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Nursery News – Tuesday 28th June 2022

NURSERY NEWS

Tuesday 28th June 2022 – Edition 266

Find out About:

A. Review of the Year

B. What are the children learning about this week?

A. Review of the year

At this time of year, we carry out a big review of our school. In the next few days I will be talking to children individually to gain their views about their school, with regard to what they like, what they think they have learned and what they would like to see change. All school staff and Governors are busy filling in questionnaires too.

This information helps us to plan our areas for development next year.

I always ask parents for their views too at this time of year.

We usually ask just two questions:

1. Please comment about what we do well at Willow.

2. Please tell us one thing you would like to see at Willow that you would consider to be an improvement and/or development. Please write a short email and send to office@willownursery.co.uk

Covid continued to have quite a big impact upon the past academic year.

We had hoped that in this academic year we would be able to begin our program of events where invite parents in to school. Due to Covid restrictions continuing in both Autumn and Spring terms we felt we were unable to roll out our usual parent involvement opportunities

The experience families have had during Covid is completely different to previous years. We hope that at some point in the new school year we will be able to increase parent involvement. So, with this in mind I would like you as parents to share with us:

3. Any ideas regarding how parents could feel more involved with the school.

If you wish your comments to inform my review, please send your email by the end of this week, Friday 1st July. I will then compile all the comments and respond to them in a future newsletter, on Monday 11th July.

B. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme in big nursery is transport on land.

In room one, Miss Skai will be doing a shared read with the children, the book The Big Red Bus is about animals and friends that take the bus to school. Children will be encouraged to talk about their own journeys into school, including how they travelled and what they have seen on their way.

Miss Skai will also support the children with number work, they will be creating number train pictures, focusing on the numbers 1-10.

In room two, Miss Howe and Mrs. Cashmore will be showing the children how to drive toy cars through paint and looking at the marks made by the tyres. It will be exciting to see the different tyre tracks made as the toys move through the different coloured paints. The children will also be able to recall work they completed last week, when they used split pins to make parts of their bear pictures move. Miss Howe will model how to make a bus to the children and the wheels will be held on with split pins, allowing the wheels to spin. Miss Howe, will sing ‘The Wheels On The Bus’ with the children as they work.

Outside, Mrs. Patterson will be using plastic crates and wooden blocks to create different vehicles. The children will use their imagination to drive the ‘cars’ or ‘buses’ etc. to their desired destinations. In addition to this, weather permitting, there will be lots of water play. Please remember to pack spare clothes in your child’s bag.

The theme in little nursery is sports skills.

In Catkins the children will work on their movement skills and spatial awareness as they traverse an obstacle course set up by Mrs. Field. The children will be supported where necessary but urged to attempt the course by themselves.

In room three, there will be a shared read of Maisy Goes Swimming and the children will make medals with Mrs. Watson, as they discuss teamwork.

In the link area the children will be exploring colours and colour mixing with Mrs. Brinkley, there will also be a range of box modelling materials available so they can sculpt their own models.

Outside, the children will be improving upon their ball skills with Miss Gaffney, they will work towards being able to kick, catch and throw balls to each other.

Nursery News 20th June 2022

NURSERY NEWS

20th June 2022 – Edition 265

Find out About:

A. Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday- A reminder.

B. We are running short of tissues….

C. Parent Consultations July 2022

D. End of Term arrangements July 2022

A.Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday- A reminder.

Willow Nursery School will be closed on Monday 27^th June, 2022.

 B. We are running short of tissues….

We are running very short of tissues. Children seem to have colds year round, plus some children suffer from hay fever. We would be grateful for donations of tissues.

C. Parent Consultations July 2021.

We will have parent consultations for all the children on 6th, 7^th and 8^th July 2021 as follows: Little Nursery parents will have a 10 minute telephone consultation with their child’s Keyworker. The plan is to schedule them at the times below. Some of our staff work part time so will be unavailable at the times stated. Keyworkers will be in touch with parents to arrange appointments.

Tuesday 5th July-  Catkins children. Telephone consultation, a 10 minute consultation scheduled from 3:15 onwards with your child’s keyworker.

Wednesday 6^th July- Green Group Children, 10 minute Telephone Consultation with Miss Gaffney or Mrs Watson scheduled from 3:15 onwards

Thursday 7^th July- Red Group children, 10 minute Telephone Consultation with Mrs Brinkley scheduled from 3:15 onwards

Big Nursery children will have a Leavers Consultation, where staff will hand over your child’s year book, so will have a shorter, face to face meeting.

Tuesday 5^th July  -Blue Group Children, 5 minute Face to Face meeting with Mrs Patterson scheduled from 3:15 onwards

Wednesday 6^th July,- Orange Group Children 5 minute Face to Face meeting with Miss Skai scheduled from 3:15 onwards

Thursday 7^th July –Yellow Group children 5 minute Face to Face meeting with Miss Howe or Mrs Cashmore scheduled from 3:15 onwards.

Your child’s keyworker will contact you to arrange an appointment, either by speaking to you at arrival or departure times, or failing that  giving you a call on the telephone.

D. End of Term arrangements July 2022

The last day of term in July 2022 for all children will be Thursday 21^st July.

On Friday 22nd July school will open only for the Big Nursery children that are leaving us. The session will be from 8:50 am to 11:50am. All Big Nursery leavers are invited to attend this session, regardless of your child’s normal attendance days. As children are attending for the morning only, no child will require a packed lunch. Children will require their water bottles. We are going to consult the children about what activities they would like to plan for their last day, and try to enable their ideas. There will be no charge for this session.

E.What are the children learning about this week?

The theme in Catkins is Aliens Love Underpants.

In Catkins the children will be creating a sensory collage, they will collect different textured materials to glue onto a paper pair of underpants. The children will look at the colours and patterns that are on their fabric as they stick them to their template. Miss Tyler will also support the children in washing lots of pairs of underpants and hanging them out to dry.

In room three, Mrs. Brinkley will be reading the story of Aliens Love Underpants to the children. Mrs. Brinkley will encourage the children to share their thoughts on the story and make predictions about what might happen next. A key talking point for the children will be the patterns that appear on the illustrations and children will be asked to see if they can spot any patterns around the nursery. After reading the story together, the children will have the chance to make an alien hat.

In the link, Miss Gaffney will be using playdough and playdough resources with the children to create aliens of their own. She will have corn flour available for the children to really get stuck into and explore messy and sensory play.

Outside, Mrs. Watson will provide the children with clipboards and pencils, so that they can explore the garden and look for hidden numbers. The children will be encouraged to try and write the numbers that they find. Children will be encouraged to look high and low and Mrs. Watson will support the children in holding their pencils effectively.

The theme in big nursery is Science.

In room one, Mrs. Patterson will be making rockets with the children. She will give each child a pipette, a rocket template and a straw. They will then be shown how to assemble all of these items and create a rocket that flies through the sky.

Mrs. Patterson will also ask the children to join her with a shared read of a story called Wind. The children will all have a copy of the same book and will follow the story together, at the end of the story the children can have a short discussion with Mrs. Patterson about the weather.

In room two, Miss Skai will complete experiments with the children focused on items that sink or float. She will have a range of items and ask the children to make predictions about what they think will happen when the object is placed in the water. The children will then analyse their predictions and discuss the results.

Miss Skai will also have some sunflower seeds to plant with the children and together, they can talk about how the seeds will change and grow. The children will continue to watch the seeds grow and point out the changes that they notice. Everyone will get to take home the sunflowers that they have planted after they have grown a little.

Outside, Miss Howe will be making paper helicopters with the children, they will colour in their helicopters and cut along the lines, building upon their fine motor skills. Children will show that they can follow directions and fold their helicopters along specific lines and Miss Howe will model this for the children to copy. A paperclip will be placed at the bottom of the helicopter and children will be encouraged to drop the helicopter from the top of the climbing frame. Children will watch what happens when they drop their helicopters and they will be asked what they think will happen if aspects of the helicopter are changed. Predictions will be made and further experiments carried out to check if the children made the correct predictions. There will be lots of mini experiments throughout nursery to challenge the children’s thought processes, but because science can be explored anywhere, please encourage your children to continue exploring science outside of school and they can share their experiences with us when they return to school.

Nursery News 13th June 2022

NURSERY NEWS

13th June 2022 – Edition 264

Find out About

A. Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday- A reminder.

B. End of term arrangements.

C. What the children are learning about this week

D. Summer Reading Challenge.

A.Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday- A reminder.

Willow Nursery School will be closed on Monday 27th June, 2022.

B. End of term arrangements.

The last day of term in July 2022 for all children will be Thursday 21st July.

On Friday 22nd July school will open only for the Big Nursery children that are leaving us. The session is likely to be a ‘morning only’ session. More details will follow.

C.What the children are learning about this week:

The theme in Little Nursery is ‘at the café’

In Little Nursery and Catkins, the children will be using their imagination as the classroom is transformed into a café. There will be tables and chairs arranged for the children to sit at and enjoy pretending that they are really at a café. There will be menus for the children to help them decide which meals and drinks they would like to have, as well as clipboards and pencils for them to take orders from their friends. Mrs. Brinkley will model language that they might hear and use in a café, she will ask them questions and encourage the children to keep the conversation moving forward. Children will be given the opportunity to make their own sandwiches and eat them in the seating area. They will choose which bread and filling they would like, answering simple questions about their favourite foods, likes and dislikes. Mrs. Cashmore will support the children with using utensils to spread their butter and sandwich fillers using age appropriate utensils.

Outside, Mrs. Watson will be promoting positive behavior and supporting the children with conflict resolution. She will encourage the children to think about how to solve problems such as two children wanting the same toy.

The theme in Big Nursery is We’re Going On a Bear Hunt

In room one, Mrs. Patterson will be reading the story of We’re Going On a Bear Hunt with the children so that they are familiar with the story line. The children will then be invited to take part in a sensory retelling of the story using a range of resources as props for the children to walk through and over. It is a wonderful way for the children to act out the scenes in the book and bring the story to life.

In room 2, Miss Skai will make binoculars for the children to use when looking for bears. Miss Skai will show the children a map that she has made that shows landmarks from the story We’re Going On a Bear Hunt. The children will be invited to create their own map using different media and materials. They can then use their binoculars and follow their maps to go on a hunt of their own, in school.

Outside, Miss Howe will be playing a word hunt game, the children will have a sheet with pictures on. They will need to look for the words in the garden that match the pictures on their sheets. The children will be asked to write the words that match the pictures on their sheets. This will support the children with their letter recognition and formation when writing.

D. Summer Reading Challenge

Summer Reading Challenge

The Summer Reading Challenge is an annual challenge run jointly by The Reading Agency and public libraries. This year the theme is Gadgeteers, with a science and engineering themed challenge, supported by the Science Museum.

Children are encouraged to read whatever they like for the challenge, recognising the importance of reading for pleasure in increasing empathy and improving well-being, as well as in children’s educational success.

The Challenge v Children must be members of the library service. Join the library here or go to your local library.

• The challenge invites children to read any six library books or more during the summer holidays.
• Families can sign up for the challenge at any library, at any stage in the summer from Friday 22 July.
• Children can borrow books or read our e-books, magazines and audiobooks available from our Virtual Library
• Children collect rewards for the books they read – a bookmark for reading 2 books; a pencil for reading 4 books; a certificate and a medal for reading 6 books.
• Children aged 4-16 completing the challenge (6 books) will be entered into a lucky dip at their library for the chance to win a tablet computer.

Events

• Science workshops run by Sublime Science will be taking place in libraries in August, with mixed demonstration and hands-on science – including gooey slime!
• The popular John Kirk who entertained us last year, returns with more online entertainment in the form of science Story Hunts.

There are limited spaces and booking opens on 11 June at 12pm at: https://linktr.ee/centralbedfordshirelibraries Further details of all activities from www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/summer-reading-challenge

Nursery News 6th June 2022

NURSERY NEWS

6th June 2022 – Edition 263

Find out About

A. Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday- A reminder.

B. Keeping Children Safe in the Heat.

C. Our School Rules.

D. What the children are learning about this week

A.Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday- A reminder.

The government decided that the Platinum Jubilee would be marked with an additional Bank Holiday for everyone, making the 2nd and 3rd June, 2022 Bank Holidays. Schools, however had already set our term dates. We were advised that we need to choose an additional day to be closed, so that school staff and pupils can benefit from the extra days holiday. Willow Nursery School will be closed on Monday 27th June, 2022.

B. Keeping Children Safe in the Heat.

We are now moving into the last part of the school year. Summer brings it’s challenges, one of which is keeping the children hydrated. The children should all have their own water bottles and we remind the children to drink frequently. We would like to ask all parents to donate a box of ice pops. We have a freezer in the classroom. When it is very hot we can then ask all the children to sit quietly in the shade or inside for a few minutes, to have a break from the sun and eat their ice pops. This has worked very well in past years. The children enjoy the treat.

C. Our School Rules

At Willow we have some very simple School Rules that we use with the children. Our rules are positive telling children what they should do when in our school. The Big Nursery children are very familiar with our school rules. Little Nursery may still be learning them. We use our rules daily, to help children understand our expectations. We use the rules globally, for example explaining that children should always have listening ears when an adult is talking to them at Grouptime. We use the rules to give specific advice. For example if a child begins to sprint along the library corridor we use the rules as an immediate reminder calling ‘Walking Feet!’ Here are some explanations as to how we use our rules.

Little Voice. We need to use our little voice at school to help us learn and concentrate. I sometimes use this before an action. ‘We need to line up for lunch, but we need to use a quiet voice.’ We can maintain a quiet purposeful working atmosphere.

Looking Eyes. We need to use our looking eyes to learn what is happening around us. I ask children to use their looking eyes to look at the storybook at grouptime. This way we can get and hold the children’s attention.

Listening Ears. We need to use our listening ears to enjoy stories, listen to our friends and teachers. I use this to regain everyone’s attention during a group activity, or to quieten down noisy individuals!

Kind Hands. We need to use our kind hands when sharing toys with other children and putting our toys away. If a child snatches a toy from another child we say ‘oh you need to remember to use your kind hands!’ –this often distracts the children and calms them.

Walking Feet. We need to use walking feet inside school otherwise we may run into other children and hurt them and ourselves. A child moving from quick walking, into a jog and then taking off into a sprint along the Library corridor will be reminded: “Use walking feet.” It can be used to slow the children’s movement down, maintaining a safe environment.

Our rules are used to maintain an ordered environment. The staff at Willow do not let any inappropriate behaviour go unchallenged. Some children take longer than others to learn how to behave appropriately at school. All children are individuals, which we celebrate. Children come from a wide variety of home environments, which we must embrace. Our school is a community of individuals, like the rest of society. Our job as parents and educators is to nurture and mould children into the young people we aspire for them to be.

We currently have some tricky situations to deal with in Little Nursery. They are not unusual in our Nursery by any means. We usually have to deal with difficult social issues such as these at least once in every academic year. But for parents of a 2 or 3 year old it may be it is the first time your child is mixing in a group socially without you. Children are exposed to language and behaviours from other children, that they may not see in their own homes. So, as a staff, we try to reduce incidences of inappropriate language or behaviour that the children exhibit. We talk to children and explain that they should not say those words in school, or physically hurt others. It may take some children a few years to learn that swearing is not appropriate in school. When my daughter first heard swear words I was very clear to teach her that yes, we know these words exist, but as a child you should not use them, and it would ultimately reflect badly on her if she did.

Unfortunately, I do not have a magic wand to eradicate all the parts of the children’s behaviour that is undesirable. So we spend lots of time promoting behaviour that is desirable, and praise individual children when they work in our positive social framework. As part of a community children have to learn to deal with difficult situations. The situations children face potentially become more difficult as the children grow older. Part of our role is to teach children to be resilient, to make good decisions and contribute to society in a positive way.

D. What the children are learning about this week:

The theme in little nursery is The Hungry Caterpillar.

In Catkins, Mrs. McGrath will be showing the children that they can paint using different media. She will be dipping fruit into paint and stamping the fruit onto paper. The children will use some of the fruit that is featured in The Very Hungry Caterpillar story. Mrs. McGrath will discuss with the children the different colours that they can see on the fruit as well as the colours of the paint.

In room three, Miss Gaffney will be supporting the children with their writing skills. The children will have the opportunity to look at their names and then try to form the letters themselves. Miss Gaffney will encourage the children to write as many letters of their name as possible, but will focus mainly on the children’s initials. Each letter will be written on separate circles and when the task is complete they will be pieced together to create their own caterpillar names.

Outside, the children will be expressing themselves through music and gaining control of their whole body through continuous movements. Mrs. Brinkley will show the children how to make their own streamers using sticks collected in the garden. The children will then be encouraged to wave their sticks around as they move to the music.

The theme in big nursery is the Royal family and London.

In room one, Miss Howe will be playing London Lotto with the children. They will take it in turns to find the London landmarks in the game that match those that are on their boards. London Lotto will help the children learn the landmarks and famous features of London.

There will also be a group read of Busy London for the children to take part in. The children will focus on understanding the key concept of reading from left to right and top to bottom.

In room two, the children will be working with Mrs. Patterson to make and decorate crowns. Children will build on their fine motor skills with cutting, colouring and sticking to personalize their crowns.

There will also be pictures of the Queen for the children to reference as they paint her portrait. Children will be encouraged to paint with increasing detail, remembering to pay close attention to The Queen’s hair, facial features and jewels.

Outside, Miss Skai will play a London landmark quiz game with the children. The children will look at lots of pictures of various landmarks around London. Miss Skai will use these images as prompts to quiz the children on what they have learnt so far this week. While the children are taking part in the quiz they will be developing their

communication skills as well as building an understanding of different questions and instructions.

Nursery News 23rd May 2022

NURSERY NEWS
23rd May 2022 – Edition 262
Find out About
A. Chicks and Butterflies Hatching.
B. Big Nursery Art session with a professional artist.
C. Reminder –Half Term.
D. What the children are learning about this week

A. Chicks and Butterflies Hatching.
When we arrived at school on Tuesday morning, 3 eggs had hatched during the
night. At first, the chicks feathers are wet and it takes a few hours for them to dry out
and fluff up. They tend to clamber over each other, and sit on each other, as they
first begin to move about. On Tuesday the children were able to see the rest of the
eggs beginning to crack open and the chicks making their way out of the egg for the
first time. We now have 10 chicks! Miss Skai has been looking after the chicks this
week, as they are very little. They do grow very quickly, so this week, when Miss
Howe is in room 1, the children will have the opportunity to carefully hold a chick,
with adult guidance.

Our Butterflies have also hatched. We have seen the
lifecycle of the caterpillar. The tiny caterpillars have
grown over time. They have spun their fragile cocoons,
and transformed into butterflies. They hatch from their
cocoons and gently puff up their wings. Miss Skai will
release the butterflies with the children on Monday in the
Nursery Garden.

B. Big Nursery Art session with a professional artist.
Charly will be in Nursery today working with the Big Nursery children. The children
will bring home their artwork on Monday if their work is dry. We predict that the
artwork created on Monday afternoon will be still wet by going home time, so some
paintings will go home on Tuesday.

C. Reminder -Half Term
The school is closed from Monday 30th May to Friday 3rd June for half term break.

D. What the children are learning about this week:
What are the children learning about this week?
The theme in little nursery is flower shop.
In Catkins, the children will be painting pictures of daffodils. They
will have a vase of flowers on the table to use as a reference and
Miss Tyler will talk to the children about how flowers grow and
the colours that they can see on these flowers. The children will
paint their own interpretation of the daffodils.
In room three, there will be a flower shop role play set up for everyone to explore. In
the shop, the children can buy and sell different flowers and gardening tools. Miss
Gaffney will support their play and expand their vocabulary through modelling
speech and stretching their imagination.
In the link, the children will be using paper plates and wool to create colourful and
sensory tulips. The children will have support from Mrs. Watson to wrap wool around
the templates, which will build upon their fine motor skills.
Outside, Mrs. Brinkley will be focused on forest school activities, such as; making
dens, building pretend campfires and singing songs while sitting on logs. The
children will also work on their fine motor skills by snipping leaves that they find in
the garden and wrapping wool around sticks.
The theme in big nursery is growing – chicks.
In room one, Miss Howe and Mrs. Cashmore will be
supporting the children with taking
care of the chicks. The chicks will
be big enough for the children to
hold, and the children will learn
what the chicks need to stay happy
and healthy. Miss Howe will also
work with everyone using different
media and materials to decorate a photo frame keepsake
to remind them of the time they spent with the chicks.
In room two, Mrs. Patterson will have painting materials available so that the children
can create portraits of the chicks. Mrs. Patterson will bring one or two chicks into
room two for the children to look at and paint realistic images. She will encourage
pupils to look at the colours of the feathers, legs, beaks and eyes so that they can
paint with increasing detail.
Outside, Miss Skai will be working with the children to plan
and construct their own kites. There will be a range of
materials to use and after the kites have been made,
children can use the open space to fly them. Miss Skai will
talk to the children about the best weather to fly a kite and
about local areas that you might see lots of kites being
flown.