friday 4 December. You do not need to buy anything new – a cheerful or festive top that they can be comfortable in all day (playing out and eating lunch in too) will be fine. Please put your child’s NAME in the top and put it in a small bag in their group box this week. It will remain in Nursery until the end of the following week.
Christmas lunch – Christmas lunch is on Thursday 17 December. If you’d like your child to join in and haven’t already told us, please let us know and we’ll add your child onto the list. Payment (£2.20) can be made online. Please call the office if you are unsure of how to do this.
Christmas party – Our Nursery Christmas party will be on Monday 14 December in the afternoon. If your child already attends Nursery on that day, you can send them to Nursery in cheerful or festive clothing. Children will still be playing in Nursery provision and outside in the morning, so please make sure clothing is warm and comfortable.
For children that attend Nursery on Monday, collection will be at the same time as usual. Please adhere to your child’s pick-up time. There will be more children in Nursery that day and we need to ensure that we stagger parent/carer collection times to allow for social distancing space.
If your child doesn’t attend Nursery on Monday, they are welcome to join us for the party. Children will need to have had lunch before they arrive and be wearing their ‘party’ clothes. We will greet you at the Nursery gate as we usually would in the morning.
Red group – Please arrive promptly at 12.20pm and collect at 2.20pm.
Blue group – Please arrive promptly at 12.30pm and collect at 2.35pm.
Yellow group – Please arrive promptly at 12.30pm and collect at 2.35pm.
Party treats – Children will have lunch as usual on Monday but during the party, we will provide them with a treat and drink. We’d like to ask for £1 contribution towards these treats and will place a donation jar outside Nursery soon. Thank you in advance for your contributions.
Christmas crafts – It wouldn’t be Christmas in Nursery if we couldn’t take part in all of our favourite Christmas crafts! Sadly, we can’t invite you to our usual ‘Christmas Stay and Decorate’ mornings, but don’t worry, children will still get to take part in some fun activities. We will quarantine all Christmas crafts and will send them home in the final week.
If you have any questions, please get in touch or speak to us next week.
Certificates – 3/4E
In 3/4E this week, there have been many moments for great learning and achieving highly.
Our Sports certificate went to Arthur for good dribbling, passing and sportsmanship in hockey.
The Great Learning certificate was awarded to Luca for trying hard with his arithmetic and showing progress in his test scores on Friday.
Tommy received a certificate for being ready to learn and showing responsibility for his learning all wekk – well done for all the effort!
Finally, out TimesTables Rockstars certificate went to Sam. Well done for extra effort – no doubt this will pay off in your maths.
Ahoy Maties!
We have had a week filled with fun, pirates, paper planes, exploring capital letters and learning!
We have been using our counting and number recognition skills, to pay for items at the shop.
On Wednesday, a mystery occurred in Rainbow Room! There was a ‘hole’ in the ceiling and someone was stealing the golden underpants! We received a scroll letter from ‘The Captain of the Black Bloomer’ who asked if we could help him find who had stolen the golden underpants by making WANTED posters. We used our imaginations to draw pictures and add adjectives (descriptive words). The captain told us we might receive a reward if we helped him find the criminal who stole the pants!
We have been really engaged in our learning this week and will continue our Pirates theme next week too. This gives us the perfect opportunity to dress up as Pirates for the day! PLEASE REFER TO YOUR CHILD’S LETTER ABOUT DRESSING UP AS A PIRATE NEXT WEDNESDAY 2 DECEMBER.
Home Learning Link: Please design, draw and label a picture of yourself in your Pirate costume. If you have time, why not create a special pirate hat to wear on Wednesday too?
On Wednesday 9 December we are asking all Reception children to come to school in non-uniform. For this day we are asking for your child to come in something Christmassy, sparkly or bright. We plan to film a little festive surprise for you all on this date.
Outdoor play
This week, children have really enjoyed being outside in all weather. We often see a different side to a child’s personality when they’re playing and learning in our Nursery garden. The freedom of being outside and being able to move and make noise without the constraints of the classroom is great for a child’s mental and physical well being.
On the rainy days, we listened to rain drops pitter pattering on umbrellas and enjoyed investigating colour mixing in the puddles. We continued our nursery rhyme theme outside, using instruments to accompany lots of our favourite rhymes. We also had great fun knocking ’10 green bottles’ off the wall. Children also used the bottles for a number of other games, using them as props in their role play as fireworks rockets and babies. What great imaginations!
On Friday, we enjoyed practising our throwing and catching skills. Children waited really patiently for their turn and after a few attempts to catch the ball, we could definitely see an improvement in their confidence and skills.
Physical Development is one of the Prime areas of our curriculum and incorporates both gross and fine motor skills in the ‘Moving and Handling’ strand. Every child is different, but here are some of the areas that we were developing during our outdoor play this week.
22-36 months
- I can run without bumping into things or tripping up.
- I can squat down on my knees to play and can get up without using my hands.
- I can kick a large ball.
30-50 months
- I like running, walking, jumping, hopping, skipping and moving around in lots of different ways.
- I can run around, stopping, changing direction and slowing down so that I don’t bump into things.
- I can catch a large ball when you throw it to me.
- When you show me how to stand on just one foot, I can copy you, just for a second without falling over. (We did this when we sang ‘I’m a little teapot’ with actions!)
If you would like to read more about the type of things to expect in your child’s development in this area of the curriculum, you may find this document useful.
In the Sunshine Room, children have loved role playing in our bakery. They made buns and biscuits using playdough and sold them in the shop.
We continued to learn and sing lots of rhymes in our nursery rhyme small world area. In the Quiet Room, children played a game of ‘Incy Wincy Spider’, taking turns to roll the dice and move their spider up the drainpipe. We also investigated tyre tracks, printing with vehicles as we drove them through paint.
