Nursery School Newsletter 20

24.02.2023

Dear Parents

This week’s Nursery School highlights:

• Snack/Cooking – This week all the children had the opportunity to make their own purple or pink ‘prickle pancake’. In small groups we talked about ‘Shrove Tuesday’ and followed the recipe weighing out all the ingredients and taking turns to mix them together. We watched and discussed the process as we went. The children then came and watched the pancakes being cooked, we discussed the importance of keeping safe and why they must follow instructions sensibly. They then had the opportunity to count their purple (blueberries) or pink (raspberries) prickles as they were dropped into their pancake mixture. Lots of opportunities for learning and lovely vocabulary modelled and used. Here is the recipe if you would like to try making them at home.

• Inside – We carried on with following the children’s interests from last term which was pirates. Some children enjoyed making their own paper boats earlier in the week with Marlena which also linked to our story this week ‘Where the Wild Things Are’. The children were keen to make enclosures using the wooden block and loose parts available. They have also been exploring shapes and line direction through mark making, and the playdough station has been popular this week too.

• Outside – The children have been on treasure hunts outside with Jenny, they had a map of the garden and had to find the ‘X’ mark. They had mark making packs so they could add to the maps or even make their own map. Lots of prepositional language was modelled and encouraged, which encouraged independent pirate role play to follow. The children also built a coffee shop up by the mud kitchen where they were serving hot drinks and cake.

• Forest School – This week the children made their own compasses which they were very proud of. This linked in with pirates and the mapping the children have been doing this week. The children also enjoyed having a fire and making rope bridges up in the wild area.

Our book – Where the Wild Things Are – Here is a link if you would like to share the story online with your child. Please be aware of online safety when sharing with your child. We had lots of lovely discussions and explored key vocabulary such as mischief, forest, grew, vines, world, night, day, terrible, gnashed and lonely.

• Phonics – The sound we have revisited this week is ‘a’. Here is a link to the song. Please be aware of online safety when sharing with your child. We have also recapped on other sounds we have learnt so far.

We only use the jolly phonics songs to help with learning each sound and do not follow it as a scheme. For phonics we use ‘Letters and Sounds – Phase One’ which is phonics resource published by the Department for Education and Skills. Phase one activities concentrate on developing children’s speaking and listening skills, phonological awareness and oral blending

and segmenting. These activities help to pave the way for children to make a good start in reading and writing.

Only when children are ready to look at the formation of letters, we will model and use simple terms to complete each sound. We do not use a particular scheme as when your child goes to primary school, they will have their own scheme and we do not want to confuse them by teaching a different phonic scheme. We as a setting feed into many primary schools who all use different schemes so to adopt one scheme would be challenging. If you would like a template with clear direction for letter formation for when your child shows interest, please do ask. As I have previously mentioned before, providing opportunities for your children to build their fine and gross motor skills is essential at this stage of development before children are ready to write. I will leave some activity cards by the internal door for ideas to support this. Please do help yourself or ask for a copy if you can not see them.

● Maths – We have continued to focus on shape and space, with the

children exploring 2D and 3D shapes and using informal

mathematical language ‘sides’, ‘corners’, ‘straight’, ‘flat’ and

‘round’. Outside the children have been mapping where they have

been, following and creating their own treasure maps.

Our poem this week has been:

Pancakes

Mix a pancake,

Stir a pancake,

Pop it in the pan.

Fry a pancake,

Toss a pancake,

Catch it if you can.

Our song this week has been:

When I was 1 I sucked my thumb the day I went to sea (pirate song)

Here is the link if you would like to share it with your child, please be aware of online safety when sharing with your child. The children have really enjoyed learning this song and joining in with the actions.

To help with clear communication here are a few reminders (helpful information):

• World Book Day – To celebrate World Book Day next week your child can dress up as their favourite book character on Thursday the 2nd of March. Don’t worry if you have not got a costume, we will have lots of costumes out that day for the children to use. We also thought it would be nice for the children to bring in one of their favourite books if willing (please make sure it has their name in). We will put them safely in a box and read throughout the week. Once we have read them, we will send them back home.

• Forest School change of day for the week commencing the 27th of February – For this week Forest School for week B children will be on Tuesday not Friday (apologies if this causes any inconvenience). Please ask if you are unsure which group your child is in.

• Warm Welcome – Tuesday the 28th of February at 9.15am (in the Rainbow Room) – Jo, who is part of our Health Visitor team, will be giving a talk to parents all about sleep. Please do go along if you can for some top tips and a chance to ask any questions you may have regarding your child’s sleep pattern. I know many of you are working and will be unable to attend but if you have any questions, please do write them down and we will pass them on to Jo to answer or signpost you in the right direction.

• Tapestry online journals – Thank you so much for reading and signing all the necessary forms. We are awaiting the arrival of our iPads and, once they are set up, we will send you an email so you can activate your child’s account. We are very much looking forward to using this platform with you.

• Parental telephone conversations – We have caught up with a lot of outstanding parental conversations. We will catch up with those of you who we have not been able to schedule an appointment with this Friday along with any focus children from this week. These consultations are very important as it is a time to discuss your child’s progress and development and a chance for us to catch up and check in.

I hope you all have a super weekend.

Best wishes,

Zoe Wakefield.