Welcome to our Nursery webpage...we will be updating the page weekly...please keep popping back to keep up-to-date...
Welcome to the Cranborne Nursery Class Webpage. This is where we will be sharing useful information and reminders, alongside, updates on the children's upcoming and previous learning experiences with us.
We know that starting school can be a stressful experience for some, which is why we are always here to help everyone settle into our routines. We also understand that you may have lots of questions during the first few weeks (and across the year), so please ask one of us if there is anything you don't understand or just need a bit more information about.
Our Routines:
A few other reminders:
*Please send in a named water bottle daily for your child too.
*Please make sure your child is in labelled school uniform.
*Please send your child in with a named book bag - especially on a Thursday for library.
We are here to help you all. If you need anything or have any questions - no matter how trivial they may seem to you - we are always available to talk.
Our email addresses are:
Mrs Mottram (Class Teacher): smottram@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Mrs White (EYP): cwhite@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Miss Jennings (TA): ljennings@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Our Learning
Below you can find an overview of the Autumn Term learning focus. Each week we will be posting a weekly overview of what the class will be covering that week, along with a summary and photos of the children engaged in their learning from the week before.
Our Learning for the week 5th - 9th February 2024
This week we are looking at the story of "The 3 Billy Goats Gruff". Using this story we will be looking at re-enacting stories and re-telling them using voices, props and ourselves! The children are getting really confident when talking about stories we are reading and can tell someone all about the characters and what is happening in them.
The story will also be starting point for some maths work on positional language and some Design Technology work on bridges.
We will also take some time to look at the Chinese New Year Festival that is happening at the end of the week/weekend. This coming year will be the year of the dragon, so as well as talking about the different animals the years are named after (and why), we will be looking at traditional dragon dances and making dragon puppets. We are even going to sample some stir fry vegetables and noodles.
(15th - 26th Jan) During the last 2 weeks, the children have been very busy. They have made large collaborative art together, decorated cupcakes, made playdough and used it in 'Dough Disco', spent lots of time storytelling with friends and grown-ups, and had fun during our busy finger time each morning. We have had some fantastic Duplo models built, including towers that were taller than the children!
(8th - 12th Jan) The children have been busy over the past 2 weeks. They have been making their own story maps of 'Going on a Bear Hunt', joining in with some collaborative artwork, acting out the two stories we have looked at so far this term, and enjoying science experiments! Of course they have also been doing maths, phonics and lots of other learning alongside this!
The Learning Environment in Cranborne Early Years Foundation Stage
In the Early Years at Cranborne we strive to create an environment that promotes a sense of curiosity, awe and wonder in the children.
An environment that also enables plenty of opportunities for them to self-select and demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning, and where the children can practise, consolidate and rehearse taught skills.
We aim to provide the children with areas that are accessible to them and are organised in a way to promote independence and purposeful play.
The seven areas of learning are as follows:
Communication and Language*
Physical Development*
Personal, Social and Emotional Development*
Literacy
Maths
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Expressive Arts and Design
*Prime Areas of Learning
Below you can see some pictures of the Nursery class and outside learning area, and watch a video tour of the classroom.
Spring Term 2024 - past learning
Our learning for 29th January - 2nd February 2024
This week we are using another of our favourite stories to base our work around.
The children will be talking about the characters and sequence of the story, re-telling it in their own words, and even suggesting some alternative endings.
We will be looking at different buildings, and having a go at making our own.
In our maths we are continuing with some number work, looking at matching quantities to the correct number.
In our phonics we are continuing with our work on oral blending and segmenting. The children are getting good at hearing the sounds in words.
Our Learning for the week 22nd - 26th January 2024
This week our story is another well-known and very well-loved, 'The Gruffalo. The children will be looking at where different animals live, alongside talking about the story itself, the characters, sequence and setting.
We are also starting to think about how we use words to describe something, and will be investigating how we can use adjectives.
In maths we are looking at matching amounts of objects to the correct numeral, which will also help practise number recognition.
In our phonics we are continuing with our work on oral blending and segmenting. The children really enjoy playing our "What's in the box?" game.
This week is also our Friends of Cranborne Penny Wars Week so please send in any spare coins you have lying around, or under sofa cushions, bottoms of bags etc...you never know we may win a prize for our class!
Our Learning for the week 15th - 19th January 2024
This week we will be looking at the traditional tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
We will be continuing to think about story maps, and the sequence that a story takes. We will also be thinking about the characters and what happens to them in the story.
The children will be making wanted posters for Goldilocks, and our role play area has be transformed into the 3 Bear's Cottage.
In our maths this week we will be looking at the size of things and comparing sizes. The children will be using the correct maths vocabulary related to this: Big, bigger, biggest, small, smaller, smallest and middle-sized (to fit in with our story). There will be lots of opportunities for the children to talk about and order objects from around our learning environment.
Our Learning for the week 8th - 12th January 2024
We are starting the term off with an old favourite of ours..."We're Going on a Bear Hunt!"
The children will be reading the story, acting it out and making props and puppets to help with this. They will also be thinking about the sequence of the story, using a story map, which is a pictorial representation of the sequence events. They will be making up their own versions of the story and thinking about positional language, using the bear and various objects to describe where he is hiding! We are even looking at sound effects that match the different places we go on our hunt for the bear!
We are excited to get stuck into a fun and full half-term.
Just one more reminder that our PE and Library days have changed, we will be doing PE on a Wednesday morning now, so PE clothes and shoes on a Wednesday, and Library will be on a Friday morning, so book bags and old books to swap on a Friday please.
Learning in Nursery slideshows - Autumn Term 2023
Previous learning...Autumn 1 2023
Next week...(20/11/2023)
Next week we are thinking about people who help us around our school!
We will be having a visit from Mr Hibbs and Mr Clarke to talk about how they help us by keeping our school grounds and buildings safe for us.
We will be continuing to practise our Christmas songs - which we are getting really good at singing!
Our maths focus will be counting, we are looking at different ways to show our numbers to 5, e.g. 5 can be 5 compare bears, or it could be 3 pencils and 2 crayons, but it is still 5.
Our phonics focus will be Rhythm and Rhyme - we will be thinking about rhyming words and sounds and playing some matching games.
What we have been learning...(6-17/11/2023)
We have been super busy over the last 2 weeks!
We have had a visit from the Royal Veterinary Collage (RVC), we have learnt about the festival of Diwali, and we have talked about Remembrance all alongside our usual sessions for maths and phonics.
We loved meeting Grace and Luchia from the RVC. They showed us lots of interesting artefacts and taught us how to look after our pets. We looked at x-rays, we bandaged some 'poorly pets' and we were allowed to look at and touch some animal bones! It was so exciting, and lots of fun!
We have been enjoying using our Role Play area that has been turned into a doctors/vets.
We talked about the Hindu festival of Diwali, and Mrs Khajuria showed us some photos of the lovely clothes that her family wear and the food and sweets that her family share at Diwali. We then had some time to make our own Rangoli patterns.
It was also Remembrance day - so we thought about how we can remember all the good things that other people do for us. We made some poppy prints using apples.
One day was really windy, so we made kites to fly outside! But we had to hold on really tight to make sure they didn't fly away!
Next Week (06/11/2023)
This week we are starting a block of weeks looking at and talking about people who help us - We are starting with doctors and vets! We will be having visits from both of them this week, and can't wait to find out more about what they do!
We will also be having our regular library visit on Tuesday, so please remember to send in your book bags.
In Maths we are counting and comparing amounts. We will be using the vocabulary that goes along with this - more, less, fewer, the same, equal.
At the end of the week we will start to look at the festival of Diwali and talk about why it is important to people of the Hindu faith. This will continue next week too, as Diwali itself is on Sunday 12th November.
Our phonics sessions this week will be focusing on tuning into instrumental sounds.
This Week (30/10-03/11/2023)
We have spent our first week back in school exploring colour and pattern, to tie in with firework night.
We have had fun making firework pictures and talking about how to be safe on firework night.
At the start of the week we investigated pumpkins! We had fun looking at the insides, and spent time scooping the seeds out.
We also spent time talking about what we had done during our break from school, and sharing news with friends.
Next Week (30/10-3/11/2023)
Our focus next week is Pumpkins, Potions and Fireworks!
We will be spending time looking at patterns again, being able to talk about the patterns we can see, as well as being able to continue simple repeating ones.
We shall be reading Room on the Broom, and talking about what happens in the story, we will also be joining in with the repeated phrases in the book.
With Bonfire Night getting near, we will talk about firework safety, and spend time creating firework art, and even becoming fireworks in PE! We will be using our voices to make firework sounds in phonics and matching these sounds to movement.
All of this will be happening alongside our regular library slot on Tuesday.
This Week (16-20/10/2023)
This week we have had lots of fun investigating Autumn! We have been using magnifying glasses to look closer at the patterns on the leaves that we found.
We have also been using the conkers for both artwork and maths!
Conker painting can be a bit messy!! But is really fun to try too.
We really like working together in nursery, and this week we made a big Autumn collage using the leaves that we all brought into school.
We spent some time looking at our numbers again this week, as well as lining objects up to make them easier to count.
We like to look at books and mark make too, and it's even more fun when we do it with some friends!
Next Week (16-20/10/2023) Autumn!
This week is our last week of the half-term! The time has flown by and we have had lots of fun getting to know each other in our new class.
This week in Nursery we are focusing on Autumn! We will be looking at how the world around us changes in Autumn, and investigating lots of Autumn objects.
We will be having an Expressive Arts and Design focus this week, with lots of Autumn arts and crafts going on!
The children will be thinking about sorting and classifying in maths this week, looking at different ways to group or sort objects. This might be by size, colour, purpose etc. But we do also ask the children to come up with their own reasons and criteria for how they are sorting the objects.
In phonics we will be continuing with our listening skills, but also having a go at some instrumental sounds this week.
Please remember that our library day has switched to a Tuesday, so the books need to be returned by then in order for the children to take new ones this week.
Also, this Tuesday, 17th October is our individual and siblings photo day. The children need to be in full school uniform.
This Week (9-13/10/2023)
This week we have been looking at patterns - patterns in nature, patterns in the classroom and making our own!
We have also been talking about Harvest Festival, and why it is good to say thank you for the things we have. The children enjoyed looking at different vegetables. They had the opportunity to touch, feel and smell them, and even print with some! We talked about where they come from, and how they grow.
We have enjoyed some messy play this week, talking about textures, with cooked spaghetti, and making patterns in shaving foam!
In phonics we have had so much fun recreating sounds using just our voices! We have also been getting better at our listening skills, and when we play our listening games, we are guessing more of the sounds correctly!
In PE we were practising our balancing, rolling, stretching and jumping this week, as we all became superheroes for the session!
We have had lots of fun, learning together, taking turns, working together and helping each other this week. We have helped to build models together, we have painted together, we have read and listened to stories together, we have built our own obstacle courses together, and we have found friends to join in with us.
This Week (2-6/10/2023)
The children in nursery have been busy spending time thinking about how they can be kind to each other. We have spoken again about our class rules and why we have included the word kind in them. Through out the week we have been focusing on little random acts of kindness that the children do without even thinking about it, and highlighting them as ways to be kind. Such as, helping a friend who is upset, helping a friend build a model, helping a friend open their water bottle
The children have been using different counting objects to show the numbers 1-5 in different ways, and have been counting not just objects, but claps, jumps, hops etc.
We have made our own playdough, and have used it to make lots of yummy things for the staff to 'eat'!
The children have enjoyed going to the library in their smaller, key worker groups, and have been reading all over the classroom!
As we are going to be talking about Harvest Festival next week in nursery, we have been busy learning our 2 harvest songs, Big Red Combine Harvester and Dingle Dangle Scarecrow. Here a links to both if you want to practice at home!
We have also spent lots of time using our small world and role play areas, using our imaginations to tell stories through our play.
Next Week (9-13/10/2023)
Our focus book this week is Oliver's Vegetables by Vivian French and Alison Bartlett.
We will be spending time exploring and investigating different vegetables, including; feeling, smelling, tasting, cutting, printing with, talking about where they come from. We will link all of this to Harvest Festival, and talk about being thankful for everything we have.
In our phonics sessions we are going to continue looking at different sounds we can make using just our voices, and having fun trying to create sound effects for things we hear each day.
In maths we are looking at patterns, we will be looking around us for patterns both inside and out, and having a go at creating our own patterns using objects, shapes and printing them.
This week (18-29/09/2023)
Over the past couple of weeks the children have been talking about themselves, what they look like, what makes them special, and how they are feeling.
We have spent quite a bit of time talking about big emotions, alongside reading The Colour Monster book, helping the children to identify how they are feeling at different points during their day.
We have been looking in the mirror and talking about how we look, noticing similarities and differences between us all, and painting our self-portraits.
The class continue to explore the learning environment, and have been learning how to tidy up after they use something, so it is ready for the next person. (We may need lots of practise!)
There have been lots of listening games, number songs and counting rhymes, and of course lots of stories!
From next week we will be putting a nursery rhyme of the week up for you to learn/practise at home with your child.
Next week (02-06/10/2023)
This coming week we will be continuing our work on emotions and feelings. To enhance this we will be reading "Have you filled a bucket today?" Which looks at how we can be kind to each other and how that can make us feel happy too.
We are continuing with our counting skills, looking at numbers 1-5 in more detail, and thinking about counting out the right number of objects.
We will be looking at different sounds we can make using just our voices in our phonics this week, and having fun trying to create sound effects for things we hear each day.
Don't forget our rescheduled parent information meeting, will be at 3.30pm this Wednesday, the 4th October. I will be uploading all the slides on here once the meeting finishes, in case you can't make it.
This week (11-15/09/2023)
The children have had a fun week exploring the learning environment, and getting to know each other, and us!
We have been talking about our class rules and expectations, which are:
Kind hands,
Kind words,
Kind feet,
Look after each other and our environment, (including all our toys in nursery)
Respect each other.
The children are building lots of new friendships, and we have been talking about taking turns and sharing with each other.
We have had our first library visit (please return books on Thursday) and went into the hall for our first PE session too, where we spent some time moving around the hall in different ways. We have also been learning how to come together on the carpet, for stories and singing.
The children have had a busy week, but have coped amazingly and all been super stars!
Next week (18-22/09/2023)
We have lots of fun and exciting learning opportunities planned for the class.
Our main focus is on celebrating our similarities and differences, we will be reading 'My Nose, Your Nose' by Melanie Walsh and talking about how we can have some things the same as our friends and some that are different. Then we will be looking at ourselves in the mirror and painting self-portraits! The children will be helping to choose and make the correct colours for their eye, hair and skin tones.
We will be continuing to look through the 'All About Me' books and posters the children made during the Summer, and getting to know each other still..
Across the week there will be maths and phonics activities, alongside stories, songs, library and PE.
Useful Websites
For Phonics:
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm
Here is some more information on Read Write Inc Phonics.
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/learn-to-read-phonics/
For Maths:
http://www.early-years.org/parents/docs/maths-through-play.pdf
http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/mathematical-resources/top-ten-websites-and-online-resources/
Other Websites:
foundationyears.org.uk/what-to-expect-when/
Espresso https://www.discoveryeducation.co.uk/what-we-offer/discovery-educationespresso
Username : student15821 Password: rocket
You can find reading books at:
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/
Key Dates for Spring Term 2024
Link to the school calendar
Link to the school term dates
Thank you to all who came this evening to our parent's information meeting.
Please find the slides from the meeting below. Please have a read through them and remember, we are always here to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you
The Nursery Team
Thank you to all the parents that made it to our New Parents Meeting on 23rd May.
Below is a copy of the slides that we talked through.
Supporting Maths at home.
Below are some ideas for how you can support the different areas of the EYFS maths curriculum at home, and when out and about with your child.
Do you need weekend inspiration?
Hertfordshire are partners in a great tool for parents. A list of 50 fun things to do with your child before they turn 5. There are lots of great ideas to do as a family or with friends. Maybe you can try some over the half-term? If you do, don't forget to take photos and upload them to Evidence Me. That way we can ask your childrne to tell us all about the fun they have had.
You can download it as an app, or use the web based version, either way it is a great resource for ideas of fun activities to do together.
Please see the link here: https://hertfordshire.50thingstodo.org/app/os#!/welcome for the web based version, or the document below for the app information.
Have fun!
Thank you to everyone who made it to our information evening.
If you were unable to attend, the slides that I talked about are below. Please take a moment to read through them, and if you have any questions please ask.
Snow Day Ideas...
There are lots of different things you can do on a snow day. Below is a list of just a few.
1 Build a snowman - Don't forget they will need eys, nose, mouth, arms...what will you use?
2 Make patterns in the snow - this will help with mark making and writing skills.
3 Make a snow castle (just like a sand castle but colder!) and decorate it.
4 Make footprints with family and compare the sizes of your shoes and boots. Who has the smallest? The biggest? The middle sized? (can you find any footprints from birds or animals?)
5 Investigate melting! Find some containers to put snow in and put them in different places, inside, outside, wrapped up outside. Which melts the fastest? slowest? What happens when snow melts?
6 Find some snowflakes - can you find 2 the same?
7 Make some snowflakes - here is a simple tutorial How to make a simple snowflake
8 Describe the snow - What does it feel like?
9 Make some hot chocolate with a grown-up - What do you have to do? Can you describe the steps to someone so they could do the same?
10 HAVE FUN!
Whatever you do in the snow today, we would love to see pictures! Please upload any to Evidence Me and we can look at them together when we are back in class.
Welcome to our Nursery webpage...we will be updating the page weekly...please keep popping back to keep up-to-date...
Welcome to the Cranborne Nursery Class Webpage. This is where we will be sharing useful information and reminders, alongside, updates on the children's upcoming and previous learning experiences with us.
We know that starting school can be a stressful experience for some, which is why we are always here to help everyone settle into our routines. We also understand that you may have lots of questions during the first few weeks (and across the year), so please ask one of us if there is anything you don't understand or just need a bit more information about.
Our Routines:
A few other reminders:
*Please send in a named water bottle daily for your child too.
*Please make sure your child is in labelled school uniform.
*Please send your child in with a named book bag - especially on a Thursday for library.
We are here to help you all. If you need anything or have any questions - no matter how trivial they may seem to you - we are always available to talk.
Our email addresses are:
Mrs Mottram (Class Teacher): smottram@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Mrs White (EYP): cwhite@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Miss Jennings (TA): ljennings@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Our Learning
Below you can find an overview of the Autumn Term learning focus. Each week we will be posting a weekly overview of what the class will be covering that week, along with a summary and photos of the children engaged in their learning from the week before.
Our Learning for the week 5th - 9th February 2024
This week we are looking at the story of "The 3 Billy Goats Gruff". Using this story we will be looking at re-enacting stories and re-telling them using voices, props and ourselves! The children are getting really confident when talking about stories we are reading and can tell someone all about the characters and what is happening in them.
The story will also be starting point for some maths work on positional language and some Design Technology work on bridges.
We will also take some time to look at the Chinese New Year Festival that is happening at the end of the week/weekend. This coming year will be the year of the dragon, so as well as talking about the different animals the years are named after (and why), we will be looking at traditional dragon dances and making dragon puppets. We are even going to sample some stir fry vegetables and noodles.
(15th - 26th Jan) During the last 2 weeks, the children have been very busy. They have made large collaborative art together, decorated cupcakes, made playdough and used it in 'Dough Disco', spent lots of time storytelling with friends and grown-ups, and had fun during our busy finger time each morning. We have had some fantastic Duplo models built, including towers that were taller than the children!
(8th - 12th Jan) The children have been busy over the past 2 weeks. They have been making their own story maps of 'Going on a Bear Hunt', joining in with some collaborative artwork, acting out the two stories we have looked at so far this term, and enjoying science experiments! Of course they have also been doing maths, phonics and lots of other learning alongside this!
The Learning Environment in Cranborne Early Years Foundation Stage
In the Early Years at Cranborne we strive to create an environment that promotes a sense of curiosity, awe and wonder in the children.
An environment that also enables plenty of opportunities for them to self-select and demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning, and where the children can practise, consolidate and rehearse taught skills.
We aim to provide the children with areas that are accessible to them and are organised in a way to promote independence and purposeful play.
The seven areas of learning are as follows:
Communication and Language*
Physical Development*
Personal, Social and Emotional Development*
Literacy
Maths
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Expressive Arts and Design
*Prime Areas of Learning
Below you can see some pictures of the Nursery class and outside learning area, and watch a video tour of the classroom.
Spring Term 2024 - past learning
Our learning for 29th January - 2nd February 2024
This week we are using another of our favourite stories to base our work around.
The children will be talking about the characters and sequence of the story, re-telling it in their own words, and even suggesting some alternative endings.
We will be looking at different buildings, and having a go at making our own.
In our maths we are continuing with some number work, looking at matching quantities to the correct number.
In our phonics we are continuing with our work on oral blending and segmenting. The children are getting good at hearing the sounds in words.
Our Learning for the week 22nd - 26th January 2024
This week our story is another well-known and very well-loved, 'The Gruffalo. The children will be looking at where different animals live, alongside talking about the story itself, the characters, sequence and setting.
We are also starting to think about how we use words to describe something, and will be investigating how we can use adjectives.
In maths we are looking at matching amounts of objects to the correct numeral, which will also help practise number recognition.
In our phonics we are continuing with our work on oral blending and segmenting. The children really enjoy playing our "What's in the box?" game.
This week is also our Friends of Cranborne Penny Wars Week so please send in any spare coins you have lying around, or under sofa cushions, bottoms of bags etc...you never know we may win a prize for our class!
Our Learning for the week 15th - 19th January 2024
This week we will be looking at the traditional tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
We will be continuing to think about story maps, and the sequence that a story takes. We will also be thinking about the characters and what happens to them in the story.
The children will be making wanted posters for Goldilocks, and our role play area has be transformed into the 3 Bear's Cottage.
In our maths this week we will be looking at the size of things and comparing sizes. The children will be using the correct maths vocabulary related to this: Big, bigger, biggest, small, smaller, smallest and middle-sized (to fit in with our story). There will be lots of opportunities for the children to talk about and order objects from around our learning environment.
Our Learning for the week 8th - 12th January 2024
We are starting the term off with an old favourite of ours..."We're Going on a Bear Hunt!"
The children will be reading the story, acting it out and making props and puppets to help with this. They will also be thinking about the sequence of the story, using a story map, which is a pictorial representation of the sequence events. They will be making up their own versions of the story and thinking about positional language, using the bear and various objects to describe where he is hiding! We are even looking at sound effects that match the different places we go on our hunt for the bear!
We are excited to get stuck into a fun and full half-term.
Just one more reminder that our PE and Library days have changed, we will be doing PE on a Wednesday morning now, so PE clothes and shoes on a Wednesday, and Library will be on a Friday morning, so book bags and old books to swap on a Friday please.
Learning in Nursery slideshows - Autumn Term 2023
Previous learning...Autumn 1 2023
Next week...(20/11/2023)
Next week we are thinking about people who help us around our school!
We will be having a visit from Mr Hibbs and Mr Clarke to talk about how they help us by keeping our school grounds and buildings safe for us.
We will be continuing to practise our Christmas songs - which we are getting really good at singing!
Our maths focus will be counting, we are looking at different ways to show our numbers to 5, e.g. 5 can be 5 compare bears, or it could be 3 pencils and 2 crayons, but it is still 5.
Our phonics focus will be Rhythm and Rhyme - we will be thinking about rhyming words and sounds and playing some matching games.
What we have been learning...(6-17/11/2023)
We have been super busy over the last 2 weeks!
We have had a visit from the Royal Veterinary Collage (RVC), we have learnt about the festival of Diwali, and we have talked about Remembrance all alongside our usual sessions for maths and phonics.
We loved meeting Grace and Luchia from the RVC. They showed us lots of interesting artefacts and taught us how to look after our pets. We looked at x-rays, we bandaged some 'poorly pets' and we were allowed to look at and touch some animal bones! It was so exciting, and lots of fun!
We have been enjoying using our Role Play area that has been turned into a doctors/vets.
We talked about the Hindu festival of Diwali, and Mrs Khajuria showed us some photos of the lovely clothes that her family wear and the food and sweets that her family share at Diwali. We then had some time to make our own Rangoli patterns.
It was also Remembrance day - so we thought about how we can remember all the good things that other people do for us. We made some poppy prints using apples.
One day was really windy, so we made kites to fly outside! But we had to hold on really tight to make sure they didn't fly away!
Next Week (06/11/2023)
This week we are starting a block of weeks looking at and talking about people who help us - We are starting with doctors and vets! We will be having visits from both of them this week, and can't wait to find out more about what they do!
We will also be having our regular library visit on Tuesday, so please remember to send in your book bags.
In Maths we are counting and comparing amounts. We will be using the vocabulary that goes along with this - more, less, fewer, the same, equal.
At the end of the week we will start to look at the festival of Diwali and talk about why it is important to people of the Hindu faith. This will continue next week too, as Diwali itself is on Sunday 12th November.
Our phonics sessions this week will be focusing on tuning into instrumental sounds.
This Week (30/10-03/11/2023)
We have spent our first week back in school exploring colour and pattern, to tie in with firework night.
We have had fun making firework pictures and talking about how to be safe on firework night.
At the start of the week we investigated pumpkins! We had fun looking at the insides, and spent time scooping the seeds out.
We also spent time talking about what we had done during our break from school, and sharing news with friends.
Next Week (30/10-3/11/2023)
Our focus next week is Pumpkins, Potions and Fireworks!
We will be spending time looking at patterns again, being able to talk about the patterns we can see, as well as being able to continue simple repeating ones.
We shall be reading Room on the Broom, and talking about what happens in the story, we will also be joining in with the repeated phrases in the book.
With Bonfire Night getting near, we will talk about firework safety, and spend time creating firework art, and even becoming fireworks in PE! We will be using our voices to make firework sounds in phonics and matching these sounds to movement.
All of this will be happening alongside our regular library slot on Tuesday.
This Week (16-20/10/2023)
This week we have had lots of fun investigating Autumn! We have been using magnifying glasses to look closer at the patterns on the leaves that we found.
We have also been using the conkers for both artwork and maths!
Conker painting can be a bit messy!! But is really fun to try too.
We really like working together in nursery, and this week we made a big Autumn collage using the leaves that we all brought into school.
We spent some time looking at our numbers again this week, as well as lining objects up to make them easier to count.
We like to look at books and mark make too, and it's even more fun when we do it with some friends!
Next Week (16-20/10/2023) Autumn!
This week is our last week of the half-term! The time has flown by and we have had lots of fun getting to know each other in our new class.
This week in Nursery we are focusing on Autumn! We will be looking at how the world around us changes in Autumn, and investigating lots of Autumn objects.
We will be having an Expressive Arts and Design focus this week, with lots of Autumn arts and crafts going on!
The children will be thinking about sorting and classifying in maths this week, looking at different ways to group or sort objects. This might be by size, colour, purpose etc. But we do also ask the children to come up with their own reasons and criteria for how they are sorting the objects.
In phonics we will be continuing with our listening skills, but also having a go at some instrumental sounds this week.
Please remember that our library day has switched to a Tuesday, so the books need to be returned by then in order for the children to take new ones this week.
Also, this Tuesday, 17th October is our individual and siblings photo day. The children need to be in full school uniform.
This Week (9-13/10/2023)
This week we have been looking at patterns - patterns in nature, patterns in the classroom and making our own!
We have also been talking about Harvest Festival, and why it is good to say thank you for the things we have. The children enjoyed looking at different vegetables. They had the opportunity to touch, feel and smell them, and even print with some! We talked about where they come from, and how they grow.
We have enjoyed some messy play this week, talking about textures, with cooked spaghetti, and making patterns in shaving foam!
In phonics we have had so much fun recreating sounds using just our voices! We have also been getting better at our listening skills, and when we play our listening games, we are guessing more of the sounds correctly!
In PE we were practising our balancing, rolling, stretching and jumping this week, as we all became superheroes for the session!
We have had lots of fun, learning together, taking turns, working together and helping each other this week. We have helped to build models together, we have painted together, we have read and listened to stories together, we have built our own obstacle courses together, and we have found friends to join in with us.
This Week (2-6/10/2023)
The children in nursery have been busy spending time thinking about how they can be kind to each other. We have spoken again about our class rules and why we have included the word kind in them. Through out the week we have been focusing on little random acts of kindness that the children do without even thinking about it, and highlighting them as ways to be kind. Such as, helping a friend who is upset, helping a friend build a model, helping a friend open their water bottle
The children have been using different counting objects to show the numbers 1-5 in different ways, and have been counting not just objects, but claps, jumps, hops etc.
We have made our own playdough, and have used it to make lots of yummy things for the staff to 'eat'!
The children have enjoyed going to the library in their smaller, key worker groups, and have been reading all over the classroom!
As we are going to be talking about Harvest Festival next week in nursery, we have been busy learning our 2 harvest songs, Big Red Combine Harvester and Dingle Dangle Scarecrow. Here a links to both if you want to practice at home!
We have also spent lots of time using our small world and role play areas, using our imaginations to tell stories through our play.
Next Week (9-13/10/2023)
Our focus book this week is Oliver's Vegetables by Vivian French and Alison Bartlett.
We will be spending time exploring and investigating different vegetables, including; feeling, smelling, tasting, cutting, printing with, talking about where they come from. We will link all of this to Harvest Festival, and talk about being thankful for everything we have.
In our phonics sessions we are going to continue looking at different sounds we can make using just our voices, and having fun trying to create sound effects for things we hear each day.
In maths we are looking at patterns, we will be looking around us for patterns both inside and out, and having a go at creating our own patterns using objects, shapes and printing them.
This week (18-29/09/2023)
Over the past couple of weeks the children have been talking about themselves, what they look like, what makes them special, and how they are feeling.
We have spent quite a bit of time talking about big emotions, alongside reading The Colour Monster book, helping the children to identify how they are feeling at different points during their day.
We have been looking in the mirror and talking about how we look, noticing similarities and differences between us all, and painting our self-portraits.
The class continue to explore the learning environment, and have been learning how to tidy up after they use something, so it is ready for the next person. (We may need lots of practise!)
There have been lots of listening games, number songs and counting rhymes, and of course lots of stories!
From next week we will be putting a nursery rhyme of the week up for you to learn/practise at home with your child.
Next week (02-06/10/2023)
This coming week we will be continuing our work on emotions and feelings. To enhance this we will be reading "Have you filled a bucket today?" Which looks at how we can be kind to each other and how that can make us feel happy too.
We are continuing with our counting skills, looking at numbers 1-5 in more detail, and thinking about counting out the right number of objects.
We will be looking at different sounds we can make using just our voices in our phonics this week, and having fun trying to create sound effects for things we hear each day.
Don't forget our rescheduled parent information meeting, will be at 3.30pm this Wednesday, the 4th October. I will be uploading all the slides on here once the meeting finishes, in case you can't make it.
This week (11-15/09/2023)
The children have had a fun week exploring the learning environment, and getting to know each other, and us!
We have been talking about our class rules and expectations, which are:
Kind hands,
Kind words,
Kind feet,
Look after each other and our environment, (including all our toys in nursery)
Respect each other.
The children are building lots of new friendships, and we have been talking about taking turns and sharing with each other.
We have had our first library visit (please return books on Thursday) and went into the hall for our first PE session too, where we spent some time moving around the hall in different ways. We have also been learning how to come together on the carpet, for stories and singing.
The children have had a busy week, but have coped amazingly and all been super stars!
Next week (18-22/09/2023)
We have lots of fun and exciting learning opportunities planned for the class.
Our main focus is on celebrating our similarities and differences, we will be reading 'My Nose, Your Nose' by Melanie Walsh and talking about how we can have some things the same as our friends and some that are different. Then we will be looking at ourselves in the mirror and painting self-portraits! The children will be helping to choose and make the correct colours for their eye, hair and skin tones.
We will be continuing to look through the 'All About Me' books and posters the children made during the Summer, and getting to know each other still..
Across the week there will be maths and phonics activities, alongside stories, songs, library and PE.
Useful Websites
For Phonics:
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm
Here is some more information on Read Write Inc Phonics.
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/learn-to-read-phonics/
For Maths:
http://www.early-years.org/parents/docs/maths-through-play.pdf
http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/mathematical-resources/top-ten-websites-and-online-resources/
Other Websites:
foundationyears.org.uk/what-to-expect-when/
Espresso https://www.discoveryeducation.co.uk/what-we-offer/discovery-educationespresso
Username : student15821 Password: rocket
You can find reading books at:
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/
Key Dates for Spring Term 2024
Link to the school calendar
Link to the school term dates
Thank you to all who came this evening to our parent's information meeting.
Please find the slides from the meeting below. Please have a read through them and remember, we are always here to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you
The Nursery Team
Thank you to all the parents that made it to our New Parents Meeting on 23rd May.
Below is a copy of the slides that we talked through.
Supporting Maths at home.
Below are some ideas for how you can support the different areas of the EYFS maths curriculum at home, and when out and about with your child.
Do you need weekend inspiration?
Hertfordshire are partners in a great tool for parents. A list of 50 fun things to do with your child before they turn 5. There are lots of great ideas to do as a family or with friends. Maybe you can try some over the half-term? If you do, don't forget to take photos and upload them to Evidence Me. That way we can ask your childrne to tell us all about the fun they have had.
You can download it as an app, or use the web based version, either way it is a great resource for ideas of fun activities to do together.
Please see the link here: https://hertfordshire.50thingstodo.org/app/os#!/welcome for the web based version, or the document below for the app information.
Have fun!
Thank you to everyone who made it to our information evening.
If you were unable to attend, the slides that I talked about are below. Please take a moment to read through them, and if you have any questions please ask.
Snow Day Ideas...
There are lots of different things you can do on a snow day. Below is a list of just a few.
1 Build a snowman - Don't forget they will need eys, nose, mouth, arms...what will you use?
2 Make patterns in the snow - this will help with mark making and writing skills.
3 Make a snow castle (just like a sand castle but colder!) and decorate it.
4 Make footprints with family and compare the sizes of your shoes and boots. Who has the smallest? The biggest? The middle sized? (can you find any footprints from birds or animals?)
5 Investigate melting! Find some containers to put snow in and put them in different places, inside, outside, wrapped up outside. Which melts the fastest? slowest? What happens when snow melts?
6 Find some snowflakes - can you find 2 the same?
7 Make some snowflakes - here is a simple tutorial How to make a simple snowflake
8 Describe the snow - What does it feel like?
9 Make some hot chocolate with a grown-up - What do you have to do? Can you describe the steps to someone so they could do the same?
10 HAVE FUN!
Whatever you do in the snow today, we would love to see pictures! Please upload any to Evidence Me and we can look at them together when we are back in class.
Welcome to our Nursery webpage...we will be updating the page weekly...please keep popping back to keep up-to-date...
Welcome to the Cranborne Nursery Class Webpage. This is where we will be sharing useful information and reminders, alongside, updates on the children's upcoming and previous learning experiences with us.
We know that starting school can be a stressful experience for some, which is why we are always here to help everyone settle into our routines. We also understand that you may have lots of questions during the first few weeks (and across the year), so please ask one of us if there is anything you don't understand or just need a bit more information about.
Our Routines:
A few other reminders:
*Please send in a named water bottle daily for your child too.
*Please make sure your child is in labelled school uniform.
*Please send your child in with a named book bag - especially on a Thursday for library.
We are here to help you all. If you need anything or have any questions - no matter how trivial they may seem to you - we are always available to talk.
Our email addresses are:
Mrs Mottram (Class Teacher): smottram@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Mrs White (EYP): cwhite@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Miss Jennings (TA): ljennings@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Our Learning
Below you can find an overview of the Autumn Term learning focus. Each week we will be posting a weekly overview of what the class will be covering that week, along with a summary and photos of the children engaged in their learning from the week before.
Our Learning for the week 5th - 9th February 2024
This week we are looking at the story of "The 3 Billy Goats Gruff". Using this story we will be looking at re-enacting stories and re-telling them using voices, props and ourselves! The children are getting really confident when talking about stories we are reading and can tell someone all about the characters and what is happening in them.
The story will also be starting point for some maths work on positional language and some Design Technology work on bridges.
We will also take some time to look at the Chinese New Year Festival that is happening at the end of the week/weekend. This coming year will be the year of the dragon, so as well as talking about the different animals the years are named after (and why), we will be looking at traditional dragon dances and making dragon puppets. We are even going to sample some stir fry vegetables and noodles.
(15th - 26th Jan) During the last 2 weeks, the children have been very busy. They have made large collaborative art together, decorated cupcakes, made playdough and used it in 'Dough Disco', spent lots of time storytelling with friends and grown-ups, and had fun during our busy finger time each morning. We have had some fantastic Duplo models built, including towers that were taller than the children!
(8th - 12th Jan) The children have been busy over the past 2 weeks. They have been making their own story maps of 'Going on a Bear Hunt', joining in with some collaborative artwork, acting out the two stories we have looked at so far this term, and enjoying science experiments! Of course they have also been doing maths, phonics and lots of other learning alongside this!
The Learning Environment in Cranborne Early Years Foundation Stage
In the Early Years at Cranborne we strive to create an environment that promotes a sense of curiosity, awe and wonder in the children.
An environment that also enables plenty of opportunities for them to self-select and demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning, and where the children can practise, consolidate and rehearse taught skills.
We aim to provide the children with areas that are accessible to them and are organised in a way to promote independence and purposeful play.
The seven areas of learning are as follows:
Communication and Language*
Physical Development*
Personal, Social and Emotional Development*
Literacy
Maths
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Expressive Arts and Design
*Prime Areas of Learning
Below you can see some pictures of the Nursery class and outside learning area, and watch a video tour of the classroom.
Spring Term 2024 - past learning
Our learning for 29th January - 2nd February 2024
This week we are using another of our favourite stories to base our work around.
The children will be talking about the characters and sequence of the story, re-telling it in their own words, and even suggesting some alternative endings.
We will be looking at different buildings, and having a go at making our own.
In our maths we are continuing with some number work, looking at matching quantities to the correct number.
In our phonics we are continuing with our work on oral blending and segmenting. The children are getting good at hearing the sounds in words.
Our Learning for the week 22nd - 26th January 2024
This week our story is another well-known and very well-loved, 'The Gruffalo. The children will be looking at where different animals live, alongside talking about the story itself, the characters, sequence and setting.
We are also starting to think about how we use words to describe something, and will be investigating how we can use adjectives.
In maths we are looking at matching amounts of objects to the correct numeral, which will also help practise number recognition.
In our phonics we are continuing with our work on oral blending and segmenting. The children really enjoy playing our "What's in the box?" game.
This week is also our Friends of Cranborne Penny Wars Week so please send in any spare coins you have lying around, or under sofa cushions, bottoms of bags etc...you never know we may win a prize for our class!
Our Learning for the week 15th - 19th January 2024
This week we will be looking at the traditional tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
We will be continuing to think about story maps, and the sequence that a story takes. We will also be thinking about the characters and what happens to them in the story.
The children will be making wanted posters for Goldilocks, and our role play area has be transformed into the 3 Bear's Cottage.
In our maths this week we will be looking at the size of things and comparing sizes. The children will be using the correct maths vocabulary related to this: Big, bigger, biggest, small, smaller, smallest and middle-sized (to fit in with our story). There will be lots of opportunities for the children to talk about and order objects from around our learning environment.
Our Learning for the week 8th - 12th January 2024
We are starting the term off with an old favourite of ours..."We're Going on a Bear Hunt!"
The children will be reading the story, acting it out and making props and puppets to help with this. They will also be thinking about the sequence of the story, using a story map, which is a pictorial representation of the sequence events. They will be making up their own versions of the story and thinking about positional language, using the bear and various objects to describe where he is hiding! We are even looking at sound effects that match the different places we go on our hunt for the bear!
We are excited to get stuck into a fun and full half-term.
Just one more reminder that our PE and Library days have changed, we will be doing PE on a Wednesday morning now, so PE clothes and shoes on a Wednesday, and Library will be on a Friday morning, so book bags and old books to swap on a Friday please.
Learning in Nursery slideshows - Autumn Term 2023
Previous learning...Autumn 1 2023
Next week...(20/11/2023)
Next week we are thinking about people who help us around our school!
We will be having a visit from Mr Hibbs and Mr Clarke to talk about how they help us by keeping our school grounds and buildings safe for us.
We will be continuing to practise our Christmas songs - which we are getting really good at singing!
Our maths focus will be counting, we are looking at different ways to show our numbers to 5, e.g. 5 can be 5 compare bears, or it could be 3 pencils and 2 crayons, but it is still 5.
Our phonics focus will be Rhythm and Rhyme - we will be thinking about rhyming words and sounds and playing some matching games.
What we have been learning...(6-17/11/2023)
We have been super busy over the last 2 weeks!
We have had a visit from the Royal Veterinary Collage (RVC), we have learnt about the festival of Diwali, and we have talked about Remembrance all alongside our usual sessions for maths and phonics.
We loved meeting Grace and Luchia from the RVC. They showed us lots of interesting artefacts and taught us how to look after our pets. We looked at x-rays, we bandaged some 'poorly pets' and we were allowed to look at and touch some animal bones! It was so exciting, and lots of fun!
We have been enjoying using our Role Play area that has been turned into a doctors/vets.
We talked about the Hindu festival of Diwali, and Mrs Khajuria showed us some photos of the lovely clothes that her family wear and the food and sweets that her family share at Diwali. We then had some time to make our own Rangoli patterns.
It was also Remembrance day - so we thought about how we can remember all the good things that other people do for us. We made some poppy prints using apples.
One day was really windy, so we made kites to fly outside! But we had to hold on really tight to make sure they didn't fly away!
Next Week (06/11/2023)
This week we are starting a block of weeks looking at and talking about people who help us - We are starting with doctors and vets! We will be having visits from both of them this week, and can't wait to find out more about what they do!
We will also be having our regular library visit on Tuesday, so please remember to send in your book bags.
In Maths we are counting and comparing amounts. We will be using the vocabulary that goes along with this - more, less, fewer, the same, equal.
At the end of the week we will start to look at the festival of Diwali and talk about why it is important to people of the Hindu faith. This will continue next week too, as Diwali itself is on Sunday 12th November.
Our phonics sessions this week will be focusing on tuning into instrumental sounds.
This Week (30/10-03/11/2023)
We have spent our first week back in school exploring colour and pattern, to tie in with firework night.
We have had fun making firework pictures and talking about how to be safe on firework night.
At the start of the week we investigated pumpkins! We had fun looking at the insides, and spent time scooping the seeds out.
We also spent time talking about what we had done during our break from school, and sharing news with friends.
Next Week (30/10-3/11/2023)
Our focus next week is Pumpkins, Potions and Fireworks!
We will be spending time looking at patterns again, being able to talk about the patterns we can see, as well as being able to continue simple repeating ones.
We shall be reading Room on the Broom, and talking about what happens in the story, we will also be joining in with the repeated phrases in the book.
With Bonfire Night getting near, we will talk about firework safety, and spend time creating firework art, and even becoming fireworks in PE! We will be using our voices to make firework sounds in phonics and matching these sounds to movement.
All of this will be happening alongside our regular library slot on Tuesday.
This Week (16-20/10/2023)
This week we have had lots of fun investigating Autumn! We have been using magnifying glasses to look closer at the patterns on the leaves that we found.
We have also been using the conkers for both artwork and maths!
Conker painting can be a bit messy!! But is really fun to try too.
We really like working together in nursery, and this week we made a big Autumn collage using the leaves that we all brought into school.
We spent some time looking at our numbers again this week, as well as lining objects up to make them easier to count.
We like to look at books and mark make too, and it's even more fun when we do it with some friends!
Next Week (16-20/10/2023) Autumn!
This week is our last week of the half-term! The time has flown by and we have had lots of fun getting to know each other in our new class.
This week in Nursery we are focusing on Autumn! We will be looking at how the world around us changes in Autumn, and investigating lots of Autumn objects.
We will be having an Expressive Arts and Design focus this week, with lots of Autumn arts and crafts going on!
The children will be thinking about sorting and classifying in maths this week, looking at different ways to group or sort objects. This might be by size, colour, purpose etc. But we do also ask the children to come up with their own reasons and criteria for how they are sorting the objects.
In phonics we will be continuing with our listening skills, but also having a go at some instrumental sounds this week.
Please remember that our library day has switched to a Tuesday, so the books need to be returned by then in order for the children to take new ones this week.
Also, this Tuesday, 17th October is our individual and siblings photo day. The children need to be in full school uniform.
This Week (9-13/10/2023)
This week we have been looking at patterns - patterns in nature, patterns in the classroom and making our own!
We have also been talking about Harvest Festival, and why it is good to say thank you for the things we have. The children enjoyed looking at different vegetables. They had the opportunity to touch, feel and smell them, and even print with some! We talked about where they come from, and how they grow.
We have enjoyed some messy play this week, talking about textures, with cooked spaghetti, and making patterns in shaving foam!
In phonics we have had so much fun recreating sounds using just our voices! We have also been getting better at our listening skills, and when we play our listening games, we are guessing more of the sounds correctly!
In PE we were practising our balancing, rolling, stretching and jumping this week, as we all became superheroes for the session!
We have had lots of fun, learning together, taking turns, working together and helping each other this week. We have helped to build models together, we have painted together, we have read and listened to stories together, we have built our own obstacle courses together, and we have found friends to join in with us.
This Week (2-6/10/2023)
The children in nursery have been busy spending time thinking about how they can be kind to each other. We have spoken again about our class rules and why we have included the word kind in them. Through out the week we have been focusing on little random acts of kindness that the children do without even thinking about it, and highlighting them as ways to be kind. Such as, helping a friend who is upset, helping a friend build a model, helping a friend open their water bottle
The children have been using different counting objects to show the numbers 1-5 in different ways, and have been counting not just objects, but claps, jumps, hops etc.
We have made our own playdough, and have used it to make lots of yummy things for the staff to 'eat'!
The children have enjoyed going to the library in their smaller, key worker groups, and have been reading all over the classroom!
As we are going to be talking about Harvest Festival next week in nursery, we have been busy learning our 2 harvest songs, Big Red Combine Harvester and Dingle Dangle Scarecrow. Here a links to both if you want to practice at home!
We have also spent lots of time using our small world and role play areas, using our imaginations to tell stories through our play.
Next Week (9-13/10/2023)
Our focus book this week is Oliver's Vegetables by Vivian French and Alison Bartlett.
We will be spending time exploring and investigating different vegetables, including; feeling, smelling, tasting, cutting, printing with, talking about where they come from. We will link all of this to Harvest Festival, and talk about being thankful for everything we have.
In our phonics sessions we are going to continue looking at different sounds we can make using just our voices, and having fun trying to create sound effects for things we hear each day.
In maths we are looking at patterns, we will be looking around us for patterns both inside and out, and having a go at creating our own patterns using objects, shapes and printing them.
This week (18-29/09/2023)
Over the past couple of weeks the children have been talking about themselves, what they look like, what makes them special, and how they are feeling.
We have spent quite a bit of time talking about big emotions, alongside reading The Colour Monster book, helping the children to identify how they are feeling at different points during their day.
We have been looking in the mirror and talking about how we look, noticing similarities and differences between us all, and painting our self-portraits.
The class continue to explore the learning environment, and have been learning how to tidy up after they use something, so it is ready for the next person. (We may need lots of practise!)
There have been lots of listening games, number songs and counting rhymes, and of course lots of stories!
From next week we will be putting a nursery rhyme of the week up for you to learn/practise at home with your child.
Next week (02-06/10/2023)
This coming week we will be continuing our work on emotions and feelings. To enhance this we will be reading "Have you filled a bucket today?" Which looks at how we can be kind to each other and how that can make us feel happy too.
We are continuing with our counting skills, looking at numbers 1-5 in more detail, and thinking about counting out the right number of objects.
We will be looking at different sounds we can make using just our voices in our phonics this week, and having fun trying to create sound effects for things we hear each day.
Don't forget our rescheduled parent information meeting, will be at 3.30pm this Wednesday, the 4th October. I will be uploading all the slides on here once the meeting finishes, in case you can't make it.
This week (11-15/09/2023)
The children have had a fun week exploring the learning environment, and getting to know each other, and us!
We have been talking about our class rules and expectations, which are:
Kind hands,
Kind words,
Kind feet,
Look after each other and our environment, (including all our toys in nursery)
Respect each other.
The children are building lots of new friendships, and we have been talking about taking turns and sharing with each other.
We have had our first library visit (please return books on Thursday) and went into the hall for our first PE session too, where we spent some time moving around the hall in different ways. We have also been learning how to come together on the carpet, for stories and singing.
The children have had a busy week, but have coped amazingly and all been super stars!
Next week (18-22/09/2023)
We have lots of fun and exciting learning opportunities planned for the class.
Our main focus is on celebrating our similarities and differences, we will be reading 'My Nose, Your Nose' by Melanie Walsh and talking about how we can have some things the same as our friends and some that are different. Then we will be looking at ourselves in the mirror and painting self-portraits! The children will be helping to choose and make the correct colours for their eye, hair and skin tones.
We will be continuing to look through the 'All About Me' books and posters the children made during the Summer, and getting to know each other still..
Across the week there will be maths and phonics activities, alongside stories, songs, library and PE.
Useful Websites
For Phonics:
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm
Here is some more information on Read Write Inc Phonics.
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/learn-to-read-phonics/
For Maths:
http://www.early-years.org/parents/docs/maths-through-play.pdf
http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/mathematical-resources/top-ten-websites-and-online-resources/
Other Websites:
foundationyears.org.uk/what-to-expect-when/
Espresso https://www.discoveryeducation.co.uk/what-we-offer/discovery-educationespresso
Username : student15821 Password: rocket
You can find reading books at:
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/
Key Dates for Spring Term 2024
Link to the school calendar
Link to the school term dates
Thank you to all who came this evening to our parent's information meeting.
Please find the slides from the meeting below. Please have a read through them and remember, we are always here to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you
The Nursery Team
Thank you to all the parents that made it to our New Parents Meeting on 23rd May.
Below is a copy of the slides that we talked through.
Supporting Maths at home.
Below are some ideas for how you can support the different areas of the EYFS maths curriculum at home, and when out and about with your child.
Do you need weekend inspiration?
Hertfordshire are partners in a great tool for parents. A list of 50 fun things to do with your child before they turn 5. There are lots of great ideas to do as a family or with friends. Maybe you can try some over the half-term? If you do, don't forget to take photos and upload them to Evidence Me. That way we can ask your childrne to tell us all about the fun they have had.
You can download it as an app, or use the web based version, either way it is a great resource for ideas of fun activities to do together.
Please see the link here: https://hertfordshire.50thingstodo.org/app/os#!/welcome for the web based version, or the document below for the app information.
Have fun!
Thank you to everyone who made it to our information evening.
If you were unable to attend, the slides that I talked about are below. Please take a moment to read through them, and if you have any questions please ask.
Snow Day Ideas...
There are lots of different things you can do on a snow day. Below is a list of just a few.
1 Build a snowman - Don't forget they will need eys, nose, mouth, arms...what will you use?
2 Make patterns in the snow - this will help with mark making and writing skills.
3 Make a snow castle (just like a sand castle but colder!) and decorate it.
4 Make footprints with family and compare the sizes of your shoes and boots. Who has the smallest? The biggest? The middle sized? (can you find any footprints from birds or animals?)
5 Investigate melting! Find some containers to put snow in and put them in different places, inside, outside, wrapped up outside. Which melts the fastest? slowest? What happens when snow melts?
6 Find some snowflakes - can you find 2 the same?
7 Make some snowflakes - here is a simple tutorial How to make a simple snowflake
8 Describe the snow - What does it feel like?
9 Make some hot chocolate with a grown-up - What do you have to do? Can you describe the steps to someone so they could do the same?
10 HAVE FUN!
Whatever you do in the snow today, we would love to see pictures! Please upload any to Evidence Me and we can look at them together when we are back in class.