This half-term, we have been exploring the story Stardust by Jeanne Willis. We have listened carefully to the story, answered questions about what is happening, developed our understanding of the key characters and events, as well as explore the key vocabulary in greater detail whilst exploring our Nursery provision.

We have really enjoyed retelling the story using our Stardust small-world area. We remembered the special words, ‘star’, ‘win’, ‘wish’ and family whilst we used puppet characters to re-enact the story. This week, we had a go at some different activities linked to the story’s special words to consolidate our learning.

Family

We used the magnetic shapes and wooden dolls on the light box to explore our special word ‘family’. We experimented with the different shapes and how we could arrange them to create enclosures to represent our homes. As we built, we talked about our own families and then used the wooden dolls to represent them. Luca told his friends, “This one is Mummy, this one is Mum and this one is me!”. Toby showed us a wooden doll and said, “My sister’s name is Erica”. We used lots of lovely vocabulary linked to family and developed our understanding of our special world as we played alongside one another.

Wish

We explored our special word ‘wish’ by creating our own wishing wands within the creative area. We have been busy developing our joining skills by using glue and tape in different ways this term, so this invitation provided chance for us to apply what we have learnt. We used tape to attach our lolly sticks to the stars and then added collage materials by thinking carefully about where each material would go and then spreading PVA. We listened to one another as we talked about what we would wish for.

Selimo shared, “I wish for a teddy bear”. Yahya said, “I wish I was a Marvel Avenger”. Eva then said, “I would wish for a flying saucer”. Holly told us, “I wish I could have a wishing well. I wish that it was in my garden, I would ask for a swimming pool!”.

Star

We used yellow highlighters and black paper to create stars in the night sky to explore our special word ‘star’. We experimented with how we could use different marks, lines and shapes to create a starry sky. We then had lots of fun using a UV torch to light-up our night sky and make our stars glow. “We are all made of stardust”, said Toby, remembering one of the key phrases from the book.

Win

This week at Nursery, we played board games to further develop our understanding of our special word ‘win’. We particularly enjoyed playing the shopping list game in small groups and this prompted lots of discussion around winning at games and how it doesn’t matter if we win or lose, it’s about having fun with our friends.

We have loved sharing our Stardust story at Nursery and developing our range of vocabulary through different exciting ways! We will continue to explore the story throughout this half-term. Please see Tapestry for some suggested home learning activities linked to the Stardust story.