Headteacher: Anna Moss

Forest School Activity

Caves

Mrs Allen showed you this week a completely different way to use the crates and tarpaulin as you created a cave to match the story with your friends.  Pegs are already challenging but with gloves on hands thanks to our first cold spell, this was almost impossible.  Resilience is a key competency at Blackwell and we certainly had to dig deep this week!

Write Dance

(Gross Motor)

Coming Round the Mountain

A catchy tune this week which lots of you already knew.  We have been travelling around the mountain on a train, plane and bus using arm power only.  We added in those arms up high for rainbow arcs with an “aye yay yippee yippee yay”.

Listening Game

Follow the Sound

Being able to listen to unseen sounds is already tricky but this week you had to follow them with your finger whilst blindfolded too!  This week we passed around Mrs Allen’s big bunch of keys whilst our blindfolded friend in the middle followed the sound with their finger.  When the sound stopped, they had to say who was hiding them. 

Phonics

The sound /p/

There was a lot of wriggling in the sound box this week as we discovered thirteen puppies in there!!!  What fun they were having with the pig, Mr Potato and a plum.  This sound is one that needed a little work as we needed to ensure it was a quiet one.  Put your lips together and push out the air quietly.  Next week we move on to the /i/ sound.

Maths

Fingers Five

Showing finger numbers 1-5 is one of nursery targets.  Showing numbers using our own marks is another.  This week we combined the two as we had a go at drawing around our family of five and choosing how they were feeling with a different bouche (mouth) for all.  For those of us who are ready, the next part of our maths journey will be showing numbers backwards so we can see how many fingers we are holding down – this will be the start of our work in seeing how numbers to five are made up e.g. 3 and 2 makes 5.   

Communication and Language

The Cave

You enjoyed sharing the story of The Cave and discovering who was hiding in there.  You enjoyed talking about what treats you would use to encourage someone out of a cave and you then had a go at making them using playdough. 

Art

Calendars

We have continued to talk about and look at the work of Joan Miro as we added the finishing touches to our own abstract art.  I am sure you are going to enjoy seeing these pieces of art on your fridge at home all year round. 

Dough Disco

(Fine Motor)

Tiger Feet, Mud

What a song Freya!  It has taken Mrs Franklin back to her youth!  We have enjoyed balling and passing the dough and rocking out with our arms and shoulders this week 70’s style.  We have also talked about the United Kingdom flag and good luck to you all bumping into the band members this weekend.  

A message for parents – we move into our favourite topic next week – Christmas!!  We start it with a bang and our Christmas story night is on Monday night at 5.30pm-7.00pm.  We look forward to seeing lots of you there in your PJ’s and cuddly toys!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen and Mrs Franklin X

Forest School Activity

Bears

This week, Mrs Allen has been showing you how you can role play a story with just sticks.  You collected three sticks of different sizes and used these as your story characters of Daddy, Mummy and Baby Bear.  All that was left to do was to find a Goldilocks!  It was lovely to see the mud kitchen being used as the kitchen in your story – not sure who is cleaning the bowls though?

Write Dance

(Gross Motor)

House of the Bears

Role play through dance!  We “played” the role of Goldilocks as we have swayed through the forest and into the house to spot and stir three bowls of porridge.  We had to switch part way through the song to be the bears as we used our “swimming” arms to claw and scare her away.

Listening Game

Chinese Whispers

Listening to the words is the trickiest listening rule to follow when you are three and four so this game was fun!  Mrs Mander chose a friend from the pack and whispered the name around the oval.  We had to work as a team to listen and share with our next-door neighbour.

Phonics

The sound /t/

A packed box with a whole range of objects coming out.  We had a turtle on the toilet.  A (squashed) tomato sitting on a tissue on the table.  And Mrs Mander and Mrs Allen’s favourite – some tea and toast.  Can you make your own /t/ box this weekend and find things that begin with /t/?

Maths

Three in a Row and Teddy Dance

We took our pattern of three in a row and enjoyed the Three in a Row song.  We were learning that whether they are in a row or moving around – it is still 3!  You giggled as you made three in a row with your friends and kept adding one more.  We also made sure our positional language was understood as we had to make our teddy dance in all sorts of strange places – “above our head, on our knee, between our feet”.   

Communication and Language

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Mrs Allen has enjoyed sharing lots of versions of the story (there are many!) and thank you to those of you who brought in your own.  You enjoyed tasting some hot, cold and “just right” porridge to make your story come alive and considered which instruments would be best for each “character”.

Art

Christmas Cards and Calendars

As we completed our Christmas card design this week ready to take the orders, we moved on to our yearly calendars.  Every class in school has an artist to learn about – ours is Joan Miro.  He uses lots of shapes and lines and colour to create some abstract art.  We have done the same – they are very abstract! 

Dough Disco

(Fine Motor)

High Hopes, Panic! At the (Dough) Disco

Sausage rolling our dough to make drumsticks so we could “disco” to this American pop rock band was very different to Lily’s Disney song!  We enjoyed it though and as we are improving every week at keeping to the beat of the music, it is actually starting to look in sync ready for a Christmas show.  Thank you Harvey for choosing!

A message for parents – nursery doors will be open next Friday 1^st December from 2-3pm.  The children are looking forward to sharing their “BEST” book with you – a book all about them.  You are then welcome to take them with you to have a look at the other book activities happening in the main school before heading home.

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen and Mrs Franklin X

Forest School Activity

Poppies and Bear Prints

In our first week back, you all enjoyed using the crates on the patio to create a poppy shop.  You finger painted the pieces of bark with red and black and sold them to your friends.  This week, Mrs Allen has been laying down paw prints for you to follow to go on a bear hunt.  You then enjoyed using sticks and chalks to replace the paw prints with arrows – have a go this weekend at making an arrow route for your family to follow.

Write Dance

(Gross Motor)

Grand Old Duke and Over the Mountain

We all enjoyed role playing the Grand Old Duke and you took it in turns to wear the tall hat – we had some excellent Grand Old Dukes of Blackwell and Grand Old Duchesses of Burcot as we marched, stretched and crouched to keep up with the Write Dance song.  This week, we have discovered our inner bears as the claws have come out and we have been using them to climb up the mountain and jump into the river.

Listening Game

Stop/Go Tunnel and Quiet Feet

Our STOP/GO paddle is a huge hit with you all and so we enjoyed using it in one of our games as we had to look at the sign and wait for GO before crawling through the tunnel.  If there is one thing on your list to Father Christmas this year, it has to be the paddle.  This week we have been working on not only keeping our voices but also our feet quiet as we move around the cabin.  You did a super job allowing Mrs Mander and Mrs Allen to have a morning snooze and not waking us up!  Thank you!

Phonics

The Letter s and the letter a

Our Phonics journey has begun as we are now playing our daily game of “What’s in the Box”.  Every week we learn a new sound, learn the picture to match and discover things in the box beginning with this sound.  In our first week back, we had fun as out crawled a spider from the stethoscope!  This week, we have had some friend’s faces in the box – Amelia, Adelenna and Mrs Allen as they have been munching on the apple and the avacodo in the box.  Can you remember the flag in there?

Maths

Subitising, Bing Bong Zong, The Number 3

We kept going with our subitising skills as you saw and named up to 3 wooden cookies as you joined from Forest School in different arrangements.  You enjoyed playing your first partner game with “Bing Bong Zong”.  It was fun trying to match a friend’s fingers with the same number and spotting who has more.  This week we have enjoyed exploring the number 3 as we played musical 3’s and began creating arrangements with 3 cups – Numicon 3, 3 in a row and Magic 3.   

Communication and Language

Poppy Day and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

The beautifully illustrated story of Poppy Day is a perfect way to introduce the idea behind poppies in a child friendly way.  You enjoyed putting your own poppies together in your session with Mrs Allen and listening to two special tunes – Last Post and Reveille. This week, our Best Books topic began with bear stories.  You have enjoyed retelling the Bear Hunt story with the story spoons.

Art

Poppies and Christmas Cards

It is our biggest crafting time of the year as we created artwork based on Mrs Allen’s story, Poppy Day.  You used your fine motor skills to collage your own poppy which are proudly up on our classroom display.  This week, you have become little elves as you enjoyed creating your very own Christmas cards.  Order forms for each Christmas card will be coming out in bags very soon. 

Dough Disco

(Fine Motor)

Girl on Fire, Alicia Keys and You’re Welcome, Maui

Thank you Francesca, for our first disco song back after half term.  It was in keeping with Bonfire Night as we enjoyed folding the dough and creating fire shapes with our arms.  This week, Maui (from the film Moana) has joined us thanks to Jack.  We have been talking about the country of Hawaii, looking at its flag and learning the Hawaii action for wind.  Have you showed it off at home?

A message for parents – we hope you all had the chance to read our half termly Newsletter last week which will have come out on parentapp.  There are lots of key dates for Christmas on there for you to pop into your diaries.  It gets busy at this time of year with so much going on!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen and Mrs Franklin X

Forest School Activity

Poppies and Bear Prints

In our first week back, you all enjoyed using the crates on the patio to create a poppy shop.  You finger painted the pieces of bark with red and black and sold them to your friends.  This week, Mrs Allen has been laying down paw prints for you to follow to go on a bear hunt.  You then enjoyed using sticks and chalks to replace the paw prints with arrows – have a go this weekend at making an arrow route for your family to follow.

Write Dance

(Gross Motor)

Grand Old Duke and Over the Mountain

We all enjoyed role playing the Grand Old Duke and you took it in turns to wear the tall hat – we had some excellent Grand Old Dukes of Blackwell and Grand Old Duchesses of Burcot as we marched, stretched and crouched to keep up with the Write Dance song.  This week, we have discovered our inner bears as the claws have come out and we have been using them to climb up the mountain and jump into the river.

Listening Game

Stop/Go Tunnel and Quiet Feet

Our STOP/GO paddle is a huge hit with you all and so we enjoyed using it in one of our games as we had to look at the sign and wait for GO before crawling through the tunnel.  If there is one thing on your list to Father Christmas this year, it has to be the paddle.  This week we have been working on not only keeping our voices but also our feet quiet as we move around the cabin.  You did a super job allowing Mrs Mander and Mrs Allen to have a morning snooze and not waking us up!  Thank you!

Phonics

The Letter s and the letter a

Our Phonics journey has begun as we are now playing our daily game of “What’s in the Box”.  Every week we learn a new sound, learn the picture to match and discover things in the box beginning with this sound.  In our first week back, we had fun as out crawled a spider from the stethoscope!  This week, we have had some friend’s faces in the box – Amelia, Adelenna and Mrs Allen as they have been munching on the apple and the avacodo in the box.  Can you remember the flag in there?

Maths

Subitising, Bing Bong Zong, The Number 3

We kept going with our subitising skills as you saw and named up to 3 wooden cookies as you joined from Forest School in different arrangements.  You enjoyed playing your first partner game with “Bing Bong Zong”.  It was fun trying to match a friend’s fingers with the same number and spotting who has more.  This week we have enjoyed exploring the number 3 as we played musical 3’s and began creating arrangements with 3 cups – Numicon 3, 3 in a row and Magic 3.   

Communication and Language

Poppy Day and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

The beautifully illustrated story of Poppy Day is a perfect way to introduce the idea behind poppies in a child friendly way.  You enjoyed putting your own poppies together in your session with Mrs Allen and listening to two special tunes – Last Post and Reveille. This week, our Best Books topic began with bear stories.  You have enjoyed retelling the Bear Hunt story with the story spoons.

Art

Poppies and Christmas Cards

It is our biggest crafting time of the year as we created artwork based on Mrs Allen’s story, Poppy Day.  You used your fine motor skills to collage your own poppy which are proudly up on our classroom display.  This week, you have become little elves as you enjoyed creating your very own Christmas cards.  Order forms for each Christmas card will be coming out in bags very soon. 

Dough Disco

(Fine Motor)

Girl on Fire, Alicia Keys and You’re Welcome, Maui

Thank you Francesca, for our first disco song back after half term.  It was in keeping with Bonfire Night as we enjoyed folding the dough and creating fire shapes with our arms.  This week, Maui (from the film Moana) has joined us thanks to Jack.  We have been talking about the country of Hawaii, looking at its flag and learning the Hawaii action for wind.  Have you showed it off at home?

A message for parents – we hope you all had the chance to read our half termly Newsletter last week which will have come out on parentapp.  There are lots of key dates for Christmas on there for you to pop into your diaries.  It gets busy at this time of year with so much going on!

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen and Mrs Franklin X

Forest School Activity

Scarecrows

Harry and Betty are all ready to go on show tomorrow as you have all worked hard with Mrs Allen to create the Early Years contribution to the festival.  We look forward to seeing lots of you there as you follow the trail to see what characters Blackwell has to offer.

Write Dance

(Gross Motor)

Row the Boat

We have been picking up our oars and rowing with them with straight and bent arms.  Adding in the forward and backward action with our bodies was the “challenge”.  Our favourite part was definitely rowing in a “two-person” boat whilst sitting opposite a friend.  

Listening Game

Bubbles and Tickle sticks

It has been all about practising sitting still this week as we played musical bumps.  When the music stopped, you showed us your best sitting – legs crossed, hands in laps.  You were far too good and so Mrs Allen and I dug out the bubbles and tickle sticks to make you wriggle and move.

Maths

Two or not Two

Balancing

As we all joined from Forest School, we played a sorting game of “two or not two”.  This was a chance for us to begin working on our “subitising” skills.  Subitising is seeing the number without the need to count.  Nursery children should be able to see 1,2,3 with just their eyes and we will begin this next week with a subitising song (everything has a song!).  We also enjoyed some outdoor learning with the planks/blocks as we tried to make the scales balance and find out which friend was heavier.

Communication and Language

Pumpkin Soup

A gorgeous story about a squirrel, a duck and a cat as they tried to work together to make some pumpkin soup.  Mrs Allen brought in her own pumpkin and you had a chance to take a look inside.  You enjoyed role playing the story with the soft toy animals too.

Forest School Game

A Tisket, A Tasket

A twist on last week’s song as we placed our letter into a green and yellow basket.  The “postie” continued to be careless as they travelled around the circle and kept on dropping that letter.  We think they need to change their job!  We sang along to the song – enjoy it this weekend.  A Tisket, A Tasket - Nursery Rhyme Song for Preschoolers and Toddlers - YouTube

Dough Disco

(Fine Motor)

Agadoo, Black Lace

We said Good Morning to Colin and Alan (in a photograph) every morning as we enjoyed Harriet’s favourite disco song.  It was funny to hear the stories last night of the children trying to tell you which song it was through clues.  Every day we talk about the artist, the song and where they come from by looking at their flag before we move our dough to the song.  We have tried our hardest to keep up with this fast paced song this week with an added dough difficulty.  Time to move on (!) to a three-day recap on songs next week.

A message for parents – it was lovely to meet most of you this week and have a chance to chat about how their first half term has gone.  The targets set are for us all to work on and any way you can help with these at home would help us.  The Prime areas – PSED, C&L and Physical – are key for all children of all ages and will be an excellent grounding as they begin BIG school next year.

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen and Mrs Franklin X

Forest School Activity

Scarecrows

In preparation for the Blackwell Scarecrow Festival, you have all been working with Mrs Allen to create our very own Nursery story character scarecrow.  It was hard to imagine at the beginning of the week that wrapping two sticks in a cross position would end up looking like he does today.  We hope you all have the chance to come and visit him and his beautiful wife next Saturday 21st…..

Write Dance

(Gross Motor)

Wheels on the Bus

Our shoulders have been given a workout this week as we have been doing some “big arm” movements with circles, side-to-side and a two-hand push forward.  We talked about how wheels, windscreens and horns on buses need a lot more movement than a smaller vehicle – this has helped us to work harder with our Write Dance arms.  

Listening Game

Kim’s Game

Being able to spot objects, people that are missing from a row of up to five when our eyes are closed has been fun.  We started the week with some of our favourite soft toy animals on the five frame.  It made my heart bigger when I spotted Freya and Harriet playing the game with a friend’s face during Indoor Play and I stole (Mrs Allen says “magpied”) the idea and we enjoyed playing with my friends’ faces – can you remember who my friends were?  One you meet every morning when you arrive.

Maths

Pattern Parrot

The pattern parrot has finally arrived and the song becomes a loop in your head!  Pattern parrot is always a popular nursery song as he likes making patterns with two objects, actions, colours.  As we all arrived from Forest School, you had a chance to make a two-colour repeating pattern and the pattern parrot checked it!  We started to spot to “pattern parrot patterns” on our clothes and have decided we would like a stripe week next week.  Dig out those stripy clothes and wear them every day and pattern parrot can check!

Communication and Language

Scarecrows Wedding

Well we couldn’t make scarecrows without sharing our favourite scarecrow story could we?  You had fun with Mrs Allen making paper flowers for Betty’s dress and getting a wedding list ready as part of your story activity.

Forest School Game

I wrote a letter to my love

We continued our “postie” theme as we took it in turns to write a letter to our loves and take a walk following the path around our friends.  Dropping the letter and hoping a friend hears the sounds and rescues it for us was fun.  Who would you choose to write a letter to?

Dough Disco

(Fine Motor)

Ready for the Ride, Oh Hush and Jeff Lewis

Thank you Lily!  Lots of us hadn’t heard of this song but a great choice for a disco song!  We have learnt two new dough actions of pinching the dough flat into a pancake, popping onto our frying pans (our hands) and passing it.  Flattening the dough with just our fingers and thumbs when it is cold (it lives in the fridge) is an excellent workout for those handwriting fingers! 

A message for parents – the children might be coming home with a few new French words on their vocabulary.  French is our Blackwell modern foreign language and we start as early as we can so it becomes part of our everyday speech.  French club begins after half term for nursery and reception children with Mrs Wilson and Mrs Mander.  It takes place on Wednesday after school (3.15-4.00) and is a popular early years’ club.  Letters on how to sign up will be coming out on parentapp and in bags next week.

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen and Mrs Franklin X

Forest School Activity

Autumn Art

As we move into our second topic of the term Autumn, on Monday we ventured out of school on our Autumn walk.  We headed over the road to our other Forest School sites and began to look for signs of Autumn.  We returned with a collection of skeleton leaves, feathers and acorns.  You enjoyed using these alongside the sticks found in our Forest School to create some Autumn art in the style of Andy Goldsworthy.

Write Dance

(Gross Motor)

The Penguin Dance

We have enjoyed being penguins this week to work on our gross motor skills.  Our arms became flippers as we flapped our way around the cabin with our waddling legs.  This dance is always a good one to practise balancing on one leg as you move your weight from one to the other.  Teach your family this weekend how to do it!

Listening Game

Match the Sound

We continued to learn how to stay quiet during circle time games with a matching instrument game.  Mrs Mander shared her five musical instruments on the five frame and you enjoyed taking it in turns to match the sound of an unseen instrument.  Instrument sounds are a lot of fun when you are 3 and 4 and lots of you enjoyed exploring them on the balcony during outdoor play and explore.

Maths

The Number 2

With the weather a little warmer this week we enjoyed some Maths games outdoors.  A popular one this week was when we had to make a team of two with the “10-second hug” game.  We hugged a friend, counted forwards to 10 and then found a new friend as we counted backwards from 10.  It is more important for us that the children count to and from 10 rather than counting beyond 10.

Communication and Language

The Leaf Thief

We always start the Autumn topic with this story!  A lovely story about the change of season which led into some role play during your circle time with Mrs Allen.  You enjoyed playing a hide and seek game with the leaves on the patio and making a boat for “mouse”.

Forest School Game

Early in the morning

Now we are “super speedy” with getting our waterproofs and boots on for our afternoon session outdoors, we have introduced our weekly patio game.  This week we have been singing “Early in the morning” and took it in turns to travel around the circle, delivering 4 letters (wooden blocks) to our friends.  This led to us into playing “posties” all afternoon and enjoying posting letters in the post boxes (crates).

Dough Disco

(Fine Motor)

Green Green Grass, George Ezra

I am sure the children are coming home singing this song on repeat as I have been!  What a song - thank you Theo for choosing.  We talked about George Ezra and the instrument he can play at the same time as singing.  We also made comparisons with him and last week’s Harry Styles and how they both live in the same country as us.  We have learnt how to “sausage roll” the dough and added the push down, push up, criss-cross arms for the chorus!  Thank you Lily for next week’s choice – this is a new one for all of us.  Keep these “disco” song requests coming in! 

A message for parents – it was wonderful to see so many of you at our Open Evening on Wednesday night and for you to see the areas where the children spend their days.  We caught up with most of you but for those that we didn’t, we will be allocating those parent consultation times next week (thank you for the fast return of the slips!).  This is an opportunity to chat some more about your little one and for you to get a glimpse of their learning journeys.

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen and Mrs Franklin X

Nursery News – Friday 29^th September 2023

Forest School

The Gully

Finally, the gully is officially……open!  This week we have talked about how to stay safe in this area and more importantly for you, how to keep the water flowing.  It has been fun to watch lots of you race to the gully in the morning and afternoon and clean out the mud and sand so we can turn the tap on.  I would like to think you are this keen at home to help out.

Write Dance

(Gross Motor)

Just Like This

This Write Dance song has had us marching, building and eating (!) our way to and from school.  The trickiest action was “crossing the midline”.  Zigzagging arms across the body is a skill that uses both parts of your brain (thank you Oscar for showing me where this was this week). 

Listening Game

Find the Sound

Our listening game this week involved us hiding the music machine in a bucket and hiding the bucket in the cabin.  You took it in turns to use just your ears to find it whilst the rest of us stayed still and quiet to help you.  Staying quiet during parts of our nursery day is just one of the listening skills we learn.

Maths

Circles

As we waited for our friends to join us from Forest School, we enjoyed mark making numeral 1 – the easiest numeral to draw.  It was great to see this mark making continued outside in the sand with you Isri and your sand tool.  Once we were all settled, we enjoyed exploring circles in the cabin.  Finding objects with the circle shape on was fun and a great learning point when we spotted the sunglasses were more ovals than circles.  We enjoyed working as a team of two to create coloured camel circles and today popped on our circle binoculars (our hands!) and found more circles in our Forest School.  Why not go on a circle hunt of your own this weekend?

Communication and Language

End of Topic photo share

As we came to the end of our “All About Me” topic, our final few friends enjoyed sharing their family photo.  We heard all about the dinosaur statue in Jack’s, the trip to Greece in Amelia’s and a rather large Peppa Pig being part of Harriet’s family photo.  Communication and Language incorporates all of the skills of listening, attention, understanding and speaking.  Allowing children time to talk (whilst others stay quiet and listen) is a key part of our learning.  It is so much more than reading a story to the children.

Dough Disco

(Fine Motor)

Watermelon Sugar, Harry Styles

Thank you Elsie for starting the year with an excellent disco song.  We have been working on our first dough action of squeezing and rolling the dough into a ball.  We also had to listen for Harry’s words of “Watermelon Sugar, high” as we span our arm and waved.  Next week, we are going to enjoy George Ezra thanks to Theo.  Please do email in with your disco requests – everyone gets a song and routine for the week. 

A message for parents – we have our whole school Open Evening next Wednesday 4^th October at 6-7pm.  Please do come along with your little one so they can give you a walk around of where they play.  You are also welcome to visit all the classrooms in the whole school.

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen and Mrs Franklin X

Nursery News – Friday 22^nd September 2023

Forest School

Open new areas

With the sand and the mud kitchen fully open for business in our first two weeks, we were ready for the crates.  Mrs Allen showed you how to transport the red crates safely, how you could stack with them and which types of arrangements you could make with them.  The most popular game this week was to use them for a shop as you used the wooden blocks for the money.

Write Dance

(Gross Motor)

We can do anything

To get our body ready for the day ahead, we take part in a morning dance.  We called this Write Dance.  This Autumn term we learn the song/dance part and in the Spring term we mark make to the song once our hands are ready for it.  This week we have enjoyed jumping, stretching, swinging our arms and shaking our hands.  The tricky part was doing each one as we were travelling. 

Listening Game

Matching Pairs

This term our first circle time of the day is always a listening game.  Learning the four listening rules help us learn to listen.  This week you enjoyed playing hide and seek with your three nursery grown ups as we hid their faces around the cabin.  You shared who you had found and we played a taking turns matching pairs game.  Good looking is keeping your eyes on the faces being turned over!

Maths

The number 1

We have two parts to our Maths sessions – the transition game (whilst we wait for all of our friends to join us after Forest School) and a whole class game.  Our transition game was a fun game of showing 1 on a five frame.  Five frames are ways that we can “see” the number without counting.  We then moved on to meeting our orange numicon 1, showing 1 object in our orange hoop and finding ways we can show one on our fingers.  Have a go this weekend!

Communication and Language

When we’re together, Claire Freedman

After our lunch, it is time for some story fun with Mrs Allen in our Quiet area.  Every week, she shares a story linked to our topic.  This week you enjoyed talking about the things you like to do with your friends just like the animals in the story.  Mrs Allen introduced her soft toy friends and you had fun recreating a picnic for them to match an event in the story.

Dough Disco

(Fine Motor)

All About You, McFly

Dough disco is exactly what it sounds like – moving the playdough to a disco song.  We do this daily to increase the strength in the children’s fingers, wrists, hands, arm ready for handwriting next year.  The children will choose the song and we will create the dance.  It is VERY popular part of life with us so get your thinking caps on for a favourite disco song your little one likes – everyone gets a weekly choice.  This week was a topic one as we played musical dough to the song.  When Mrs Franklin stopped the music we had to lock that dough away in a pot and pop our hands in our lap.

A message for parents – it never takes very long for the germs to circulate amongst us (including the adults!) once term begins.  If you feel your child needs calpol before school then we ask that you let us know at drop off and the reason why.  If the reason is because of a high temperature, we ask that you collect them at lunchtime (11.30/12.00) or pop to the office and complete the paperwork for calpol to be administered at 12.00pm when the temperature is likely to spike again.

Mrs Mander, Mrs Allen and Mrs Franklin X