This week’s bible story
The Unforgiving Servant: Matthew 18: 21-35
Have you ever broken anything? It could be a toy or a plate from the kitchen or even a bone in your body. Some things that are broken cannot be mended, but it is often possible to mend things that we have broken. If we care for our environment, it is a very good idea to try to mend things rather than always throwing them away and then buying new things. For example, what might use to mend the following things if they were broken: a hole in the toe of my socks? a ripped page in a book? a handle that has come off a mug? a puncture in my bike tyre? a cut finger?
What could you do about mending a broken friendship?
When you fall out with one of your friends, you can’t mend that friendship with a needle and thread, or some sellotape, or superglue or a puncture kit or a sticking plaster. Read the story about the Unforgiving Servant.
Jesus explained to his friend Peter that God is like the king in the story: Christians believe God forgives us every time we tell him we are sorry for the wrong things we have done, and he wants us to treat our friends in a similar way – forgiving them each time they say ‘sorry’ to us.
Reflection:
What would you say was the key word in that story? The key word could be ‘forgiveness’.
Have a think about these questions:
‘What does it mean to forgive someone?’ (KS2) or ‘What kind of things do you need to say sorry for? (KS1).
At the end of the Bible story Jesus tells us that, if we have done something wrong, we need to say sorry to God and then he will forgive us. In a similar way, if you have fallen out with a friend, two things often need to happen: if you know you have done something wrong or upset someone, you need to be brave enough to say sorry to that person. The person to whom you have said sorry then needs to forgive you.
So, going back to the questions at the beginning of the assembly:
What might I use to mend a broken friendship? A good answer to this question would be ‘forgiveness’.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for today’s Bible story about forgiveness.
Thank you that if we say sorry to you, you give us a fresh start.
Please help us to be forgiving people here in this school.
Amen.
Pancakes and book characters
This week has been very busy at nursery as we have celebrated two important events: Shrove Tuesday and World Book Day. We began by talking about Shrove Tuesday and why it is important in the Christian calendar, and we also read ‘Mr Wolf’s Pancakes’ to inspire our learning. The children made their own pretend pancakes and took part in some pancake-inspired activities. Whilst decorating some real pancakes, we discussed our favourite toppings and thought about the healthy choices we could make. On Thursday, lots of children (and staff) dressed up to celebrate World Book Day. The children really enjoyed creating their own books and reading their stories to the rest of the class.
We have started to look closely at the number three and will continue to explore it next week. Perhaps you could ask your child if they can spot the number three in the environment (registration plates, buses and house numbers are good places to start looking for numerals). As Spring is on its way, we will also be looking at ‘growing’ over the next couple of weeks and will be planting our own beans and seeds.
This week’s bible story
‘We should learn to forgive.’ (Ephesians 4.32)
Read this story about Omar and his friend Freddy.
Reflection:
Forgiving helps friends to be friendly again.
Forgiving others makes us happier.
In the bible, it says ‘We should learn to forgive.’ (Ephesians 4.32). It doesn’t always mean it will be easy to forgive. It is something that we need to learn and something we will get better at.
Prayer:
Let us say together the prayer that Jesus taught us: The Lord’s Prayer.
In this prayer, we are reminded about forgiveness: ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’
This means that when we do something wrong we should ask for forgiveness and we should learn to forgive others when they do things that upset us.
Happy half term
Our focus book this week has been The Gingerbread Man and the children have really enjoyed listening to the story. We have re-told the story using props and have included gingerbread men in our learning. We’ve even decorated some gingerbread biscuits to take home! The children have also been busy making their own musical instruments, creating fabulous junk-models, mixing beautiful gingerbread colours and drawing around their outlines to make ‘people patterns’. We have revisited ‘heaviest’ and ‘lightest’ in our maths and have checked our predictions using balance scales. We found out that larger objects are not always heavier than smaller ones.
After half term we’ll be celebrating Shrove Tuesday and we’ll also be dressing up for World Book Day. Which is your favourite character from a book?
All of the Nursery staff wish you a happy, healthy and safe half term. We look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday, March 1st.
This week’s bible story
The son who left home continued: Luke 15: 11-32
This half term, our bible story that Jesus told was about the son who sold his share of his father’s farm he was to inherit and went off to the city intending to enjoy himself. You will also remember that, in the end, he decided it was a big mistake and went back home to beg his father’s forgiveness. Much to his surprise, his father forgave him completely and even threw a party for him. That’s where we left the story last time, but Jesus did not end it there – he also talked about the eldest son, who had stayed at home.
Read the story of the Lost son continued.
Reflection:
Consider the feelings of the father, the eldest brother and the younger brother at each stage of the story.
How many things related to our homes and families do we often take for granted?
Prayer:
Father God,
Help us to share gladly in the success of others.
When someone does well, may we be happy to congratulate them.
When someone falls, help us to comfort them.
Forgive us when we take things for granted and help us to appreciate all the good things we have.
Amen
Staying safe
This week, we’ve had lots of visitors in school who have helped us understand how to stay safe. On Monday, we had a visit from some of the firefighters from Wetherby fire station who brought their engine with them. On Tuesday, a lady from Dog’s Trust taught us how to stay safe around dogs and, on Thursday, we also learned about road safety when crossing the road with our adults. We’ve also had a visit from a Christian organisation called Hand to Mouth and we did a special activity with them on Wednesday.
The children have enjoyed finishing off their dragon masks and have been doing lots of paintings in red and gold to mark the end of Chinese New Year. There has been a lot of mark-making in the classroom and this will help the children develop the motor skills necessary for writing their name. We’ve continued to look at the number two on a number line and have been thinking about the length of sounds in our music sessions. Next week, our focus book will be: ‘The Gingerbread Man’ and we will be doing lots of gingerbread-inspired learning.
Some important reminders:
- If your child is going to be absent from school, please can you inform the school office. It would be very helpful if you could give a reason for their absence.
- Please avoid sending anything in your child’s packed lunch which may contain nuts. This includes chocolate/hazelnut spreads.
Many thanks
This week’s bible story
Jesus is friends with Zacchaeus: Luke 19: 1-10
Have you ever heard the story of Burglar Bill – Bill goes out every night. Getting into houses through open windows and taking things. Until one night, Bill found a baby, and that changed his whole life …
There is a Bible story about a man who stole from other people. He took extra money when he gave them their tax bills and became very rich on all the money that he stole. Zaccheus was a little man and that small people can’t see in crowds. Read the story of Zacchaeus to find out what happened to him.
Reflection:
Jesus loved everyone when he lived on the earth. It didn’t matter how bad people were, Jesus was always there for those who needed him. This is true for us too – no one is so bad that God doesn’t love them. And the more time we spend with God – praying, thinking about him, finding out about him, the more we want to be like Jesus; kind, helpful and good. Just like Zacchaeus, Burglar Bill changed his ways and tried to be more like Jesus by loving those around him.
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that Jesus loved Zacchaeus even when he wasn’t making the right choices. Help us to love all of those around us.
Amen
Celebrations and new friends
Over the last few weeks, we have welcomed some new friends into our classroom and it’s lovely to see them doing so well. The children who have been with us since the Autumn term have been really good role models for our new starters and they have helped them to settle into the routines of the classroom very quickly.
This week in Nursery, we have been using Chinese New Year as inspiration for our learning. We have looked at some of the family traditions involved in preparing for the new year and the celebrations which are important through the season. The children have made their own decorated red envelopes (which helped them to exercise their fine motor skills) and they will be completing their dragon heads over the coming week. The children have also been making comparisons between objects in relation to weight and have used mathematical language such as: ‘heavier than’ and ‘lighter than’ when describing the items they are holding. Next week, we will continue looking at ‘number two’ and its position on a number line.
REMINDER
Please remember to name all of your child’s clothing as well as their water bottle.
This week’s bible story
The Lost Coin: Luke 15.1-9
Read the story in Luke 15.1-9.
Or suppose a woman who has ten silver coins loses one of them – what does she do? She lights a lamp, sweeps her house, and looks carefully everywhere until she finds it. When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together, and says to them, ‘I am so happy I found the coin I lost. Let us celebrate!’
It doesn’t seem much of a story, does it? A woman loses a coin, she searches high and low, then she finds it and is so pleased that she throws a party for her friends – it’s hardly Harry Potter, is it?
The coin must have been valuable for the woman to search for it so hard and long and to be so pleased when she found it.
This is a parable – a simple tale that is meant to give listeners something to think about. Even this very simple story can have a big meaning.
Reflection:
If I lose something that doesn’t matter to me –
an old leaflet, a broken pencil, a toy I don’t play with any more,
if I lose something that doesn’t matter to me,
it doesn’t bother me much at all.
If I lose something that does matter to me –
some money, my lunch, my favourite toy,
if I lose something that does matter to me,
I search and search and don’t stop until I find it,
or until I know it’s really lost.
Jesus said that God looks for me like that:
searching high and low
never letting go
making sure I know
that I’m so
very, very special.
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you that you love us so much you would search for us just like the woman searched for the lost coin. Help us to show our friends how much they mean to us.
Amen
Lots of learning!
The children have had a super week with lots of learning and creativity in the classroom. They have been exercising their gross motor skills by riding tricycles and also finding different ways to travel down a slippery slope safely. Inside, they have been developing their fine motor skills by threading, using scissors and mixing paint. We have also continued to explore the wintery weather by making some ice hangings which we filled with tiny objects and put into the freezer. The children were very interested to see what happened to them when we took them out of the freezer and put them in a tray inside the classroom for the afternoon.
Here are a few pictures of our wonderful week…
