Living and Learning
As part of our focus on manners, we’ve been trying to use the ‘vampire method’. I cover my mouth (when I cough, sneeze or yawn) was our Living and Learning statement last week so we looked at why this method can help to prevent germs spreading. By coughing or sneezing into our elbow, germs are not spread into the air or on our hands which may contaminate other things. The germs dry out and die quicker on fabric than on hands or hard surfaces.
This week we explored the statement I can say something good about myself. We talked in pairs about what we were good at, said what we were good at and drew a picture too.
An exciting discovery…
Week 1 – An exciting discovery…
We had a very chilly start to the week! Thankfully, the engineers were able to get the parts they needed to fix our boiler as quickly as possible. When we returned to nursery on Wednesday, children made a very exciting discovery in our nursery garden. There appeared to be three egg-like objects that had appeared since Monday. After much discussion, the children decided they were eggs and that we needed to help them to hatch. We talked about what the eggs would need and children found things to keep them warm and safe. After a few days waiting, the eggs finally hatched on Friday (with some keen, small hands to help them!). It was great to see how excited the children were and it provoked many questions… What did dinosaur eggs look like? How big were they? What other animals come from eggs? Are these eggs real? What does extinct mean?
We investigated the shape and size of dinosaur footprints by making ‘fossils’ in salt dough and drawing a life sized footprint of an Aptosaur. To find out just how big it was, we put ALL of our shoes inside it and counted them!
Week 2 – What are we learning this week?
This week, we’ll enjoy reading our favourite stories and we’ll celebrate World Book Day on Thursday. We hope to see lots of parents and carers in the morning to join us for our ‘Stay and Read’ session from 8.30-9.10. There will be different story-telling activities in nursery for you to take part in with your child, including re-telling the story of ‘What the Ladybird Heard’, making gingerbread men in the playdough and mixing porridge for the Three Bears in our sensory area. Please remember children can dress up, but please help us by choosing characters that are not superheroes. As you can imagine, a nursery full of Spidermen and his friends can become quite lively!
We also have some very EGGciting news… We won’t share it with you just yet, but hopefully the children will tell you all about it this week.
In phonics, we are learning to hear the initial sounds in words. Silly Sidney Snake is introducing us to letter sounds using Jolly Phonics songs and actions. We have learnt ‘d‘ for dinosaur and ‘s‘ for Stegosaurus. This week, we’ll be learning about the letter ‘a‘. You can click on each link to hear the Jolly Phonics song and see a picture/video with the action that children will learn to associate with each sound. For example, ‘Sssss’ is a snake slithering through the grass. At this point in nursery, children are learning to hear the sound and may begin to recognise the letter, rather than focussing on how to write the letters.
Home Link – World Book Day
On Thursday, it is World Book Day.
- What is your child’s favourite story?
- Who is their favourite character?
Please bring in your favourite stories for us to read at group time (don’t forget to write names in!).
You could also:
- Visit the library or a book shop
- Read your favourite story together
- Draw/paint/collage a picture of the story or a character
- Re-tell the story using props
If you’d like a few ideas for new books to read, you could visit the World Book Day website.
Look out for our ‘Reading’ information booklet at the Stay and Play or in folders later this week.
Askham Bryan Wildlife and Conservation Park
On Friday, year 5/6 visited Askham Bryan Wildlife and Conservation Park. We had a brilliant time learning about classification and evolution.
Cross Country Champion
A huge congratulations to Freya for her fantastic result in the second stage of the Leeds cross country event last week. After a brilliant performance in her first race a few month ago, Freya was selected to run in the final.
Freya placed 17th out of more than 100 competitors.
Well done and keep up the running!
Learning to count…
This week, we’ve been looking at the number 11. We have introduced the children to the vocabulary ‘tens’ and ‘ones’. The children have learnt that to make the number 11 we need one big ten and one one.
The children have enjoyed making a big number-line by ordering the numerals 1-20.
They have also enjoyed answering questions such as:
- which number is two more than eleven?
- which number is two fewer than eight?
- which number has one big ten and 6 ones?
Ask your child to tell you how to make the number 11. Please send us an email to share how your child has made the number 11. Your child will receive two challenge bricks for practising at home!
Living and Learning – Vampire cough and sneeze
As part of our focus on manners this week, we’ve been mastering the ‘vampire method’. I cover my mouth (when I cough, sneeze or yawn) is our Living and Learning statement so we looked at why this method can help to prevent germs spreading. By coughing or sneezing into our elbow, germs are not spread into the air or on our hands which may contaminate other things.
Join-in Afternoon 19 February 2018
On Monday this week, it was year 3/4 E’s turn to have our parent join-in afternoon. It was a great opportunity to attempt hands-on activities, like sewing and gardening, with the help of some or our parents.
We had a very enjoyable join-in session making funny face cushions, planting of daffodil bulbs (for our Life Forces topic) and creating a diary ready to record our observations.
Thank you to all our parents who helped out on the day – we achieved so much with your help! Hopefully, we’ll be doing it again soon so that all our parents get the opportunity to ‘join-in’.
1K Class Assembly
It was our class assembly this afternoon. A massive well done to 1K. You were amazing!
Crazy About Cricket
Year 1 and 2 took part in a cricket session promoted by All Stars Cricket this week. They focused on key cricket skills: throwing, catching and batting techniques. All of the children thoroughly enjoyed being active and challenging themselves to beat their personal best.
