This week’s bible story

Posted on Monday 24 January 2022 by Mr Roundtree

Moses is one of the great biblical heroes and is revered by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. There are many stories about this great and inspirational leader, but one of the things that we most associate with Moses is the Ten Commandments. The ten commandments are ten instructions about the way people should live if they are to be happy and live together in peace.

Read the story of Moses and the ten commandments.

Moses tried to keep the people’s spirits high and led them on through the desert until they came to the Oasis of Sinai. Here, there was water and food and they could set up their tents for a while. It was on Mount Sinai that God gave Moses a list of rules about the best way to live.

Reflection:

The first three commandments are about loving God, but the others are about loving other people. The world would not be a good place if everyone just did whatever they felt like doing all the time. If there were no rules, people could do bad or unkind things and get away with it. Rules are important so that we learn about what is right and wrong, good and bad, helpful and unhelpful. Rules are there for a reason: to help us stay safe.

In the New Testament part of the Bible, Jesus spoke about a new commandment that has two parts. He stated that people should love God and love others. How could we do that today?

Prayer
Dear God,
Help us to see that rules are there to keep us safe and happy.
Help us to love other people and to act in a way that shows care for them.
Help us to follow the best ways.
Be near to us when we find it difficult.
Guide us to live together in peace and harmony.
Amen.

This week’s bible story

Posted on Monday 17 January 2022 by Mr Roundtree

The Lost Sheep: Luke 15.3-7

Have you ever received a card with the words ‘Love from . . .’ written in it.

What do you think the words mean. ‘What does “love” mean?’

The dictionary defines it as ‘a strong feeling of affection’.

Think about things that they love. Who are the people whom they love? Who loves you? How does it feel to be loved?

There are times when everyone feels alone or unloved. Maybe we have done something wrong and are in trouble, or maybe we just feel down in the dumps and it makes us feel like no one cares about us very much.

Christians believe that no matter what happens to us, God always loves us. There are many stories in the Bible about God loving people. One of them is the story of the lost sheep. In this story, the shepherd loses a sheep, but cares for it so much that he looks and looks until the sheep is found again.

Read the story from Luke 15.3-7. The story makes the point that no matter how many of us there are in our school, our family or the world, each one of us matters to God. Remembering this can help us never to feel alone and always to feel special.

Reflection:
Let’s think about the people who care for us and show us love.
Pause to allow time for thought.
Let’s think about the people whom we love. How can we show love to them?
Pause to allow time for thought.

Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the people who love and care for me.
Please help me to show them that I am grateful and a happier person because of it.
Being loved makes me feel safe and happy. I feel warm inside and special.
Help me to love others so that they may feel that way, too.
Help those people who feel lonely and sad.
May they remember that they are loved by you and are never alone because you are always there.
Thank you for loving me.
Amen.

Our busy week!

Posted on Friday 14 January 2022 by Mrs Boulton

We’ve been busy again this week! There are two weather charts in our classroom and the children really enjoy looking at the weather each day and taking turns to record it. As it’s been quite chilly, we’ve been discussing the best clothes to wear outdoors to keep ourselves warm and dry. Our current theme is: ‘Winter’ and we’ve been decorating snowflakes, playing ‘throw the snowball’ and talking about animals who live in cold climates. One of our other outdoor games this week has been: ‘find the penguins’ where the children worked in two teams to see which team could collect the most penguins. We’ve also tried wax-resist painting, taken a pretend trip on a ‘magical classroom bus’ designed by the children (first stop was a well-known local supermarket) and exercised our gross-motor and balance skills.

Our focus number for the next week is: one and we will explore its position on a number line and look for it in the environment around us.

If you have any photos of family celebrations or weekend events, we would love to see them. Please email them to:

stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org

Happy New Year!

Posted on Friday 07 January 2022 by Mrs Boulton

It’s lovely to be back at Nursery after our Christmas break. We hope you’ve had a good holiday and we’re looking forward to a wonderful half-term of learning ahead. This week we have welcomed some new friends into our classroom and the children have been looking after them by being really good role-models. We hope our new friends have enjoyed their first few days with us.

The new year is always a good time for reflection and the children have been talking about Christmas and what they have been doing over the holiday. We’ve discussed (and drawn) our favourite presents and have talked about our hopes and wishes for the year to come. We’ve also had lots of chats about the weather and have looked closely at what happens to water when it is left outside in cold temperatures (and then brought back inside again). We’ve also discovered that we can see our reflections in water when it is still.

We’re all very excited about the coming weeks and we’ll be sharing lots of photos of our learning. Here’s a taster of our first week back…

This week’s bible story

Posted on Wednesday 05 January 2022 by Mr Roundtree

‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ (1 Corinthians 13.4-8)

In February, we celebrate Valentines Day. This was originally the day for the Church to celebrate or remember St Valentine, but over time, it has developed into a day to send cards, buy presents or flowers and celebrate love. What do you think love means?

Watch this video of Anna and Hans from Frozen. Anna and Hans have apparently fallen head over heels in love: love at first sight! Ask the children what love looks like to Anna and Hans. There is so much more to love than this. Love is something that we all experience, and in different ways: the love of parents or carers, of grandparents, siblings, friends . . . these are all different types of love, but they all give us a glimpse of what love is.

Reflection:
There is a passage in the Bible that tells us more about what love is like. It is a passage that is often read at weddings.
‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ (1 Corinthians 13.4-8)
This definition sets the bar pretty high! In truth, as human beings, we do boast and we aren’t always patient and kind. However, when we feel love, we get to experience the qualities in this definition, such as patience and kindness.

Christians believe that love is God’s gift to earth, so when Jesus came to earth and died on the cross, he did it to demonstrate this love.
How we can show this love to others. How can we be the people to demonstrate love in the world around us?

Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you for your gift of love.
Please help us to show this love to other people.
Amen.

Merry Christmas!

Posted on Friday 17 December 2021 by Mrs Boulton

What a fabulous end to our first term together at Nursery! The children have been a joy to be with since we started in September and we’ve all learned so much over the last 15 weeks. This week, we’ve had lots of fun with Christmas parties, Christmas games, Christmas scavenger hunts and lots of Christmas art. We’ve solved clues to discover Elvis the elf in lots of unexpected places and played rhyming games, shape games and exercised our fine motor skills. The sleigh we designed for Santa has been a huge success; however, we’re hoping he won’t need it as back-up on Christmas Eve as it’s in need of a service!

All of the Nursery staff wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas. Keep safe and enjoy the festivities. We look forward to seeing you all in January.

Christmas Dinner

Posted on Wednesday 15 December 2021 by Mr Roundtree

What an amazing Christmas dinner we have all had together. The kitchen staff have been beavering away so that we could enjoy our traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings (plus vegetarian option!)

We all enjoyed sharing a joke or fact from our Christmas crackers.

It was great to celebrate as a whole school family.

Some of our nursery children joined us too!

Key Stage 2 all made party hats to dazzle us with. You may even spot a few sporting a moustache.

So thank you to our amazing staff!

This week’s bible story

Posted on Monday 13 December 2021 by Mr Roundtree

Perseverance despite circumstances: Daniel 6:1-28 (omit verse 24)

Read the story of Daniel (omit verse 24 for younger or sensitive children)

Daniel was captured, along with many more of God’s people, and taken to live in a foreign country. In this country, they had different traditions and customs and it was not acceptable to worship God. But Daniel chose to continue serving God. Even though it meant that he was risking death, Daniel knelt down and honoured God by praying three times a day.
When the king discovered that Daniel was breaking the law by praying to God, he had Daniel thrown into a den of hungry lions. God stood by Daniel and rewarded his unwavering commitment to righteousness by protecting him from being eaten by the lions.

Reflection:
Do you think Daniel was lazy, or a hard worker?
When Daniel found out that he would be thrown into a lion’s den if he continued to pray, what did he do?
Why do you think Daniel continued to kneel down to pray instead of praying quietly in his head so that others could not see that he was praying?
How did God reward Daniel’s perseverance?

Prayer:
Dear God,
We can often end up in situations when life feels hard or difficult or when we feel we are out on a limb compared to everyone else.
Help us to persevere when times are tough.
Amen

Wonderful stars!

Posted on Friday 10 December 2021 by Mrs Boulton

What a starry week it has been here at Nursery! We’ve had lots of fun learning as we look forward to the Christmas holiday. At the beginning of the week, we had a dress rehearsal for our Christmas production in front of the rest of the school and the children were fantastic. The filming took place on Wednesday and it was a super performance. Congratulations to everyone involved.

We’ve been exercising our fine and gross motor skills this week in a variety of different ways: The children have really enjoyed wrapping parcels, making printing blocks and decorating trees. This afternoon, we started to make a sleigh for Santa which involved a lot of group work. First, we looked at some images of sleighs and then the children made a list of jobs they would have to do to make the sleigh. They were very organised and worked really well as a team – I think Santa will be incredibly impressed with his new vehicle. We’ve also looked again at creating repeating patterns, noticed 2D shapes in the environment around us and found lots of rhyming words. Next week is the final week of our first term together – hasn’t the time flown!

Wishing everyone a happy and safe week ahead.

Dates for your diary:

Wednesday, 15th Dec – Christmas dinner and Nursery Christmas party (pm).