Nursery Blog 2022-2023
Summer 2
We can not quite believe that this is the last update that we are writing for this academic year. Time has flown by! We will miss all the children who are moving up to Reception, but wish them all the best.
It has been a busy last term including: Ofsted, transition days, parties and a beach day!
We have looked at a range of books that you will see in the photographs, but our favourite books have been: The Rainbow Fish and Jack and the Beanstalk. We created some lovely displays with all of the children's artwork.
The children enjoyed exploring sea creatures, listening to 'sea' sounds and learning about 'sharing' when we looked at the story The Rainbow Fish.
When we read Jack and the Beanstalk, the children enjoyed being creative. They came up with some wonderful ideas of what they could find if they were to climb a beanstalk.
We made beanstalks with Duplo, made our own giants and mixed blue and yellow to create our own green for our own beanstalk.
We would like to wish you all a wonderful summer break. Lets hope that sun shines for us all!
Thank you for being such wonderful children.
Summer 1
What another busy half term! The sunshine has definitely arrived and we have enjoyed some lovely outdoor learning experiences.
We have looked at a few topic books this half term that you will see in the photographs, but our favourite book has been The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
The children have learnt about the life cycle of a butterfly, and we were lucky enough to observe this cycle ourselves! We watched our very own caterpillars grow from tiny caterpillars to large caterpillars. They then made their own cocoons and out popped some beautiful butterflies. We were very excited about releasing them in our outdoor area. During this topic, we also looked at the days of the week, sorted healthy and unhealthy foods, tasted the fruit that was in the story and mixed a range of colours to create our own butterflies.
During this half term, we also celebrated the Coronation of King Charles.
We did observational drawings of King Charles, made flags and crowns, and found out information about his family using the internet. We also enjoyed our very own 'royal picnic'.
In Numeracy we have looked at 2D and 3D shapes and positional language. The children have enjoyed looking for shapes in our environment, and identifying basic 2D shape features.
We can't quite believe that we only have half a term to go! Time is flying by!
Spring 2
What another busy and exciting half term we have had!
We experienced a range of seasons this term - rain, sunshine, hail and snow! The children had a great time playing in the snow in our outdoor area and making marks in the snow.
When the sun finally appeared, we began looking at Spring and Growing. The children had the opportunity to meet some baby chicks and hold them. We talked about how delicate they were and how careful we would need to be when holding them. We also looked at the life-cycle of a frog and were lucky enough to have some frogspawn in Nursery for a couple of weeks to observe.
We discussed what happens in Spring, the children did some lovely observational drawings of daffodils. We also planted some of our own vegetables and flowers, where we learnt how to care for them.
In English, we have looked at many books and rhymes, which you can see in the photographs. Our favourite story was Chicken Licken, where the children enjoyed using masks to re-tell the story. We created our own characters and made a lovely display.
The children have been busy practising their name in preparation for Reception, and this is something we will continue to do.
In maths we have looked at capacity, length, height and weight. The children have filled a range of containers with water and various small items. We have looked at full, nearly full, nearly empty and empty.
We have used balance scales to weigh items, working out which items are heavier and lighter.
We have compared heights of small objects using cubes, and the children have made their own cube towers, where they could compare which was taller and shorter.
We hope you have had a lovely Easter break with family and friends.
Spring 1
What a super half term!
As we have experienced some really cold snaps this half term, we took advantage of some outdoor learning by investigating frost and ice. The children had the opportunity to 'free' penguins that had been frozen in blocks of ice, a quick escape for them were to use tools to break the ice and set them free. We also looked at what happened if the ice blocks were left in warmer areas of Nursery, and observed the ice melting slowly.
We discussed dressing in warm coats, hats, scarfs and gloves for going outside whilst practising how to put our coats on independently and fastening them.
In maths, we have looked in detail at the numerals 3,4 and 5. The children have worked on subitising (the ability to look at a small number of objects and instantly recognise how many objects there are without needing to count). We have also looked at finger amounts and identifying shapes that have the same amounts of sides and corners.
In English, we have looked at a range of topic books, some that have focused on 'feelings' and our families. We have used these books to talk about times when we experience certain feelings and have made a fantastic display in Nursery!
We have also looked at two special events that have fallen in this half term, Chinese New Year and Valentines Day. The children have enjoyed being creative and producing bits of art to celebrate these occasions.
We hope you have a lovely half term with family and friends, and look forward to welcoming you back next half term.
Autumn 2
We have had a busy Autumn term in Nursery! The children have settled so well and are forming some lovely friendships.
The children have enjoyed reading some of our focus books this term, a favourite was Goldilocks and the Three Bears where we changed our home corner into a cottage. The children enjoyed acting out their own versions of the story. We also made porridge and ate it at snack time.
We have celebrated many events this half term including:
Firework night and Diwali where we created our own firework pictures, and looked at the festival of light. We talked about how we could stay safe around fireworks and how we could keep our pets safe too from loud sounds.
Children in Need where some of the children came in some fantastic Pudsey Bear clothes. We also created our own Pudsey Bear that we decorated with yellow tissue paper and pom poms. We discussed raising money for children who were less fortunate than us in other countries.
Christmas where the children helped decorate our Nursery with wonderful Christmas decorations. We learnt about the Christmas Story, read Christmas story books, made Christmas cards and baubles and finally performed our very own festive sing-a-long. The children did a fantastic job! We hope you enjoyed watching them perform.
We wish you all a very Happy Christmas and Happy New Year!
Autumn 1
What a busy and fun first half term we have had! It has been lovely to welcome some new children to Guiseley Primary School, and also welcome back those children who have previously been with us. All of the children have settled very well, and are adapting well to Nursery life.
This half term we have spent some time focusing on some books that you can see in the above photographs. The children have enjoyed reading these, and they have made many links to all our 7 areas of learning and development for the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Below are some examples of the learning that took place....
In Communication and Language we have have looked at nursery rhymes and number songs.
In Physical Development we have looked at fine motor skills, which involve the use of the smaller muscle of the hands, activities have included: using pencils, scissors, construction with Duplo and using large tweezers. We have also looked at gross motor skills, which are the skills that children develop using their whole body, activities have included: using the pedal bikes outside, climbing and jumping, and our weekly visits to the school hall.
In Personal, Social and Emotional Development, we used the book So Much to talk about our families and who is important to us.
In Literacy we have used the book Handa's Suprise to look at the various fruits and animals. We thought of words to describe how the fruits look, taste and feel. We looked at the animals and discussed their colours, movements and body parts.
In Mathematics we have looked at colour sorting and patterns. In the story 'My Mum and Dad make me laugh we focused on spots and stripes.
We have also looked at the season Autumn. We have discussed what happens, looked at leaves, animals that hibernate and collected Autumn treasures.
Finally we had Art Week where we spent some time looking at Andy Goldsworthy. We created our own work based on his ideas of using natural materials to create art.
