Welcome to the Nursery class page!

Summer Term

Geography week

In Geography week we have been focusing on familiar routes, and using our familiar routes to create our own line maps.

We started by discussing our familiar route down to Forest School. We start by lining up by the wall, walking through Reception, past the sensory garden and the exercise equipment, and finally reaching Forest School.

We drew our line map, drawing pictures of the key features along the way. 

We stopped at each symbol / area, and listened carefully to what we could hear. 

When we reached our final destination, we added pictures of what we could hear to create a sound map. 

Throughout the week, the children were then encouraged to think about their familiar route to school and create their own map in Child Initiated Learning.

Spring Term

Science Week

In science week we have been focusing on the theme ‘Sustainability’. 

We have been exploring how we could protect the environment. 

On Monday we investigated Bee Cocoons and had a beekeeper come and discuss how they care for their bee’s. We learned how important bees are as they help us to grow our plants and food, such as our vegetables.  We were also very lucky to see some of the bees hatch out of the cocoons.  We also planted some sunflower seeds, we are hoping that when they grow the bees will use them for their nectar. 

We have also learned the importance of recycling. We explored how difficult it is to clean up beaches of rubbish using sand trays and tools. 

We have explored small world play using arctic animals and investigated how ice melts into water. We observed the ice melting over time, noticing how the warmth would melt the ice. 

Forest School Activities

World Book Day

We celebrated World Book Day this year by inviting a very exciting storytelling visitor to our school.  

We listened to fairy tale stories and joined in using lots of different actions. 

We also dressed up as lots of different characters from the genre's Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends, and created our own story using the book You Choose Fairy Tales by Nick Sharratt and Pippa Goodhart.

Shrove Tuesday 

Pancake Day

We had pancakes for snack time on Shrove Tuesday. 

We were given the choice to squeeze some lemon and sprinkle some sugar onto our pancakes. 

We also practiced flipping playdough 'pancakes' in the playdough area, using role playing frying pans. 

The children rolled small pieces of playdough as their toppings. 

Art week

In art week we have been exploring colour mixing in our child initiated learning. The children have explored what happens when we mix the primary colours; blue and red, red and yellow, and blue and yellow.

We have also been experimenting with other ways of mark making.

We explored pattern rollers to create different patterns when painting in hand control. We also drew around shapes to help guide us to draw tree houses. The shapes enabled us to represent different parts of the tree house, such as a square for the building and a triangle for the roof.

In the afternoons, we also explored the artist Jackson Pollock and used the pipettes to create our own drip paintings.

Autumn Term

DT Week 

Nursery created their own Christmas decorations for DT week. 

We planned which decoration we wanted to make by choosing between a gingerbread man, a bell, a star and a tree. The children created their plan by colouring in the shape of their choice and thinking about what colours they wanted to use. 

Next we followed a salt dough recipe. We took turns as a group to measure and mix the ingredients. We then used a cookie cutter to cut out the Christmas decoration. 

Once the decorations were cooked and set hard, we painted them. We glued some glitter and sequins of our choice to the decorations and threaded metallic wire through the holes so that we could hang them up at home. 

Parent reading mornings

History Week 

In History Week we have been learning about our own history and our family's history.

We have brought in our own baby pictures and discussed how we have grown from babies to children, and discussed everything that we learned to do from a baby, such as walking and talking.  We have created a photo album with our baby pictures and we are able to look through this in the role play area. We have also learned a new song about growing from a baby. 

We have been caring for the baby dolls in the classroom and outside, we have been washing them and feeding them, and taking them for walks in the pram. 

Quotes from the children this week.

"My Sister was a baby."

"I was a baby, then a toddler. I'm a child now, I will be four in December."

"I will be an adult like Mummy."

"I was small, I get big like Mummy."

Forest School

Every Wednesday morning the Nursery children get themselves ready with wellies and coats and attend Forest School. Below are some activities that the children have been engaging in during their Forest School mornings. 

Brazilian Percussion Workshop

We were very lucky to participate in a Brazilian Percussion workshop. We danced and sang along to familiar nursery rhymes such as 'Heads, shoulders, knees and toes' and 'Sleeping bunnies'. We listened to the beat of the drum and danced along. 

Child-Initiated Learning

Nursery have settled well into their new classroom routines. 

The children have been learning which animal group they are in, and they have been following the daily routines. 

In the morning they come into school, put their belongings on their pegs and join hand control. 

The children have been learning our core nursery rhymes in group time and they are enjoying listening to stories before home time. 

Every morning and afternoon we have our Child Initiated Learning time. The children have been very busy exploring the learning environment, using their investigative skills and learning new skills! 

Below are some pictures that show how we have been learning and exploring in nursery!