19th November 2020
This week in Nursery we have been reading the story Handa's Surprise. We explored printing with fruit and looking carefully at a basket of fruits like Handa took to her friend Akeyo, to produce our own observational paintings. We created a collaborative piece of artwork with muddy hand prints and explored mark making with vegetables! We observed the inside of the fruits from the story and had a little taste, we discovered that the ripe red mango was sweet and enjoyed the taste of what was inside the spiky leaved pineapple. Although not in the story we had a try of a squeeze of lime and discovered it was sour!
In maths we have been continuing to learn about pattern with tap-a shape, peg boards and singing songs where there is a pattern, such as the same line or chorus repeated. Take a look at the photos on the website where you will see Bubbles 1 and 2 come together to perform a socially distanced rendition of Kye, Kye, Kule.
On a Wednesday morning we have use of the running track in school. The children really enjoy having the space to run and let off some steam. Please ensure your child comes to Nursery wearing footwear that is suitable to run in.
At home you could:
- Have a go at singing Kye, Kye Kule with your child (song attached).
- Talk about the colour, texture and tastes of fruits and vegetables you have at home. Encourage your child to try something new.
- Point out repeated patterns in your daily routine e.g. bath time- story- bed.
From Mrs Pughsley and the Nursery team
- Find out more about the celebration of Diwali on the CBeebies website. Find it at https://www.bbc.co.uk/
cbeebies/watch/lets-celebrate- diwali - Play a game with your child that involves turn taking such as snap!
- Can your child find patterns on everyday objects at home? e.g. socks, clothing, household furnishings...
- Encourage your child to develop their fine motor skills involving pinching actions such as doing up the zip on their coat, doing up buttons and holding cutlery. These require the development of both strength and coordination and help boost your child's self esteem in conquering the skill!
- Have a go at mess free mark making exploration in squish bags! Squeeze a little paint into a zip lock bag and encourage your child to make patterns and marks with their finger.
Dear Nursery families
We have had such a busy week in Nursery! We linked our previous learning of Little Red Hen and egg based activities such as counting the hen's eggs to singing our favourite Nursery Rhymes with a particular focus on the well known egg, Humpty Dumpty. Nursery rhymes help to improve your child’s memory, listening and speaking skills and vocabulary.
We've enjoyed investigating floating and sinking with eggs in Nursery and predicting and testing out our ideas of what happens to a boiled and raw egg falling from a small wall and a tall wall. We're finding lots of words that rhyme, ask your child what happened to poor Humpty Dumpty when he fell off the wall!
Did you know...?
Humpty Dumpty was the name of a huge cannon that was placed high on the walled city of Colchester which was under siege from the Parliament's army in 1648. It took 11 weeks of fire, but the gun finally came tumbling down, and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again! Author Lewis Carroll transformed Humpty into the personified egg we know it as today!
At home you could:
Try missing out words when you're saying a rhyme and let your child see if they can remember them. Try making up your own silly rhymes with your child.
BBC teach have a selection of Nursery Rhymes and songs available at
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-songs-medleys/zf2792p
Have a go at the floating egg experiment. You will need:
2 glasses half filled with water
2 eggs
3 tsp salt
Place one egg inside the glass of plain water and watch what happens.
Add 3 tsp salt to the other glass and stir. Talk about the process, ask your child What will happen? (Add another tsp salt if needed).
Enjoy your weekend!
Mrs Pughsley and the Nursery team
- During the last couple of weeks we have been reading the story of The Little Red Hen. We have been talking about how the little red hen did not give up and how we can all feel proud of things we can do by ourselves. We have also been thinking about and finding ways to help others.
- In the story the little red hen bakes some bread. We've been on an aeroplane adventure to visit other countries and taste different types of bread from around the world. We tried rye bread, flat bread, garlic and coriander naan and bagels.
- We had a go at making our own bread. We made soda bread, it was delicious!
- Through lots of counting rhymes, songs and activities your child will learn to recite numbers in sequence. We have particularly enjoyed singing 5 little ducks and 5 little piglets.
- Perhaps you could find some different bread types from other countries for your child to try, let us know so we can include it in their learning journey.
- Take a look with your child at Auntie Mabel's adventure in Come Outside as she finds out about bread; she finishes off with the little red hen story. Find it at
- Have a go at making soda bread with your child. The recipe we used is on the attached sheet.
- Sing some of the songs with your child that we have been singing at Nursery (sheet attached)
A huge thank you to all the families who came to our Stay and Play session for this term. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing what we do in Nursery.
In response to ‘What will you and your child try out at home?’ you told us:
‘Decorate a box and take it out exploring for things to put in it’/ ‘The wonder box’
‘Gloopy porridge walking!’
‘Asking open questions’
‘Role-play story telling’
‘More counting and reading’
‘More messy play!’
‘Puppet show/ Acting out a story’
‘In warm weather put the water and oats tray in the garden’
‘More arts and crafts’
‘Reading more books’
‘Different feels/ textures’
‘Mud kitchen’
‘Play dough and gluing activities’
Which aspects of the workshop did you find most interesting or useful:
‘Talking telephone’
‘How the adults interact with the children in so many different ways’
‘Loved circle time and story time as the children get really involved’
’Circle time’
‘Seeing the open questions and ideas with household objects’
‘I thought the puppet show was really engaging’
‘Having the time to explore Nursery’s equipment’
‘Making the yoghurt pot telephones as they love crafts’
‘Porridge feet/ Messy play!’
‘Story time, the outside area and phone making’
‘Building with my child’
‘The tuff tray activities’
Other comments included:
‘It’s a great idea to see what they do and how they interact with others’
‘Excellently run and organsied’
‘Keep doing these sessions I think they are fab’
‘Lovely experience’
We love to receive your feedback and suggestions for future sessions and value your continued support.
The Nursery team
In the story Whatever Next, we enjoyed going shopping in the moon cafe to buy items for our picnic on the moon and getting involved in lots of Space exploratory play!!
A huge thank you to all the families who came to our Stay and Play session this half term. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing what we do in Nursery.
We responded to feedback from last terms Stay and Play session by increasing the session from one hour to an hour and a half as some parents felt one hour wasn't long enough.
In response to ‘What will you and your child try out at home?’ you told us:
‘Counting, building, talking and listening. Love the imagination the children have’
‘’Building with boxes’
‘’The shaving foam with the dye’
Bear Hunts in the garden, circle time: fingers, two minute (prep time) before next activity’
‘We surely will be doing some bear hunts’
‘Bear counting and sorting activity’
‘Modelling/collage activities based on the books we read at home’
‘Lots of the activities from today. NO shaving foam!!’
Which aspects of the workshop did you find most interesting or useful:
‘ The role-play of the Bear Hunt story. Amazing to see the Nursery team in action.’
‘Having all the activities linked to Going on a Bear Hunt’
‘Seeing how the children practice writing names’
‘Nice to see circle time and understand the routine’
‘Nice to see how child interacts with peers’
‘Constructing the house’
‘The different creative ways of learning’
Other comments included:
‘I think the session was great and a good way to see how the Nursery and activities work’
‘The Bear Hunt’
‘Learning all about the structure of the Nursery day. Spending time ‘playing’ alongside the children’
We love to receive your feedback and suggestions for future sessions and value your continued support.
The Nursery team
Rain rain go away come again another day! Actually rain come when you like because a little (or a lot) of rain won’t stop us in Nursery! What fun we had today splishing and splashing and playing with our new tubes! Even one of our ladies got stuck in jumping in the puddles; can you tell who it is?
A huge thank you to all the families who came to our Stay and Play session this week. We thoroughly enjoyed sharing what we do in Nursery.
We responded to feedback from last terms Stay and Play session by incorporating circle time. This proved to be a very popular addition to the session with lots of parents/ carers commenting that this was one of the aspects of the workshop which they found most interesting or useful.
In response to ‘What will you and your child try out at home?’ you told us:
Counting with claps, mark making, more cooking– making cookies, reading labels– following instructions, gingerbread man hunt, going to get The Gingerbread Man book, more fun at story time.
Other comments included:
‘A fantastic variety of play complimented by structure– the best Nursery I have ever
experienced.’
‘I was interested to see all the possible activities and the Eastern European translations. Well done!’
‘Seeing how her day is spent so I can carry it on at home.’
‘Really useful to see what my child does at preschool, great session to be involved in.’
‘Really enjoyed it, lovely to see what children do in Nursery, great just to shadow normal activity.’
We love to receive your feedback and suggestions for future sessions. There were a couple of requests for a longer session next time– watch this space!
The Nursery team
