Summer Term 1

Today we celebrated St. George's Day. In nursery we created a small world scene containing a castle, a dragon, a maiden and St George. (A story dating back to the 6th century tells that St George rescued a maiden by slaying a fearsome fire-breathing dragon!) The children had fun playing with this and came to school dressed in National colours of the United Kingdom - RED, WHITE & BLUE. We also made flags with the St. George cross and focused on the mathematical language of 'horizontal' and 'vertical'.

To finish our lovely celebration we had an 'Afternoon Tea Party' (in the morning!!) with tea cakes, milk and juice. We had this on the boat in the BIG playground and had great fun exploring this new area. 

WELCOME TO NURSERY

I am Miss Greene and I am delighted to be teaching Nursery this year.

In our class we are supported by Miss Wray and Miss Santos.

We work as a team and we would like to welcome you Parents/Carers to join us,

to work in partnership, to ensure your child reaches their full potential.

As we are now in Summer Term please remember to protect your child

 from the various weather conditions we may experience!

Sun protection is essential, so please provide a sun-hat and apply sun-cream before school.

Also children will need a light jacket or fleece, just in case! 

This term we will be focusing on the topic ‘ROAR! Dinosaur Adventure'

We will explore learning through a balance of [well-planned] adult directed activities and 

child initiated play, covering the seven areas of learning.

In order to support your child at home, with their learning and development, please encourage:

• Speaking and Listening– Two way communication is so important in the early years. Ask questions about your child's morning in Nursery (use Tapestry to  prompt discussions). Give your child plenty of time to think and answer.
• Turn taking and sharing– Play games which require taking turns and sharing.
• Reading– Look at books together and discuss the pictures. Let your child tell you the story, through the pictures. Read books regularly (bed-time story) and repeat stories. Repetition is key to learning at this early stage.
• Counting and number recognition– Count objects and actions (e.g. going up/down the stairs). Look at numbers in the environment (e.g when shopping, when walking home – on front doors, car number-plates, etc).
• Sing nursery rhymes– (Use YouTube if you are not sure of the words).

Please check our website and Tapestry regularly as we will be updating it with all of 

the wonderful learning that has been taking place.

You can also browse through the photos below by clicking on the Nursery Photo Gallery

where you will see a sample of some of the exciting activities covered so far.

Please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for all types of weather, 

as outdoor play is part of our daily learning routine.

(A full change of clothes should be left on your child's coat peg.)

If you would like to speak to me I am available before or after

school most mornings. Please contact the office to make an appointment.

Nursery Classroom Environment

Spring Term 2

Welcome back and what a lovely Spring term it has been. The children have settled back in very quickly and it was nice to welcome some new children too. Please enjoy the following photos of some of the fun activities we have been doing...

HAPPY NEW YEAR

HOME LEARNING 2021

Good Morning Nursery Children & Families, 

I hope you had a lovely Christmas break. I have missed you all and am looking forward to being with you as soon as possible. In the meantime we will have to do our learning at home, with our families.

Parents you are, and always have been, your child's primary educator and I know you will make the right decisions in choosing activities to engage in, to enable your child to reach their full potential. I will work in partnership with you, through the provision of daily activities and links to support learning. 

Young children learn best through their play so do let them play as much as possible and scaffold (assist and enhance) their learning through interaction, i.e. communication, questioning and suggestions - to stretch the imagination and move learning to the next level.

Please look at Tapestry daily, where you will find lots of 'fun' learning ideas to engage in, and you will also see me! Remember to upload photos and videos so I can see how much your child has grown over the holiday, and all the interesting learning you are doing through play. You can send me messages through the comment box (in Tapestry) and I will reply every day. I will also telephone you weekly.

Points to assist with learning and development...

• Stories - Look at a book with your child daily and read a short story whenever you can. Use your imagination to make up a story together. (I will upload a story to Tapestry for children to view.)
• Fine Motor Skills - Important in early years to develop writing skills. Provide materials for your child to encourage the fingers to work hard - developing the muscles needed to write, e.g. cutting paper with scissors, building with lego, squeezing and squashing playdough, completing puzzles, etc.
• Numbers - Count objects and actions (e.g. count fingers and toes, count the stairs when going up and down, count hand clapping, etc). Look out for numbers in the environment and ask children to identify them (e.g. on the cooker, door numbers, car number plates, etc)
• Draw/write - Provide your child with tools (pens, felts, crayons, pencils, chalk, paints, etc) to mark-make, draw or write with everyday. 
• Imaginative & Creative Play - Make dens with blankets, puppets with socks and musical instruments with pots/pans! Have tea-parties with dolls and cuddly toys. Keep large boxes to use as cars, boats, etc. Have fun with role play (dressing up - pretending to be the teacher, a pirate, a princess, etc). Collect cereal boxes, kitchen rolls, wrapping paper, etc - for junk modelling and cutting and sticking.
• Physical Activity - Please ensure you do lots of exercise to stay fit and healthy. Get out for walks in the park, where possible, and keep your body active through dancing and movement. (I will upload dances to Tapestry)
• Communication (Talking and Listening) - Communication is key to learning in the early years. Talk to your child when they are playing, asking them questions and prompting them with ideas to enhance learning. 

Most importantly - Stay healthy and safe. Remember - HANDS - FACE - SPACE

Take care and keep in touch.

Miss Greene

Learning Through Play

I am excited to share a series of short educational films ‘Learning Through Play’ that showcase 20 activities that parents can do cheaply and easily at home with their early years children. The films are translated into Sylheti, Urdu, Polish and Somali and are part of our Schools with Roots project.