Trying Vegetables!
This week, we have been enjoying reading ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’ by Vivian French.
We have been thinking about the vegetables in the book; painting them using the appropriate colours.
We also had a taste of some of the vegetables and thought of some words to describe what they tasted like.
“The carrot is crunchy.” Eliott
“Peas taste soft.” Oria
“The carrot tastes hard.” Wyatt
There are other books in the Oliver series about healthy eating. Why not check them out?
Help at home: Can your child remember the story? Have a go at drawing some of the vegetables you have at home.
Beanstalks
It is with great excitement (and some relief) that our beans are growing! They seem to be shooting up superfast now and the children are so eager to check on their progress each day.
They will be coming home with the children for the Easter holidays. The pots are bio degradable so can be planted straight into the ground. They may need a cane to support them as they grow, the children have high hopes of visiting the giant and bringing back some golden eggs.
Number 3!
We have loved learning all about the number 3 and the parts that make 3. See if they can tell you them at home.
Building Finger Strength
We always have a challenge out that helps to build our finger strength and fine motor skills. This week we had loom bands and a board. There are so many activities like this you can do at home.
Next week we’ll be looking at positional language in our maths. Using words such as “above,” “below,” “next to,” “in front of,” and “behind.”
Help at Home: Can you give your child an instruction including some positional language? For example, “put the teddy in front of the cushion.” Then let them be the teacher and give you the instructions.
Spring and Counting Skills
Signs of Spring
We’ve spotted some signs of spring outside at forest school. We’ve spotted buds, shoots, flowers and listened to birds singing.
I’ve been so impressed with the children’s counting skills this week. We’ve all had a go at counting objects and saying the amount.
Help at home: Practise counting different objects during play and in everyday life. Make sure children say one number for each item; it often helps to move each item as you count or line them up so that children only count each object once.
Can they remember how many they had in total without counting again?
1,2,3 there are 3
Outside we’ve been making race cars with the large construction and climbing trees in Forrest School.
Next week we’ll be looking at healthy eating and where food comes from. Painting vegetables, tasting vegetables and exploring different herbs.
The Gruffalo Song
As promised the children performing ‘The Gruffalo Song’ in Nursery as some of them had a little stage fright on World Book Day.
Can they sing along at home with you?
World Book Day
Thank you for coming into Nursery and sharing some of our World Book Day activities with the children. We love reading in Nursery and it’s fabulous to see the children so passionate about their favourite stories.
We’ve also been enjoying stories in the sunshine at forest school this week.
Next week, we’ll continue with our ‘growing theme and will listen to ‘Oliver’s Vegetables‘ by Vivian French. We’ll be talking about the different foods that we eat and where they come from.
Help at home: We’re learning all about Number 3. Can they find a way to represent 3 at home? They might bring you 3 objects (they don’t have to match), they could draw 3 marks or clap 3 times.
Planting Beanstalks
We’ve had a super busy first week back in Nursery. In our OUTSTANDING Early Years provision we know the importance of outdoor play to develop confidence, independence and our problem solving skills.
As part of our learning with ‘Jaspers Beanstalk’ book we planted our own beanstalks. We’ve talked about what our seed will need to sprout and grow, see if the children can tell you.
Help at home: Go on a little spring walk, maybe just to the park and have a look for signs of spring.
Reminder – World Book Day
It’s World Book Day on Thursday 06 March. This year, we will celebrate by bringing our favourite book to nursery to share with our friends. Please make sure that your child’s name is in their book. If you can stay a little bit longer at drop off on Thursday morning, we’d love for you to share a book with your child or to join in with some of the World Book Day activities that will be in provision. It’s always a day that we really enjoy at nursery, so please join in if you can.
We’ve been reading ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. If you have this story at home then please enjoy reading it together. If not, you might want to listen to Cbeebies sharing it for their story time.
Construction Champions- Our building skills have been amazing this week, we’re thinking about what we want to make and then using it in our play after. Look at these car ramps, hotels and even a passenger ferry.
Mark making is such an important part of our learning in Nursery, we’ve been busy making marks in sand, painting, in our message centre and outside on the big whiteboard. We’re working really hard to hold our pencil comfortably so we have good control.
Help at home: We’re really enjoying our Nursery Rhymes, see if the children can perform you their favourite one. The Grand Old Duke of York, Baa Baa Black Sheep and 1,2,3,4,5 are the most requested.
Heavier Or Lighter?
This week, we have been thinking about weight.
We have been comparing objects in our classroom and using the words ‘heavier’ and ‘lighter’ to describe them.
Sometimes, we were tricked! Some of us thought that the biggest object might be the heaviest. We now know
, 
that’s not always the case!
Help at home: Can you compare some objects that you have? Which feels heavier and lighter when you feel them?
Dinosaur Roar!
We’ve been reading Dinosaur Roar this week in Nursery and finding out about dinosaurs.
Can you remember some of the dinosaurs from the story?
“Dinosaur weak, dinosaur strong, dinosaur short or dinosaur very, very long”
We made a volcano in our sand tray, painted dinosaurs using frozen paint and made dinosaur footprints using Playdough.
Next week, we’ll start some new learning about weight. We will be using words such as heavy, light, heavier and lighter to compare different objects.
Help at home: You could continue this learning at home by asking questions during everyday activities.
Which bag from the supermarket is heaviest/ lightest? Which toy is lighter? Can you find something that is lighter than the bottle of milk? Can you find something that is heavier than a packet of crisps?
Forest School
We had so much fun in our forest school session and have been showing our friends new to Nursery what it’s all about.
We’re back and we’ve been super busy!
The children settled in so well after their Christmas break. They’ve been brilliant at going back to their usual routines and I’ve been so impressed with their self-care skills. Lots of children can put their coats on themselves and take shoes and socks off for PE.
In PE we’ve been practising climbing, balancing and jumping as well as our coordination skills with bean bags and quoits.
For Maths we’ve been building our mastery with number 1! We can represent one using our hands, with Numicon, by making marks and collecting one object.
Have a go at home by watching Number Blocks, Number 1, then find ways to represent 1 in your house. We’d love to see any photos or videos!
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip
Next week!
Next week our book will be Dinosaur Roar!
