Welcome to Nursery

Mrs S. Alderson (s.alderson@primrosehill.owlcotesmat.org)

- Nursery Teacher, Assistant Head and Strategic Lead for Early Years

Mrs A. Ashcroft (a.ashcroft@primrosehill.owlcotesmat.org) - Nursery Teacher

Support Staff:  Mrs N Holdsworth, Miss S. O'Neill, Miss D. Millard, Mrs Pritchard, Mrs Hustwick, Mrs Moore

On this page you will find all sorts of useful information about our class. You will find examples of children's learning, our themes for learning and information relating to class organisation and key dates.

If you have any questions regarding day to day nursery life, please contact Mrs Alderson by e-mail: nursery@primrosehill.owlcotesmat.org or speak to a member of the nursery team at the start or end of sessions.

Information from the previous website.

Fun activities to try at home.

Please click on the link to access ideas to support learning across the curriculum for your child. We place high priority on reading and rhyming in nursery. Challenge your child to 'drop everything and read' and 'drop everything and rhyme' when they are at home. Your child will be used to doing this from their days in nursery. Some children enjoy practising how to write letters. If your child is interested in this skill, please view the attached letter formation document. This may also be useful to refer to so you can support correct formation when your child writes in cards, writes their name on their pictures etc.

Our learning theme during the first half of the Spring term: February - March 2020 is: All Creatures Great and Small.

The aim of our learning is to enable all children to: -Speak confidently in simple sentences, or more complex sentences, about places they have visited. For example, the park, the woods, fields, the countryside, a farm, a zoo… -Show care and concern for living things and the environment. -Listen and respond to what other people say, talking about the same theme of conversation. -Ask questions to find out more information. Recognising British animals by sight and name, and finding out simple facts about British animals will help to develop an ethos of care and concern for our wildlife. We will share stories about animals; here are some of the stories we will be reading: The Gruffalo, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Sharing a Shell and Percy the Park Keeper stories. Please see the knowledge organiser for this half term. A copy is available for you to collect from the nursery entrance.

Nursery question of the week
What is your favourite story?  Why?
 

We spend lots of time focusing on there being lots of time to talk.  You can support your child with this at home too.  Looking through your child's learning on Tapestry with them and reviewing the focus for learning on the class knoweldge organiser and linking activities at home to this, will all help your child further develop their talking skills and knowledge.

World Book Day - Thursday 5th March
On this day we will be focusing on the original meaning behind this world event - every child having a book to enjoy.  There is always a strong focus on books in school.  To make world book day memorable, if your child would like to bring a book to swap with another child, please send them to nursery with a book you are happy for them to swap and ensure your child is aware they can exchange their book for a different one.
Please inform Mrs Alderson, or Mrs Ashcroft if your child is taking part. 

Making sense of numbers on Valentine's Day.

The children were challenge to find out how many hearts there were using their knowledge of number and counting skills. A magical pot supported talking about number values before being able to see how many heart sweeties there were. Counting carefully, saying one number name at a time followed by the name of the object being counted helps to slow counting down. Why not have a go at doing this at home.

Owlcotes Literature Festival - Magical Learning

In the last week of the first Spring half term, our learning is linked to magic. We are visiting a magical emporium in school, creating spells and potions and developing imaginative thinking and story-telling skills. Watch this space for some of our super learning.

Rhyme Time

We are learning rhymes during our rhyme time learning twice each day and as we sing songs, share stories and play. Here are the rhymes we strive for every child in nursery to be able to recall by the time they leave nursery, if not before!

Making sense of maths- number sense and exploring shapes, space and measures.

Learning linked to maths in nursery focuses on helping children to develop a secure understanding of number and shape, space and measures. Through first hand experiences, using lots of objects, acting out experiences linked to real life maths and re-visiting effective methods for learning about number values (quantity), children develop their mathematical knowledge and skills. Counting by moving objects, exploring number values with a wide range of objects and recognising number values in images, objects and in the environment, all support the development of good mathematical knowledge. Sorting, grouping, comparing objects helps children to learn about shapes and sizes. Knowing the stopping number, support children in understanding what number names are for and how we use them is part of everyday learning in nursery. Here are some of the ways children develop their mathematical knowledge and skills.

We are scientists, finding out about the world!

Developing curiosity about the world and making connections between the things we see, hear, taste and know about, help children to make sense of the world around them. Observing livings things, learning about materials and how things change over time are all part of scientific learning in early years. Our gallery of learning from January 2020 will be added to over time to show the children's interests and the opportunities provided in nursery, to support the development of scientific knowledge and understanding.

Designing, making and exploring media and materials.

The early years curriculum supports exploration of a wide range of media and materials. We enjoy working together to create model and pictures and working by ourselves to make models, props for play and pictures, patterns and abstract creations. We also enjoy sensory experiences where we explore how media and materials feel, look and smell. Please have a look at this gallery of our learning from January 2020 on wards. We will keep adding to this gallery of learning.

Music Making, Songs and Rhymes.

We enjoy learning through songs and rhymes. We have a dedicated time for rhyme twice each day where we focus on chanting the chosen rhyme of the week. We also enjoy creating music and sounds with percussion instruments, body percussion and objects in nursery. Here is a collection of our learning from January 2020 on wards. We will keep adding to this gallery of images. Watch this space for film footage of our wonderful performances!

Children in Need fun learning - thank you for your donations.

We have had a super, spotty day in nursery, dressed in bright colours and spotty clothes! Nursery has spots. We have been counting them, seeing how many different coloured spots there are and exploring spotty shapes and spotty soup! Circles are everywhere. Where can you find circles in your house?

Our learning theme during the second half term (November - December 2019) is: Let's Celebrate.

Information about areas we are focusing on during the second half term of this school year are attached in the knowledge organiser. Please speak to Mrs Alderson, or Mrs Ashcroft if you have any questions, or would like to get involved in supporting our learning. Information is also shared via your child's individual Tapestry account. Please ask for help if you are not able to access your account.

Pudsey the bear came to nursery!

Pudsey bear came to see us today. He wrote a letter asking to come and visit us. He left us stickers and asked us to collect two pence pieces for 'Children in Need.' Please could you help us with this appeal. Thank you

Focus Week - In the News!

In the News is our first focus week for this year. Children throughout school are linking their learning to this theme. We are exploring builders as we look at clues left in nursery and talk about what we like about nursery. Clue 1. Who has muddy boots? Clue 2. Who has set up an office area in nursery and left lots of keys? Clue 3: Two pairs of gloves have been left in nursery. Clues 4: Two bunches of keys have been found in nursery. We have also received two letters from someone whose name starts with a B. Who could it be? they have a cat whose name starts with a P... On Wednesday we solved the mystery. Bob the builder has been visiting nursery. We are learning the bob the builder son and all about the letter sound b. Can you hear b in words?

Making leaf collages.

In our last week of this first half term, we will be making leaf collages, using leaves collected from Autumn walks. The story book Leaf Man will be used to inspire our creations.

Pumpkin Watch!

To support learning in maths, an ever increasing number of pumpkins and squashes have been arriving in nursery. The children are enjoying the challenge of trying to pick each one up and they have been sorting them by size. This week (7-10-19) we will be exploring making patterns whilst developing fine motor control skills - the challenge is to hammer wooden sticks into pumpkins to make marks and create patterns. Child friendly hammers and close supervision will ensure this challenge is enjoyable and safe. During the week beginning 14-10-19 the challenge is to explore pumpkin seeds: scooping them out and counting them. Home challenge: Look at the pictures of pumpkins and squashes. Can your child talk about their shape and colour? Can you child identify things which are the same and things which are different about the pumpkins and squashes? Can they tell you which is the heaviest and which is the lightest? Parents/carers - come in to nursery to have a go at this size challenge with your child, at the start of the nursery day, or afternoon session (for afternoon children).

A Drawing Challenge

This week in nursery the children have been challenged to draw pictures of themselves, others and characters from stories. Have a look at some of our super learning!

Science Super Learning Day!

We have been exploring ice, talking about animals that live in cold places and how we can keep warm in cold weather. This has helped us to begin to understand about cold places in the world, like Antarctica and how to look after ourselves when the weather is cold in England.

We went on an apple hunt!

We have been exploring the school orchard at the bottom of the field. Instead of going on a bear hunt we went on an apple hunt and found lots of big ones, small ones and funny shaped ones! We also found pears. The children picked the fruit and took them back to nursery where we have sorted them, printed with them and tasted them.

Our learning theme during the first half term (September - October 2019) is: Who are we?

Information about areas we are focusing on during the first half term of this school year are attached in the knowledge organiser. Each half term a new knowledge organiser will be made available on the class page and be on display in the nursery entrance. Please speak to Mrs Alderson, or Mrs Ashcroft if you have any questions, or would like to get involved in supporting our learning. Information is also shared via your child's individual Tapestry account. Please ask for help if you are not able to access your account.

Learning Together

The children in nursery are settling in well to their new routines and getting to know one another. Learning together, sharing and being a caring friend are all areas of focus. Finding out about one another, what we enjoy and are confident at doing are also ongoing themes for the first half term. Here are some photographs of our learning in nursery during the first couple of weeks of the new academic year.

Making New Friends

We have lots of fun learning together in nursery. Here are some of the fun things children who will be in nursery in September 2019 have been doing.