St GEORGE'S DAY

We wore RED, WHITE and BLUE to nursery today and enjoyed a lovely 'Afternoon Tea' to celebrate St George's day. We made the St George's day flag, learning about horizontal and vertical lines.

FLOOR ART

In the nursery playground we used our mark-making skills to produce some beautiful art work, using chalk and masking tape

WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT

We have really enjoyed this topic. We have been on a bear hunt through the deep cold river (splash splosh), the long wavy grass (swishy, swashy), the thick oozy mud (squelch, squerch), the big dark forest (stumble, trip), the swirling whirling snowstorm (hoooo, woooo) and the narrow gloomy cave (tiptoe, tiptoe). We made the bear ... with 'one wet shiny nose, two big furry ears and 2 big goggly eyes!'

PE

In Nursery we engage in physical activity everyday, but we also have a planned PE session in the hall with Mr T. once a week. This week we have been focusing on BALANCE and COORDINATION

COMIC RELIEF

Today, for Comic Relief in nursery, we painted our noses red and enjoyed a variety of red activities. We also told each other some silly jokes, e.g...  

Q: What is ORANGE and sounds like a PARROT?

A: A CARROT!

Q: What do elves learn at school?

A: The ELF-ABET!

Q: What do you call a fairy who doesn't like to shower?

A: STINKERBELL!

ST PATRICK'S DAY

Today we explored the colour green as we celebrated St Patrick's day, with green props and shamrocks!

ICT

The nursery children have been using the Interactive White Board to develop fine and gross motor skills. They have been drawing the bear from 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt', along with the 'long wavy grass' (swishy swashy) and the 'swirling whirling snow storm' (hoooo woooo). They have also been writing their names. 

MARK-MAKING

Despite a busy week of activities (St David's Day, Pancake Day, World Book Day) we are still attempting to write our names, using a variety of tools.

WORLD BOOK DAY

Today we came to school dressed as one of our favourite book characters. We brought in one of our favourite books, and took it into the hall. Parents were invited to join us, in the hall, to read our books. During circle time we passed a teddy around and talked about our favourite book. We also looked at the snake on the letter 'S' and traced over it using our finger. 

SHROVE TUESDAY (PANCAKE DAY)

Today is Pancake Day so in nursery we are decorating pancakes using some sweet and sour toppings. We all have a turn flipping the pancake in the pan. We try to complete 5 flips - 1 2 3 4 5

ST DAVID'S DAY

March 1st is St David's Day (patron Saint of Wales). Daffodils are one of the national emblems of Wales, so today we are doing 'close observational' paintings of daffodils. We are focusing on the STEM (moving our brush up and down, with green paint) and the PETALS (counting the yellow petals as we paint them).

Dare to Dream, Aim to Achieve

This week, whilst making stars out of various materials, we have been talking about our dreams, our aims and our goals (i.e. what we would like to achieve presently and in the future). One child has said she would like to ride her bike - without stabilizers, another has said he would like to be a skateboarder and roller-skater. We have had lots of children saying they would like to be in the Police force, or be a Doctor, or a Firefighter. We have spoken about working hard to achieve our dreams and goals and that with hard work and determination we can 'REACH FOR THE STARS!' 

WRITING

Some of the children in Nursery are beginning to write their names. Please support this at home by modelling the correct letter formation and encouraging children to write on all their work. Any form of mark-making (whether it be the first letter of their name or a series of squiggles) is crucial in the development of writing. When children are making these early marks, they are practising to hold a pencil and are attempting to control their marks with their muscles. This enhances their physical development by improving their fine motor skills and helps to develop their hand-eye coordination.

GOOD NEW YEAR -"Xīnnián hǎo" 新年好 (Mandarin)

This week we have been celebrating Chinese New Year with a variety of activities. We worked on developing our fine motor skills (cutting with scissors) in making some Chinese lanterns. We watched a Chinese dragon dance on Youtube and worked collaboratively to make our own dragon! We took our dragon into the hall to do a 'Dragon Dance' and we made some dragon faces using paper plates. We did some exercise, developing gross motor skills, as we danced to 'The Eye of the Tiger' (it is the year of the tiger), and we listened to the story, 'The Tiger Who Came to Tea'. We tasted some Chinese prawn crackers. They were yummy. 

MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE

This week we looked at inspirational people and occupations, which links in with our topic of 'People Who Help Us'. We discussed the role of a doctor, nurse, dentist, police-person, fire-fighter, teacher, vet, soldier, astronaut, post-man/woman, farmer and some fictional superheroes. On Friday we dressed up.

MAKING SANDWICHES

The children developed their fine motor skills when making sandwiches in Nursery today. We also developed our Maths skills as we looked at the shape of the whole slice of bread (a square) and then cut the WHOLE into HALF - making two (rectangles and triangles). We talked about food hygiene and the importance of washing our hands before touching/eating food. 

PEOPLE WHO HELP US

This term we are looking at people who help us. We will do this through books, visits, role play and discussions...

DENTIST

In Nursery this week we are looking at how to care for our teeth. We have discussed the role of the dentist and the importance of brushing our teeth twice a day. We have also looked at healthy foods and avoiding too much sugar, to protect our teeth and good health. We have all had a turn of brushing the model teeth for 2 minutes.

SENSORY

In Nursery we enjoy exploring using our senses. We explore with water everyday but today we have made snow...

PHONICS

In Nursery, Phase One phonics concentrates on developing children’s speaking and listening skills. The aspects relating to Communication and Language are: responding to sounds, play with sounds, songs and rhymes, listening to others, understanding questions, developing a concept of things, understanding prepositions, such as on top, under etc. When singing Nursery Rhymes we use props...

CELEBRATIONS

In Nursery we celebrate a variety of festivals and celebrations, including Christmas. The children decorated the home-corner with homemade decorations and a tree. They made Angel Christmas cards, using their handprints to make the wings. We counted our fingers 1-5 and 1-10. We sang Christmas songs and rhymes and enjoyed playing some musical instruments. On the last day of term we wore Christmas jumpers and had a tea-party. We played a fun turn taking game - Pass the Parcel.