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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.

Nursery News 16.5.2022

NURSERY NEWS
16th May 2022 – Edition 261
Find out About
A. Eggs Arriving
B. Big Nursery Art session with a professional artist.
C. What the children are learning about this week

A Eggs Arriving.
How Egg-citing!
This week we will be receiving a delivery from ‘Living Eggs’.
The eggs arrive almost ready to hatch, so we hope by
Tuesday or Wednesday we should see the chicks beginning to
hatch out from their eggs. We keep the chicks for about 10
days so that the children can watch them grow, and learn
about how to care for them. We plan lots learning
opportunities around the eggs/chicks over the next two weeks.
Updates to follow……

B. Big Nursery Art session with a professional artist.
On Monday 23rd May all Big Nursery children will have the opportunity to take part in
an art workshop with a professional artist.
Charly, from Colour and Craft Parties will work with children in small groups to
produce their own acrylic on canvas artwork. Each child will work at their own easel.
Charly will show children how to create a specific design, step by step, and the
children will paint alongside her. Your child will then bring their artwork home. We
can’t wait to see the paintings!

C What the children are learning about this week:
The theme in little nursery is Dear Zoo.
In Catkins the children will be listening to animal
sounds that are played to them on the iPod. The
children will listen to the sounds and see how many
they recognise. The children will play a game called
Sound Lotto with Mrs. McGrath, they will listen to the
animal noises that are played to them and try to
name the animal that makes the noise.
In room three, Mrs. Watson will set up a pet shop for the children to play in.
they will explore the role of shop keeper and customer as they use the tills
and write shopping lists. The children will also work towards matching images
of animals with animal toys.
In the link, Mrs. Brinkley will have an array of recycling for the children to craft
box models. They will be encouraged to make homes for animals in the pet
shop. Mrs. Brinkley will talk with the children about the materials that they are
using and the animals that the homes are for.
Outside, Miss Gaffney will be moving around the garden looking for
characters from the Dear Zoo story. She will encourage the children to look
high and low to see how many animals they can find.
The theme in big nursery is growing – chicks.
In room one, Miss Skai will be playing the Chicken Out
game with the children. The focus for this game will be
for the children to wait patiently and take turns. The
children will need to find matching pairs of animals,
every time they find a pair, they will place a chicken with their farmer. This
lovely game will build on the children’s memory recall to find animal cards that
have already been turned over.
In room two, Miss Howe will support the children with writing their whole
names on their work. Children will work towards forming their letters correctly
and holding their pencils effectively.
The children will be using different media to make their own chicks to bring
home. They will be able to create a chick using lollipop sticks, paper and glue.
They will have the opportunity to create another chick using yellow paint and
forks. The children will be shown that they can make similar items using
different methods.
Outside, Mrs. Patterson will have a washing line set up for the children to
wash and dry the clothes for our dollies. They will be shown how to peg up
their freshly laundered dolls clothes on the line and encouraged to hang them
up by themselves. There will be a lot of water play outside, so please
remember lots of spare clothes.

Nursery News 9th May 2022

NURSERY NEWS
9th May 2022 – Edition 260
Find out About
A. Welcome back to Mrs Davies
B. Parentline
C. Summer Safety.
D. Some Dates for Your Diary.
E. What the children are learning about this week

A. Welcome back to Mrs Davies
Mrs Davies has now returned and is fully recovered from her
time in hospital.

B. Parentline

Click here for a link to the flyer 

C. Summer Safety.
I would like to share with you some tips for the summer term. We still go outside
everyday, but we do limit how long children can go outside if it
is very hot. We encourage all children to drink plenty,
reminding them that their water bottle is always available. We
do encourage children to come inside for a rest in the shade.
We are very lucky in that our school remains fairly cool in the
summer, with lots of windows for ventilation.
We would ask you to apply sun protection cream to your child
before they attend morning or afternoon sessions. If your child
attends all day and you wish your child to have additional
cream applied at lunchtime, please send a bottle of sun
protection cream into school (please pass it to their Keyworker) and we will store it
safely in the classroom, out of the children’s reach. This cream should be left in
school. Ensure their name is on it. Staff will assist children to apply sun protection
cream at lunchtime. Please do not leave sun protection cream in your child’s bag.
We do not want children sharing their cream with their friends. One year we found a
pair of children applying it to their teeth to use as toothpaste.
Please provide your child with a cap with their name on when
the weather is sunny. Remember 2, 3,and 4 year olds cannot
always remember the whereabouts of clothing that can be
removed. Consider what you would like your child to wear at
school for safety. Children are still climbing and riding bikes so
long sundresses and strappy sandals are not always practical!
Messy Play: As the weather improves we take more and more activities outside.
More water is used and play can become much messier. Please ensure clothes are
play friendly and send in spares as children can become soaked if they pour water
down their clothes, even with aprons on! Wet sleeves are a constant problem– One
way to help solve this is to send your child into school in short sleeved clothes.

D. Some Dates for Your Diary.
2022 Summer term and school holidays
 Half term from Monday 30st May to Friday 3rd June – School Closed
 Monday 27th June – Additional Willow Jubilee Holiday – School Closed
 Thursday 21st July. Summer term ends.
 Autumn Term begins Monday 5th September 2022

D. What the children are learning about this week:
The theme in Little Nursery is mini beasts.
In Catkins, the children will be working towards shape recognition and
repeating simple patterns. The children will look at the patterns that they see
on butterflies, they will try to recreate the simple colour pattern that they see
on the wings.
In room three, the children will participate in a shared read of Feely Bugs with
Mrs. Watson. This is a lovely book that has a different sensory insect on each
page for the children to explore. At the end of their story, the children will
colour in their very own Feely Bug picture.
In the link, the children will be learning about different painting techniques.
Mrs. Brinkley will talk to the children about the various ways which marks can
be made. These techniques will include using fingers, marbles, sponges and
rollers to explore ways to make marks with paint.
Outside, Miss Gaffney will use clay and shells to help the
children create their own snails. The children will look at some
real life snails to take inspiration.
The theme in Big Nursery is life cycles.
In room one, Miss Skai will be talking to the children
about the butterflies that they are helping to grow. The
children are very excited to learn about and see the life
cycle of a butterfly. Miss Skai will also ask the children
to join her with a group read of The Very Hungry
Caterpillar.
In room two, Miss Howe will work with the children on writing their own
names. The children will be given a circle for each letter in their name. When
they have written their entire name, they will piece together the circles to
create a caterpillar name card. This will support the children with their fine
motor skills as well as recognizing the letters in their name.
Outside, there will be a huge focus on the mud kitchen and the children will be
encouraged to bake and create mud pies using soil and different utensils. The
children will also have the chance to splash around as Mrs. Patterson will
provide a lovely area for the children to play with water toys. Aprons will be
provided but please remember to provide plenty of spare clothes.

Nursery News 2nd May 2022

NURSERY NEWS

2^nd May 2022 – Edition 259

Find out About

1. Dunstable Locality Children’s Centre
2. Thank you for the donations of tissues
3. What the children are learning about this week

1. Dunstable Locality Children’s Centre

The children’s centres in Central Bedfordshire have been developed in line with the needs of the local community so no one centre is the same. Children’s centres work with partners to offer a range of services to meet your child’s needs all in one place.

There is a core set of services they aim to provide:

• child and family health services including antenatal, postnatal, breast feeding and baby weighing sessions (drop-in)
• advice on parenting and parenting programmes
• information and advice to parents on childcare, early years provision and 2-year-old funded places
• early education and school readiness, early communication support e.g. speech and language drop-ins
• outreach and family support services including home visits
• a variety of drop-in sessions

Click here for the link for the current timetable for Dunstable Children’s Centre

2. Thank you for the donations of tissues

A big thank you to all parents who have donated boxes of tissues this week. We are now well stocked for runny noses!

3. What the children are learning about this week

The theme throughout nursery is mini beasts.

In Catkins the children will be focusing on colour recognition. They will have a variety of mini beasts in the playdough and as they play, the children and staff will talk about the colours of the bugs that they see.

In room three, the children will be playing the Snail Race game, they will take turns to roll the dice and move their snails along the track. This teaches the children to wait for their turn and share with their friends.

In the link area, the children will be looking at patterns and symmetry. The children will create their own mini beast collages, using different colours and following set patterns.

Outside, the children will be building upon their fine motor skills by untangling spiders from stringy spider webs. To do this they have the choice of using tongs, tweezers or their fingers.

In room one, to celebrate Eid, the children will be making a crescent moon and star decoration. The children will talk about the meaning of the star and crescent moon as they make their decoration.

They will also have a shared read of Feely Bugs, an interactive story which encourages the children to explore the different textures on the pages and discuss what they feel like.

In room two, Miss Skai will focus on creating lady bugs using potato mashers to dip in paint and print. The children will also create their own glittery spider webs. They will look at different marks that can be seen on the bugs and try to replicate these marks with the tools available.

Outside, children will focus on maths and mini beasts. The children will have a tray of laminated spiders that have numbers on their backs. The spiders will have holes on their bodies for the children to thread some legs onto. They will match the amount of legs they add to the number on the back of the spider.

Nursery News 25th April 2022

NURSERY NEWS

25th April 2022 – Edition 258

Find out About

A. Welcome to all our new families

B. Covid Update

C. Request for boxes of tissues

D. Primary School Places for September 2022

E. What the children are learning about this week

A. Welcome to all our new families

The beginning of the Summer term sees us enrol Spring born children in to the Nursery. These children have all had their third Birthday between the 1st January and 31st March 2022.

These children are known as Red Group. There are 11 children in Red Group. Five of them are already known to us, as they attended in Catkins Class, our class for 2 year olds. Six children are joining us from our waiting list. Mrs Brinkley is looking after all the Red group children.

I’m sure you have all noticed outside that we have three groups waiting in the morning each side of the front gate.

We are working very hard to ensure we take children in on time.

The gates open for the youngest bubble at 8:45am

The older bubble, beginning with Mrs Patterson’s Blue group, is scheduled to be invited in at 8:50am.

We would ask that all parents arrive at their allocated time slot. Parents arriving late slows down the whole process. We do understand that some parents have to be in two different schools at the same time, and that is not possible! We try to help all children to enter as swiftly as possible, but please understand staff are allocated to particular bubbles. If you arrive with your 2 year old at 8:52am you may see 5 or 6 adults outside and wonder why nobody steps forward to greet your child. By that time all the younger bubble staff have gone inside to support their children to hang up their coats and bags and prepare for register time. We will ask an appropriate team member to return to the front of school to meet your child as soon as possible.

B. Covid Update

From Friday 1st April 2022 there will no longer be free, universal access to testing for COVID-19 (LFD or PCR) in England, due to changes in government policy. With these changes, we are advising the following:

· Anyone with a positive COVID-19 test result will be advised to try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days, which is when they are most infectious. For children and young people aged 18 and under, the advice will be 3 days.

· people with symptoms of a respiratory infection, including COVID-19, and a high temperature, or who feel unwell, to try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people where they can, until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have a high temperature.

C. Request for boxes of tissues

We are running very low on boxes of tissues. We seem to have lots of runny noses! We would be very grateful for any donations of boxes of tissues for the children to use.

D Primary School Places for September 2022

On Tuesday 19th April 2022 it was National Offer Day. All parents who made on time applications to their Local Authority for a Primary school place for their child in September 2022 will have received notification of the school their child has been allocated.

The Central Beds Website says that: ‘All online applicants and those who have supplied an email address with their paper application will receive an email between 9am and 4pm with the outcome of their application. Parents who have not provided an email address with their paper application form will have their decision letter posted to them’

Every year there is always at least one family who has not applied for a primary school place. There are processes to follow for late applicants, please see your appropriate Local Authority Website, based on your home address, should you still need to apply for a place for your child.

We hope as many of you as possible were allocated your first choice of school. We are, as a school, able to access a Central Beds website which will tell us which school children who live in the Central Beds area have been allocated to. Sometimes we are unable to see which school children with a Luton Home address are allocated to. In coming weeks we may check with parents to ensure we have the correct information regarding your child’s destination School.

E What the children are learning about this week

The theme in big nursery this week is growing – animals.

In room one, Mrs Patterson will have a pet shop set up for the children to express themselves through role play. They will be able to act out the role of pet owners looking for products for their pet or even to buy a new animal to join their household. The children will have the opportunity to broaden their vocabulary when talking to each other and the adults as they play. There will also be a shared read of Handa’s Surprise for the children to take part in, they will follow the story and look at the illustrations together. At the end of the story, the children will discuss the exciting things that happened to the story’s main character.

In room two, Miss Skai will be focusing on patterns of animals. Miss Skai will provide the children with pattern sheets of different animals and ask them to continue the pattern that they see using paint and the appropriate colours. This will improve the children’s colour recognition skills as well as their fine motor movements. They will be encouraged to discuss how they will use their utensils to recreate their patterns. The children will be shown how to make animals out of paper plates and other materials and they will be invited to make their own animal to take home.

Outside, Mrs Cashmore will be focusing on building the children’s fine motor skills using tweezers to collect different characters and place them in matching pots. The children will be invited to make some binoculars and decorate them with animal print patterns, they will talk about the animals that they may have seen at the zoo and the patterns that they have seen on each animal. The children will be encouraged to look around the nursery and even at their own clothes for any patterns they can see using their new binoculars.

The theme in little nursery is keeping healthy.

In Catkins, the focus will be on dental hygiene and the children will be colouring in and cleaning up laminated pictures of teeth. They will use language to discuss how to clean effectively and how often we should brush our teeth.

Outside, the children will be focusing on the physical side of staying healthy and working on different movements and stretching in addition to ball skills throughout the week.

In the link, Miss Gaffney will discuss healthy eating and the children will use fruit to dip in paint and make prints on paper.

The children will take part in a shared read of ‘I Care for My Teeth’ and ‘Going to the Dentist’, they will talk about how they care for their own teeth and can share experiences that they have had with their own dentist.