Hi all,

We hope you’ve had a lovely week in the sunshine! Apologies for the missing update last week Here’s a catch-up on all the wonderful things the children have been up to over the past two weeks. The children have enjoyed exploring magnets, testing different materials to see what sticks . In our creative areas, both indoors and outdoors, there’s been plenty of sensory fun. Outside, the children got wonderfully messy with mud painting, while indoors they experimented with frozen paint, watching how the colours melted and mixed. Over in the construction zone, our brilliant builders have been hard at work designing and building tall towers and train stations, showing fantastic creativity and teamwork.

MATHS: Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been exploring measure in different ways, including comparing height, time, and quantity. The children have enjoyed activities like seeing who can do the most claps or star jumps in 20 seconds, comparing how many objects fit into containers, and drawing or measuring themselves using tape and chalk. Some of the key vocabulary we’ve been focusing on includes same, more than, less than, taller, and shorter.

PHONICS: In phonics, we’ve been doing more oral blending and segmenting of sounds in words. The children enjoyed using Robot Arms and Robot Mike (our very own robot) to sound out words. We also laid out familiar objects and sounded them out, asking the children to find the item we were saying.

To support your child’s phonics learning at home, you can practice sounding out words together by breaking them into individual sounds rather than saying the letter names. For example, instead of saying “C-A-T,” try sounding out the word as “c–a–t” (with the sounds: /k/ /a/ /t/). You can do this with everyday objects like “cat,” “dog,” or “sun.” Encouraging your child to listen for each sound and blend them together helps build their early reading skills in a fun and natural way! The Alphablocks series demonstrates this very well and can be a great resource to watch together.

CORE SONG: ‘Miss Polly Had a Dolly’ Miss Polly had a dolly

CORE POEM: Five Little Owls Five Little Owls

Five little owls in an old elm tree,
As fluffy and puffy as owls could be.
Blinking and winking their big round eyes,
At the big round moon that hung in the skies.
As I walked beneath, I could hear one say,
“They’ll be a mouse for supper, there will be today.”
Then all of them hooted, “Tu-witt, tu-whoo.
Yes, mouse for supper, Hoo-hoo, Hoo, hoo.”

FOREST SCHOOL : At Forest School, the children embraced nature and made their own clay nests, using leaves, twigs, and other natural materials they found around them – a great mix of creativity and outdoor exploration.

BRAVE, KIND MINDS : Some of the children also took part in Brave Kind Minds, a small group run by Sarah. This week’s theme was the garden – they explored different garden scents and used their imaginations to pretend to be garden creatures, from wriggly worms to buzzing bees and fluttering butterflies!

NSPCC PANTOSAURUS SONG : Now and again throughout the term we do talk ‘PANTS’ to help children understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell a safe adult they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried. By discussing such topics helps children to understand that they have a right to say no and if they need to speak out about something someone will listen. Here is the link to the NSPCC online page which gives you tips and advice to help keep your children safe. The children do enjoy joining in with the ‘Pantosaurus’ video / song which leads to discussions around ‘PANTS’ rules – https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/ 

SCHOOL VISITS : Please remember to check your emails regularly for updates about upcoming school visits. The children have loved coming back and sharing their experiences with us—these visits are really important for helping them with smooth transitions. Some of the key vocabulary we’ve been focusing on includes school transitions and the feelings around them.

FOREST SCHOOL WORKING PARTY : If you’re able to come along and help, we’d love to see you there! It’s a great chance to get involved and support our outdoor learning space.

We’re holding parties on –
•Tuesday 8th July 2025, 4–6pm
•Wednesday 30th July 2025, 10am–3pm (drop in anytime)

VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS : A gentle reminder that the £10 termly voluntary contributions are now due. If you’re able to contribute, you can either drop £10 in cash into the office or use the bank details provided below. Please remember to include your child’s name as a payment reference. These donations help us buy extra snacks when needed, as well as supplies for fun activities like playdough, rice, pasta, cornflour, shaving foam, and more. Thank you so much for your continued support!

• Account Name : ACE Centre Nursery School Special Purposes Account
  • Account Number : 30269247
  • Sort Code : 20-03-84

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Zoe

 

Hi all,

We’ve had a wonderful week at Nursery School. Bug hunting was a big hit, especially spotting snails. There has also been some fantastic teamwork and creativity on display in the construction area. Some of the children took part in ‘Brave, Kind Minds’, which was focused on exploring different weather conditions. Additionally they have been discovering symmetry while making butterflies paintings with Marlena. To top it off, we have also enjoyed some brilliant performances in the garden, with enthusiastic actors and a very supportive audience.

Maths – Continuing from last week, the children have been exploring shapes through fun group activities, using the blocks to create and copy a variety of different shapes. They’ve enjoyed recalling the names of shapes (circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, diamonds) and discussing their properties, for example the number of sides / edges, as well as the differences between 2D and 3D shapes.

Phonics – We have also been continuing with oral blending and segmenting, encouraging the children to listen carefully to the names of objects or toys with 2 or 3 phonemes (the smallest units of sound in a word) and identify the whole word. For example, words like zip, hat, cup, chain, boat, tap, and ball. You can try this at home by pretending your child’s favourite toy whispers a word to you. Then, say the sounds slowly and see if they can identify the word.

Forest School – The children embraced the rain during Forest School, enjoying every splash and muddy moment. This week, our focus was on worms and their important role in helping the soil stay healthy. We talked about the types of things worms like to eat and made our own worm food, using peelings and leftovers from snack-time. We discussed how they turn food into rich soil that helps new plants grow. It was wonderful to see the children’s curiosity and excitement as they explored the natural world.

Core Song – ‘Two Little Dickie Birds’

Core Poem – ‘The Fox’

The fox is smart,
And and as sly as can be,
And a great big bushy tail has he.
He can run very fast,
And his fur is red,
And he lives in the woods in his tree trunk bed.

Library books – Please remember to return any library books to us that your child borrowed when we visited the library back in the Spring term.

MISSING BOOKS:
1) ‘Picnic’ by Hazel Geatches
2) ‘Head Over Tail’ by Rachel Bright
3) ‘Escape from the Nether’ by Nick Eliopulos
4) ‘Squash and a Squeeze’ by Julia Donaldson
5) ‘Dot and Dan and Snack Attack’ by Katie Dale

Forest School Working Party – Unfortunately, with not quite enough volunteers this time, the working party scheduled for June 14th (tomorrow) has been called off. We’ll be in touch soon with details of the next date, and we hope more of you can join us then 👍

Photographs – Just a reminder, if you would like to purchase any of the professional photographs please do so, using the instructions on the card, by the 26th of June.

Independence – As some children are preparing for their transition to school, we are increasingly encouraging the children to become more independent in their daily routines. Simple tasks like putting on their own coat, tidying up their toys, or pouring their own drink is really helping to build their confidence. Supporting your child to to be as independent as possible at home will also make a big difference in their confidence.

Reception teacher visits to Nursery School –
Holy Trinity – Mon 16th June (am & pm)
Charlbury – Thurs 19th June (am)
Enstone – Fri 20th of June (am)
Great Rollright – Mon 23rd June (am)
Kingham – Thurs 26th June (am)

Wishing you all a lovely weekend filled with sunshine.

Kind regards,
Zoe