This week...

Yet another brilliant week at nursery. We are all now getting to know the rhythms and routines of the day and everything is going swimmingly! The children are making lovely new friendships. It is so lovely to see the children choose to connect and spend time with others. Friends offer emotional comfort and opportunities to share their experiences.

Prayer and Liturgy

This week we have continued our Creation and Covenant topic with ‘God’s World is Good’. Our key words this week were GOOD, THANK YOU and WORLD.

We thought back to learning about creation, focusing on the final part: When God saw everything He had made, He smiled and said, "It is very good!"

We discussed all the wonderful things God has made, saying “God makes good things...God made ___!”. We must take care of God’s world. There are lots of ways that the world is being damaged, we spoke about how it is our world and we must take care of it for God. We take care of our garden in Nursery, planting and taking care of seeds and looking out for all the different insects.

Our child led worship on Thursday was about Mary. We looked at different images of Mary from around the world. We noticed they all looked different, and that Mary was wearing different clothes in them. This led to  a discussion about how we are all different and that God loves us all.

We watched a video, called ‘Who is Mary’ which showed us even more images of Mary. Click here to watch at home. We finished our worship with a new song. We loved it – why not have  go at home! Click here

Learning Landscape

This week we have:

• been completing a shape, space and measure task. We had to build a tower using one circle block, one rectangle block, one square block and two triangle blocks. This was tricky at first, we fathomed it out!

• played peg domino by matching two colour pegs…again a bit tricky

• sorting buttons by colour, shape and size. We has so many different combinations.

• finding two matching face magnets (introducing the words pair to mean two of).

• construction the most fantastical structures using large wooden bricks

• practising writing the number 2. One curve down is what to do then straight across to make a 2.

• strengthening our hands by doing dough disco

• practising our duck finger for writing

  Wow!

Important dates

Friday 16th October

Friday 6th November

Read Mrs. Gregans blog to find out more…it’s going to be great fun!

Harvest

This year we are doing Harvest a little bit different. We are asking for donations of boxed cereal so that we can build a gigantic cereal compilation (a bit like a domino run) around the hall (I think we may need many boxes to make it truly spectacular!). So your help and generosity is needed. All cereals will then be donated to Fylde Food bank.

Home Learning Challenge

‘Twoness’ of 2- see if you can think of things that happen or come in ones and twos. There are lots of example of twos, e.g. dnacing together, riding piggy back, singing a duet, setting a table for tw.. By prviding examples of one alongside, the children can begin to distinguish what two is and what two is not! Click here to meet Two.

Encourage your child to describe what tehy see in the episode and any follow on expereiences by using the phrases'

“I have two…”

“I have one…”

Enjoy!

Have a lovely weekend everyone and I will see you on Monday.

Stay safe and God bless

Barbara

This week...

October is the month of the Holy Rosary. This week we have introducing the children to simple, tactile, and sensory ways of reflecting on the lives of Jesus and Mary. Our child led worship on Thursday was about the Rosary. We looked at different sets of rosary beads we have in school and images of people praying with rosary beads. We have all now made our own rosary beads that we can use to pray the holy rosary in nursery and school. We all went into our prayer garden and said the Hail Mary, Our Father and the Glory Be. 

Prayer and liturgy

This week we have continued our Creation and Covenant topic with ‘The sign of the cross’. Our key words this week were CROSS, PRAYER and SIGN.

We spoke about all the parts of the sign of the cross:

Start by touching the forehead with the right hand and the words ‘In the name of the Father,’.  The hand moves up towards heaven.

Move right hand to join the left hand on the stomach whilst saying ‘…and of the Son’.  The hand moves down towards earth.  Jesus became man and came to earth.

Move right hand across the chest to touch the left shoulder then back to the right shoulder whilst saying ‘…and of the Holy Spirit’. 

Finish with hands joined as you say ‘Amen’.

We then looked back to our discussion about Baptism, At baptism you are marked with the sign of the cross as you are welcomed into God’s family.

As the priest pours the water three times over the person to be baptised he says the words ‘ N. I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’

Learning Landscape

Our learning landscape this week has been full of activities to promote fine motor skills. A key component for writing.

We have been:

• using tweezers to find and pick up treasure from underwater!

• fairy sparkle sand filling

• funky fingers threading using different sized pipe cleaners and objects with holes in which to thread

• colour spot game

• finding phonemes

• gardening

• pracitsing duck fingers (tripod grip) for writing

• playing with the fairy kingdom we made

• colour matching pictures using buttons

• matching Numicon number patterns (one and two) with numerals

• counting and matching keys to ‘2’

• measuring ourselves for our height chart

  …not to mention two outdoor PE sessions with Mr. Nay and one indoor exercise session with the nursery ladies, tap sticks and Spud and Yam music sessions and lots and lots of stories

  …phew, it’s exhausting!

Home learning challenge

This week we have been focusing on One and another One before we fully introduce Two next week. Click here to watch the video and all will become clear

Maths in the episode

The structure of 2

The mathematics in this episode introduces the part-part-whole structure of number.

One and Another one come together to make Two (combining)

Two can be separated into One and Another One (partitioning)

Two can be represented using other vocabulary such as ‘twice as much’ and ‘pair

Counting to 2

Counting involves knowing the order of the number names and assigning one number tag to one object or event. This episodes saying “one, two” and using this to tag objects (e.g. tennis rackets) and events (e.g. steps, hitting the ball).

When you are out and about this weekend or playing games at home try counting ‘one, two’ or using the language that combines one object with another one. Enjoy!

Have a lovely weeked together with your loved one and I will see you on Monday

Stay safe and God bless

Barbara

This week....

We have been blessed this week with lots of warm sunshine, long may it continue! We were so hot when were were doing PE with Mr. Nay outside, we had to come inside to cool down.

We and have embraced the sunshine fully and done lots of learning in the garden.

Prayer and Liturgy

This week we have continued our Creation and Covenant topic with ‘God loves everyone’. Our key words this week were BAPTISM, CHURCH and CARE.

We began our session with a lovely poem all about God knows us: Click here to watch. This led us to talk about how we are welcomed into God’s family through Baptism. We watched this video to learn all about it, click here. Emma then demonstrated using one of our dolls what the priest does at a Baptism and how lovely it is to be welcomed into God’s family.

Our child led worship on Thursday was all about love. We listened to some words from the Bible and we practised making a small cross on our heads, mouths and our hearts when it’s time to listen to the Gospel. We watched this video all about God’s love: click here

We finished our worship with a Hail Mary, we are remembering more words every week.

 Next week we will be praying the Rosary!!!!

Don’t forget that it is our first family mass of the year at Our Lady Star of the Sea Church THIS SUNDAY! We would love to see you there.

Learning Landscape

Yet another week full of fun and learning. We have been;

• matching colours

• threading colours

• sorting colours

• still finding ‘a’ and ‘m’ everywhere. How did you do at home?

• painted A Little Rabbit Foo Foo story wall

• made bubble water…lots of bubbles!

• using the Touch TV to create dribble pictures

• made splash pictures using the IPads

• explored ‘0’ and ‘1’. Next week we want to find our about two!!

Home learning challenges

This week we have been finding out about the oneness of one. Try this game at home, concentrate just on the number one only. Click here

Here’s one for you too. A parents guide to Read Write Inc. This is for you to understand how understand the phonics journey of your child will take during their time in and beyond school. Please don’t be tempted to race a head…be guided by what sounds we are learning in nursery. At the moment we are focusing on ‘a’ and ‘m’ both saying them correctly and having a go at writing them. We will be sending a sound mat home with the rhymes of the phonemes the children are learning at the moment. Remember ‘duck fingers’ to hole the pencil!

Phew, I think that’s enough for this week!!!

Have a lovely weekend and I hope to see you all at Mass on Sunday.

Stay safe and God bless

Barbara

This week...

A brilliant week at nursery. We are all now getting to know the rhythms and routines of the nursery day. As always we have been extremely busy and I can tell by Friday afternoon everyone is a little bit sleepy!

Prayer and Liturgy

This week we have continued our Creation and Covenant topic with ‘God made me’. Our key words were LOVE, SPECIAL and FAMILY.

We began with a lovely song all about all the things that God made: Click here to listen. We then spoke about something that God made that is very special – us! We passed a mirror around the circle and looked at God’s wonderful creation – we are all different and God loves us all. Our self – portraits are now up on display in the classroom and we love looking at them.

Our child – led worship on Thursday was all about kindness. Our prayer leaders led our session with a sign of the cross and by turning on the candle so we knew that Jesus was with us. We read a story all about kindness and how we can ‘fill each others bucket’. Here is a video all about our bucket: Click here to watch. We then passed a love heart around the circle and when it was our turn to speak we shared with our friends ‘how’ we were going to be kind to each other that day and always. We had lots of lovely answers including, playing, giving hugs, sharing toys and helping friends that may be feeling sad.

Learning Landscape

This week our learning landscape again has been full of colour, number and sounds. We have:

• been exploring green and purple by sorting and finding the colours around nursery and school.

• learnt another sound! We are now trying to remember ‘a’ and ‘m’. We played the sound hunt game and we are getting good at spotting ‘a’ and ‘m’.

• met another number ‘1’

• been loving outdoor PE with Mr. Nay!

• enjoyed indoor PE. We have been dancing and exercising our bodies

School Photographs

School photographs are being taken next Wednesday (23rd). As promised, if it is not your child’s day to come to nursery don’t worry, bring them at 9.30 am and they too can have their photograph taken.

Home Learning Challenges

Here are just a few little challenges that you may want to do to support your child at home. We are still trying to remebr the names of some colours, perhaps you could go on a colour hunt at home or whilst you are out and about at the weekend. Colour blocks is a good way of engaging with your child- see how many objects they can remember of each colour- we had great fun trying to use our brains to recall everything we had seen. Good luck! Click here.

Meet Zero! Click here. Remember Zero is the number for nothing and is one less that one!

Meet and number one at home! Click here

Remember Zero is the number for nothing and is one less that one!

Counting to ‘one’ when there is one thing to be counted. Try finding ‘one’ familiar object to be counted such as one finger, one nose, one head etc

and lastly…read read read to your child! Here are just a couple of tips you may find useful. Why read to your child? Click here and ‘10 things to think about when you read to your child’. Click here.

Remember to have fun!!!

We are looking forward to another great week next week.

Stay safe and God bless

Barbara

This week...

Such a wonderful start to nursery! There may have been the odd tear but they really didn’t last long at all! The children quickly got stuck into exploring the learning landscapes both indoors and outdoors and have been having such fun. I have already noticed some lovely friendships forming.

Worship

As in all other years we start our day with Prayer and Liturgy. The children have embraced the tranquility and calm Jesus brings to us all. This week we have been discussing ‘Creation’. The children have been very interested in how God created our Wonderful World but were saddened to hear that we haven’t been looking after it very well. We read a story called Wonderful Earth which really made the children think. We have decided that as custodians of our planet we are going to pick up our litter and recycle if we can and to be thankful for all the wonders that God has given us…including all our friends and families.

Towards the end of the week we started to choose prayer leaders to lead our prayers at the end of worship; a very responsible job. We have started to learn how to make the sign of the cross and to pray to Our Lady saying the Hail Mary together. We even went all around school searching for images or statues of Our Lady and it will come a no surprise that there are many dotted around the school!

Family Mass

Our first Sunday family mass of the year will be on Sunday 27th September - the Feast of Our Lady Star of the Sea. We look forward to welcoming everyone to our new school family.

Learning Landscape

We have launched into our learning this year with some gusto! We have been:

• sorting colours- namely blue, yellow and red

• mixing blue, red and yellow to make a new colour. Great fun paint and shaving foam is always a winner and we managed to make purple and orange and a lot of mess!!

• met Zero the Hero and learnt that zero is the number for nothing, none! We also found out that zero is one less than one and if we want to write it the rhyme tells us to go round in a loop like and empty hoop!

• started our Read, Write Inc sounds, focusing on ‘a’ and the rhyme that helps us to write the sound, round the apple and down the leaf.

• painting pictures of our faces to go on the All About Me display. I think we have some budding artists amongst us.

  Take a look at the photos, I think you will agree we have been extremely busy!

Snacks

In line with our sustainable outlook and school focus, we will again be wrapper free this year for snacks. This is the same as what we requested last year, we will just be enforcing it this year. There are so many ways in which snacks can be brought into school; avoiding wrappers and recycling these properly at home. We do not have the correct school recycling and it costs us a lot of money for weight of the waste. Please get into good habits each morning and help us to become more sustainable. This is big focus on our School Improvement Plan this year. Any wrapped snack will be popped back in the child’s bag and sent back home; not consumed in school. We will again have the opportunity to order snacks on a weekly basis. All orders need to be placed each week by 8am. At lunch time, packed lunches can be eaten and wrappers will be sent back home, not placed in the school bin. Please get into the habit again of avoiding wrappers at lunch time to continue us working towards being sustainable.

School Photographs

School photos are being taken on Wednesday 23d September. I am aware that some of our children are not in on that day but don’t worry I have spoken to Mrs. Gregan who will arrange a time slot for you to pop into school for a photo. I will let you know the time on the blog next week.

I think that’s all from me this week. I hope everyone has a restful weekend in readiness for another busy week at nursery next week.

God bless and stay safe

Barbara

A huge welcome!

We just want to say welcome to all our new friends that will be starting with us on Thursday. Also, to say welcome back to the children returning after the summer holidays.

We hope that everyone has managed to have some down time and make some memories that will last forever.

As we start the new academic year i have just a few housekeeping reminders for you:

• no jewellery is allowed in nursery (including earrings). Nursery is a very physically active and adventurous environment, jewellery is a health and safety hazard.

• PE sessions are on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, please can your child wear trainers. We have two outdoor sessions appropriate clothing is required on these days.

• your child will need an Our Lady book bag (available from Top Marque in St Annes). Please no back packs.

• all items brought to nursery should be clearly named, especially clothing.

• your child will require one piece of fruit or veg for each session they attend.

• dress your child to match the weather, sensible shoes/trainers please.

• spare clothing is required case of toilet accidents again all named.

• your child will need a family picture to add to ‘Our Family’ wall.

• please now that your ParentPay login details will be coming home this week. This will allow you to pay any fees and your voluntary sundries donations online.

I think that’s it but please check the the nursey and school blog every Friday as this is where events etc. are posted. We don’t want your to miss anything!

Lastly, we are so excited to greet your children on Thursday, We have lots of exciting activities and learning planned. the most important thing is that your child is happy and thrives at Our Lady’s. If there is anything you wish to ask about please do not hesitate to contact me, remember nursery is a partnership! My email address is: b.draper@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Nursery direct telephone line is 720497. As you can appreciate we are not always in the office so if you cannot get through on the nursery number, you can call Mrs. Nel in the school office on 726105.

Please join in the awe and wonder your child will experience in nursery, it truly is a magical place to be.

See you on Thursday

God bless and stay safe

Barbara

It's been an amazing year...

It’s always difficult to say goodbye at the end of the school year. It has been a truly fantastic year and all the nursery team could not be more proud of each and every child in nursery. Learning this year has been at an optimal level and the children are now ready to continue their journey into Reception.

Each child throughout the year has nurtured and grown their relationship with Jesus…we really are ‘Team Jesus’. We have become something greater than ourselves. We are part of a team that is led by the Saviour Himself and we recognise how each and every one of us plays a vital role in His plan.

On behalf of the nursery ladies I would like to say an enormous thank you to YOU, the parents, grandparents who have made this year a success. You have trusted us with most treasured possessions and that has enabled us to work our magic. It has been such a privilege to work alongside your child, they will remain in our hearts forever, Thank you.

Celebration Party

Such a wonderful day, everyone embraced the superhero theme and had a jolly good time. We played splat Spiderman, superhero tin can alley, musical bumps, musical statues, musical ‘pick up’ and did lots and lots of dancing! Finally we all got water bombed by someone…we think it must have been Evil Pea!!!!

We had ice lollies for snack because it was sooo very hot and in the afternoon we made popcorn and had a movie afternoon, we were exhausted! Such FUN!!!!

It just remains for me to say another massive ‘thank you’ for all the cards, kind words and gifts that you given so generously, it has been our pleasure and we will watch carefully their progress through school.

Have a wonderful summer break and I will see you all in September, if not in nursery but over the garden wall in Reception.

Remember to keep yourselves safe.

God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Sports Day

A week full of sport! We are so proud of the children for joining in all of the games and races. They have certainly grown in resilience on confidence…just the skills they need to progress through school and have fun! Take a look at the photos!

Learning Landscape

Even though we are nearing the end of the school year we have not let our learning slip! We have:

• completed puzzles. We are getting good and are trying even more tricker jigsaws.

• practiced our writing…look how good we are getting.

• made super hero masks for our party celebration.

• made animals and figures using the Popoids…we really enjoyed these.

…and on Wednesday we had to solve a huge problem which had occurred in nursery over night! Someone had mad a mess in nursery. Time to phone Super Croccy, we needed his help.

We found broken biscuits on the floor, play food on the floor AND upturned chairs. We found baby bear upset, mummy bear not happy and daddy bear was FURIOUS! Who could have done this….mmmm? The children worked out it must have been Goldilocks, but where was she? We searched everywhere and eventually found her hiding in the roof space. We managed to spot some of her golden hair dangling from the ceiling tile. Mrs. Gregan was very disappointed.

End of year celebration party

Don’t forget the end of year celebration party is on Wednesday 15th July 9.30 am -11.00 am. Everyone is welcome to come and join the fun, dressed as a super hero (please bear in mind the weather, if it’s hot just a cloak will be fine). There is no need to bring any food, we plan to make popcorn and eat ice lollies!!!!!

Lastly, the weather is going to be great this weekend so fire up the BBQ and get ready for England to win against Norway on Saturday…come on England!!

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Worship

This week we watched a video all about how God loves us. Click here to watch.We spoke about all the things that God loves and how we love those around us.

This led us into a discussion about love and other feelings. With our transition to Reception coming up and our transition morning on Thursday, we had lots of different feelings. Some of us are excited and some of us are feeling a bit apprehensive – and that’s normal! We spoke about family and how we will still be part of the Our Lady family, just in a different class.

Our Thursday worship focused on John the Baptist. John the Baptist had fun and memorable traits: his unusual clothes made of camel hair, his wild diet of honey and bugs, and his special job of telling everyone that Jesus was coming! We watched this video Some of us remembered our own baptism!

We finished with this hymn.

 Learning Landscape

A wonderful week full of Superhero fun! We phoned Super Croccy to ask if there was a mission her needed help with and on Wednesday he arrived at the nursery door! A robber wearing a red mask and blue cape had taken some pirate treasure and golden coins…quick as a flash we donned our capes, masks and x-ray vision glasses to solve the crime. Super heroes to the rescue! We searched the whole school and found the mask and cape in Mrs. Gregan’s office, a bag of gold coins in the All Stars classroom and the treasure and more coins hidden in Forest School. Mission accomplished!

We have also have:

• released our butterflies into the nursery garden

• matched Babushka dolls to Numicon patterns to 10

• practiced naming and writing sounds

• had an ice cream from the ice cream van! Thank you Mrs. Gregan!

• practiced for Sports Day

• explored using number lines to solve mathematical problems

• made wonderful structures using Stickle Bricks

• and had just a jolly good time!!

Sports Day

All being well Sports day will be on Monday 9.15 am, fingers crossed! Please ensure your child is in nursery no later than 9.00 am wearing trainers, shorts and t-shirt. Could you also please make sure that they have sun cream on, a filled water bottle and hat. If it is not your child’s usual session they must be collected at the nursery entrance immediately after Sports Day finishes. Keep a lookout for any messages from Mrs. Gregan.

Don’t forget that it is family mass this Sunday, please join us, we would love to see you there.

Have a lovely weekend and I will see you all on Monday.

Barbara

This week...

Wow what a scorcher!! Summer has arrived with gusto! We have managed to find shade on the top garden underneath the trees, so that is where we have spent our outside time, albeit for a shorter length of time than usual.

The children have loved being sprayed with water at regular intervals and splashing around in the water play…it really didn’t matter how wet we got!

Worship

This week we have continued our final branch, ‘Dialogue and encounter’. Our key words this week were PICTURE, DIFFERENT and WORLD.

Jesus came for everyone, all around the world. We looked at a picture of our wonderful world and some images of Jesus from different places. Some children told us about their pictures:

“Hello, my name is Gabriel. I live in Nigeria. This painting of Mary and Jesus shows them with dark skin like mine and wearing special African clothes. Our pictures often have lots of bright colours and patterns”.

“Hi! I’m Maya from India. In my country, we sometimes show Jesus with brown skin and wearing clothes like a sari or a kurta. Our pictures are often full of flowers and pretty patterns to remind us how special and kind Jesus is”.

We had some discussion cards to help us think about how we are all different and special. We put them in the middle and turned them over to see what they said:

Describe what you look like.

What is your favourite colour?  Why do you like it so much?

If you could have any pet, what would you choose?

What makes you a good friend?

What job would you like to do?

Where do you live?

Next week we will hear from two children from Mexico and Australia.

We ended by singing this song to the tune of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ – why not sing it at home:

Jesus came for me and you,
And for all the people too.
In the cities, by the trees,
Over mountains, over seas.
Jesus loves us, everyone,
We are part of God's big plan!

Our child led worship on Thursday focused on St Paul. We watched this video: click here We noticed that Paul used to have a different name. He wasn’t very nice to Jesus’ friends but then after a special event he changed his name to Paul and dedicated his life to Jesus.

Learning Landscape

Owing to the extreme heat this week we have been finding shade everywhere we could or remaining inside. Needless to say our learning has been altered to meet the weather conditions!

We have:

kept ourselves hydrated

sprayed eachother with water bottles and pipettes

made ten frames in the shade and cool of forest school

joined in the Gym Jam Jog and then came into nursery for breakfast!

ate ice pops and drank litres of ice cold water

ate strawberries!!!

completed number stories using Numicon

been on a gingerbread man hunt

remained calm and cool!!!

End of year Celebration Party

Calling all Superheroes! We will be having our end of year party on Wednesday 15th July 9.30 am -11.00 am. All the children are welcome to join us. Come dressed as a super hero. Please bear in mind the whether when choosing and outfit. Keep a lookout for your invitation in your childs book bag.

Have a fabulous weekend fingers crossed the weather remains sunny for a splashing time in the garden. I will keep an eye our for everyone at Lytham Club Day on Saturday.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

A wonderful week! The weather being nice has made everything a little bit brighter!

As we leap towards the end of the year we have been reflecting on everything we have learnt at nursery this year and there is so much to celebrate. The children were amazed at what they can now do that they couldn’t do in September. We are so very proud of each and everyone of the children.

Worship

This week we have continued our final branch, ‘Dialogue and encounter’. Our key words this week were TALK, LOVE and FAMILY.

We were discussing that being a Christian means belonging to a community of faith. Our school is a community and many of us go to Church to continue thus community. We played ‘What’s in the bag?’. We had images in the bag and we had to have a think who might use them in church e.g. a chalice, a hymn book or a bible.

Being a Christian means being a part of God’s family. We spoke about who is in our family and who is important to us. At Mass Catholics come together to show their love for God. Everyone has a special job to help – some people welcome us, some read from the Bible, some sing songs, and the priest leads the prayers. This is like being in school – we all help each other and we all have a job to do!

When we help and pray together, we show that we belong to God’s family – a loving community of faith. Each Thursday we have our child led worship. We all take a turn over the weeks to be a prayer leader, helping our friends with the sign of the cross and praying to God. We also have the important job of lighting the candle to show that Jesus is with us. This week we revisited the story of St. Peter, looking at some images to discuss and hear the words of the Gospel: ‘And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven’ (John 1 1-14).

We finished our worship session discussing what qualities make a good disciple. We all had a turn to share how we will be a disciple in Nursery. Some examples were ‘being kind’, ‘helping nursery ladies’, ‘giving cuddles’, ‘playing with my brother’. We are all working hard to be just like Jesus.

Learning Landscape

A week of jolly good fun.

We have been:

• taking extra time to practice our RWI sounds

• making number bonds to 10

• recognising shapes everywhere

• visited forest school

• practiced for sports day

• on a superhero mission with Super Croccy. The Big Bad Wolf had blown down the straw house and the stick house! The wolf had come to Our Lady Star of the Sea and was hiding somewhere in nursery garden!! We donned our capes, masks and x ray vision glasses and went on the hunt! It took us ages to find him…hiding high up in a tree. We had to get the ladders out reach him!

• hunting for those cheeky gingerbread men who keep escaping from their special tin!

• dancing, singing and playing circle games

• guessing what is in magic box and estimating how many feathers are in the jar

• making England flags to cheer on the England team…well done England!

• examining the froglet that we found in the school pond. We had transferred our tadpole there during the half term holidays.

• having a really fun time!!

As you can see and exciting week at nursery! Have a lovely weekend.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Welcome back everyone! I hope you are all well rested in readiness for what is going to be an extremely busy last half term!!

Worship

This week we have started our final branch, ‘Dialogue and encounter’. Our key words this week were FRIEND, CHURCH and JESUS.

Our first session was all about St Peter and St Paul. We watched two videos to help us to understand what they did and why they are special: Click here and here to watch at home

We realised that this was a bit like a super power! This week we have started our superhero topic and we have been talking about the qualities that make us ‘super’ – running, being kind, gymnastics, giving hugs. In our Worship session we heard that Jesus chooses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. St Peter and St Paul followed Jesus with courage and faith and Christians believe that we too are called to be Jesus’ friends.

We continued this with a quiz to see if we could remember all about the two saints. We were so good at this! We can all follow Jesus just like them.

Our child led worship on Thursday was focused on ‘the Sacred heart’. We began with a picture of Jesus and the children noticed lots of different things; the marks on his hands, the glow around him, the heart.

We discussed the heart, the flame and being kind:

· The Heart: Represents how much Jesus loves us, just as our own hearts help us to love our families and friends.

· The Flame: Symbolizes a warm, bright fire that keeps us safe in the dark and shows how Jesus' love is always burning for us.

· Kindness & Caring: exploring feelings. Children learn that Jesus wants us to share this love by being kind, helping others, and forgiving our friends.

We watched this video: Click here. It told us how Jesus always loves us, even if we make the wrong choice. He will always love us. We then made some hearts to represent Jesus’ love, and the love we have for everyone in our life.

Learning landscape

Super heroes assemble!! Our learning thread for this half term. We have kick started the topic by discussing which superpowers we all have. We watched the Amazing Super Heroes song for ideas! Click here to watch at home.

We have:

• painted super hero pictures for our display

• made super disciples bandanas!

• practised writing m, a, s, t, d

• used 5 frames and 10 framed to make composition of numbers 3-5

• been to forest school

• practised for Sports Day ( even though it was cancelled)

• joined in Year 4 enrichment afternoon. We did lots of party dancing!

• been on a gingerbread man hunt. They live in their special gingerbread tin but they keep escaping and hiding in the garden and nursery!

Nursery Silly sock and hat charity fundraising!

A massive ‘thank you’ for your generosity and kindness in this years charity event. We have raised £90.60!!! Which has been sent off to the Lymphoedema Support Network charity.

Sports day

As you are aware we had to cancel sports day on Wednesday but it has been rescheduled for Monday 6th July 9.15am. The same arrangements still apply. All children to be in nursery no later than 9 am! If it is not your usual session please collect your child immediately afterwards. Please make sure your child is wearing shorts, t-shirt, trainers and has a water bottle and sun hat! Fingers crossed for sunshine everyone.

I am hopeful that we may get some sunshine this weekend.

Stay safe and God bless

Barbara

This week...

Worship

This week we have concluded our branch ‘To the Ends of the Earth’. Our key words this week were celebrate, God’s children and family.

We looked at the early Christian community and the ‘Good news of Jesus’. Fellowship means being good friends and helping each other. We spoke about all the ways we are kind and help each other in Nursery.

As the first Christian community was being formed, many miracles and wonders were being done through the apostles, and everyone was filled with awe.  All the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belongings with one another.

They would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all, according to what each one needed.

Day after day they met as a group in the Temple, and they had their meals together in their homes, eating with glad and humble hearts, praising God, and enjoying the good will of all the people.  And every day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved.

We watched this video to help us to understand: Click here.

We continued our Worship by watching this video about what a church looks like. Click here. . After this we went to our chapel in school to see if we could spot anything similar. We discussed going to church with our families and what we saw/did while we were there.

Silly hat and sock week!

A fabulous Silly Hat and Sock week!!! It has been great fun seeing everyone wearing their inventive hats and socks. Thank you everyone for joining in the silliness whilst raising funds for charity.

Learning Landscape

This week in our learning landscape we have:

• started to make Fathers Day surprises! You are in for a treat daddies.

• completed number challenges

• made hundred squares using numicon

• played on the swing that Mrs. Tierney has let us borrow.

• made a HUGE spider web to crawl under, over, and in between.

• started to Fred talk…we have completed the sound fort his year, we just need to practise.

• threaded small beads to practise fine motor skills.

  and best of all…had a jolly good time at nursery.

On the first week back don’t forget it is Sports Day (Wednesday 10th, be in before 9am) and the Gym Jam Jog (Friday 12th 8am- details are on your sponsor form). Please note: the children remain your responsibility until they are signed in to nursery as usual).

Lastly, have a great couple of weeks off and recharge your batteries in readiness for a REALLY busy last half term of the year!

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Worship

This week we have continued our branch ‘To the Ends of the Earth’. Our key words this week were Christian, community and Sunday. Our child-led worship on Thursday focused on Ascension and Pentecost.

We looked at a picture of some people with flames above their head. The children said the words disciple, Jesus and fire. One child also said, ‘Jesus went up to Heaven’ which led us into our discussion about Jesus going back to Heaven, and the start of the Christian church. We heard that Pentecost was the ‘birthday of the Church’. After Jesus returned to Heaven a rushing wind and tongues of fire appeared, filling them with joy and courage to spread good news.

We watched this video: click here.

We started to make people in the workshop area to look just like ourselves. We thought about our eye colour and what we like to wear. We discussed how we are all God’s children and connected in God’s family. We all look different but God loves us all. We are going to attach them around our picture of the world, holding hands to show how we share God’s love with one another, just like the first Christians.

This week we have been having prayer and liturgy in the chapel too!

Learning Landscape

A different sort of week. To help our wonderful Year 6 children have quiet and stillness during SATs week we have been exploring the rest of the school and all our shared spaces.

We have:

• held prayer and liturgy each day in the chapel

• practised our climbing, crawling and balancing skills on the trim trail

• had outdoor PE with Mr. Nay, where we have been getting ready for Sports Day!

• played and did our learning in after school club…we loved it!

• visited Forest School, which we always love. Mrs. Tierney put out lots of activities for us to do

• continued our learning adventures in nursery too

• discussed David Attenborough’s 100th birthday and created some collage animals for our display. We even had our picture taken with him!

• for the month of Mary we have all made Mary decorations and a giant Rosary for our Worship area.

Sports Day

On last weeks blog I mistakenly said that Sports Day was on June 3rd…we are on holiday then, oops, sorry. Sports Day is in fact on June 10th 9.15 am. All children to be in nursery no later than 9 am! If it is not your usual session please collect your child immediately afterwards. Please make sure your child is wearing shorts, t-shirt, trainers and has a water bottle and sun hat!

Silly Hat and Sock week is next week!

Have you got your hats and socks ready! Remember that everyone can pay £1 (or more) for each day you attend nursery and come dressed in outrageously silly hats and socks. We are hoping to raise lots of money for the Lymphoedema Support Network, please help us.

Can you help out?

Next half term we are hoping to create art using natural resources. We would welcome donations of any picture frames (minus the glass) to make the designs we make more ‘professional’. Thank you in anticipation.

Half Term

Don’t forget that we break for the half term holiday Friday 22nd May until Monday 8th June.

Have a fabulous weekend and hopefully the sunshine will make and appearance!

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Worship

This week we have continued our branch ‘To the Ends of the Earth’. Our key words this week were parish family, Holy Spirit and Pentecost.

We continued talking about Pentecost, looking at some clues to see what we could retrieve from our learning last week:

I am bright but not the sun, I flicker, dance, and warm everyone. At Pentecost, on heads I came, can you guess my fiery name? Flame

I dance in the trees and make kites fly, you cannot see me, but I rush by. At Pentecost, I blew so strong, bringing the Spirit to everyone! I am… Wind

We then watched Little Liturgies from The Mark 10 Mission, all about Pentecost: Click here.

Our child led worship this week was about ‘Mary Queen of Heaven’. May is traditionally dedicated as the Month of Mary. We had a look at different images from different countries showing Mary and Jesus. They were all different but the children still recognised them as Mary and Jesus.

We watched this video all about The Queenship of Mary: Click here We ended our Worship session in our prayer garden, using our Rosary beads to say the Our Father, Hail Mary and the Glory Be.

We watched this video all about The Queenship of Mary: Click here . We ended our Worship session in our prayer garden, using our Rosary beads to say the Our Father, Hail Mary and the Glory Be.

Learning Landscape

A shorter week but no less learning!! We have:

• made an ice cream parlour

• explored 3D shapes- cone, cube, cuboid and sphere!

• played ‘what’s my number’ with numicon patterns

• made ‘what’s my number’ with number blocks

• been exploring with our explorer bags!

• visited forest school and made wind socks

• made Mary, Queen of Heaven paper models as well as paper flowers for the school worship area

• made the biggest rosary ever!!!

• built and balanced sparkle bricks to make a castle for our fairy tale people

  and so much more…all in four days!!!!

Nursery sundries donation

Could everyone please ensure that your termly £10 sundries donation is paid for via Parent Pay and not with your nursery fees. Thank you for your cooperation.

Upcoming dates for your diary!

Silly hat and sock week week commencing 18th May. Come to nursery everyday wearing silly socks and a silly hat and pay £1 each day. All proceeds to Lymphoedema Support Network. Let’s make our charity event a huge success!

Half Term holidays. School closes Friday 22nd May until Monday 8th June

Sports day Wednesday 10th June 9.15 am. All children to be in nursery no later than 9 am! If it is not your usual session please collect your child immediately afterwards. Please make sure your child is wearing shorts, t-shirt, trainers and has a water bottle and sun hat!

Have a lovely weekend everyone and I will see you all on Monday.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Worship

This week we have continued our branch ‘To the Ends of the Earth’. Our key words this week were parish, Holy Spirit and Pentecost.

We began by watching a video all about Pentecost Click here.

The Holy Spirit came to the disciples at Pentecost.  It looked like flames and sounded like the wind. We had a picture of the 12 disciples and 12 flames with numbers on them. We worked hard and put the numbers in the correct order above their heads.

Our child led worship this week focused on the Holy Spirit. We had a picture to look at – the Holy Spirit was represented by a dove. We spoke about how we cannot see the Holy Spirit but we can feel it inside us. We also noticed that we say ‘the Holy Spirit’ when we make the sign of the cross. We watched this video, click here to watch at home.

Our prayer leaders led us beautifully in prayer and we finished by saying the Hail Mary.

Learning landscape

This week we have been busy bees exploring 2D ‘shapes’ We have:

• talked about each shape and what makes them that shape as well as their names; corners, curved sides, straight sides, short sides and long sides

• been on a shape hunt

• sorted shapes and joined them together to make different shapes

• drawn each shape

• visited forest school- we love going to forest school

• met numbers beyond ten…tricky!

• continued designing our Sports Day t-shirts. They are looking fabulous!

• played in the garden; going on bug hunts, using the big outdoor water play, making a cafe in the sand, checking on the tadpoles and the snail hotel

• …and most importantly have had lots of fun in the sun!

Silly Hat and Sock Week!

Don’t forget that Silly Hat and Sock week is coming up, get your hats and socks ready! Let’s make this a fantastic week!

Sports day

EYFS Sports Day is being held on Wednesday 10th June at 9.15 am. Please make sure you child is wearing shorts and a t-shirt, trainers, sun cream and a hat as well as bringing a bottle of water with them. Each child will have their bespoke t-shirt ready to change into when they arrive at nursery.

This event is open to all the children but please can you let us know if your child is unable to attend or you feel they may be unsettled as it is a very busy and loud event.

Finally, I’ve got the BBQ fired up and I am hoping for a relaxing Bank Holiday Weekend! I hope you are too!

Have fun and stay safe.

God Bless

Barbara

This week...

What a week! The sun has been shining and we have been taking full advantage of it! It is so lovely to be able to shed some layers of clothing!

Worship

This week we have continued our branch ‘To the Ends of the Earth’. Our key words this week were parish, Holy Spirit and family.

We spoke about how we can be like Jesus and be a good friend. Who are your friends?  How do they look after you?

We worked together to make a Friendship jar. We discussed the recipe - this recipe shows us what we need to put into a friendship to make it happy and strong. We had 6 word cards with friendship qualities on them – kindness, sharing, listening, saying sorry, helping others and taking turns. We also added special gems, crosses and coloured pom poms. We all had a go and adding an ingredient and mixing it up, discussing how we can be a good friend.

• “What’s the most important thing you’d put in a friendship?”

• “How does it feel when someone is kind or shares with you?”

• “What can you do if a friend forgets one of these ingredients, like taking turns?”

• “Where do Christians meet their friends and pray to God?” The parish church.

Our child led worship on Thursday was about the Ascension. After looking at our image, the children knew it showed Jesus ‘going up’ or ‘rising to heaven’. In the words of the Gospel we heard that the people worshipped Jesus and felt great joy. In the video we heard that Jesus ‘will always be with us’. We are like Jesus each and every day. Click here to watch at home.

Learning Landscape

In keeping with the glorious weather that God has sent us this week we have:

• been planting sunflowers/meadow seeds to make our garden a rainbow of colours in the summer!

• readying the garden by pulling up weeds and watering the plants

• looking for minibeasts, especially snails for our snail hotel

• keeping a close eye on the tadpoles…they are getting so big but no sign of back legs yet

• visiting Forest School to finish making our flower light catchers

• playing with the parachute on the school field

• using the BIG outside waterplay! We have have made waterfalls with umbrellas, found out how to make the water wheel work without touching it, used the hose pipes and cascade planks to create a water system.

• made road signs for our roads and roundabouts…we even made a petrol pump (don’t get excited it’s doesn’t dispense fuel!)

In our indoor learning landscape we have:

• been following postitional language instructions. Positional language (prepositions) refers to the place where something or someone is, often in relation to other things, such as over, under, beside, or beneath. Teaching the children to use positional words will build their ability to follow and give directions and use language accurately. We played some great games!

• learnt some new sounds x, z, qu, nk and ng…amazing!

• been using number to solve problems

• experimenting with shape

• using cards to tell our own stories. The children are getting really good at this

• been making stretchy goo

• creating symmetrical ladybirds from playdough, buttons and straws

As you can see we have been even busier than usual. Enjoy the sunshine this weekend and we will see you on Monday for another busy week!

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Welcome back to the final term of the year, the year is flying by!

The children have started the new term with the same enthusiasm that they left the Spring term with. Everyone is eager to learn and have lots of new adventures. This half term we will be fining out about ‘Mini Beasts. We have already started to root around the nursery garden and forest school to see which creatures we can find! The children want to make a snail hotel; so we are on the hunt for snails. I think they disappear when they hear us coming!

Worship

This week we have started our new branch ‘To the Ends of the Earth’. Our key words this week were Friend, God and Father.

We spoke about how Jesus returned to his Father. One of the friends said Jesus went to heaven and said Jesus is also the Holy Spirit. We watched this video about the Ascension: Click here to watch at home.

When someone welcomes the Holy Spirit into their heart, they are close to God.  His love surrounds them. We spoke about they key words we had heard – Father, God, Holy Spirit and friend. We added these to our Worship display and will add to this as we learn more over the next few weeks. We attached them to a cloud. We thought that heaven was in the clouds, and what a peaceful place it must be.

We heard that Jesus promised to always look after everyone and send a special friend, the Holy Spirit. This led into our child led worship on Thursday, where we learnt about the parable of the faithful servant. (Matthew 24:42). We had a look at some images and one of them had a picture of someone giving someone some food. We discussed how Jesus came to serve us, help us and teach us and we must now do the same. We serve others and Jesus by being ready, responsible, making good choices, being kind and good. We should make these good choices even when nobody is watching.

Learning Landscape

Nursery looks a little different this week…there are minibeasts everywhere! We have:

• Made a minibeast exploring table

• Played a describing minibeast quiz game. Some of the clues were a bit tricky but we got there in the end.

• Told stories by sequencing cards. We even made up our own silly stories!

• Explored numbers to 10! We found out which numbers we can put together to make ten, using number rods. Watch this video to have a go at home. I must say the children were ahead of the game with their number bond work! Fantastic!

• Visited forest school and made sun catchers.

Home Link activity bags

Each week we have been sending home hand strengthening activity sacks to help prepare your children for mark making and writing. We currently have three sacks which have not been returned. This means that other children cannot play the games. If you receive a bag could you keep it for one night and then return the bag the following day for another child to take home. Thank you for your understanding.

Silly Hat and Sock Week

Every year nursery raises funds for a charity that is close to our hearts. This year we have chosen the Lymphoedema Support Network. ‘The Lymphoedema Support Network (LSN) is a registered charity and the UK’s national patient support charity for those living with or affected by lymphoedema.’

The Lymphoedema Support Network takes the lead role in supporting and empowering people with lymphoedema by providing a high standard of information and promoting self-help. Since its inception in 1991, when there was very little information or help available for patients, the LSN has evolved into an independent and influential charity. As a charity run by people with lymphoedema, the LSN has a real understanding of the lived experience of the condition which it uses to inform its work.

We really want to help raise money for this charity as we currently have a child in nursery with childhood lymphoedema and we would like to say thank you to the LSN who have supported the family. Please get in volved and lets make lots of money! All details are on the poster below.

The sillier the better!!!!!

Looking forward to more fun and learning next week. Have a great weekend everyone and we will see you on Monday.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

Holy Week

It has been a sombre yet joyful week at nursery. We have joined the whole school in the Holy Week assemblies. Together, we have walked alongside Jesus from His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to His final hours on the cross and then the culmination of Holy Week, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The older children have depicted this using words dance drama so very beautifully you couldn’t help but be moved emotionally.

Learning Landscape

The children have had a fun packed week full of Easter celebration activities. We have:

• played pin the tail on the bunny (that was great fun!)

• sang Easter songs

• created using Easter craft resources

• joined Reception for an Easter Egg Hunt!

• joined in the Easter egg raffle

• met the chicks that Year 2 have hatched

• joined a hot cross bun gathering with Reception

• played hot potato/mashed potato!

• …and had a jolly good time!

This term has been the most amazing twelve weeks. The children’s learning has been off the scale! They have started to demonstrate everything we have been learning since September. When we return after the Easter break we will be pushing forward to achieve even greater things! I would like to thank you all for your support of nursery and all the hard work you put in at home to help your child’s learning at school It is greatly appreciated.

I hope you all have a Happy and Holy Easter, not too many eggs!

Stay safe and God bless

Barbara