We’ve been learning all about the Number 2! We counted 2 objects out, subertised 2 (said on sight), learned that “a part of me is one, a part of me is one and the whole of me is two” and went on a hunt around Nursery to find ways to represent two.

As we explored lots of activities in provision relating to Little Red Riding Hood we’ve been working on our pencil grip. It’s something that will make a big difference when the children start school.

Help at home: Draw or paint a picture, showing them how to hold their pencil/paint brush in a ‘tripod’ grip. We’ve been drawing our favourite foods this week so they might want to add to that.

Timetable update: PE will now be on a Thursday morning so please send the children in something comfortable such as jogging bottoms and trainers on Thursdays.

Reminder – World Book Day

It’s World Book Day on Thursday 06 March. This year, we will celebrate by bringing our favourite book to nursery to share with our friends. Please make sure that your child’s name is in their book. If you can stay a little bit longer at drop off on the Thursday morning, we’d love for you to share a book with your child or to join in with some of the World Book Day activities that will be in provision. It’s always a day that we really enjoy at nursery, so please join in if you can.

We hope that you all have a happy and healthy half term and we’ll see you on Monday 24 February.

Classifying Animals in Science

Today, Year One worked together to classify animals into mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles. They used their knowledge of animal characteristics—like fur, feathers, scales, and where they live—to sort them correctly.

Isaac ” I know it is a bird because it has feathers and a beak.”

Ada “Amphibians have webbed feet and live on both the land and in the water.”

Ava “Fish use their gills to breathe!”

Help at Home

• Spot animals in books or outdoors and ask, “Which group do they belong to?”
• Discuss their features—Does it have feathers? Does it lay eggs?

Living and Learning – NSPCC’s Speak Out Stay Safe

As part of our learning about knowing how to seek help and keep ourselves safe, we joined the NSPCC for an online assembly about Speaking Out to Stay Safe.  We loved discussing what we might worry about and how we could get help.

Shae’s reflection at the end of the session summed it up perfectly:

Children can have a sack full of worries and may need help.

It’s great that the children know it is normal to have worries and even more importantly that they have lots of ideas of how they can get help for those worries.

Living and Learning – Personal boundaries

As part of our learning this week, we have thought about assessing risk and ensuring we, and others, are happy and healthy.  As part of this we thought about personal boundaries.  We thought about why personal boundaries are important to us and to others.

17.01.25

Please continue to practise your spellings for the next two weeks. We’ve read these words as part of our daily phonics lessons. Please practise using the look, say, cover, write and check method. Your child will have a spelling quiz on Friday 24 January. 

• many
• any
• again
• who
• whole
• where
• some
• what
• when
• why

Festivals and Remembrance

This week we have been talking about Diwali- The festival of light. We explored the meaning of Diwali and what happens during this festival. We also talked about Bonfire Night and why we celebrate this day.

The children were very creative this week and got stuck into lots of messy activities. We made Diya lamps from clay and decorated them with lots of bright colourful paints and glitter. We also made some firework pictures using our favourite colours. We made a cut out using a tube and used this to make prints on our paper to look like fireworks.

Help at Home: Next week is World Nursery Rhyme week.

We have been learning lots of new nursery rhymes since the start of September. Can your child remember which ones we have learnt and can they sing their favourite using the actions?

This Sunday is a special day where we remember all those who faught in the war. This can be a sad time for many, so here is a little video that the children in Nursery have watched this week to help them understand more. From this, we made our own poppies to display on our wreath in Early Years.

Notice:

•  World Nursery Rhyme week.
• Tuesday 12 Nov– ‘ Odd socks day’ this is to symbolise that we are all different and that children should be themselves and be accepting of one another.
• Friday 15 Nov – it is non-uniform day for Children in Need.

Have a lovely weekend

The Nursery Team

Community Week – Identity

In transition week during the Summer Term, Year 4 used the book The Barnabus Project to consider how we are all unique and are ‘perfectly imperfect’ in our own way.

It was exciting to return to this learning as part of Community Week when we considered ‘Identity’ in more detail. We enjoyed considering what makes us special and recorded this in an identity map.  The children were wonderfully creative and found lots of things that they have in common with each other as well as features of their identity that make them unique.

The importance of attendance

What did you do today? ‘We just played’…is the answer many parents of Reception children get. But here’s just a few of the things your child would miss if they’re absent for five consecutive days.
Phonics: Children learn four new graphemes and three tricky words each week.
Reading: Children practise reading books that closely match their phonics, plus loads of stories are read aloud and celebrated. We visit the school library once a week to choose a book to take home.
Poetry picnic: There’s a poetry session every day –another valuable activity which helps children learn to read.
Writing: We write every day using the graphemes that we’ve learned.
Handwriting: Children learn how to form letters correctly, otherwise joining letters will be difficult in Key Stage 1.
Maths: We’ve four maths sessions a week, setting the foundations for children to be successful in using and applying numbers in the future.
Alongside all of this, children learn Science, Music and other subjects. Even more importantly, children learn to concentrate in a large group, to share resources, take turns when speaking, answer in full sentences, regulate our feelings and prepare ourselves for future learning.
There’s a lot happening when ‘we just play’!

Living and Learning: I folllow the school rules.

Our Living and Learning statement for our first week is:

I follow the school rules.

Our three school rules are short and snappy to remember:

We are respectful.

We are ready.

We are safe.

As a class, Year 3 have discussed what the rules mean and how to follow them in school. We know that being respectful covers lots of things, such as listening to others, being kind to everyone and using our manners in school.

Help at home:

Talk about the three school rules with your child. Which is the easiest to follow? Which is the most difficult? Come up with some top tips on how to follow our school rules every day.

Pie Corbett (Wings) inspired writing

In our reading sessions, years 5 and 6 have been practising our reading fluency, using the poem ‘wings’ by Pie Corbett. In this poem (below), Pie Corbett uses his senses to influence his ideas on what he would do if he were to have wings.

The children were really inspired by his work, so we decided to create our own versions of the poem. We still focussed on our senses to guide our writing. Have a look at some of our fantastic pieces below!