Reading: Tom Palmer
This year, some children at school attended an online workshop with author Tom Palmer. Tom Palmer has been in touch to let us know about some local events he is attending in half term.
Message from Tom
For children and families – I am also coming to Leeds on Thursday 2 November 2023 :
* Farsley Book Festival – 10am-11am more here
https://trumanbooks.co.uk/event/flf-kids-day
* Chapel Allerton Library – 2pm
* Pudsey Community Hub and Library – 4pm
A forest, a dark gloomy forest…
We took a visit to the forest this week in search of a bear!
Our focus story for the next 2 weeks is ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ by Michael Rosen. The children having really enjoyed how engaging this story is, using repeated refrains throughout the book. We particularly enjoyed being able to join in with Michael Rosen himself re-telling the story.
Help at home: Enjoy reading ‘we’re going on a bear hunt’ at home and see what else you might find on your journey. What else could you see in the forest? What sounds might you hear? If you don’t have access to this book at home here is the re-aloud the children have enjoyed this week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iou5LV9dRP0
(This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog 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)
Have lovely weekend and we will see you next week for more bear hunt adventures!
Miss Ward
I’ll huff and I’ll puff!
Nursery have had a busy week of learning. The children have been engrossed in purposeful play within our circle time’s and within provision. As we’re getting to know everyone, we like to talk about our families and home life.
To encourage children to tell us more about their family life, please e-mail or bring a photograph of your child with their family to Nursery next week. Our email is: stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org
We will use these to create our own family trees to display in the classroom.
Our focus story this week has been The three little pigs. The children really enjoyed listening to the story and thinking about what might happen next. We used our themed tuff tray to role-play the story in provision.
Just a little reminder…
Have a happy and healthy weekend!
Miss Ward
Hello Everyone!
The children have all been busy settling back into nursery routine and we also have some new faces!
Here’s what we’ve been getting up to over the past few weeks …
Notice
- Library day is on a Tuesday. Your child will bring home a story from our library once a week so this must be returned the following week.
- PE day is on a Wednesday. Your child may come dressed in a PE kit (joggers, t-shirt, jumper, trainers) just something comfortable to move around in.
Have a lovely weekend!
Miss Ward
EYFS Sports Day 2023!
Hello Everyone!
A massive thank you to all our parents/carers for attending our sports day this year! I’m sure you will all agree with how fantastic the children were. They showed great determination, resilience and brought team spirit to make it a really enjoyable morning. It really displayed to us how hard the children have worked this year and we are so proud of them!
Well done everybody!
Miss Ward and Mrs Payne
Our School Adventure
We had such a fantastic day at Piglets Adventure Park on Tuesday. Even though the weather was a little rainy we had an amazing day. On the coach we saw what it is like to drive through a city. We saw different buildings and spoke about how the roads were busy.
We learnt more about what the animals need on a daily basis and the correct vocabulary for adults and their young.
The sand areas were great for us to discuss the beach and ways we can keep safe.
Thank you to everyone who made our trip possible.
Let’s make a splash!
We have had a very hot but busy week in Nursery. The children have done really well to keep themselves cool and hydrated. We talked a lot about sun safety and the importance of what this means. The children actively knew that when we were outside we needed to make sure we had our sun hats on, sun cream applied and we take some time out in the shade.
and of course a play in the paddling pool is also a bonus!
Our topic for this half term is focussed around the seaside. This week’s book has been… The snail and the whale by Julia Donaldson. In our maths learning we are exploring time. We talked about our morning and night time routines, here’s a few examples;
In the morning we wake up- Ella
I have a bath in the night and then put my pjs on and grandma reads a story- Gracie
I like to have a snack before bedtime- C
I like pancakes for my breakfast in the morning- Deacon
Here are some of the activities the children have been getting up to this week …
We made our own ocean exploring colour mixing with cornflour, water and powder paint. The children noticed how it can quickly change from a solid to a liquid.
We designed our own postcards from our favourite places.
The sea creatures were trapped so we needed to get our funky fingers working to untangle them. This process is supporting muscle development and fine motor control to supporting their writing.
We have also started our half term project, making our very own ice-cream parlour!
We hope you have a lovely rested weekend all ready in preparation for our school trip on Tuesday. We are so excited as I am sure you all are too!
Reminder- Tuesday 20 June (Piglets Adventure Farm)
Please make sure your child brings with them a small backpack that they are able to carry. This should include their packed lunch if they are bringing their own, a refillable water bottle, sun hat and some spare clothes just in case. I will be taking my own backpack full of emergency spares so please don’t worry if you forget something on the day.
Any last minute questions please feel free to catch me on the door or email me at: stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org
Miss Ward
What can I see? What can I see?
This week our focus book has been ‘The Train Ride’ by June Crebbin. We talked about what you might see on a train ride if you were looking out of the window, like the girl in the story.
“Some cows and sheep in the big fields”- Frankie
“The window is a mirror you can see yourself”- Gracie
“You might go through a tunnel and it will be very dark and you would need a torch so you can see” -C
Here are some of the activities we have been exploring in provision
The children really enjoyed their PE session outside in the sunshine. We played ‘Ants in your pants’. The children used a hoop as their pants and the beanbags were the ants. The children used their throwing skills to see how many ants they could get in their partners pants!
During our maths learning this week our focus has been looking for shapes within the environment. See if you can guess which shapes we found!
Reminder
We are coming into our last week before half term, it’s set to be a warm one! So please could I remind all parents/carers that sun cream should be applied before coming to school and that all children come with a sun hat and water bottle. Your child’s water bottle will be refilled throughout the day.
Have a fantastic weekend, remember to stay sun safe!
Miss Ward
Minibeasts everywhere!
Over the past few weeks we have been exploring all things minibeast! We’ve looked for worms in the garden with our magnifying glasses, made our own junk model insects and observed how our tadpoles are starting to change.
We also began to celebrate the upcoming Coronation of King Charles. The children joined in making afternoon tea, got creative using red white and blue to make their own flags and designed their own crowns for our school parade.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Miss Ward
But he was still hungry!
Welcome back Nursery! We hope you had a lovely break over the Easter half term.
This week we introduced our new topic ‘ wheels, wings and other things’. Our first focus book was ‘The very hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle.
Here is what we got up to …
We created our own caterpillars using loose parts and play dough. We took the children down to the big playing field to start our minibeast hunt, the children ticked off the minibeasts they found along the way. We also went to check out school pond to see if there were any tadpoles- safe to say we will be seeing lots of frogs very soon!
The Caterpillar goes into a cocoon and then comes out as a Butterfly – Gracie
It gets really hungry, it’s going to eat 5 oranges next- Joshua
Look Miss Harvey, there is a millipede here. It has lots of legs!-Deacon
1 apple, 2 pears, 3 plums, 4 strawberries and 5 oranges but he’s still hungry – Zubi
The butterfly is symmetrical because it’s the same on both sides- Austin
Notice
As the weather is starting to become warmer, please could you ensure your child/children bring a sun hat to school clearly labelled. We do have a sun hat box if you would like to leave it with us.
Have a lovely weekend everyone!
Miss Ward