Welcome to Paris Class, Jubilee Nursery!

Please find the next Topic Brainstorm below, for Autumn 2:

Shooting Stars and Christmas is Coming!

We were lucky enough to meet many of your children on Tuesday 20th July before the school holidays but have finally met everyone else. It has been a strange time in the world outside over the last year or so, but the school nursery will always be a safe haven of normality and fun. We are  looking forward to working with your amazing children and will ensure that they are settled, busy and learning. As you probably know, the Early Years curriculum encourages learning across seven areas: English, Communication and Language, Maths, Understanding of the World, Personal Social Emotional Development, Physical Development and Expressive Arts and Design. This provides the class with plenty of opportunities to immerse themselves in practical, hands-on learning through play. The children feel safe to explore, ask questions and solve problems for themselves in a variety of different contexts. Rest assured that we will always nurture, care for and develop your child. Dialogue is constantly modelled and vocabulary is designed to enrich and extend. This is such an important time developmentally so any additional modelling of clearly pronounced dialogue can only be a good thing! Please find the attached Topic Brainstorm to give you an idea of targets we will be covering this half term. There is also an Autumn Term Nursery letter which provides more useful information you may need to be aware of like our request for spare clothes, wellies, and an all in one waterproof zip up. Thank you for choosing Paris Class- we can't wait to get started!

Kind Regards,

Mrs Tikare and Miss Dishart

Autumn One, Me, Myself and I 

It is hard to believe that this half-term is nearly over. Your children have settled incredibly well and are engaged in all areas of the Early Years Curriculum. They are becoming increasingly confident, enjoying the freedom to explore. So far we have sung songs, spoken and encouraged dialogue, conducted scientific experiments, spoken about similarities and differences, counted, matched numbers, begun to develop fine motor skill through cutting exercises, drawing etc, listened to stories, built, role-played with a variety of toys, investigated the micro-habitats, involved themselves in different, problem solving messy play, begun to use the playground equipment, amongst other things. In fact this first half term has been very busy and purposeful. Just a few quick reminders: please ensure that at least one full set of clothes is in school everyday in case of accidents, including some plimsolls. As you already know your children are learning now at the fastest rate they will probably ever learn at. It is important to capitalise on this to support them by having many, varied, clearly modelled conversations with them. If they mispronounce something just model again and ask them to repeat what has been said. Reading with your child is vital to encourage their understanding of the texts, enjoyment and phonetic knowledge. Don't forget to count up and down stairs, steps along the path, numbers on the doors etc. Also we will continue to assist with those who are not yet fully potty trained. We need this to be a reciprocal arrangement so that your child follows toileting routines as speedily as possible. Any extra assistance that can be given with putting on coats, shoes, doing up zips and buttons etc will be much appreciated. Hopefully you can see from the photos below how much the children have enjoyed their learning journey so far. We can't wait for the next chapter to start!

Autumn Two: Shooting Stars and Racing Rockets;

Christmas is Coming!

It has been another exciting half term in Paris Nursery Class, with lots of different activities and learning opportunities. We have immersed ourselves in understanding that there are other planets in out solar system and that we have a moon. Also we found out that the planets are constantly moving. There have been opportunities to learn about how there is an International Space Station and we built our own version closer to home in our classroom! In the last few weeks of term we began to discuss how Christmas is coming and who that has significance for. In addition we noted other celebrations like Hannukah and Diwali, understanding that not all faiths celebrate the same occasions. We have read a variety of different texts appropriate to all subjects. Listening skills are improving, but we will continue to encourage this valuable life skill and ask you to do the same. There have also been multiple, creative activities to solve problems in Maths, like counting out the correct number of reindeer treats to match a variety of numbers, ordering different sized planets, matching Christmas baubles to be symmetrical, adding elves, trying to sort magnetic and non-magnetic materials, deciding what this means, working out which objects float and which sink in Science, developing ideas on why this may happen...to name but just a few challenges over the last half term. Of course we will revisit and extend this learning, along with confronting fresh problems to solve across our seven areas of learning in the Early Years.

As normal we have produced some very creative art work which has been displayed in the nursery. This has given everyone the opportunity to refine fine motor skills, with chances to cut, stick, draw, paint, roll salt dough, amongst other things. We spend an enormous amount of time speaking to the children, modelling speech, breaking down sounds. Along with this we encourage the art of conversation, demonstrating how to speak and when appropriate listen too. These are enormously valuable skills which we would ask you to continue at home too. We continue to work on skills across the curriculum like the fine motor skills in order to achieve a proficient pencil grip and control, challenges in PE to encourage balance and the equal use of both feet alternately when climbing steps for example. First thing in the mornings we promote the best mind-set by participating in Sensory Circuits where we do a variety of different exercises to encourage the use of the right and left side of the brain together, along with the physical and mental exertion necessary in order to concentrate properly in class.

 In the last week our Christmas party was a celebration involving games like Pin the Tail on the Reindeer, Musical Statues, dancing, singing, playing instruments, eating party food. There has been a Christmas film morning with popcorn, a Christmas panto to offer a traditional flavour to the end of our term, of course our party too! We can see that the children have enjoyed this time enormously, as have we!! We look forward to your child returning refreshed in January ready for the new term where our first topic will be Amazing Authors and Super Stories!

Please not that January is always a cold month so please wrap your child up in suitable clothes for outside play in all weathers. Take this opportunity to assist them in learning how to pull up zips, pull sleeves back round the right way, put shoes and wellies on and off. If you haven't already done so please bring in an all in one waterproof which can be worn over the top of their clothes, as well as wellies because we will continue to be learning outside as well as inside in the coming months.

We hope you and your families stay safe over the holidays, having and amazing Christmas break. We look forward to seeing you all in the New Year...Merry Christmas!!

Best Wishes 

Mrs Tikare and Paris Nursery staff.

Spring One-Amazing Authors and Super Stories!

It has been yet another busy, progress filled half term. Our topic has led to exploring many cross-curricular activities, for instance in Maths we have worked out how many Gruffalo treats to count out to match the numbers required. The children also had to follow a phonics maze, using directional language and sounding out the letters as they went in order to get the Gruffalo safely back to his cave. The children have also used their scientific knowledge to talk about fruit and staying healthy whilst making Handa's fruit hat. We have also visited Handa in our role-play house in South West Kenya. Who Knows what that house will transform into next!! Of course we will continue to share super stories by amazing authors like Julia Donaldson, Trish Cooke, David McKee, Eileen Browne, Rob Biddulph throughout the year. Naturally, we have found that the stories often have clear notions of right and wrong, justice, diversity and acceptance which link favourably to discussions and work around PSED themes.

In Expressive Art and P.E we have been taking part in 'Gruffalo' and 'Elmer' yoga, developing our listening skills to follow instructions and copy yoga poses in order to tell the relevant stories. As part of our appreciation of music and goals during Sensory Circuits we regularly accompany songs with percussion instruments, trying to keep to the pulse or beat, whilst singing at the same time. In addition to this we have begun to learn The Gruffalo song by Julia Donaldson, accompanying this as far as we can with Makaton sign language. There has definitely been general progress with holding a pose and balancing on one foot with greater accuracy in yoga.

Some children have become experts in putting on and taking off coats, fastening buttons and doing up zips. We are grateful to everyone for their support and encouragement given to their child in order to mirror what we are teaching in school. Remember there is the coat trick which you can google to see how young children are taught to put coats on with greater ease and independence. On the subject of clothing please could we just give you a quick reminder that we would really appreciate all jumpers, jackets, coats, hats etc being labelled with names. Try to encourage your child to be as responsible as they can for putting gloves away in their pockets when they return home from outside. We try to do our best to find everything which has been separated from the children, but it is always best to engender a sense of responsibility which will carry on as they go through their education. Please could we also remind you that the children need a pair of wellies and a zip up water proof to be kept in school so we can access the outdoors in all weathers. The waterproof should be large enough to fit over several layers in the cold weather. Our next unit which is attached above, will mean that we are going to be outside creating different habitats for minibeasts, gardening and planting so warm layers, wellies, and a waterproof will be essential.

Finally we have noticed how well many of the children are developing in terms of speech and communication skills. They are enjoying more dialogue with each other as well as with us. This is such an important and necessary skill. We will continue to model speech clearly and ask for clear repetition where possible, it would be beneficial if parents could continue to do the same. Children learn best when they are comfortable and playing, but take every opportunity to speak to them.

As always we thank you for your support and wish you a happy, healthy safe half term. We look forward to seeing you all after the holidays when the fun-filled learning will continue.

More fabulous photos to follow!

NSPCC Number Day 2022

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the NSPCC Number Day! This was a great opportunity to learn and raise much needed funds for the NSPCC- their work in supporting vulnerable children is as relevant now then ever before. We had great fun playing maths number games on the computer, singing number songs, playing traditional games outside like hopscotch and beanbags in numbered hoops to add. We parked toy cars in numbered spaces by using our Hot Wheels track, then matching the correct amount of cubes to the numbers, we solved number puzzles, explored number books, we traced and wrote numbers and coloured special number sheets, we counted the number of patches on our collaged, rainbow Elmers as we made them. Of course there were many more opportunities to learn about numbers and maths topics generally in the moment, on the day! Thanks again for your support; we loved the children's number shirts!

Spring Two, Marvellous Mini-beasts and Staying Alive! 

Nursery had a very productive Spring term which in the second half meant we were able to begin properly exploring mini-beasts and hunting for them. Earlier on we had set up our mud kitchen, allowing the children to work with a range of materials found in nature to investigate a number of challenges. This has become a firm favourite. Also the children managed to make their own marvellous mini-beast mansion to place outside to see who might inhabit it! Just as a note of caution, it is still imperative to supply a spare set of fitting clothes, some wellies and a rain suit to keep here for every eventuality as we will explore the mud kitchen in all weathers. 

Along with exploring native mini-beasts we also looked at some from further afield, like the ones Handa might see in Kenya and the wider African continent. Some of them looked amazingly colourful but we decided we might not like to touch all of them!! We were also fortunate enough to share in the experience of watching chicks hatch from their eggs in incubators, dispelling any myths that eggs solely came from the supermarket! It was fantastic to go back a week later and hold the chicks when big enough. The children were exceptionally brave and almost everyone gently held a chick before they were re-homed at the end of their Jubilee stay. This was a heart-warming experience for all as the children managed to hold the chicks carefully, understanding that they were vulnerable.

As ever the activities were organised to incorporate our topic so there were many problem solving, maths and Literacy based tasks to work on submerged in the mini-beast theme. Sometimes this was to sound out the different letters to get the mini-bests through the maze, or to match the insects to their correct habitat in a tray, or to go on a bug hunt and record how many you could find. We also used a variety of different materials to make and decorate our bugs. 

On top of all the usual opportunities to learn we also had special days to mark a variety of occasions. We have marked Red Nose Day to raise funds for a variety of U.K and international charities. In addition to this we have raised money to support charities helping Ukrainians fleeing the war, wearing yellow and blue and discussing the situation in a child friendly way. So thank you to everyone who made a donation.

Of course it goes without saying that we enormously value any contributions to the nursery in the form of toys, books, spare clothes as well as the invaluable contribution you make to their development. We are going to give a final push before we break up for the summer to learn how to write our names, numbers, some of our letters, continue to count to 20 and beyond. Any assistance you can give at home in readiness for September would be greatly appreciated. Along with this please try to encourage your child to be fully independent when using the toilet as well as able to dress, doing up zips and buttons where possible, putting on shoes etc. This will really assist their overall development and make then feel proud of what they can do. There will be photos to follow...

Summer 1, Pesky Pirates and Perfect Princesses.

As ever, this half term has been fabulously busy, covering many areas of the Early Years Curriculum. We continue to work on fine motor skills, using scissors, pencils, paintbrushes correctly. The class are continuing to explore a variety of learning opportunities, inside and outside, exercising muscles, using a variety of gross and fine motor skills, developing imaginative, creative learning, exploiting maths and English opportunities around them. The children have had the chance to engage with a variety of different pirate and princess stories and related activities. They have been asked to challenge the notions that all princesses are beautiful, kind and perfect and that all pirates are plundering, pesky rascals. We have seen that there is a clear structure to traditional fairy tales as well as alternative versions to add a more modern flavour, for example we have thought about the traditional version of Cinderella compared to the more modern adaptation of Prince Cinders by Babette Cole. We continue to push forward in learning our phonics, our number recognition, writing our names and generally practising our handwriting.

During our final week of this half term we have been commemorating Queen Elizabeth Second's Platinum Jubilee. We have taken the opportunity to learn about the significance of this commemoration as it is historic. We have been making our own Queen's Guards, our own Queen's state coaches, and union flags, learning of the relevance in each. We have also learnt a variety of dances from the 1990s as we try to place the Queen in a variety of decades over which she has reigned. I think our favourite has been Kris Kross' Jump, Jump.

If your child still needs extra practise with toilet training please take this half term to cement their understanding. We would respectfully ask that you do not put your child in pull ups as this confuses them and makes it harder to conclusively potty train. We will of course help, change, encourage any child who needs further assistance. Please supply some spare clothes to enable any necessary changes. Hopefully you can also assist us further by preparing children to change for PE in Reception by assisting them to be more independent in dressing everyday, this also includes putting on jackets and coats, shoes and socks. Over this next half term we will begin to assist your child in mentally preparing for transitioning to Reception. Finally we will continue to have lots of fun, singing, dancing, listening to stories, acting, engaging in all of the areas of the Early Learning journey. Have a fantastic, happy and safe half term.