Autumn 2, Week 8, w/c 19th December 2023

A short week for us here in Nursery. We enjoyed finishing off our last bits of Christmas crafts and enjoyed a lovely Christmas party on Tuesday, which was the perfect way to end off our busy but lovely term. 

We have enjoyed watching a Christmas pantomime called The Night Before Christmas. The children have also enjoyed singing along to some Christmas carols and doing loads of Christmas dance breaks. 

Thank you to all the adults and children for such a wonderful Autumn term. Thank you for your patience and kindness - we have appreciated it very much as it has been very busy in Acorn class. The children have been wonderful and it has been lovely to see them grow their confidence and develop their friendships.

Have a wonderful and restful Christmas break. We will see you all again in the new year, where we will also be starting our new topic; Winter Wonderland.

     Autumn 2, Week 7, w/c 11th December 2023

With Christmas fast approaching, it has been another exciting week in Nursery with lots of festive events, crafts and activities to keep us busy. The children have enjoyed watching the reception in their nativity play on Monday morning, and on Tuesday we watched the year 2 children in their Christmas production. 

We were very lucky with the weather during our visit to forest school on Monday with Mrs Scrivener. The children had a wonderful time collecting a range of natural resources and crushing them using a mortar and pestle to make a magic potion. The children created some brilliant water pictures using stencils and enjoyed searching for seasonal environment changes that have happened since our last visit. 

During our group times we have been discussing the celebration of Christmas. We read the Christmas story which explained p that Christmas is a Christian celebration that celebrates the birth of Jesus. We explored the ways that the children celebrate Christmas and it was wonderful to hear the different events, activities, foods and family traditions that are part of Christmas for them. 

We have also enjoyed watching a video to explore how Christmas is celebrated around the world. The children discussed the similarities and differences from different cultures and used this opportunity to reflect on their own experiences of different celebrations. 

We have been very lucky to have an exciting visit from Santa on Friday! He brought all of the children a chocolate treat and confirmed he has seen us all being kind and brilliant. The children were happy to share their excitement, discussing with him their Christmas plans and celebrations. 

Our Makaton sign this week was ‘daddy’. We have also been learning the Makaton signs to the song ‘we wish you a merry Christmas’. See if your child can show you this over the weekend. 

Next week we look forward to a festive two days before we break up for Christmas break. The children are looking forward to finishing their special Christmas craft bags that they have been working hard on over the past few weeks, and bringing them home on Monday to share their festive creations.

Autumn 2, Week 6, w/c 4th December 2023

We have had another very exciting week here in Nursery learning about Christmas and have been doing a lot of Christmas activities! The children have loved getting into the Christmas spirit and decorating our class Christmas tree together. 

This week the children wrote their letters to Santa and we learnt what happens when we post our mail through a big red post box. We explored why we would use a post box and also why we would send someone a letter. We also enjoyed discussing who delivers the mail. The children shared who they think delivers the letters to Santa and what Santa is going to do with their letters. 

On Wednesday, we explored the different images of the childrens’ celebrations. The children were very excited to see theirs and their loved ones' faces up on the screen and were eager to talk about what was happening in their photos. The children enjoyed sharing with the class about their loved ones and explaining what they were celebrating in each picture. They discussed if they wore something special in the picture, whether they had any special food and also who they were celebrating with. We had stories about birthdays, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Diwali and Eid.

In Maths this week we have been busy with sorting. During our group time, we made use of resources and manipulatives on the carpet. We sorted items based on their colour, size and also the type of toys they were. The children explored why certain objects were sorted together and shared their ideas with one another.  

Thank you to everyone for attending our Christmas craft and singing afternoon on Friday. We are very proud of how hard the children have worked to learn the songs, and the courage they displayed performing to so many adults. We also hope you enjoyed making some crafts with your child. 

Our makaton sign this week was ‘mummy’, see if you can encourage your child to use this sign over the weekend. 

Next week we look forward to a visit to forest school and our Christmas lunch on Wednesday! 

Autumn 2, Week 5, w/c 27th November  2023

We have had another exciting week in Nursery learning about Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses. The children have been busy designing and making their own crowns using a range of colourful materials. We have enjoyed wearing the crowns around the classroom and even made a crown for Mr Hyde to wear. 

We have created our own magic wands using glitter, gold card, pens, tissue paper and shiny ribbon. On Monday during our PE lesson we used our wands to move in time with magical music, making large sweeping motions, circle and zigzag shapes. The children were then challenged to make letter shapes or write their name in the air with their ‘wand’. 

On Wednesday we had a surprise delivery of ‘dragon eggs’. The children explored the eggs, touching them and describing how they look and feel. We discussed who we think they belong to and how we can keep the eggs safe. The children were very resourceful when creating a nest using blankets, paper and cardboard boxes to keep the eggs safe. 

In Maths this week we have been busy matching objects and counting ‘treasure’. It has been fantastic to observe the children matching objects to number cards to extend their learning. Next week we will focus on sorting objects by size, colour and shape.

Our makaton sign this week was ‘more’, see if you can encourage your child to use this sign over the weekend. 

We have been busy decorating the classroom and practicing our Christmas songs ready for our special event next Friday. 

Next week we look forward to sharing photos and discussing a range of celebrations. Please send a photo of your child celebrating an event to the school office so they can share this with their friends.

Autumn 2, Week 4, w/c 20th November 2023

We have had another exciting week in Nursery jam packed with lots of great learning. We have enjoyed singing with Mrs Scrivener and had lots of fun participating in the cross country on Friday. 

This week we have enjoyed reading the story The Three Little Pigs. By the end of the week the children have really enjoyed joining in with the repeated refrains such as ‘not by the hairs on my chinny chin chin’ and ‘Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down!’.

The children loved building their own houses for the little pigs and tested each one to see whether it could be blown over by the big bad wolf. We also have enjoyed recreating the story using the puppets and resources during our exploring time. We also had a visit from the children in year 6 came to read the children some stories. This was very exciting for the children and they want this to become a weekly occurrence! 

During group time, we looked at different fairytale castles, houses and magical buildings. We discussed who the children thought might live in those buildings and what materials they think were used to build the houses. They also shared with their friends which once they liked best and why they liked it the most. The children have really enjoyed our topic this term. 

In Maths this week we have been continuing exploring patterns, and have focused on fixing mistakes in a repeating pattern. The children have been searching for different patterns around the classroom and outside area.

We have been busy creating repeating patterns using our counting cubes, and have been making our own snake repeating patterns. We have also explored pattern making through our art this week by doing some finger painting repeating snake patterns, and creating paper chains. The children really enjoy being creative on the art table so it was fantastic to see them combine maths and art. 

Our makaton sign this week was ‘home’, see if you can encourage your child to use this sign over the weekend. 

Next week we look to learning more about Kings and Queens, and continuing to practice our Christmas songs.

 Autumn 2, Week 3, w/c 13th November 2023

We have had another exciting week in Nursery and The children were very proud to show their odd socks on Monday. We have shared our thoughts and ideas about how we can be a good friend and what a good friend looks like.

This week we have enjoyed reading the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff. By the end of the week the children have really enjoyed joining in with the repeated refrains such as ‘trip, trap, trip trap’ and ‘Who’s that trip-trapping over my bridge?’. 

During a group time we discussed how the troll was feeling, and why he got angry with the goats. Our discussion encouraged the children to reflect on their own experiences of feeling sad, upset or grumpy. We then shared what action was taken by themselves or others to help them feel happier. We also have enjoyed recreating the story using the puppets and resources during our exploring time. 

In maths this week we have been exploring patterns. The children have been searching for different p patterns around the classroom and outside area. We have been busy creating repeating patterns using bingo pens, cotton wheels and coloured bears. The Children have also been using their number knowledge to count how many blocks in their towers, and to build a duplo bridge for the Billy goats to use. It was fantastic to hear the children comparing their towers with their friends, discussing who’s tower was the tallest or shortest and counting to see who had used the most blocks. 

We were very lucky to have a visit from the team at Didcot library on Friday. We enjoyed exploring a range of books from the library and an introduction to the characters in next week’s story ‘The Three Little Pigs’. We also enjoyed singing the Goldilocks rhyme that we had previously learnt. 

Our makaton sign this week was 'food', see if you can encourage your child to use this sign at home over the weekend. 

Next week we look forward to continuing our exploration of pattern, and participating in a whole school cross country event. 

    Autumn 2, Week 2, w/c 6th November 2023

It has been another busy week in Nursery! 

We continued with our new topic this term of ‘Once Upon a Time’. During our group times this week, we read the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and created our own story sack from different props from the story. The children had a go at taking the items out of the story sack and shared what they think it might be and who it might belong to. The children loved the story!

Following our Goldilocks theme, we have been playing around with some oats in class, talking about how it feels, how we could cook it and who we could make some porridge for. This week we made some masks of our favorite fairytale characters. The children shared the special features of their masks and what materials would be best. The children have also been using our story bags, props, masks and small world characters to retell the story using their own words and introduced vocabulary.

In Maths, we have continued learning about the number two. This week we focused on counting, and being able to count 2 objects. The children were able to recall what we learnt about the number 2 last week. The children shared what they thought counting was, and during our continuous provision, the children were encouraged to find 2 objects, count 2 objects, tidy 2 objects. We have been encouraging the children to search for and count 2 in everyday scenarios. This has included putting on 2 welly boots, tidying up 2 toys, showing 2 using our fingers. 

This week, the children also learnt why we celebrate Remembrance Day. We spent the week learning about why we see Poppies around remembrance day and the importance of them. We did some Poppy arts and crafts and we remembered why it's so important to think about those who fought in the war. We also learnt about Diwali this week. The children learnt all about why it is also called the Festival of Lights and what people who celebrate Diwali do over the 5 days of celebrations. The children shared their brilliant art skills by making their own Rangoli patterns and made their own Diya lamps. 

Our Makaton sign this week was ‘No’. See if your child can show you this sign over the weekend. 

Next week we look forward to introducing a new story, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

    Autumn 2, Week 1, w/c 30th October 2023

It has been another busy week in Nursery. The weather has been a lot more unsettled this week, which hasn’t stopped us having fun outside. Please ensure your child has a coat every day in school, and a spare change of clothes in their bag. 

We have been embracing the change of weather and have enjoyed wearing our welly boots to splash in puddles. We added some powder paint to the puddles and have enjoyed exploring colours, mixing and creating colourful bubbles. 

Our new topic this term is ‘Once Upon a Time’. During our group times this week the children have been sharing their knowledge of fairytale characters. We have been focusing on describing what the characters look like and discussing the role they play in their stories. 

This week our story was ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. During our group time on Monday we read the story and introduced the children to the game ‘What’s the time, Mr Wolf?’. The children really enjoyed taking on the role of Mr Wolf, especially when shouting DINNER TIME! It was fantastic to observe the children listening careful to the instructions, and counting the number of steps as they played.

Following our Little Red Riding Hood theme this week, we have been busy using play dough to make cakes for Grandma. The children have also been using our story bags, props, masks and small world characters to retell the story using their own words and introduced vocabulary.

In maths we have been learning about the number two. We have been encouraging the children to search for 2 in everyday scenarios. This has included putting on 2 welly boots, tidying up 2 toys, showing 2 using our fingers and painting a number 2 to go in our learning books. 

Our Makaton sign this week was ‘Yes’, see if your child can show you this sign over the weekend. 

Next week we look forward to introducing a new story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We will also be creating a poppy craft for Remembrance day and learning all about Diwali.