Nursery

2 weeks ago
Posted on 08th Jan 2025 by

Design Brief: To Design A Patterned Decoration From Malleable Materials

We followed the whole school sequence of learning for Design Technology in order to design a patterned, malleable decoration.

We used photographs of Christmas Trees and appraised patterned baubles.

We then explored ways to create everyday patterns and then repeating patterns. This supported our vocabulary development.

Then we explore salt dough and clay and ways to create patterns such as pressing, using tools, beads and sequins.

We evaluated our designs and discussed what we liked and how we could improve them.

The decorations took pride of place on our Christmas Tree.

2 weeks ago
Posted on 08th Jan 2025 by

A Throw Back to December – A Time To Celebrate!

We had a very busy end to the autumn term . . .

As part of our People and Communities topic we learnt about how some people celebrate Christmas. The children learnt about the Christian story of the Nativity through small world, role-play, songs and books. They were inspired to make marks of some of the significant characters. We stole the show in Our First Nativity performance, there was not a dry eye in the hall! This took lots of self-regulation and courage.

The children also shared photographs of celebrations that they have participated in at home. This evoked lots of rich language of comparison.

The countdown to Christmas was very exciting and we used our Advent Calendar to see the passing of time. We placed a star in the five frame each day and could describe whether it was full, nearly full, empty or nearly empty. We could see whether we had a long way to go and as we were getting closer.

2 months ago
Posted on 03rd Dec 2024 by

We’re Going On A Baby Hunt!

Becky, who is a Christian, from Sutton Hill Church came to visit the children in nursery and teach them about the Christian story of the first Christmas.

This has supported the children’s learning about celebrations. The children have been exploring the story in a range of ways such as through books, small world resources and songs and this experience supported their deeper knowledge of the beliefs of some Christians.

 

2 months ago
Posted on 29th Nov 2024 by

Real experiences enrich our learning, making it memorable . . . Baby Reya

We have been learning about babies as part of an Understanding of the World project.

We have analysed objects, looked at baby photographs, learnt songs, nursery rhymes and explored a variety of books about babies.

We now know a range of vocabulary and concepts linked to this.

“Babies can’t walk very well. Need a pram.”

“I was a baby a long, long time ago. Now I am a child.”

“Babies need a high chair or they would fall off!”

“I’m a child. I have pants not a nappy.”

Today we had an expert visitor, a real baby visit the setting. We noticed the size of the baby, it’s clothing and the things it needed. We told his mummy what we knew and asked whether the baby drank from a bottle or had a nappy. We sang Reya a lullaby. We also met Rowan who is 1 and discussed how he is older than Reya but younger than us.

 

 

2 months ago
Posted on 29th Nov 2024 by

Sealegs Puppet Theatre

Rob and his amazing puppets visited our school last week and we watched his interactive show Tales from the Farmyard.

It was a magical, musical affair which captivated all of the children and supported their listening and attention skills as well as their retrieval and inference skills.

Children were able to use their existing knowledge of classic songs like Old MacDonald and stories such as The Little Red Hen to join in and understand what was happening.

It was also a wonderful opportunity to pre-teach concepts and vocabulary about the farm which the nursery children will explore further in the spring term, and consolidate the reception children’s knowledge.

2 months ago
Posted on 20th Nov 2024 by

Exploring Seasons

Children in the Foundation Stage have access to the outdoors on a daily basis. Children learn about the seasons through first hand experiences.

This week it snowed! It was a wonderful opportunity for children to use all of their senses to explore this first taste of winter and it evoked some descriptive language.

“It’s freezing cold!”

“Crunch, crunch, throw it at you.”

“Look at the sky, it’s grey.”

“My footprints go round and round.”

2 months ago
Posted on 20th Nov 2024 by

Poppy, Poppy What Do You Say? Wear Me On Remembrance Day.

Exploring form through the topic of Remembrance; The practitioners in the EYFS follow our whole school pedagogy for art, which started by looking at artist Andy Goldsworthy’s work. The children then collected red, natural objects from the garden. This also enabled them to notice, observe, sort and classify objects.

The children have watched videos, listened to stories and compared images of soldiers from the past and soldiers now. They can also recite a poem all about the significance of poppies.

2 months ago
Posted on 20th Nov 2024 by

We are Storytellers . . . .

Stories form a huge part of our curriculum. A story can be told anywhere within our provision and we ensure a range of beautiful resources are on offer to our children. We also enhance provision to link to stories being studied or inspire children within their play. Children participate in a daily story session this involves books, puppets and role-play.

We value stories and reading to our children so much that every child is read to at least twice during a session and most lots more!

3 months ago
Posted on 25th Oct 2024 by

Autumn Leaves Are Falling Down!

During Forest School sessions for the last half term the children in nursery have been noticing and exploring the season of Autumn.

They have been reading fiction and non-fiction books, reciting poetry and songs to support their conceptual, scientific understanding and of course having hand-on experiences as you can see here!

All of these elements have enabled children to acquire new vocabulary;

“Leaves have blown off in the wind.”

“Some trees have orange leaves now.”

“In autumn there are some acorns on the ground.”

3 months ago
Posted on 22nd Oct 2024 by

What do people celebrate and why? Learning about Diwali in the EYFS

Today we had special visitors to help us learn about Diwali Festival of Lights.

Our visitors Jan and Vicky follow the Sikh religion and talked to us about how they celebrate. We have also been watching videos about a family who follow Hinduism. We looked at diva lamps and the embroidered Indian suit that Jan wears to celebrate when she visits the temple. Jan brought in food that she had made and would eat to mark the festival and we were able to taste it.

We sang a song about candles and used stem sentences to support our conceptual knowledge of this celebration. We have also read a range of story and information books in order to develop our understanding.

“Some Hindus and some Sikhs decorate their homes with lights.”

“Some Hindus and some Sikhs give presents such as sweets.”

“Some Hindus and some Sikhs clean their homes to celebrate Diwali.”