Slugs and snails
This week at nursery, we’ve started to look at minibeasts with no legs. It’s been quite a contrast to the spiders we investigated and the children have enjoyed learning lots of facts about slugs and snails. Please ask your child if they can remember what the word ‘nocturnal’ means – we had a great discussion about it on the carpet.
At the beginning of the week, we continued to try out some recipes from last week’s focus book ‘Spider Sandwiches’ which were delicious! Then, we all enjoyed the opportunity to look at snail shells and think about the spiral patterns we could see. The children created some lovely artwork with their mark-making experiments which will be displayed in the classroom. We’ve also been making marks using dyed sand and a non-Newtonian fluid called Oobleck (cornflour and water). These experiments are a fun way to help the children with their letter formation and handwriting. In our maths sessions we’ve been thinking about ‘one more’ and in phonics, we’ve been listening out for words which begin with the same initial sounds.
Outside, we’ve been re-potting our herbs from their tiny indoor greenhouse and looking after our beans which are getting quite tall. We’ll also be starting to plant some other vegetables over the next couple of weeks and the children will have the opportunity to taste their own produce.
Our caterpillars arrived this week and we’ve been watching them grow. Next week we’ll begin reading ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and we’ll talk about the life-cycle of a butterfly. Hopefully, in a few weeks time, we’ll be able to release our own butterflies into our garden area.
This week’s bible story
‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.’ John 14:27
What do you understand by the word ‘peace’.
The Oxford English Dictionary lists various definitions for the word ‘peace’.
– One definition is ‘freedom from disturbance; tranquillity’. Can you use this definition of peace in a sentence. For example, ‘The teacher wanted to have a few minutes’ peace in the staffroom.’
– Another definition is ‘a state or period in which there is no war or a war has ended’. Can you use this definition of peace in a sentence? For example, ‘After the Second World War ended, there was a time of peace.’
In 1981, 37 years ago, an organization called the United Nations set up a very special day called the International Day of Peace. The event is observed by people all over the world on 21 September every year. The aim of the day is to encourage everyone to commit to peace, despite there being many differences among us. People observe the day in various ways. Some people have special parties; others bring everyone together to eat in peace. Some people put up peace poles; others organize peace workshops. One thing that is common to all of the different groups of people is that they aim to have one minute of silence at midday.
The world is spinning on its axis in space. As the world turns, midday occurs at different times in different parts of the world. For example, when it is midday in Paris in France, it will be 11 a.m. in the UK because Paris is one hour ahead of us. When it is midday in the UK, it will be 11 a.m. in Dakar in Senegal, West Africa. This is because Dakar is one hour behind us. Show the maps above to illustrate. This time difference means that different countries will be observing the one-minute silence at different moments across time zones. The idea is to create a ‘peace wave’ that moves around the globe.
Each International Day of Peace has a special theme. In 2018, the theme celebrates the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When the declaration (agreement) was written 70 years ago, it stated that everybody in the world should have equal rights to life, freedom and security. It didn’t actually say that everyone had the right to peace. This year, it is hoped that the International Day of Peace will again send out a clear message about the importance of peace.
Time for reflection
The International Day of Peace encourages people all over the world to think about the importance of peace. In many parts of the world, people are living in situations where war and unrest make peace seem unlikely or even impossible.
It may seem that we can do little to help change the world. However, each of us can do things that encourage peace in our own small parts of the world. All of us can help to create peace in school or in our homes. Each of us can try to live peacefully with one another. Each of us can listen to other people’s opinions and learn about our differences.
Think about what peace means in the context of the school.
– Is our school a peaceful place?
– Are there things that we can do to make school more peaceful?
– How could we make our classrooms more peaceful? What about our playgrounds? What about dinner times?
We may feel like we can’t make a massive difference to the whole world, but each of us can do little things that together make a big difference.
Prayer
Dear God,
We pray for people in parts of the world where there is no peace,
Where there are wars and unrest.
We pray for peace.
We pray for the people we come into contact with each day.
Please help us to live in peace with them.
Help us to recognize that we are all different and that everyone’s opinions matter.
Amen.
Spiders, spiders everywhere!
We’ve all had a fantastic week learning about minibeasts and, in particular, spiders. The children have been learning about the life-cycle of a spider, they’ve been drawing spiders from pictures and modelling them from junk materials. We’ve also been thinking about spiders’ webs and how these clever creatures spin them to catch their dinner. In our ‘rainforest cafe’, we’ve had lots of fun creating and ordering food inspired by our focus book: Spider Sandwiches by Claire Freedman. Today, we all went on a minibeast hunt around our garden area and found: worms, spiders, a bee and a woodlouse.
Our beans are growing well and the children have been helping to take care of them by watering them daily and weeding them. We’ve noticed lots of little holes appearing in their leaves so we’ve also been checking for caterpillars!
In maths, we’ve been thinking about the number five and, in phonics, we’ve been identifying words which have the same initial sounds.
Next week, after looking at minibeasts with many legs, we’ll be looking at those with no legs. I wonder what we’ll discover?
We all wish you a happy long weekend and see you on Tuesday.
This week’s bible story
Jesus calms a storm: Mark 4:35-41
Have a think about what peace means to you. Is it a time without conflict or is it calmness? Today, we’re going to hear a story about Jesus and his disciples who were stuck on the Sea of Galilee in the middle of a storm.
Time for reflection:
Think about the times when it seems like you’re in the middle of a storm; perhaps when there are arguments or when things seem confusing and difficult or when things are frightening. Think of Jesus being there, saying, Peace, be still. Take a moment now to hear those words, and enjoy the peace they bring.
Prayer:
Dear God,
Help us to remember, even when we’re in the middle of a storm and life seems hard, you are always there to help us feel peace.
Amen
Welcome back!
It was so lovely to see all the smiling faces when we returned to school on Tuesday. We started off the week by having lots of chats about what the children had been doing over the Easter break and we are glad to hear that everyone had a good holiday.
Our new theme for the next half-term is ‘Minibeasts’ and we’ve already been busy learning about spiders. The children have enjoyed listening to ‘Spider Sandwiches’ by Claire Freedman and we’ve been discussing the ingredients we may need to make some of the delicious recipes in the book. How about a nice bowl of ‘lice rice’, anyone? The children have been writing recipes to go into our cookbook and they have been taking orders in our rainforest cafe. We’ve been looking at the minibeasts on our investigation table and drawing spiders at the creative table. We’ve also been counting spiders and thinking about the amount of legs they have, too.
The weather has been beautiful so we’ve been outside a lot this week. On Wednesday, the children enjoyed washing our outside vehicles and we’ve also been exercising our gross motor skills by playing games with hoops. Inside, we’ve been doing lots of mark-making and looking at letter formation. A very busy week indeed!
Next week, we’ll be learning about our new focus number (the number 5) and we’ll also be planting out the herbs which we began growing on the window ledge of our classroom. Our beans are already doing really well outside and will shortly need sticks for support! I wonder whose beanstalk will be the tallest?
Things to remember:
As the weather is getting warmer, please bring a hat into school for your child.
Please remember to name your child’s clothes, shoes and water bottles.
Many thanks.
This week’s bible story
11 I have told you these things so that you can have the true happiness that I have. I want you to be completely happy. 12 This is what I command you: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15: 11-12
Have a think about an occasion when you have argued with someone and found it difficult to resolve.
Do you know of any conflicts or wars taking place anywhere in the world? Unfortunately, conflicts are continuously occurring as humans try to share the world.
Whether an argument occurs between two people or between nations, the situation is still a conflict. Having conflicts is part of being human. If we did not have differences of opinion, we would never see anything in a new light or change a view that we have wrongly held. However, what is extremely important is the way in which a conflict is handled. If conflicts between large groups of people get out of hand, they can become bigger and bigger until they become wars. The way in which we manage conflict can enable people who have different opinions to work peacefully together for the better.
When we think of peace we often think of:
– freedom from war
– freedom from disputes
– freedom from worry and anxiety
– peace of mind
– quietness, silence, stillness
In the Bible, in Matthew 5.6-8, it says that people who work for peace are happy. In John 15.11-12, Jesus says that we will be happy if we care for others.
Most world religions value the importance of peace.
Reflection:
How could you contribute to peace around the world? Maybe you could try harder to listen when someone has a different opinion to your own. Maybe you could walk away if you feel angry with someone. There are many little things that we can do to contribute to the peace of the world.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for giving us the ability to make others feel better.
Help us to share our lives together in peace.
Help us to love and care for those who need us.
Help us to care for our families and friends.
Please help us to play our parts in encouraging peace in the world.
Amen
Happy Easter!
We can’t quite believe where the last term has gone. We’ve all been so busy learning that the time seems to have flown by!
Our week began with a visit from some beautiful farm animals and the children really enjoyed the opportunity to see them up close (some were brave enough to give the animals a gentle stroke). On Monday afternoon, we took our decorated eggs to the hall and had a chance to look at some of the other entries by the older children in the school. Congratulations to all of the winners – there were some fabulous ideas and it must have been difficult to judge them.
We’ve been doing lots of Easter-inspired learning this week and the children have created some fabulous Easter egg designs using collage materials. Each day, the children have been finding named paper eggs hidden around the classroom (this gives them a chance to recognise their own name and think about the initial sound they can hear). We’ve continued to focus on the number four in our maths sessions and have been concentrating on rhyming words in our phonics. As always, there has been a lot of mark-making in the classroom (and outside, too) and some of the children are beginning to write some or all of their name using their developing skills.
It’s been a very strange end to the term as the weather has turned colder again but we hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Take care and we look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday, 19th April.
Easter egg competition
It was great to see how creative the children had been when decorating the eggs. There were some amazing ideas – it made the judging very difficult! Well done.
This week’s bible story
Jesus is friends with Zacchaeus: Luke 19: 1-10
Have you ever heard the story of Burglar Bill – Bill goes out every night. Getting into houses through open windows and taking things. Until one night, Bill found a baby, and that changed his whole life …
There is a Bible story about a man who stole from other people. He took extra money when he gave them their tax bills and became very rich on all the money that he stole. Zacchaeus was a little man and that small people can’t see in crowds. Read the story of Zacchaeus to find out what happened to him.
Reflection:
Jesus loved everyone when he lived on the earth. It didn’t matter how bad people were, Jesus was always there for those who needed him. This is true for us too – no one is so bad that God doesn’t love them. And the more time we spend with God – praying, thinking about him, finding out about him, the more we want to be like Jesus; kind, helpful and good. Just like Zacchaeus, Burglar Bill changed his ways and tried to be more like Jesus by loving those around him. Even though Burglar Bill and Zacchaeus made the wrong choice, God forgave them and continued loving them.
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that Jesus loved Zacchaeus even when he wasn’t making the right choices. Help us to love all of those around us.
Amen
Superheroes!
What a week it’s been at nursery! We’ve had lots of fun talking about all of the people who help us in our daily lives and we’ve also imagined what life would be like if we were superheroes. The children really enjoyed thinking about the people who work as doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers and lifeguards and we discussed what their jobs involve and why they are important. We looked at different types of books and their layouts and some children tried to make their own comic books. All of the children’s fine-motor skills are developing really well and some of them are able to cut along straight and curvy lines using scissors. As the weather has been very beautiful this week, we’ve been outside exercising our gross-motor skills by learning about ‘push’ and ‘pull’.
Our focus number at the moment is the number four and we will continue to learn more about it next week. In our weekly music session, the children watched a clip of an orchestra performing and we talked about the role of the conductor.
Next week, we will be thinking about Easter and will celebrate by doing some Easter-themed activities throughout the week.
Things to remember as the weather gets warmer:
Please make sure your child brings a NAMED water bottle to school each day and a sun hat, if possible.
