Hi All,

Here is an overview of our week at Nursery School:

Indoor focus – We have been busy comparing quantities when making reindeer food, and making pirate punch by mixing different colours to create new colours. We have had a focus on emotions and encouraging the children to express how they are feeling throughout the day. We have been identifying letter sounds in play and when writing names. We have had Sarah in from ‘Brave Kind Minds’ to do some Christmas mindful movements sessions with us, wrapping presents, designing and writing labels in Santa’s workshop. The children have enjoyed making and identifying patterns with the Numicon and have had fun with the playdough using the Christmas modelling dough mats.

Outdoor focus – Following the children’s recent interest in pirates we have been using the large blocks and loose parts to build pirate ships, listening to and singing pirate songs. We created a stage where the children continued to enjoy dancing and exploring new movements to a range of Christmas Songs. Some children were keen to design and complete obstacle courses, and some children have been learning how to use the monkey bars safely. We have also been up in the Forest School area looking for minibeasts and making more bird feeders.

Forest School – This week all the children had a camp fire at Forest school. We were SO impressed by how all the children listened carefully to instructions and kept themselves safe around the fire. Every child toasted a marshmallow and enjoyed trying / eating them along with some toasted chocolate chip brioche.

Big Experience Programme – As part of our big experience programme we started taking the children to the Coop in small groups, they had a lovely time discussing what they could see and sharing their own knowledge. They all had a shopping list and were responsible for getting one item from the list. We also learnt a new song about keeping safe when crossing the road:

Stop, look and listen before you cross the road.
Stop, look and listen before you cross the road.
Use your eyes and your ears before you use your toes.
Stop, look and listen before you cross the road.
Stop, look and listen before you cross the road.

Thank you to all of you that came and helped with the trip, we could not do these trips without your support. The last group will go to the Coop on Tuesday afternoon.

Core Song and Poem – We have been recalling all of our Christmas Songs and Poems this week ready for our performance on Thursday.

Information / Reminders
– Snack – We have quite a lot of savoury items and fruit for next week, so please don’t worry about donations this week. I know a few of you have asked about party food for Friday, we will be having a festive snack in the morning and afternoon. I will put up a list with some food items on that you can bring on the day, but we will not require everyone to sign up as in the past we have always had a lot of food left over.

– Christmas Jumper Day: Thank you to all of you who have already donated. So far we have raised £25. There is still time to donate, here is our fundraising page  https://christmas.savethechildren.org.uk/fundraising/cjd240030766

If you would prefer to just give your donation to us, that is fine I will have a pot out by the gate and then we can pay it into the account at the end of the week.

– Christmas Performance: We will be holding this on Thursday the 19th of December at 11.20am and 3pm. If your child can wear Christmas clothes / jumpers to school this day that would be great. I will also be asking you to let us know which performance you will be coming to and who is coming so we can do a register and tick you off when you arrive. When you arrive if you could wait outside the front entrance, Sarah will let you in from 11.10 am and 2.50pm, just before the performance times. If your child does not normally come to school on a Thursday please speak to me, send me a message and we
can arrange for them to come in for the session that fits in with their attendance pattern.

– Christmas Party: This is on Friday the 20th of December. If this is not a day your child attends they are more than welcome to come in for a session that fits with their attendance pattern. The children can wear party clothes this day.

– End of Term: The children will finish Nursery on Friday the 20th of December at 11.50am and 3.30pm.

I hope you all are having a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow for our last week of the term

Kind regards
Zoe

Hi All

Here is an overview of our week at Nursery School:

Indoor focus – The children had fun exploring and investigating the changes when playing with the gloop (cornflour & water). In the water tray we had some dinosaurs that had been frozen and the children had to think about how they could rescue them. They added warm water, salt, and attempted to break them out using a range of tools. Last week, the children enjoyed making footprints in the snow so in the creative area we put out some animals / dinosaurs and trays of paint so they could create more footprints 🐾 As the weather was windy some of the children were keen to make kites, we discussed what a kite needs to fly and had fun seeing if there was enough wind to make them fly. One of our books this week was ‘Dear Zoo’ so we set up area with a copy of the book and the animals from the story where the children could recall and act out the story. Some children challenged themselves with a world map puzzle (50 pieces), this was a lovely activity and really got the children asking questions about the world. We also had snow dough out which is a different texture from normal play dough, this was a good opportunity to ask children about textures and opposites – is it hot / cold / dry / wet / rough / smooth / soft / hard?

Outdoor focus – We had a great time in the mud kitchen, mixing up concoctions using natural materials such as sand, water, mud, leaves, pinecones etc. This was also another good opportunity to discuss textures. We had fun acting out favourite stories and making up new ones, I particularly enjoyed going on a skeleton dinosaur hunt. During some of our outdoor sessions we had ‘Frozen’ music playing where the children danced and sang along to the words. On the decking we had some fake snow in a tuff spot tray was some animals that live in the arctic regions along with some factual information about these animals.

Forest School – Groups C & D enjoyed listening to nature, checking in with one another’s feelings, making some bird feeders and of course having a warm drink and a biscuit this week. We hope to be having a fire for a last session this term. I will send you out a risk assessment beforehand to read, I will then ask you to sign it to say you have read it and are happy for your child participate in the session.

Maths focus: Preposition – We talked about prepositions at group times thinking about what we were sitting on, who we were sitting next to and which children we were in between. Then the children were asked to demonstrate a range of prepositions to show their understanding. During another group time the children were asked to place an object in different places around the room – in, on, under, beneath, next to, beside, on top of, behind or in front.

Phonic focus: Instrumental Sounds – We continued to develop our awareness of sounds made with instruments and noise makers. We played ‘Adjust the Volume’ where we experimented and discussed a range of sounds. We also played ‘Which Instrument?’ Where the children had to identify which instrument had been played by just listening to the sound. We also looked at rhythm by adding a song to accompany each instrument.

Core Song – Robin is My Name (a Christmas song)

Poem – Five Little Reindeers

Five little reindeers playing in the snow,
The first one said, ‘Can you see my nose glow?’
The second one said, ‘Listen to me sing.’
The third one said, ‘I can hear the bells ring.’
The fourth one said, ‘Let’s eat some pie.’
The fifth one said, ‘I’m ready to fly.’
Then clomp went their hooves,
And the snow fell white,
And five little reindeers flew out of sight.

– See if your child can remember these and the actions. We will be performing this song and poem amongst others to you at the end of the term.

Information / Reminders

– Parent helpers needed – We are planning on taking small groups of children to the Co-op before the end of term but we will not be able to do this without your help as we go down to a 1:2 ratio for trips. We would be looking for 3 – 4 parents per trip. You would need to be able to offer an hour and quarter of your time. Morning visits would be from 10.15 – 11.30 and pm visits would be from 1.15 – 2.30. The dates we are hoping to go on these trips are Wednesday the 11th, Friday the 13th and Tuesday the 17th of December. When you arrive we will go over the risk assessment before heading off, you will be responsible for holding your child’s hand and one other child’s hand. Please comment on here if you are able to help and for which session.

– When phoning into school – Can you please select option 2 for Nursery School Office and not option 4 for Pre-School. If nobody answers then please do leave a message. If it is urgent and nobody is answering then you can select another option to leave a message with Ace Childcare or Ace Pre-School. Thank you.

– Christmas Performance: Thursday the 19th of December at 11.20 and 3pm.

– Christmas Party: Friday the 20th of December. If this is not a day your child attends they are more than welcome to come in for a session that fits with their attendance pattern.

I hope you have had a lovely weekend.

Kind regards

Zoe

Good Morning

Here is an overview of our week at Nursery School:

Wow experience – This week most children were able to make beans on toast, Marlena read a story that explained where the beans begin and the processes involved to enable them to reach our plates. The children loved this activity and asked lots of questions developing their knowledge and understanding.

Indoor focus – The children were interested in activities on offer relating to ’cause and effect’, such as the magnetic objects we had out this week. They experimented with them and we discussed their properties such as how they; stick, pull, attract and repel when held against different types of metal. We also discussed fire and looked at what 3 elements were needed to make a fire. The children had fun creating their own camp fires in the role play area where they recalled their own experiences and discussed how we keep safe around fire.

We also continued to develop our fine motor skills by having tweezers, scoops, tubes and and pom poms to explore, some children sorted the pom poms into colours and others experimented with building ramps and slides for the pom poms to travel down.

In the water tray the children had fun washing the babies and clothes and hanging them out to dry, using pegs which also helps them to develop their fine motor skills by strengthening their muscles in their fingers. This then helps prepare them for mark making and writing later on. I have attached some other fine motor activity cards which you could do with your child at home to help them to develop this skill.

Outdoor focus – The magic came to us outside this week, our garden was like a ‘Winter Wonder Land’, the children were so excited by the snow. We encouraged and helped them to wrap up warm and put on waterproofs to keep them dry. We had to keep safe and the children were not able to use all of the garden as some parts were too icy. We made footprints, looked for other footprints, crated patterns in the snow, explored ice and discussed the science behind it, made concoctions in the mud kitchen using snow, ice and other natural resources and they helped to clear pathways.

Forest School – This week on Thursday the children in groups A & B did Forest School. We made bird feeders as we thought the birds many be extra hungry due to the weather and the ground being frozen. We also continued to develop our bug hotel.

Maths focus: Pattern – The children are really starting to understand the concept of a repeating pattern, we continued to make repeated AB patterns and challenged some children to make more complex patterns such as ABC / ABB patterns. We also had patterns and stamps in the creative area for children to explore during free play. The children also had the chance to join in physically with a song ‘Pump Up the Pattern’ that we showed them on the interactive whiteboard, here is the link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoFhVdYsmPg 

Phonic focus: We continued to explore Instrumental sounds. During group times we played ‘Grandmothers Footsteps’ using instruments / sounds to create different movements and had a ‘Musical Show and Tell’ where the children chose an instrument and performed a song and the other children discussed what they liked about the performance and what sounds they heard such as short, long, slow, quick, smooth or bumpy sounds. The learning attention was for the children experience and develop awareness of sounds made with instruments and noise makers.

Core Song – Out of the Corner of my Eye (a Christmas song)

Poem – Jolly Red Nose

Nose, nose, jolly red nose.
Tell me what gives you that jolly red nose?
Nutmeg and ginger and cinnamon and cloves.
That’s what gives me this jolly red nose.

– See if your child can remember these and the actions. We will be performing this song and poem amongst others to you at the end of the term.

Information / Reminders

– Jenny will be off for a couple of week as she has a planned surgery. We will have a supply Early Years Practitioner in on some days and other members of the staff team will be doing extra sessions in her absence. We wish Jenny a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her when she returns. If your child is in ‘Blue’ Group we understand this may be unsettling but all members of staff have built good relationships with your children and we will support and reassure them. If you have any questions or worries please do speak to us.

– Christmas Performance: We are planning to do a short Christmas Performance for you, where the children will sing some Christmas songs and poems that we will be learning over the next month. More than likely this will be the first time your child has ever done this, if they find it overwhelming don’t worry we will support them. If they would rather come and sit with you or you come and sit with them then this is fine and can be accommodated. We want this to be a fun and positive experience for all. The date we are looking at is Thursday the 19th of December. It will be a short performance and we will do one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The times will be confirmed officially in Sarah’s email but it will be more than likely to be half an hour before normal collection times.

– Christmas Party – We will have a Christmas Party on the last day of term where we will have a very special visitor, have Christmas activities available, play games, dance and have a Christmas snack in the morning and afternoon. We may put up a sign-up sheet and ask for parental donations for this. This will be for the children only, if your child does not normally come on a Friday they are more than welcome to attend for one of the sessions that fits in with your child’s attendance pattern.

– Children in Need: I will let put a poster up next week displaying the total we raised for Children in Need. Thank you for all your kind donations for this worthwhile charity.

– Snack donations: Thank you for your continued support with the weekly snack donations it is very much appreciated.

I hope you all have a great weekend 😊

Kind regards

Zoe

Hi All

Here is an overview of our week at Nursery School:

Wow experience – This week the children made cinnamon swirls with Marlena, the learning intentions were for all children to use a range of tools independently with little support; to understand and respond to questions or conversations that interest them; and to begin using key vocabulary linked to this activity. Here is the link to the recipe so you can have a go at making these at home – https://bakingwithgranny.co.uk/wprm_print/easy-cinnamon-swirls 

Indoor focus – The children embraced the Halloween theme (along with the staff) and had great fun in the witches’ kitchen making spider cobwebs, matching the correct number of legs to numbered spiders, finding out factual information about spiders, using tweezers to collect spiders from the water tray and mark making with a range of media.

Outdoor focus – The children had fun completing the Halloween scavenger hunt, making pumpkin ice tea, experimenting with cinnamon gloop, exploring different textures. They enjoyed practicing their fundamental skills such as throwing, catching, kicking, balancing and aiming, initiating and completing obstacle courses. The children had fun adding Autumn collections to the water tray and discovering if they float or sink and helping to wash equipment ready for next term.

Maths focus – This week the children have been recapping on counting and cardinality. During group times the children have been identifying numbers 1-6 (by rolling a dice) and then building a tower using the correct amount of bricks to represent the number. For our other maths group time we played ‘The Box Game’ where we counted a number of toys into a box, the children were then asked to represent the number using their fingers and the teacher wrote the numeral / pattern of number on the whiteboard for them to see. We did this several times using a range of numbers (1-5), at times the teacher added 1 more / less to embed and discuss and embed the concept of comparison between numbers of ‘more’ and ‘less’. The learning intention this week was for children to begin to count by rote by saying numbers in the correct order.

Phonic focus – The learning intention this week has been for the children to initiate a conversation through verbal / nonverbal communication and begin to use key vocabulary linked to their learning. Using the interactive white board / iPads the children were invited to choose a button and discover a mystery sound and think about what it could be, sharing their knowledge and understanding. For the other phonic session we used onomatopoeia farm sound cards and asked the children in turn to match the sound given them with the correct picture.

Core Song – Incy Wincy Spider (along with Tincy Wincey and Hugey Wugey) – See if they can remember these along with the actions and expression.

Poem – Pointed Hat

A little old lady with a tall pointed hat,
Knocked on my door with a rat-a-tat-tat.
I peered through the window to see who was there,
And off on her broomstick she flew through the air.

*This linked in well with our Halloween theme, see if your child can remember the words and actions to this short poem.

Reminders / Information

– Inset Day on Monday 04.11.24

– Term starts Tuesday 05.11.24

– Parking – Thank you again for not parking in the car park, although we are aware a few parents are still using the car park. We will continue to monitor the parking again next term at different drop off / collection times. We are spending a lot of time in discussions with the neighbours and they are sending daily emails with reports that parents are still using the private drive way. We are asking you to do this due to health and safety regulations and to safeguard everyone involved. I can’t express how much time is being spent trying to sort the current parking situation out. If problems continue we will have to look at further permanent measures to prevent this from continuing, which will impact the staff and the centre financially. Also, if walking up the private drive can we please ask that you take care and use the path provided. We are even at the point where we considering closing the back entrance meaning that everyone would have to use the front entrance, we do not want to do this but we are running out of options.

– Voluntary contributions – Thank you this is very much appreciated 😊

We have had a great term and you should all be proud of your children, they have settled back / into Nursery School well and are doing SO well. I hope you all have a a lovely break this half term and we look forward to seeing you next term.

Kind regards

Zoe

Hi All

Here is an overview of our week at Nursery School:

Wow experience – This the week the children made some vegetable soup, we first identified and explored all the different vegetables before the children helped to chop them up. Once chopped the children put the vegetables into the soup blender, we then added a stock cube and a little salt and pepper to give the soup some extra flavour. There were SO many learning opportunities within this activity, the children were engaged and determined to see the process through. The children all had the chance to try the soup once it was cooked if they wished, there were mixed reviews on how it tasted 😊

Indoor focus – The children were busy exploring and making animal homes with the lentils and natural materials in the sand tray. They enjoyed mixing and making new colours in the water tray using pipettes and exploring capacity using a range of different size containers. In the creative area the children made Autumn collages by combining different media and materials such as leaves and sticks. The children made playdough hedgehogs and were really interested in animals that hibernate which we will continue to explore next week. They used natural materials to make collections and were supported to recognise which collections had more / less, they were encouraged to explain their thinking to show their understanding of these concepts.

Outdoor focus – The children liked making their own nature wands this week, they crumbled leaves up and sprinkled them onto a star shape before attaching them to a lolly stick. The children enjoyed mixing up fairy liquid and water to make bubble solution and then persevered to blow some bubbles using their own bubble wands (pipe cleaners and lolly sticks) . The children used the guttering, stands and loose parts to make racing tracks for the small cars, trucks and trains. Jenny got the boom whackers out and the children had great fun making music with them along with other musical instruments.

Funky Pants – Dance and Movement Session – We were very lucky to have Hollie from ‘Funky Pants’ come and join us on Wednesday for a fabulous dance and movement session. The children really enjoyed her session and we hope to get Hollie to come again soon. Pre-School came and joined us which was nice as some of the children got to see their friends since moving up to Nursery school.

Maths focus – This week the children have continued looking at comparison. During group times the children had to beat the clock and see how many actions they could do in 10 seconds, recognising which action they did more of and which one they did less of and thinking why this may have been. The children also enjoyed estimating, where they had to guess how many objects, such as ladybirds, were in each jar, then together we counted the ladybirds from each jar to find out which had more / which had less and see if anyone had guessed correctly or was close.

Phonic focus – This week the children have continued to explore instrumental sounds, at group time they listened carefully to the sounds of 4 different instruments – xylophone, maraca, drum and bell. Their teacher then played one of the instruments that was hidden and the children had to identify which instrument she was playing. We also enjoyed a game of ‘Grandmothers Footsteps’ where the children had to decide what movement goes with which sound / instruments (e.g. bells for fairy steps and drum for giant steps).

Core Song – I’m a Little Hedgehog

Poem – A Basket of Apples

I’ve got a basket of apples, picked from a tree.
Apples rosy red for you, and shiny green for me.
Some of them are big, and some of them are small.
Some of them are oval, and some shaped like a ball.
Some of them are sour, and some of them are sweet.
Lots of lovely apples for you and I to eat.

*They were particularly good at pulling a sour face which was one of the actions in the poem.

Reminders / Information

– Can we please remind you to bring in some snack if at all possible as we are running low. Any day of the week is fine to bring it in. Thank you.

– Lost property – If you have lost any of your child’s items of clothing, we have put anything we have found without names on the lost property table (by the back door in the lobby). Please do have a look as you walk past. If they are not claimed by the end of term we will put the items into our spare clothes or donate to charity. Thank you.

– Voluntary contributions of £10 for this term are now due, you can hand an envelope into the office or send a payment via a bank transfer to:

• Account name: ACE Centre Nursery School Special Purposes Account
• Account number: 30269247
• Sort code: 20-03-84

Thank you to those of you you have already done this. It is very much appreciated. We use these donations towards cooking ingredients, playdough ingredients, to enhance areas of the environment and to top up snack if needed throughout the term.

Please do like this memo, so we know you are seeing the weekly memos 👍

Wishing you all a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you next week.

Kind regards

Zoe