Nursery blog

• Friday 17 January 2025 Winter We have been exploring the signs of winter outside this week. We've looked at ice, talked about the trees and their leaves, and we've made snowflake/snowman pictures with paint and chalk. We have also started thinking about where different animals live and making homes for our toy animals in preparation for our exploration of hibernation next week.
• Thursday 12 December 2024 Christmas time in Nursery! After performing beautifully at our Nativity last week, we have started thinking about the story of Christmas and doing lots of activities linked to this time of year. We have been busy wrapping presents in our new gift wrapping station and making Christmas cards and decorations in the atelier. Here we are making snowflakes!
• Friday 29 November 2024 Magnetism Investigation We have been exploring magnets in the investigation area this week. Some children decided to go on a hunt around the classroom to see which objects and surfaces were magnetic, and many recognised that things would "stick" to the magnets if they were made of metal.
• Friday 22 November 2024 Family Learning Week Thank you to all the parents/grandparents that have come in this week to make clay fish with their children. We loved making them and welcoming you into our classroom!
• Thursday 14 November 2024 Remembrance Day
• Friday 8 November 2024 Fireworks We have been super busy this week celebrating Diwali and Bonfire Night by making fireworks in different areas of the classroom! We used chalk and paints on black paper to make colourful fireworks in different patterns such as loops and spirals. We also put glitter in our play dough and on the table to make marks in the glitter using our fingers and cotton buds. In phonics, we made firework sounds in loud, quiet, fast and slow voices.
• Friday 25 October 2024 Culture week 2024
• Friday 4 October 2024 The Everywhere Bear goes home
• Friday 27 September 2024 Welcome to Nursery What an amazing start to the year we have had in Nursery! The children from both classes have settled in very well and are starting to show a good understanding of the expectations and routines. It has been lovely to see new friendships grow and observe children exploring their learning environment. They have particularly enjoyed building using the large wooden blocks, exploring the kitchen role play area and painting. We read ‘Owl Babies’ together in the first week to support children in their transitions and made collages and painting of owls too. A big thank you to parents for providing children’s bags, wellies and baby/family photos and for supporting transitions.
• Friday 24 May 2024 Trip to Shepreth What a busy week we have had in Nursery! Both classes went to Shepreth Wildlife Park, and we loved seeing lots of different animals (although the bats were very scary!) We went by train, and we are very lucky that the train staff and parent helpers were so helpful; a big thank you to everyone involved in this trip. We also noticed that our caterpillars have turned into butterflies, so we said goodbye to them and set them free outside. Wishing everyone a lovely half term break, and we look forward to our final term together!
• Thursday 25 April 2024 Minibeasts Our topic for this half term is... minibeasts! Our class caterpillars have arrived, and we are very excited to watch them grow over the next few weeks. We have been reading books like 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and 'Mad about Minibeasts' to learn about the different minibeasts and how they move. Yesterday, we took lots of magnifying glasses outside and went on a minibeast hunt in the garden. We have also talked about our favourite minibeasts.
• Friday 8 March 2024 World Book Day Nursery have been talking about their favourite books this week in preparation for World Book Day. We saw some fabulous costumes on Thursday and went down to the school library to read the books that some children brought in.
• Friday 1 March 2024 Spring has sprung! This week we began looking at the spring season and made our own blossom pictures. We looked outside to see if we could find signs of spring, and we noticed that new flowers were growing and there were minibeasts everywhere!
• Friday 2 February 2024 Patterns This week, we have been learning about patterns. We talked about the different patterns we could see around the classroom, and we noticed that lots of children had patterns on their clothes! We also looked at repeating patterns with two colours or two shapes. As a class, we were able to continue patterns and quickly spot mistakes. We then had lots of fun creating our own repeating patterns using coloured pencils, paints and multilink cubes.
• Monday 22 January 2024 Welcome We have had a great start to the New Year in Nursery. The children have been very welcoming, and it has been lovely to get to know them all and hear about their Christmas holidays! They have all settled back in very well, and it is evident that they remember their classroom routines and expectations from term 1. Last week, we started exploring traditional tales in literacy and shapes in maths. We looked at paintings by Wassily Kandinsky and talked about the different shapes we could see. We have also been thinking about the seasons and the type of weather we see at this time of year. We talked about what we might see when we go outside in winter, what we might wear, and how the cold weather affects different animals. We look forward to an exciting year ahead.
• Friday 13 October 2023 Culture Week in Nursery Recently, we celebrated the diversity within our Nursery classes. We had so much fun getting to know each other better by learning about different traditions within our families and from around the world. Children had fun making paperchains and flags to decorate our classroom – it looks wonderful! We also made Rangoli patterns using chalk and crayon, explored Indian spices in playdough, made some Chinese lanterns and enjoyed listening and dancing to music from all around the world. A big thank you too, to all volunteers that came into school to share stories and information with us – your time is so much appreciated. To conclude our week, children were invited to wear some traditional clothes to school for our Carnival day!
• Friday 6 October 2023 Numbers! This week, children have been practicing counting and learning our three rules for counting – slowly and carefully like a snail, using our pointing finger and counting an item only once, stopping at the end to give the total amount. We have been enjoying a variety of counting games on the screen (we particularly like the underwater counting game!) and small group table-top games too. We also took our counting outdoors to use the large dice, count our steps and jumps and find natural materials to collect and count. We are discovering numbers everywhere!
• Thursday 28 September 2023 Sunflowers This week, we have been enjoying our wonderful sunflowers. Children have been harvesting the seeds and using magnifying glasses for a closer look. We learned how to print with paint and sunflower leaves to make a backdrop for an Autumn collage. We have also been very creative and used the leaves themselves as a working surface (instead of paper) to create some lovely natural collages using a variety of seeds, leaves, twigs and herbs from our garden.
• Wednesday 20 September 2023 Puppet Shows Today during Exploration we had an impromptu moment – making hand puppets! This gave the children a great opportunity to learn how to use different tools such as pencils and scissors and also how to attach items together using masking tape. The craze spread through the class until a small group were making up their own stories and using different voices for their characters too. Lots of imaginative fun!
• Friday 15 September 2023 Nursery begins What a busy start to our school year! Children have been getting to know one another through daily circle-time, social play and games outdoors. We have been learning our routines and expectations too which is an important part of helping them to settle into Nursery. We look forward to a year of fun, laughter and learning.
• Wednesday 3 May 2023 Caterpillar News Just after Easter holidays, we had some new arrivals to Nursery - caterpillars! Children have spent the last few weeks carefully and excitedly watching the caterpillars moving, growing and all the changes taking place. We have learned about their lifecycle and even thought about what kind of minibeast we might like to be if we got the opportunity. Finally today, we think they might be about to make their chrysalis...... watch this space!
• Friday 28 April 2023 Minibeasts Recently Nursery went on a minibeast hunt to the Forest School area. We began our session by having a conversation about what kinds of minibeasts might live or frequent our Forest School and where we might find them. Children gave suggestions such as worms, spiders, slugs and snails! From our previous work on minibeasts, we knew to look in dark cool places such as under logs, leaves and stones. The children were careful and respectful of our environment too – e.g. rolling logs slowly and replacing them when finished, etc.
• Friday 17 March 2023 Science Week During Science Week, we talked about the importance of dental hygiene and what would happen if we didn’t take care of our teeth. We conducted an experiment using eggs (to represent our teeth) by leaving them in a variety of different solutions – tea, coffee, coca-cola and vinegar. A few days later, we returned to find out what had happened to the eggs. We discovered that the eggs left in tea, coffee and coca-cola had stained and become darker in colour. The shell of the egg left in vinegar had broken down and begun to dissolve, much to the excitement of all the children! We demonstrated cleaning our teeth by gently rubbing the surface and observed the shell being brushed away. What remained was a rubber outer shell – the children we so excited and motivated to find out if we could bounce it! We had a go with inevitable results!
• Thursday 2 March 2023 World Book Day Today we celebrated World Book Day. Our focus this year was on non-fiction and information texts. Children were invited to bring a non-fiction book to school and dress up as something related to their text. We had such a variety from astronauts, animals, insects and dinosaurs. We really enjoyed sharing our books and making some bookmarks to use at home.
• Wednesday 1 March 2023 Planting and growing
• Friday 24 February 2023 Forest School in Nursery Today we started Forest School in Nursery! Children were very excited to spend time exploring and investigating in the woods. To introduce Forest School, we learned games such as ‘123 Where are you’ and how to keep safe whilst playing and exploring. Wonderful listening and joining in, well done!
• Friday 3 February 2023 RE Week - Buddhism This week is whole school RE Week. We have been learning about Buddhism. Children explored the story of Siddartha the prince and how he became Buddha. We aligned the Buddhist beliefs with our own school values to consider how to live a good life through being kind, thoughtful, helpful and respectful of each other and our natural environment. Children also made a prayer wheel to signify the meaning of the Buddhist colours such as green for harmony and balance, blue for purity and healing, white for learning and knowledge.
• Wednesday 1 February 2023 Shape Monsters! In our maths lessons, we have been learning about shape. Today we received a surprise - the shape monsters visited Nursery and challenged us to find all the shapes hidden in the classroom! Children engaged with the task with enthusiasm and gusto searching all areas of the room. There was lots of discussion and comparison about how many of each shape we found including their properties and characteristics. We then set about making our own shape monsters too!
• Thursday 26 January 2023 The Three Billy Goats Gruff This half-term in our literacy lessons, we are exploring Traditional Tales. We began with The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Children have enjoyed engaging in role play and drama by recalling the story using props such as masks and our large wooden blocks to make a bridge. We have also considered the feelings of the characters in the story by applying teaching approaches such as Role on the Wall and Hot-seating. We have sequenced the story in our own words and learned that every story has a beginning, middle and end. Miss Baidoo worked with small groups of children to make their own billy goat too - don't they look wonderful!
• Thursday 19 January 2023 Chinese New Year This week, we are celebrating the upcoming festival of Chinese New Year beginning on Sunday 22nd January 2023. We are learning that it is the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese Lunar Calendar and the festival lasts for two weeks!
• Wednesday 14 December 2022 Snow Day! Nursery really enjoyed the opportunity to explore and experience snow this week. We had so much fun both indoors and outside. We filled our water tray with snow and watched as it changed and melted. We even added food colouring and loose parts to help us engage further by using our imaginations to build and sculpt with the snow. Outdoors was just as fun - we made a snowman (of course!) and also experimented with writing and mark-making using different tools - sticks, spades and our fingers!
• Thursday 17 November 2022 Family Learning in Nursery This week we welcomed families into our classroom to join in with some STEM activities. We measured paper and cut it into three parts, securing with a paperclip to make a paper spinner. Children then tested them out on the Piazza and had fun watching them twist and twirl to the ground. “I’ve made a ballerina!” commented one child.
• Friday 11 November 2022 Repeating Patterns During our maths lessons, we have been learning about repeating patterns. We had a go at making our own repeating patterns too using interlink cubes, coloured camels, loose parts and printing with paint. Children are beginning to understand the concept as one child commented “A repeat pattern goes again, and again and again, Mrs Knappert!”
• Friday 4 November 2022 Learning about Diwali This week in Nursery we have been learning about Diwali. We know that Diwali lasts for 5 days and is also known as 'the festival of lights'. We enjoyed making diva lamps with clay and practicing fine motor skills to pinch and mould the clay into a bowl shape, decorating them with glitter and sequins. We also made a Diwali candle by exploring how to make drippy trails with PVA glue and then sprinkling with glitter. We learned about Rama, Sita and the demon king, Ravanna to understand one reason why we light diva lamps during Diwali. We had fun cleaning our home corner to welcome Lakshmi into our classroom for Diwali too!
• Friday 14 October 2022 Nursery celebrates Culture Week! This week, we celebrated the diversity within our Nursery classes. We had so much fun learning about different traditions within our families and from around the world. Children had fun making paperchains and flags to decorate our classroom – it looks wonderful! We also made Rangoli patterns using coloured rice, chalks and crayon, explored Indian spices in playdough, tasted exotic fruits from Kenya and enjoyed listening and dancing to music from all around the world. A big thank you too, to all volunteers that came into school to share stories and information with us – your time is much appreciated. To conclude our week, children were invited to wear some traditional clothes to school for our Carnival day!
• Friday 7 October 2022 Autumn has arrived in Nursery! This week, we have been observing the change of Season – Autumn is here! The children have been arriving to school with their Autumn collections – leaves, pinecones, conkers and sycamore seeds. This inspired us to create an Autumn table to investigate all our treasures. We also used the natural materials to make our self-portraits as part of our All About Me theme, which are now on display in the classroom. Next week, we look forward to using some more natural materials to make wonderful Autumn artwork.
• Thursday 29 September 2022 Getting to know you..... We have been spending the past few weeks exploring the classroom and getting to know one another. The staff are so proud of all the children and how they are learning the routines and expectations - well done everyone! This week, we have started reading the story The Worrysaurus by Rachel Bright to explore our feelings and emotions around starting school. Just like the Worrysaurus, our worries feel like butterflies fluttering in our tummies too. We are exploring ways to chase away those fears by making friends and having lots of fun instead!
• Wednesday 8 June 2022 Jubilee Day in Nursery On Monday 6th June, we celebrated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee across the school. Nursery got involved by making crowns and flags. We also enjoyed an indoor picnicon the Piazza with a red/white/blue theme!
• Wednesday 8 June 2022 Outdoor Learning Week Nursery children engaged this week by learning to identify some of the trees in our school grounds such as holly, oak, sycamore, elder, horse chestnut, silver birch and willow. We learned about the different parts of a tree, the importance of bark and how a tree gets its food and energy. We also learned that acorns come from oak trees, conkers are found on horse chestnut, holly gets red berries in Winter and we can make a delicious drink from elderflower. Holly is prickly but elderflower is soft “like a fairy”!
• Thursday 12 May 2022 We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo! We have had two fantastic visits recently to Shepreth Wildlife Park to learn more about animals and their habitats. We particularly enjoyed watching the noisy otters and parrots, cheeky meerkats and visiting Bunnyland. Afterwards, we had a well-earned rest and lunch break before our workshop, What’s in the log pile
• Friday 18 March 2022 A trip to the pond..... As it was such a beautiful day, we decided to visit the pond today. Children were very excited to see what was happening in the water. After a short safety talk and demonstration of how to use our nets and trays carefully, children set about on their discoveries.To our amazement, we found the pond is brimming with life! We discovered so many interesting things living in the pond, from water snails and water fleas to dragonfly larvae and even some newts! There was so much anticipation and excitement to check our nets each time they were brought out of the water. Children demonstrated curiosity and great teamwork in collaborating and helping one another.
• Friday 25 February 2022 Forest School Begins! Today we started Forest School in Nursery. Children were very excited to spend time exploring and investigating in the woods. To introduce Forest School, we learned some games such as ‘123 Where are you’ and how to keep safe whilst playing and exploring. Wonderful listening and joining in, well done!
• Monday 24 January 2022 All about shape and pattern! This half-term we have been immersed in shape and pattern! We have used our knowledge of shape to make our very own Shape Monsters - you can see them at your next visit!Children applied their creative ideas and discovered how to make repeat patterns using printing technique with paint and shapes. Next week, we are looking forward to getting outside and exploring shape and pattern in the outdoor environment. We might even compose our own musical patterns too!
• Friday 5 November 2021 Culture Week in Nursery On our first week back after half-term holidays, we celebrated the diversity within Nursery. We had so much fun learning about different traditions within our families and from around the world. Children had fun making paperchains and flags to decorate our classroom - it looks wonderful! We also made diva lamps using clay, Rangoli patterns using chalk, paint and crayon, explored spices in playdough, made Chinese lanterns and enjoyed listening and dancing to music from all around the world. A big thank you too, to all volunteers that came into school to share your family traditions and customs with us - your time is much appreciated. To conclude our week, children were invited to wear some traditional clothes to school for our Carnival day!
• Friday 17 September 2021 Starting Nursery What a busy start to the year we have had in Nursery! We have been taking our time getting to know one another through daily circle-time, games in the round, Exploration and our Let’s Talk sessions. Children are learning their routines and expectations quickly which is an important part in helping them to settle and focus into life at Nursery. We have really been enjoying making our natural resources self-portraits too and finding out about each other’s interests. We look forward to a year of fun, laughter and learning.
• Friday 21 May 2021 Outdoor Learning Week Outdoor Learning Week gave Nursery the perfect opportunity to explore our wonderful forest area to collect natural materials.  We challenged children to use their finding in a creative and imaginative way - they made crowns, belts, journey sticks, collage pictures etc. Children demonstrated curiosity and wonder in our natural environment.
• Friday 7 May 2021 Active Learning in action!
• Saturday 24 April 2021 Little Green Fingers! Since returning to school on 12th April, we have been so busy and engaged with our new theme – Growing! 
• Thursday 25 March 2021 The Great Big Art Exhibition To engage with this National Project, Nursery were inspired by Anthony Gormley because his project, entitled “Sculpture – animals/mythical or real.  From one ball of clay what can you shape, without tools, made in your hand”, could be used in a flexible way to enable children to apply their imagination and creativity to make a sculpture of their own choice.  Children working at home were also invited to get involved.
• Thursday 17 December 2020 December News What a rollercoaster December has been, which is why this blog is a little later arriving!  We have been busy making Christmas snowmen, snowflakes, paperchains and all manner of Christmas decorations for the classroom.  We also enjoyed a lovely Christmas celebration day where we made Christmas crowns and had a little snack party with Christmas music!  Mrs Johnson has been amazing too, teaching the children some beautiful Christmas songs which I hope you enjoy watching on our class Advent calendar.
• Friday 23 October 2020 October News October has been a busy month in Nursery.  We began by exploring the Seasons and learned about Autumn through investigation of our natural environment and sharing the story ‘Leaf Man’ by Lois Ehlert.  We used natural materials such as conkers, pinecones, acorns and leaves to help us develop our mathematical skills to count, sort and group.  We investigated colour mixing to make autumnal paintings and collages – we even had fun painting with conkers! 
• Tuesday 29 September 2020 Getting to know each other What a successful start to the year we have had in Nursery! All children are settling in well and learning our class routines and expectations.  It has been a real joy to get to know the children and their interests. We have been up to so many different and exciting activities including making our Christmas cards (!), playdough, painting, construction, small world and imaginative play, starting our PE lessons, Library day and music sessions with Mrs Johnson and much more – phew! It is also really lovely to see so many children coming in so enthusiastically and independently.  A big thank you to all parents for being patient with us as we learn all of your names and faces and also for ensuring that all personal items are clearly named. This has made things much easier for us all and is very much appreciated!  We look forward to a year of fun, laughter and learning.
• Thursday 9 July 2020 Obstacle challenges! Good afternoon everyone! How are you all?
• Wednesday 1 July 2020 Peter Rabbit's Vegetables
• Wednesday 24 June 2020 Building Burrows
• Thursday 18 June 2020 The Mini Olympics
• Thursday 11 June 2020 Ladder Challenge...
• Wednesday 3 June 2020 Barnes Children's Literature Festival
• Tuesday 19 May 2020 World Bee Day 2020
• Friday 15 May 2020 Our 'visit' to Chester Zoo!
• Thursday 7 May 2020 Chalk art in the sunshine
• Tuesday 28 April 2020 Pyjamarama Day
• Friday 24 April 2020 Movie Night anyone?
• Thursday 2 April 2020 Can you grow a rainbow?
• Friday 27 March 2020 Let's go on a Scavenger Hunt!
• Friday 14 February 2020 Spreading Kindness on Valentine's Day
• Friday 22 November 2019 We love the book area!
• Tuesday 8 October 2019 Meet our new Nursery teachers!
• Tuesday 1 October 2019 Developing our Gross Motor skills
• Wednesday 5 June 2019 30 Days Wild
• Tuesday 21 May 2019 Nursery's Walk in the Park
• Friday 15 February 2019 Valentines, Rockets and New Resources
• Thursday 7 February 2019 Chinese New Year
• Wednesday 6 February 2019 Do you wanna build a snowman?
• Wednesday 30 January 2019 Photos From Home

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