Our new sensory space; The Den
Over the summer, Mrs Freeman has been busy creating a sensory themed room in school.
The Den is a safe space which aims to provide any child with the individualised sensory input they need to self-regulate so they can be better prepared for learning and interacting with others.
The Den offers a safe space for relaxation, exploration, independence, and social sessions. The resources in The Den can be used to stimulate, soothe, entertain and distract, depending on the child’s requirements.
We would like to say thank you to the school PTA for the contributions towards resources for this room.
We hope users of The Den benefit from the stimulating visual and tactile activities.
I make safe choices, including online!
This week has been safety week across school. In Nursery and Reception we had a visit from Dave at D-side.
He spoke to us about the importance of being safe online and what we should and shouldn’t do!
We watched a little video about a girl playing a game on her Daddy’s computer and all of a sudden an advert popped up to win a toy.
Should the girl click on the prize?
‘ No, it could be dangerous’
Here are some other response we had from the children in relation to sharing personal information online ..
‘They might ring your number’
‘They might drive to your house’
‘Because they might find where you are playing’
Who should we ask before we go online? use a computer, Ipad or phone?
Mummies, Daddies, Grandparents, uncles, aunties older people’
Help at Home: Can you remember what these numbers mean?
Have a happy and healthy weekend!
Miss Ward, Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman
Yo-ho a Pirates life for me!
This week our focus story has been ‘Pirates love Underpants’ by Claire Freedman.
We’ve been practicing our best pirate voices and searching for treasures around school.
We made our own pirate maps and thought about the locations we could hide our treasure for our friends to find. The pirates left one for us to follow, it lead us straight to forest school. We followed the directions and found the pirates treasure!
Although sneaky pirate Miss Harvey kept pinching our treasure so we had to chase after her!
Help at home: Can you draw your own treasure map? Hide some treasure around your house and see if your grown-ups can follow the directions on your map!
If you have any photos of your treasure maps, please send them in so we can have a look at them during ‘snack and chat’.
stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org
Our garden has been busy growing our peas and runner beans for a while now and the children were so excited when I told them the peas were ready!
We picked some, washed them and then enjoyed them during our ‘snack and chat’. They were delicious and very sweet.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Miss Ward, Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman
Full, half-full and empty!
Over the past two weeks our maths focus has been exploring capacity.
We’ve spoken about understanding what full and empty means, exploring capacity using different materials such as water, sand and rice and comparing capacities directly by pouring from one container to another to find which holds more or less.
Charlie- ‘ It doesn’t all fit in this one (water), the jug is too small’
Wyatt- ‘ It’s gone over the top, it’s too full now’
T- ‘ This is a really small one (jug), it won’t be big enough for all the water’
Next week we will be getting out our eye patches and going on a treasure hunt, the pirates are arriving in their underpants!
We would just like to say a BIG thank you to all our lovely parents and carers for attending our sports day this week. It was a brilliant morning and I think we can all agree that the children had a wonderful time!
Have a happy and healthy weekend!
Miss Ward, Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman
What’s the commotion?
For the next two weeks the children will be reading ‘ Commotion in the Ocean’ by Giles Andreae
In Nursery we have been talking about different parts of our books. We know that the author is someone who writes the words in our stories and the illustrator is someone who draws the pictures. Next week, we are going to talk about what a blurb is!
After all our hard work in looking after our vegetables, our pototoes we’re finally ready! We dug down deep into the soil to pull them out. We washed them and popped them into the fridge ready to make some potato salad next week for us to try. I think they will be yummy!
Help at home: What vegetables have you grown before? What did they taste like? Which was your favourite?
If you have any photos of your vegetables growing please send them in so we can have a look at them during ‘snack and chat’.
stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org
Notice:
WC. 24/06 the children have been asked to wear their PE kit all week. This is so we can practice our sports day races ready for you all on Wednesday!
Nursery and Reception Sports Day- Wednesday 26 June from 9am (children will be out on the field by 9:30)
If your child doesn’t usually attend a Wednesday, we are more than happy for you to come along and join in, just drop off at Nursery as normal.
Please can your child be wearing suncream before coming to Nursery and be provided with a hat, it’s set to be a hot one this week!
Have a lovely weekend!
Miss Ward, Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman
Three friends sharing a shell..
This week the children have enjoyed reading ‘ Sharing a Shell’ By Julia Donaldson
This story highlights the important role that sharing plays in building lasting friendships.
- What did the Anemone do to the big fish?
- What two items did the sea creatures find in the rockpool? Should they be there and why?
- why did the three friends fall out?
- How did the bristleworm help them become friends again?
We got very creative this week, the children followed their own interests and wanted to make their own shells! we used lots of different materials from our junk modelling bucket, such as plastic bottles, tubs and milk cartons. They chose lots of bright and colourful materials to add to their shells including tissue paper, glittter, sequins and paint. They look amazing, I think I might like to stay in one!
Next week we are exploring our under the sea theme more!
We will be reading..
Can you guess which sea creature I’m describing?
Having eight arms can be useful,
you may think it looks a bit funny,
but it helps me to hold all my children
and tickle each one on the tummy.
Have a wonderful happy and healthy weekend!
Miss Ward, Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman
Save the Whale!
Our theme this term is ‘Let’s make a splash!’
We started this week off with Julia Donalson’s, ‘The Snail and the Whale’
A beautiful tale of an unlikely friendship, a tour of the world and a heroic rescue!
We’ve been talking about the differences in the world around us, from the countryside to the seaside, we looked at some artwork and here’s what we thought…
We don’t have beaches at home but we have one outside in our garden’- Ella D
There is lots of grass- Oria
I like the seaside, I went on my holiday – Elliott
I love getting an ice-cream, with sprinkles and red sauce- Louie
It’s full of tree’s and big wall’s – Immy
After the half-term, the Caterpillars had finished growing in their cocoon and we’re ready to be released. We had 4 in total!
They spotted our wild flowers in the garden and went on the hunt for some delicious pollen.
Miss Ward, Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman
Minibeasts are everywhere!
We’ve been on a minibeast hunt this week and they are everywhere!
We have been reading a non-fiction book this week – ‘ Minibeast Food’ by Charlotte Guillian
What better place to search for minibeasts, than in our own forest!
We found lots of different minibeasts including, worms, earwigs and centipedes!
It’s got so many legs! -Charlie
Miss ward it’s tickling my hand -Immy
I’ve found a big fat slug, it gets smaller when you touch it – Ella D
It needs a leaf to eat, I think it’s hungry -Evie
Help at home: Can you find any minibeasts in your garden or out on a walk? here’s a little checklist to help you ..
With all the rain we had on Monday it created a monster puddle! which we all thoroughly enjoyed. MUD SLIDE!
We also looked at the symmetrical patterns on butterflies wings and created our own versions. we looked in detail at the different colours and patterns and used these to explore colour mixing.
This weeks sound is: ‘Z’ Zebra
Rhyme of the week: Ring a Ring of roses
Have a happy and healthy weekend everybody!
Miss Ward, Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman
Glug Slug Milkshake!
This week our focus story is called ‘ Spider Sandwiches’ by Claire Freedman
The children got creative making spider sandwiches using appropriate materials to reach their desired outcome! We used, playdough, sticks, leaves and clay to make our own sandwich.
In maths we have been doing lots of counting- 1:1 correspondence. This helps them to build a strong foundation of number sense, by grasping the concept that one object represents one unit. We often ‘touch’ count in nursery to ensure we count each object once.
Help at home:
Here’s the numberblocks explaining the rules of counting and more!
Can you count some objects around your house? how many did you find? did you make sure you touch counted them all?
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: Go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip
This weeks sound is: ‘Y’ for Yo-Yo
Rhyme of the week: Incy, wincy spider
Notice:
Just a reminder …
Tuesday- is our forest school session and library book day
Wednesday- is PE day (comfortable clothes)
The weather has started to pick up this week and hopefully long may this continue. Therefore we ask if your child may have suncream applied before school. You may wish to send your child with bottle of suncream (clearly labelled) incase they need a top up in the afternoon. please can you also provide your child with a sun hat.
We hope you have a lovely happy and healthy bank holiday weekend!
Miss Ward, Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman
But he was still hungry!
This week the children have really enjoyed reading ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle.
We explored the process of ‘Metamorphosis‘ which was a really big word for the children to try and say!
Metamorphosis is the process of changing physical form, such as the Caterpillar.
Help at home: What are the four stages of the Caterpillar lifecycle? Are there any other animals that go through this process? We may have some wigglying around in our tank in Reception…
We went BIG and created our own Caterpillar lifecycle! We also made a giant Catrepillar using natural resources in forest school.
During our story the children asked why the caterpillat needed to go to sleep for so long. This linked nicley with our living and learning statement this week – ‘I know the importance of sleep’.
Here’s what they thought..
because it’s dark
I put my jarmas on after I’ve had a bath
I get really tired and it’s time to go to bed
When you’re tired you go to sleep
My daddy is grumpy in the morning
I have my teddies in my bed
This weeks sound is: ‘W’ for Wave
Rhyme of the week: 1,2,3,4,5 Once I caught a Fish alive
Notice:
Just a reminder …
Tuesday is our forest school session and library book day
Wednesday is PE day (comfortable clothes)
Have a lovely weekend!
Miss Ward , Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman