Welcome to the Nursery webpage...The children have enjoyed watching our painted lady caterpillars change into chrysalises and finally into 5 beautiful butterflies...Please check our page regularly for updates regarding learning, as well as general information...
Summer Term 2023
We have reached the last week of this half-term. The children have had so much fun learning about lifecycles.
Please remember to scroll down for our weekly learning focus.
As always, we are here to help everyone settle into our routines and are available to answer your questions, so please ask one of us if there is anything you don't understand or just need a bit more information about.
Our Routines:
- We open our doors at 8.45am and encourage you to leave your child at the door, so they can independently put their coats and bags away before finding their group's activity that will be set out.
- Our PE day is Thursday morning - your child does not need a school PE kit, however you can send them in wearing trainers (velcro please) and joggers/leggings that day.
- We go to the library on a Friday morning.
- Also a reminder that toys from home should not be sent into school.
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 Friday 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 Bhatt (EYP): nbhatt@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Miss Jennings (TA): ljennings@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Our Learning:
Each week we will be sharing our learning focus on this webpage - it will be released on here at the end of each week so you have the opportunity to talk about the upcoming learning/weekly focus with your child.
Below is a slightly more detailed overview of the learning focus for the current half-term in Nursery.
Our Learning for 22nd - 26th May 2023 
To complete our Topic theme of growing and changing, we will be spending this final week of term, re-capping and consolidating all the learning we have been doing on the lifecycle of plants, specifically, beans and sunflowers, ourselves and butterflies. We will be looking at how tall our beanstalks have grown, and letting our butterflies go.
We will also be looking at the growth of some farm animals as we have Ark Farm visiting us on Wednesday this week!
In Literacy we will be focusing on re-telling some of the stories that we have looked at over the past 5 weeks.
In our Maths we will be continuing to look at how numbers/quantities can be made in different ways, alongside some measuring (of our beanstalks!) using non-standard units.
In Phonics each week alongside our sound of the week, we will be continuing to play some listening games which focus on several areas of listening discrimination. These will help the children develop their:
- Auditory discrimination – tuning-in to sounds
- Auditory memory and sequencing – listening and recalling sounds
- Vocabulary and language comprehension – talking about sounds
Alongside oral segmenting and blending sounds within simple words.
Our last sound this half term will be
Our final Forest school sessions will be on Thursday.
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 watch a video of our classroom and see some pictures of the Nursery class and outside learning area.
Our classroom - Nursery
Our Learning Environment
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.
Previous learning...Summer 1 2023
Our Learning for 8th -19th May 2023 
Continuing our Topic theme of growing and changing, over the next 2 weeks we will be looking at the lifecycle of plants, specifically, beans and sunflowers. The children will watch time-lapse videos of how the roots, shoots, leaves flowers and fruits/seeds develop, and will have the chance to plant their own seeds that they will then look after.
In Literacy we will be looking at 2 books to support this, Jack and the Beanstalk and Sam Plants a Sunflower. The children will be focusing on sequencing, being able to order events from the books.
In our Maths we will be looking at how numbers/quantities can be made in different ways e.g. 5 could be 4 Lego bricks and 1 pencil, or 2 bananas and 3 apples. This will give the children a deeper understanding of how numbers are made up.
In Phonics each week alongside our sound of the week, we will be continuing to play some listening games which focus on several areas of listening discrimination. These will help the children develop their:
- Auditory discrimination – tuning-in to sounds
- Auditory memory and sequencing – listening and recalling sounds
- Vocabulary and language comprehension – talking about sounds
Alongside oral segmenting and blending sounds within simple words.
Our sounds over the 2 weeks will be d and t
Please don't forget class photos are on Wednesday 17th May, children to be in school uniform. Thank you
Our Forest school sessions will be on Thursday.
Our Learning for 24th -28th April 2023
This week we will be continuing our topic work on the lifecycle of a butterfly. We are watching our painted lady caterpillars everyday, and are waiting for them to turn into chrysalises.
We will also be looking at the Coronation of King Charles III and talking about celebrations and ceremonies.
In Maths we are still focusing on patter all around us, and will be looking outside for patterns in nature.
In Phonics each week alongside our sound of the week, we will be continuing to play some listening games which focus on several areas of listening discrimination. These will help the children develop their:
- Auditory discrimination – tuning-in to sounds
- Auditory memory and sequencing – listening and recalling sounds
- Vocabulary and language comprehension – talking about sounds
Alongside oral segmenting and blending sounds within simple words.
This week our sound of the week will be s (we will send both a and s work home this coming Friday)
Our Forest school session will be back to its normal day of Thursday this week.
![The Very Hungry Caterpillar [Board Book]: Eric Carle : Carle, Eric, Carle, Eric: Amazon.co.uk: Books](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81seu48cujS.jpg)
Our Learning for 24th -28th April 2023
This week in our Topic work, we are starting to focus on the lifecycle of a butterfly. We will begin the week with the story of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" a favourite of ours that introduces the children to the concept of the changes made during the lifecycle.
To link in with this topic in Maths we will be focusing on pattern, and how there are patterns all around us, including in nature.
We will focus on pattern in our Creative work this week too, using different materials to create our own symmetrical patterns.
In Phonics each week alongside our sound of the week, we will be continuing to play some listening games which focus on several areas of listening discrimination. These will help the children develop their:
- Auditory discrimination – tuning-in to sounds
- Auditory memory and sequencing – listening and recalling sounds
- Vocabulary and language comprehension – talking about sounds
Alongside oral segmenting and blending sounds within simple words.
This week our sound of the week will be a
Our Forest school session will be on Friday this week, so that any potential strike action will not affect it happening.
Our Learning for 17th-21st April 2023
Welcome back! This half-term we will be looking at growing and changing.
In Topic this first week back we will be focussing on ourselves, and how we have changed as we have grown from a baby to where we are now. We will be looking at baby pictures of ourselves and seeing if we can tell who it is!
We will also be talking about how we can help ourselves grow in a healthy way, by eating a balanced diet, and keeping active.
In Literacy we will be looking at books about growing up and healthy eating, with a focus on comprehension skills, and being able to answer simple questions about the books we read together.
Our Maths focus is size comparison, and being able to order and talk about sizes using the correct mathematical vocabulary: big, bigger, biggest, tall, taller, tallest, small, small, smallest etc.
In Phonics each week we will be playing some listening games which focus on several areas of listening discrimination. These will help the children develop their:
- Auditory discrimination – tuning-in to sounds
- Auditory memory and sequencing – listening and recalling sounds
- Vocabulary and language comprehension – talking about sounds
Alongside oral segmenting and blending sounds within simple words.
This week we will be starting to introduce the first of the Read, Write Inc. set 1 sounds to our children - our sound of the week will be m
We are also really excited to start our 6 week block of Forest School sessions that are being led by a Forest School Leader in our own wild garden on site.
Please remember to send your child to school in/with the correct clothing as outlined in the email on Thursday.
Previous learning...Spring 2 2023
Our learning for 6th - 17th March 2023
For our Topic work for the next 2 weeks will be exploring The Jungle!
We will spend time looking at what a jungle is, where they are around the world and who lives there - animal wise! We will be looking at what jungle animals look like and using ambitious vocabulary to describe them!
We will start this 2 week block off with the book 'Walking Through the Jungle', alongside some non-fiction texts about jungles and the animals that live there. Plus some well-loved stories.
In Maths we will be looking at our counting skills in a bit more depth, focusing on subitising, basic estimation skills, and the order of the number system.
In Phonics each week we will be playing some listening games which focus on several areas of listening discrimination. These will help the children develop their:
- Auditory discrimination – tuning-in to sounds
- Auditory memory and sequencing – listening and recalling sounds
- Vocabulary and language comprehension – talking about sounds
Alongside oral segmenting and blending sounds within simple words.
We will be focusing on Voice Sounds and Oral Segmenting and Blending for these 2 weeks.
Our learning for 20th February - 3rd March 2023
To start the new half-term off we will be reading Mr Wolf's Pancakes, and focusing on how we can help each other each day.
We will then spend the next 2 weeks entering into the world of the dinosaurs, as part of our Topic work. We will be looking at stories about dinosaurs and simple non-fiction books to find out lots of different facts about dinosaurs. We will be looking at fossils and dinosaur skeletons, and the children will have the opportunity to make their own.
We will also look at a simple timeline to show how long ago dinosaurs lived on Earth.
In Maths we will be looking at size and simple measuring skills, alongside our ongoing number work.
In Phonics each week we will be playing some listening games which focus on several areas of listening discrimination. These will help the children develop their:
- Auditory discrimination – tuning-in to sounds
- Auditory memory and sequencing – listening and recalling sounds
- Vocabulary and language comprehension – talking about sounds
Alongside oral segmenting and blending sounds within simple words.
We will be focusing on Voice Sounds and Oral Segmenting and Blending for the first 2 weeks of term.
Also don't forget that Thursday 2nd March is World Book Day when we can come to school in our pyjamas!! We will be reading and sharing lots of stories throughout the day.
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/
Username : student15821 Password: rocket
You can find reading books at:
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/
- Tuesday 23rd May - 9.15am New intake meeting for Reception parents.
- Friday 26th May - Finish for half-term break, normal time.
- Monday 29th May - Friday 2nd June - half-term break - No children in school.
- Monday 5th June - Children back in school.
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Link to the school calendar
Link to the school term dates
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.
Do you want to hear a story?
We have recorded some bedtime stories that will be added to over the year, that you can use at anytime.