Author: Sarah Cowgill

We have a wormery in Nursery so we’ve been on a worm hunt. First we stamped on the ground doing the ‘worm dance’, then we dug as deep as we could. After a long time digging, with lots of perseverance and team work we only found one worm! Luckily the gardening club had more luck and have put five worms in for us to observe.

We’ve been reading the book ‘What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside’ and have enjoyed talking about our own experiences.

• “I made a sandcastle.”
• “I had an ice-cream with my grandma at the seaside.”
• “We went in the sea and got all wet!”

Help at home: Try to use positional language in your day to day conversations and during play.  For example:

• Can you put your teddy underneath the box?
• The car is behind the garage.
• The monkey is on top of the tree.
• Put your shoes next to the cupboard.   

As you look at illustrations in a story, ask questions such as ‘Where is the cat hiding?’ or ‘What can you see in front of the fence?’

We’ve been looking at sequencing and have been trying to use the words ‘first’, ‘next’, ‘then’ and ‘finally.’

We made jam sandwiches and then put the pictures in order to show others how to make a jam sandwich.

1. First we washed our hands.

“Nice and clean”

2. Next we got the bread.

“Second I got the bread!”

3. Then we spread the jam.

“Then we spread it with a knife.”

4. Finally, we ate it.

“It’s yummy.”

‘I like it. It’s super tasty.”

Help at home: Lots of children could talk about making a sandwich at home or with their grandparents. With your support, could they make another sandwich thinking about our instructions?

Caterpillars  

We have had some little visitors in Nursery and have watched them grow and form chrysalis. After the holidays, we’ll watch them emerge as butterflies and set them free to start the cycle again.

“They are having a big sleep in their cocoon!”

“It is changing into a butterfly.”

Minibeast Models

We’ve been working hard in our creative area, choosing our favourite minibeasts and using the junk modelling resources to make them!

Number 

We’ve been looking at the number 5. The children can find lots of different ways to represent 5.

We can also talk about the ways to make the number 5.

“A part of me is 1, a part of me is 4 and the whole of me is 5!”

“A part of me is 2, a part of me is 3 and the whole of me is 5!”

We’ve also enjoyed challenging ourselves to count super high numbers!

Help at Home: We’ve been finding out lots about minibeasts this half term. See if your child can share some of the facts we have explored.

We have been having so much fun outdoors.

The children have been playing games in the games station and recording their scores outside with chalk.

“Did I score a goal?”

“I hit the one that means 2 points!”

“Look how high mine goes!”

 

They’ve been baking delicious treats in the Mud Kitchen.

“Here’s some chocolate milkshake for your birthday!”

“This smells like toothpaste”

The houses and cars we make with the large construction are getting more and more impressive.

“This is our house and we need more tools inside.”

“We’re going to the beach!”

We’ve also had some little visitors in Nursery and we’re super excited to watch them grow!

See if the children can tell you about our caterpillars and what might happen to them next.

Minibeasts

We have been hunting for minibeasts! We found bees, ladybirds, worms and hundreds of woodlice. We made marks to record what we found. “I found a buzzy bee, it was trying to get that flower”

 

Number 4

The number we have been learning all about last week is the number 4! We can count 4 out, find shapes that represent 4 and we looked at the different number facts to 4. This week we will be moving onto the number 5.

Help at home: Keep practising our counting skills by giving us little counting tasks. For example, how many stairs do we need to climb? How many chips do you have left? How many cars can you see?

 

New starters

We’ve had some new starters in Nursery and they have settled in so well. All the children have been very welcoming and have enjoyed showing the new children our routines.

We have been learning about Easter using the book, Story of Easter by Fiona Boon. We’ve enjoyed painting Easter pictures, making Easter cards and going on spring walks looking for signs of new life.

  

Today we went on an Easter Egg hunt in the Nursery Garden. We thought about where the eggs were hidden using our new maths vocabulary ‘under, on top, behind, next to and in front of.’ We had to find 4 eggs each!

After the holidays we will be looking at the Number 4 and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We’ll also have some exciting visitors in Nursery, can you guess what they might be?

Help at Home: Look out for minibeasts! Have a look under logs and stones, or a walk round the garden and see which insects and other Minibeasts you can find.

This week in P.E. we’ve been practising our coordination skills with the quoits. We rolled the quoits from the top of our head to our toes and named our different body parts. We worked with a partner, rolling the quoits to each other, then balanced them on our head as we moved around the hall. The children showed brilliant listening skills as well as perseverance.

  

 

It is with great excitement (and some relief) that our beans are growing! They seem to be shooting up superfast now and the children are so eager to check on their progress each day.

  

They will be coming home with the children for the Easter holidays. The pots are bio degradable so can be planted straight into the ground. They may need a cane to support them as they grow, the children have high hopes of visiting the giant and bringing back some golden eggs.

 

Number 3! 

We have loved learning all about the number 3 and the parts that make 3. See if they can tell you them at home.

Building Finger Strength

We always have a challenge out that helps to build our finger strength and fine motor skills. This week we had loom bands and a board. There are so many activities like this you can do at home.

Next week we’ll be looking at positional language in our maths. Using words such as “above,” “below,” “next to,” “in front of,” and “behind.”

Help at Home: Can you give your child an instruction including some positional language? For example, “put the teddy in front of the cushion.” Then let them be the teacher and give you the instructions.

 

Signs of Spring

We’ve spotted some signs of spring outside at forest school. We’ve spotted buds, shoots, flowers and listened to birds singing.

I’ve been so impressed with the children’s counting skills this week. We’ve all had a go at counting objects and saying the amount.

 

 Help at home: Practise counting different objects during play and in everyday life.  Make sure children say one number for each item; it often helps to move each item as you count or line them up so that children only count each object once.

Can they remember how many they had in total without counting again?

1,2,3 there are 3

Outside we’ve been making race cars with the large construction and climbing trees in Forrest School.

Next week we’ll be looking at healthy eating and where food comes from. Painting vegetables, tasting vegetables and exploring different herbs.