Headteacher: Anna Moss

Forest School

Summer

Cleaning time!  The sponges, cloths and brushes came out this week as the Forest School was given a full “Summer clean”!  I think it is time to start contributing to house jobs this weekend.

Dough Disco

 Old Songs, New Routines

The “music machine” has continued to choose its favourite songs from the past year.  James and Henry were both over the moon to hear theirs again!  The grownups favourite has to be Eric’s Daddy Cool - this song will never date!

Listening Game

Dobble

We extended our learning this week as learnt how to play this game in pairs.  For those children who do not have at home, I would highly recommend – the concentration was unbelievable.

Phonics

The lollipop sound, l

Lucas, Lucy and Lottie – you finally made it in the box along with a ladybird, a lemur and two lions.  Well done for spotting the difference and talking about boys (garcons) and girls (filles).  Shhh, don’t tell Mr Mander about his missing lemon and lime….

Maths

3D shapes

Thank you Mrs Edney for letting us use after school club game, Jenga.  So much learning involved in this game.  Recognising three without counting, choosing shapes for construction and combining shapes to make new ones.  All nursery targets.

Communication and Language

Fergus the Sea Dog,

Tony Maddox

A super Summer story about a dog that visits the seaside.  Mrs Allen enjoyed sharing her toy sea creatures during your story activity to bring it to life – they are a huge hit during our Play and Explore.

Physical

Scissors

Mrs Franklin has had her recycling box nearby as you have been showing off those scissors skills.  Being able to pick up, hold and control a pair of scissors safely to make snips in paper is one of our Nursery statements.  Some of you blew her away with your ability to cut shapes out, knowing to turn the paper and not the scissors.

Forest School

Summer

Mrs Allen enjoyed showing you how you could use sticks and string to create your own raft.  You had to collect enough sticks, lay them flat and then wrap.  Did yours float in the gully or sink?

Dough Disco

 Old Songs, New Routines

The “music machine” has made the choice this week as we let it choose two songs from the past.  We danced one sitting down working our fingers, wrists and hands (main in French!) and the second standing up working our arms, shoulder and for lots of you – hips!  The funniest was when it chose Merry Christmas Everyone IN THE SUMMER!!   

Listening Game

Dobble

This simple game using your looking skills was a huge hit this week as you had to select a card and travel around to find “the same” on someone else’s card.  Who knows how this works?  I have never worked it out!

Phonics

The flamingo sound, f

We will never forget the excitement on Freya’s face when the flamingo sound was pulled out of the box.  We enjoyed finding out what was in there with her and Mrs Franklin.  Something tickly, something hot and something sharp.  Can you remember what they were?

Maths

Adding one more

We have enjoyed revisiting a song from our early days – In a Row.  We have learnt that adding one more takes us to the next number and if we move them around, the number stays the same.

Communication and Language

To the Beach,

Thomas Docherty

A very clever story about a little boy using different ways to travel to and from the beach.  Which vehicle would you choose? 

Art

Summer Fayre produce

We have made our finishing touches to our summer fayre produce this week.  We look forward to seeing lots of you there next Saturday (1^st July) 12-2pm.  Please come along to the teacher’s stall with some coins as the seeds that the children planted themselves have changed quite a lot with the hot weather and heavy rain.  They are crying out for a bigger home!

Forest School

Summer and Minibeasts

We have all enjoyed longer plays outdoors and the signs of summer were obvious for all those around.  Making links to your summer story, Mrs Allen showed you how to use the minibeast fact files with magnifying glasses around the Forest School.  We also have our very own minibeast developing in the cabin as you are watching the caterpillars change every day.

Dough Disco

I’m Still Standin, Elton John

Dangerous, David Guetta

Thanks to Harris and our big Blue class friend Jack, we couldn’t have moved the dough to two completely different songs.  We have talked about Elton and his glasses and we finally got to introduce the French flag (our school language) thanks to David.

Listening Game

Who Looks Different – Elton John themed

The glasses of Elton John were a huge hit for the children and so we have all giggled at the game of Who Looks Different with a twist.  We had to use our looking skills to spot who was hiding behind the glasses?

Phonics

The helicopter sound, h

The bear sound, b

Always a favourite circle time – What’s in the Box?  Last week we had a grumpy hippo trampling all over poor Hattie, Harriet and Harris and someone eating Mrs Mander’s ham sandwich!!  This week, a chunky bear sitting on poor Bani, Benji and Billie and a beautiful ballerina twirling in a bucket.

Maths

Comparing Weight

We began by using a wooden plank and block to create some outdoor scales and enjoyed comparing the weights of friends by showing who is heavier?  Who is lighter?  This week we took this learning indoors with the “bucket” scales and compared objects around the cabin and finding heavier, lighter and the same.

Communication and Language

Summer Days and Nights

Molly and her Dad

You enjoyed sharing the summer story with Mrs Allen, spotting those signs of summer in the story and comparing to the world around you.  A father’s day story introducing Moly and her Dad had you all chatting about your own Dad and what job he does.

Music

Let us chase the squirrels

A game that made us all want to be the squirrel as they got to run around and steal the acorns from the old oak tree.  Our friends made the trees for us to climb and we all sang along.

Art

Father’s Day

We have all worked hard to create our second flower print card, for our Dad this time.  We have enjoyed sharing the photos of them and talking about them.  As always, the funniest comments appear in the card.  These are in a brown envelope hiding somewhere in the home.

Forest School

Sports Day preparation

Our mornings have been mostly spent preparing for our big event this afternoon.  A lot of work goes into getting 3 and 4 years old to the “lava” lines safely on the field.  The racing part is the easy bit!

Non Dough Disco

Music for a Sushi Restaurant, Harry Styles

After months of your choices, I finally got mine!  With our disco being outdoors, we have been clapping, slapping and spinning our blocks/hands to this catchy tune.

Listening Game

I Spy

Using our friends around the fire circle as our choices, we have enjoyed listening to and naming friends with the initial sound given.  Why not play at home next week - remember, keep the sound pure. https://youtu.be/-ZtjFIvA_fs

Phonics

The rainbow sound, r

Oooh we had some angry objects for our angry sound!  A grumpy rhino and an angry rectangle.  Can you remember why the rectangle was so angry?  We also enjoyed munching on the raisins before lunch when Mrs Franklin wasn’t watching – shhhhhh!

Maths

Number skills

A chance to check in on the outdoor table with Mrs Mander that all our Maths skills are in place.  We have been naming numerals, patterns, subitising, showing finger numbers and counting groups of objects.  All that Maths learning is coming together nicely ready to send lots of you to school.

Communication and Language

Sports Day, Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen

A perfectly themed story for this week as you have watched a different kind of Sports Day come to life.  It was lovely to see some of the races in the story are the same as the ones we did today.

Physical

The Trail

With Monday being a rainy day (you wouldn’t think that today!) we introduced a new area of the trail that doesn’t become slippy – the rocks. You have enjoyed creating your own buildings by stacking in different arrangements.  

Forest School

Happy and Healthy – follow my leader

In preparation for our Sporting event next Friday, we have been practising follow my leader around Forest School.  We tried it out on Wednesday as we headed over to the field and did our first “run” through!  You have also been enjoying caring for the seeds you have planted – I wonder what they will grow into??

Music

Old King Glory

To make links with our Forest School learning, we have stuck with this song as it has been key to help us follow the King and Queen.  Wearing the crown gave us an excellent idea for one of our races next week too. 

Dough Disco

Girl on Fire, Alicia Keys

I didn’t think it would work as a dough disco song as it is quite a slow song to move to, but it actually did.  Thank you to our birthday girl Oryx for choosing.  We have enjoyed some new dough actions of folding and have learnt fire actions with our arms.  The singing hasn’t been too bad either!

Listening Game

Looking – Blink for a Turn

To keep those looking skills well practised, we enjoyed playing Pop up Pirates where you had to wait to be blinked at for a turn…

Phonics

The umbrella, u

A huge thank you to you for rescuing us with our sound box.  What started off as a challenging box to find sounds for – ugli fruit, up, under – turned into one of the best weeks with all the Uncles joining us.  These are definitely coming out next week and up as our Phonics display!

Maths

More than

Matching dice pattern to numerals

As always we have two jobs to do in Maths – a whole class game for our transition from Forest School and a pairs game.  We developed our language of “more than” as we rolled two dice and had to spot and say which one had more e.g. “4 is more than 2”.  In pairs, you took it in turns to read, order (amazing job!) and turn over numbers to 6 every time your partner rolled the die.

Communication and Language

Up, Down and Around

Katherine Ayres

A story all about things growing up and down – excellent for that positional vocabulary.  The activities were the best this week though as you enjoyed setting up a picnic with all the stone fruit and vegetables and equipment.

Physical

The Trim Trail

The wooden house has been popular this week as you have enjoyed seeing how many can fit in it.  You spotted it had seen better days and got to work fixing it with your hammers (sticks)  

Forest School

Happy and Healthy – planting seeds

A walk around the Forest School looking for signs of life inspired us all to get planting our own seeds this week.  You have all had the chance to plant your seed in soil – the hard part is the next part where we have to find ways to make them grow!

Music

Old King Glory

Following on from the special celebrations last Saturday, it seemed the right time to introduce this song.  We have enjoyed choosing a King or Queen to lead the trail around the circle and choose some friends to “follow me”! 

Dough Disco

The Excavator Song, Blippi

Johan, you have surprised us all with this choice – thank you!  After some classic artists, we didn’t think Blippi would get us moving as much as he did!  We love this song.  Making the excavator shape with our arms and using our wrists to scoop the mud has certainly given us an upper body workout!

Listening Game

Spring Bingo with a twist

We played the game again but this time you really had to help Mrs Mander when her words kept getting all jumbled.  She couldn’t work out what the pictures were – was it plossom, flossom or blossom that grows on the trees???

Phonics

The elephant sound, e

Those naughty elves have made a return!!!  We couldn’t believe it!!!  We found Lucas’ face turned upside down and today, they had snipped all the pictures off our names so now we have to recognise and read our name without picture clues – grrrrr.  Our friends Eric, Elsie and Effy didn’t do the best job at keeping them out of mischief!!!

Maths

Reading dice 1-6

Making dice patterns

As we joined from Forest School, we did a little revisit to check we can read our dice numbers to 6.  Seeing number patterns like dice, numicon, in a row is something we have been working towards all year and you have almost got it.  To put this learning into practice, you worked with a friend to show the dice pattern using bottle lids. 

Communication and Language

Oliver’s Vegetables,

Vivian French

Mrs Allen made the story this week come to life as she raided her fridge and brought along her own vegetables for you to explore with your senses.  She also taught you how you can print with them!

Physical

The Trim Trail

This week we have mostly enjoyed running around in circles on the grass.  This is excellent practice for our upcoming Sporting afternoon.  It is going to be quite a challenge now to teach you running and staying in lines.  

Forest School

Go Global - Coronation

Mrs Allen has enjoyed teaching you how to make outdoor bunting using the pattern from the tree.  You have enjoyed rubbing red and blue crayons and cutting the patterns into triangles. Red and blue crates were also used to make a throne for our King and Queen of the Early Years.

Music

Whole World in his Hands

In preparation for the whole school singing event this afternoon, we have been listening to and singing along to this catchy tune. The actions were added and you showed it all off brilliantly today. 

Dough Disco

Havana, Camilla Cabello

Thank you Olena for a much slower tune to dance to.  We talked about the singer Camilla and where Havana was.  We have been squashing the dough flat and drawing with it on the ceilings with a two armed circle move. – it looks good when the body is added.

Listening Game

Spring Bingo

With Spring in full swing (that rhymes!) we have been talking about the pictures on our Spring bingo boards and used our looking skills to spot when it was called out.  We have started spotting butterflies and bees in Forest School, the warm weather is definitely around the corner!

Phonics

The cat sound, c

In keeping with the Coronation theme, we have been pulling out kings, crowns and cakes from the box this week.  We have begun practising our “sound-talking” as well – c-ow, c-oi-n, c-a-t.

Maths

Five frame patterns

The Number 6

We continued our five frame pattern work as you had to make the same pattern on the five frame that was on the picture card.  We have also been learning about the pattern of the number 6 and trying to roll as many as we can on the dice.  Seeing numbers and spotting familiar patterns are both key as we approach the end of the nursery year and you move into BIG school.

Communication and Language

My World, Your World

Melanie Walsh

A beautiful story to embed your understanding that there are different places in the world. This book explores how different these places look compared to our world.  Finding on the globe was fun too!  We will be sad to see this topic go – it has been a big hit for this year’s children.

Physical

The Trim Trail

The wobbly bridge was the challenge this week.  Climbing up, travelling across and climbing down from this equipment was tricky but we almost all have it!

Art

Coronation Crowns

To become a King or Queen, you need a crown.  It took us three attempts to complete – paint/dry, paint/dry, cut and bend.  They looked good at the show though – we hope they survive to the end of the weekend!

Forest School

Go Global

Mrs Allen has been showing you how to use the crates to make vehicles to travel the world.  Boats (bateau) and planes (avion) were the most popular.  This week, it has been all about maps as you followed the Forest School map to find the hiding squirrel.

Music

Jump Jim Joe

In the final term, our music session happens outdoors as we move into “how can we move with action whilst singing”.  We have learnt our first song called ‘Jump Jim Joe’ where we are following actions and switching to a new partner every time. 

Dough Disco

Planet Earth, Duran Duran

21 Reasons, Ella Henderson

To ensure all access this final push to get those hands, wrists and arms ready for handwriting, our dough disco now takes part in the mornings.  We have been moving the dough to Planet Earth, Duran Duran thanks to Mrs Allen and this week, 21 Reasons by Ella Henderson thanks to Maya.  We are getting ready to share a favourite with you next for our cabin celebration.

Listening Game

Kim’s Game

We have been exploring the objects with the same sound, placing in a line and seeing if we can spot the one that is missing when our eyes are closed.  You can play this game at home!

Phonics

The octopus sound, o

The box was full of a /o/ objects including some very wriggly octopi.  We were lucky to have the octanauts and our friend Oryx in there to keep them all from swimming away.

Maths

Shape sort and stack

Five frame numbers

As you joined the session, we enjoyed sorting the shapes into ones that were the same size but not the same colour.  We talked about the best stackers, the ones with more than one “flat-bottom”.  We also worked with a pair to show numbers to five on our five frames.

Communication and Language

The Snail and the Whale

The Train Ride, June Crebbin

A story about a snail by Julia Donaldson who wanted to leave his rock to travel the world and so used the back of his friend, the whale.  This week, a train journey through different places.  You enjoyed sharing you train journey stories with Mrs Allen.

Physical

The Trim Trail

As part of our transition, we are all enjoying the play and explore on the trim trail. Running, climbing and balancing on the equipment is developing all those physical skills.

Art

Go Global

Alongside the whole school, we are learning about our planet earth.  We have enjoyed making our own planet earth plates by “pushing” blue and green paint around the plate.