Firework fun!
What a colourful week it’s been……
We’ve had another busy week in Nursery as we shared our bonfire adventures with our friends. There were lots of wonderful paintings and pictures inspired by the fireworks that everyone saw. We thought about the different sounds we heard and used our voices, instruments and streamers to recreate them. The children absolutely loved creating the huge firework paint pictures outdoors, which included getting very messy indeed! Such large scale activities are brilliant for helping to develop the children’s physical skills as they make ‘big movements’ with their arms. As we talked about bonfires, we thought about how hedgehogs sometimes hibernate within them. We decided to make our own playdough hedgehogs and tell them not to hide in the bonfires (all whilst using our counting to put on matchstick prickles of course!). The children really extended their vocabulary of capacity as they played in the blue water this week. Filling the different sized containers and using the piping attracted lots of different children into the water area which also allowed new friendships to develop.
What we are learning this week?
After lots of interest in fireworks and rockets, talk naturally led us to outer space and the moon! We’ll be using the book ‘Whatever Next’ as a stimulus throughout our areas of provision. We shall be re-telling the story using the book, pictures and small world props to develop our speaking and listening skills. In the large construction, there will be lots of space and moon themed resources to inspire our very imaginative children in their play. We’ll use our counting skills and ‘fiddly fingers’ to add craters to the (playdough) moon and thread pipe cleaners carefully into the holes of colanders – after reading the story, the link will become apparent! Our challenge, set by the children, is to make the water ‘even darker’ and then together, we will all think about what ‘space’ inspired objects we need to add and how we can make our own colanders for water to trickle out of.
Next week is a nationwide ‘Nursery Rhyme Week’ developed to encourage the sharing of nursery rhymes in settings and in the home. Sharing such rhymes and songs is very important in helping early language development and is, therefore, something we do continually within our activities. The focus rhymes this year are ‘Bobby Shafto’, ‘Lavenders Blue’, ‘Hickory Dickory Dock, ‘Wind the Bobbin Up’ and ‘Old King Cole’. These will be sung within key workers sessions along with lots of our other favourites.
Let’s talk numbers!
This week we have been focusing on the number 5. First, we watched the Numberblocks video. Then we found 5 objects to put on our number focus table.
We then looked at building models using 5 bricks. We found that even if the model is a different shape or size, it’s still 5!
Next week, we’ll be looking at number stories using pictures.
For example, 3 sheep are on the hill and 2 sheep are in front of the barn so 5 sheep altogether. I can see one more sheep next to the rocks. Ask your child how many there are now.
Rebecca’s World Day 10.11.17
What a fabulous day! Our Year 3/4 children had a dress-up day, coming as characters from our class novel, Rebecca’s World. We saw a variety of creative costumes that children (and parents!) have worked hard to produce. Well done to all the glittery Mr Glisters and his henchmen, cautious Kovaks, green Grisbys, super scientists, reliable Rebeccas, superhero-wannabe Captain Ks and last but not least… the GHOSTS!
School Council
The newly elected School Council have been given their badges by Miss Parling (School Council leader) and are proudly wearing them. They have also taken part in their first decision as elected members. They voted on the type of fundraising the school will do for Children in Need on 17 November. It will be a non-uniform day with a suggested donation of £1.
School Council and Democracy Week
During Democracy Week (16-20 October 2017) pupils took part in the democratic process as they voted for their class representatives for School Council. Congratulations to the elected candidates and we hope they have a successful year representing the views of all the pupils in our school.
Amazing, astounding, adventurous Adjective Dress Up Day!
What an amazing day we had! Everyone had thought carefully about their adjective and been creative with their costumes. It brought grammar to life in year 1 and 2. We discussed synonyms and antonyms of different adjectives and grouped them accordingly.
We wrote about our own adjectives and also came up with silly sentences containing too many adjectives. Continue to talk about adjectives at home and encourage your child to use ambitious vocabulary; it’s fun to talk about the meaning of words! Try a challenge: can your child come up with three alliterative adjectives to describe something? (The title of this Class News post is an example to get you started!)
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Well done to our Golden Star this week.
Strictly Flex Dancing!
All year 1 and 2 classes enjoyed learning new street dance routines taught by a dance teacher from Flex Dance. We used our agility, balance and coordination skills to great effect. We then performed our routines for each other!
Home Link – Bonfire Night
We’re sure that you’ll see and hear lots of fireworks this weekend as some people celebrate Bonfire Night.
Talk to your child about the different shapes, colours and noises that the fireworks make.
Can you create your own firework picture or model?
You might want to use paint, draw, collage or make something using boxes. It’s up to you – be as creative as your child (and you) would like!
We can’t wait to see your firework inspired artwork and models!
Potions and pumpkin soup!
What fun everyone had during the half term holidays.
Thank you for sharing all your half term fun with us! It was wonderful to hear about all the different activities and adventures the children experienced. We love to share news, photographs and souvenirs during group time. It provides an excellent opportunity for developing your child’s speaking and listening skills and of course, helps them to gain the confidence to talk to their peers. There was a delicious smell coming from nursery this week as we made pumpkin soup. The children helped to chop the vegetables and picked different herbs from the outdoor area to flavour the soup! There were some very creative potions made in the water and sand as the children explored capacity, colour and let their imaginations run wild with some very horrible looking ‘recipes’. Outdoors, some very observant children found the biggest worm on the grass which grew and grew before our eyes as it wriggled under the soil. We began to discuss length and use lots of different words to describe and compare the size of the worm. “It’s enormous…the longest worm I’ve ever seen!” The children have loved making their own obstacle courses in the large construction area. There was lots of cooperative play, mark making and number play as we awarded prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places!.
What we are learning this week
Leading on from the Guy Fawkes weekend fun, we will be having a bonfire and firework theme as we incorporate all the wonderful colours, sounds and shapes into our provision. Outdoors, we look forward to using the ribbons and scarves to dance and move like fireworks. We will be getting very messy as we create our own firework art on a large scale using the powder paints and some very interesting paint flicking techniques – please see this week’s reminders! We shall be talking about the children’s own experiences and continuing with the safety messages highlighted at this time of year relating to fire. This of course leads into creating a ‘firefighter’ small world area to reinforce learning across so many of the areas; language, creative play and making relationships to name a few. By using bubble wrap, we hope to not only recreate the ‘popping’ sound of their fireworks but also strengthen our fingers in preparation for the super mark making (early or ‘developmental’ writing) we do during our play. We will continue to use number skills as we count out objects from a larger group and learn another number song about 5 firefighters!
Reminders
- If you have any old adult shirts could you please send them to nursery to protect clothing during our firework art activities. We do have some but possibly not enough to go round everyone.
- Please check the entrance area towards the end of the week for signing up sheets for Parents meetings. These will take place W/C 20th November and be held over several days and at various times as to provide as much choice as possible.
- If you would like to share any none urgent information with us please get in touch using the nursery email [email protected]
Thank you for your continued support.
Tell us about your bonfire night!
Monday news next week will be all about Bonfire night. To encourage your child to share their bonfire night experiences, bring in a time to talk sheet or email us some photos/comments – [email protected]
Monday news is a great chance for your child to build their self-confidence by speaking in front of their peers. It’s also a valuable time to develop their communication and language skills.