Welcome to our 3-4 Year Old Nursery blog. Here we will celebrate what happens in our nursery.
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At Nursery, we are all working hard to develop our gross-motor skills through a variety of physical development activities. Physical Development is one of our prime areas of learning and by using our bodies in different ways, we can all develop strong motor skills to benefit all aspects of our learning.
We all enjoy joining in with ring games with Mrs Connelly each week at Nursery. In doing this, we learn how to follow sequences of movement as we move our bodies and travel around the space. We also develop our spatial awareness and learn the importance of teamwork as we move together. This is always a highlight of our week and we have all become really confident at singing the ring game songs!
We also enjoy working together to create large-scale drawings on rolls of paper when we arrive at Nursery each morning. By lying on our tummies to mark-make, we develop our core strength. This core strength enables us to use our limbs for many different things, including balancing, sitting, travelling and mark-making on different scales.
Our outdoor area provides so many opportunities for developing our gross-motor skills. Through regular practise, we are becoming more and more confident at balancing and climbing on the different apparatus available. We also really enjoy travelling on bikes and scooters around the large space to develop our coordination when moving.
There are so many ways to get moving and develop our gross-motor skills! You could go on a family walk together around the local area or visit a nearby playground to provide your child with time to practise climbing, balancing and moving on, under and through the equipment available. We would love to see some photographs on Tapestry!
This week at Nursery, we have enjoyed being with our friends and teachers again as we begin our new term together. We also welcomed some familiar friends from our 2 Year Old Nursery when they moved up to our group this week. Last half-term, we were full of excitement and curiosity as we watched our eggs hatch into chicks and spotted minibeasts as we noticed the signs of Spring around us. This half-term, we will continue to develop our emerging interest in living things, life-cycles and nature.
This week, we enjoyed exploring number in our maths area using small-world minibeasts and natural resources. We experimented with how we could make different arrangements, including die frames that we could quickly subitise. We practised counting objects accurately by tapping each object and continued to develop our understanding of the cardinal number concept.
This week, we also began to explore the concept of ‘more than’ and ‘less than/fewer’ with our hungry caterpillar maths game. We took turns with a partner to roll the dice and count out fruits for our story character. We then carefully counted our fruit and explored who had more and who had less/fewer. Throughout the week, we developed our independence in playing this game without adult help.
Some of us enjoyed getting cosy in the reading area to look at minibeast-themed information books. We were particularly interested in learning more about butterflies and their journey from being a caterpillar. We will continue to develop this interest this half-term by looking at lots of interesting information books!
We really enjoyed creating bug hotels and small-world environments for the minibeast toys! Lots of us looked closely at the minibeasts to notice their colours, patterns and features. “Look at my habitat!”, Selimo told us proudly, “This habitat is for the insects and the houses are for the people!”. What fantastic vocabulary and knowledge!
We also enjoyed playing some minibeast-themed board games with our friends this week. We worked really hard to turn-take fairly and waited really patiently as each player took their turn. We continued to develop and practise our counting skills through playing the games in a group. As our understanding developed, we were able to navigate through the games independently, which really showcased how well we can share and take turns with one another.
We have had a busy and fun-filled week as we settled back into our new term and welcomed new friends into the Nursery group. We have really enjoyed spending time with our friends and having a go at some new activities in our indoor and the sunny outdoor provision!
We started our Easter celebrations at Nursery with some delicious hot cross buns at snack time. Thank you, Mrs Connelly for bringing in this treat for us to share. We looked closely at the shapes and patterns on the hot cross buns and learnt that this represents when Jesus sadly died for many people who celebrate Easter. We sat in our key groups to try our hot cross buns, which went down very well! We also watched a beautiful sand art Easter story to learn more about this festival and why many people around the world celebrate it. We linked our learning about the Easter story to Springtime, new life, growing flowers and our hatching chicks!
We had lots of fun outside designing our own colourful Easter eggs with chalk. We experimented with colour and pattern as we worked together, making marks on a large vertical surface to develop our gross and fine motor skills. Many of us were inspired to talk about our own experiences of finding Easter eggs and enjoying Easter chocolate at home!
Our egg and chick finger gym proved a popular area this week! We had lots of fun opening and closing the eggs, putting in the chicks and taking them out again. We had to work hard to use our finger and hand strength to squeeze the eggs to pop them open and click them back together again!
Our fine-motor practise continued in the malleable area, where we enjoyed using special cutters to create eggs, chicks, rabbits and carrots! We also had a special mould where we could shape and press our dough to create patterned Easter eggs. This then inspired some of us to use tools to make marks and patterns in our playdough.
We all enjoyed a cuddle with our growing chicks this week! We handled them carefully and stroked their soft feathers gently. This awe and wonder moment has definitely been a highlight of our half-term and we all loved watching our eggs hatch into ten beautiful chicks!
On Wednesday, we invited our families into Nursery for our Easter stay and play. We all had a fantastic time creating Easter cards, designing Easter eggs, cuddling chicks, sharing Easter-themed stories and having a go at some Easter activities! Thank you to our families who were able to join us for the event.
This week, we also learnt about the festival, Pesach. Thank-you to Luca and his mummy who brought in some delicious matzah and grape juice for us to try. Miss Archibald came down to Nursery to lead a fantastic group time all about, Pesach, where we learnt about Moses and the story of Pesach and all about what a seder plate is and what it represents for many people. We learnt to speak some hebrew, joined in with some special Pesach songs and played a game where we had to find hidden matzah. Thank-you to Luca and his family and Miss Archibald for giving us such a fantastic learning experience!
This week at Nursery, we had a very exciting arrival! Here is our wonderful week, where we found awe and wonder in watching our eggs hatch into beautiful, fluffy chicks!
On Monday, we had a very special arrival at Nursery; our 10 eggs which were ready to hatch. We listened carefully to all of the instructions to help us care for them. We set up our eggs in a special incubator. We were told that they would hatch on Wednesday and Thursday, so knew that we would have to wait patiently. We enjoyed watching them closely and some of us had a go at some observational drawing to document the stages of our hatching project.
On Tuesday, we continued to wait patiently and watch closely to notice any changes. We continued to have a go at using our mark-making skills to draw the eggs, thinking carefully about lines, shapes and colours needed to make our drawings life-like! We were on countdown and told our friends that they would begin to hatch tomorrow. We all made our predictions about which egg would hatch first!
On Wednesday, there was great excitement when we arrived at Nursery and noticed a crack in one of the eggs. We watched it closely all day as it wobbled and continued to crack. We learnt that when the chicks use their beak to break their shell, it is called ‘pipping’. We therefore decided that our first chick would be called, Pippin! Some of us were very lucky and watched Pippin come out of his shell. As the day went on, we noticed new cracks in two other eggs. The excitement continued! By the end of the day, Pippin was dried out, standing up and cheeping loudly to encourage her brothers and sisters. We listened carefully to the noises she made.
On Thursday, we arrived to see 3 chicks cuddled together in the incubator. It was a very busy and exciting day where we watched another 4 chicks hatch out of their eggs! We continued to use our mark-making skills to create detailed drawings of both the chicks and the eggs to document the next stage of our hatching journey. We had lots of fun watching them all together as they jumped around, cuddled one another and even fell asleep standing up!
Overnight, the last two eggs hatched meaning that our 10 eggs had become 10 fluffy chicks! We all enjoyed looking at them inside the incubator. Miss Bramham told us that it was time for the chicks to move into their new home. We were incredibly helpful and kind in helping the chicks move into their new space. We made it comfortable with newspaper and sawdust. Some of us scooped food and water into their bowls. We also helped to carefully carry the chicks and put them into their new home. We will continue to enjoy them at Nursery next week, when we will be able to hold them and give them cuddles!
We would like to say a huge thank-you to Zayan’s mummy, who joined us on Thursday afternoon for a special Eid celebration. She very kindly brought some fantastic Eid-themed stories to share, and with the help of Zayan, she helped us to learn more about the festival of Eid as we listened and shared our own experiences. We had lots of fun dancing together to celebrate and had a go at making our own Eid cards and mendhi designs. We finished our session with a special snack together, which Zayan and his mummy had kindly brought in to share. What a super afternoon!
This week at Nursery, we welcomed Spring as Winter comes to an end. The sun shone for us throughout the week, meaning that we could enjoy lots of time outside with our friends. We enjoyed exploring our own interests in the fresh air, having a go at some adult-initiated activities and noticing the signs of Spring around us as we play together.
Here we are enjoying the outdoor area with our friends! Zayan was incredibly excited when he found a ladybird. Gurjot, Damen and Theo were very busy in the sand pit, concentrating carefully as they filled buckets and played with the diggers. Molly enjoyed climbing on the frame, showing great strength and coordination as she held on with two hands to swing. We also enjoyed dancing in the sunshine together as we played musical statues!
For our focused activity this week, we each planted our own bean plant. We followed the multi-step instructions to create our own plant and had a go at copying our names on the pot. We will watch them carefully over the next few weeks to notice how they change. At the end of term, we will take our plants home to continue to care for them as we share this experience with our families.
On Wednesday, Ms Selim helped us to make some pasta bracelets on the grass outside. We all showed fantastic levels of engagement, concentrating carefully as we used our fine-motor skills to thread each pasta piece onto our string. This was a calm, peaceful activity in the sunshine and fresh air, which we all enjoyed.
We have had a wonderful week at Nursery, noticing the signs of Spring and enjoyed the sunshine in the outdoors. Eid Mubarak to our families who are celebrating on Friday, we look forward to hearing all about the celebrations next week!
This week at Nursery for science week, we explored the question ‘Why are bees important?’. This half-term we have been thinking about why it is important to care for living things and answering why questions as we develop our critical thinking skills.
During the week, we used information books, photographs and short video clips to learn some of the reasons why bees are important and how they help our planet. Together we learnt that bees give us honey, that they help us to have beautiful flowers and plants that grow our fruits and vegetables. We also learnt that there are not as many bees around today because their green spaces where they live are being turned into houses and buildings. We thought about how we could help the bees in Nursery and put a plan in action!
This week at Nursery, we worked hard to introduce a wildflower garden in our 3 Year Old Nursery flowerbed to attract the bees and butterflies. We took turns to use gardening tools to turn the soil to prepare it for sowing seeds. We all really enjoyed doing this and showed great excitement that we would soon have a beautiful wildflower garden to attract more wildlife in our outdoor area!
After our hard work, it was time for our snack in our key groups! We enjoyed trying some honey on toast together, using words to describe the taste like ‘sweet’, ‘yummy’ and ‘fruity’. We talked about how we were thankful for the bees that made our honey for us to enjoy. This made us even more excited to complete our new wildflower garden!
After snack time, it was back to work in our EYFS garden! We waited patiently as we took turns to sprinkle the wildflower seeds onto our flowerbed. We then worked as a team to use gardening tools to rake the soil over again. We are very proud of our flowerbed and have showed great responsibility in explaining to our Reception friends that seeds are growing and we must leave our flowerbed as it is. We will continue to watch our flowerbed as we wait for the flowers to grow! How exciting! We all hope that it will attract some bees, butterflies and other minibeasts later in the year.
For science week, we also learnt about why it is important to have healthy teeth and how we can keep them clean. We enjoyed having a go at our teeth cleaning finger gym, singing teeth-themed rhymes, watching information videos and practising brushing our teeth together. You can see more of our healthy teeth exploration on Tapestry!
We have had a fantastic time joining in with science week in Nursery this week! We learnt that bees are helpers, which fit in well to our Lent theme for this week, which was ‘Thank you for helpers’. We also spent time creating something special for a loved one this week, as a thank you for helping us, which we will surprise them with on Sunday!
On Thursday, we joined in with World Book Day at Nursery. Our theme in school was ‘Bedtime Stories’, so we all arrived with big smiles, our favourite pyjamas and stories to share with our friends. He we are when we arrived at Nursery, excited for our special day!
Throughout the day, we enjoyed looking at the books we brought from home. We sat beautifully as we shared stories by ourselves or with our friends. We had lots of fun looking at books on World Book Day! We each received a book token from Ms Whiteley, our school librarian, which can be used to buy a £1 World Book Day book from the shops.
Our theme for Lent this week is ‘sharing makes joy grow’. During our group time, we shared a book with a friend. We sat together and talked about the story as we looked at each page. This promoted lots of lovely talk about the illustrations and predictions of what might happen next. We all enjoyed sharing a story with a friend on World Book Day!
What a fantastic day filled with stories! We had a great time celebrating World Book Day together at Nursery, cosy in our favourite pyjamas!
This week we introduced Lent across school, which began during the half-term holiday. Each week, we will explore a different theme linked to Lent by joining in with conversations and having a go at activities to develop our understanding. This week’s theme in EYFS was ‘Small Kindnesses Matter’. Our learning began by sitting together and looking at our kindness plant that we planted earlier this year. We thought carefully and remembered when we each sprinkled some kindness onto the bulbs and talked about the ways to be kind that we had suggested. We looked now at our beautiful, blooming plants and some of us noticed some yellow petals that are beginning to show. Some of our own reflections included the idea that kindness is beautiful just like a flower and that as we grow we are learning more ways to be kind.
We were all noticed for our acts of kindness this week! Zayan chose to help his friend Daya to zip up her coat when going outside. Arya helped our new friend Maye Maye settle into her new Nursery this week. Selimo set up a wonderful lunch in the home corner and invited some friends to join him. When the children were asked how kindness made them feel, they were all in agreement – happy!
In our key groups, we thought about different ways in which we can show kindness to others. We wrote them down on strips of paper and all agreed that we would remember them as we continue to try and be kind to one another. We used coloured paper to represent each of our colour groups to show our contribution.
The paper strips were then joined together to create a paper chain. The paper chain will remain on display within our classroom throughout Lent to remind of us of the different ways in which we can show kindness to others. We will also continue to watch our kindness plants bloom, reflecting on the beauty of choosing to be kind. A week filled with kindness has been a wonderful start to our new half-term!
This week at Nursery, we had a special event for our reading café! We were invited to a special session in our ACE Library! We had a wonderful time exploring the library and sharing stories with our special people. It was wonderful to see the children so happy and engaged as they looked at books and listened to stories with their grown-ups!
We were introduced to the early years book section within our school library. We had a look at all of the fantastic stories on offer, choosing ones that sparked our interest! We all then found somewhere cosy and got stuck into our books with our special people.
We enjoyed getting cosy in the exciting spaces within our library and continued to share lots of exciting and wonderful stories that sparked our interest! We all remained focused, listening carefully to our grown-ups as they shared the stories with us.
Thank you to our families who were able to join us for our special reading café event! This was to replace our visit to our local community library which was unfortunately cancelled due to the weather. We will plan to visit our ACE Library again at some point this year to invite all of our children to share the exciting books on offer. What an exciting final reading café for this half-term!
Our talk for writing text for this half-term is ‘The Boy and the Bear’ by Tracey Corderoy. We have been very busy learning our model text and having a go at a variety of different activities within our Nursery provision to further develop our understanding. This week on Tapestry, we shared a video of our final model text performance for our families. Our key workers are incredibly proud of how we have persevered throughout the half-term to learn the story for ourselves!
Here we are performing our model text together. Which actions are we joining in with here? Where in the story might you see them? Here is our model text, which you may wish to share together at home:
The boy wanted a friend. He found Bear. Bear was shy. He sent a message, “Boo!”. Bear did not understand. The boy sat on the see-saw. Bear was too heavy. The boy and the bear built a treehouse instead. Bear said, “Goodbye”. The boy looked for Bear. He waited and waited and waited. Winter was over and the snow melted. It was Spring. Bear woke up. He found the boy.
We explored mark-making with paint to create our own Bear pictures. We focused on giving meaning to the marks we make, forming lines and shapes and adding detail. In doing this, we created some wonderful representations of the character, Bear!
In ‘The Boy and the Bear’, Bear sends lots of messages to the boy to communicate what he wants to say. This week, we developed our understanding of the word ‘ message’ by creating our own in the mark-making area. We thought carefully about who we would like to send a message to and what we would like it to say. We then used a variety of mark-making tools to create our message, whilst the adult acted as a scribe.
The children have engaged wonderfully with our talk for writing text this half-term and enjoyed thinking of the actions to go alongside our talk as we share the story together Our final performance was powerful and we all showed great confidence in storytelling ourselves. If the boy and the bear went on another adventure, what do you think might happen…?