Year of The Rooster

As the children have had such a lovely time engaging in our Chinese New Year topic, we have continued it for another week.

We have developed our fine motor skills by 'taking our scissors for a walk' to make a lantern and using tweezers and chopsticks to pick up 'noodles'.

 We used the Chinese animal masks in our phonics sessions, sounding out the names of animals to cross the river.

 We read a story called Clever Sticks about trying hard and keep going to reach your goal. Then we tried hard to pick up biscuits with chopsticks which wars really difficult but we kept trying...

 and trying and trying until we reached our goal!

 

 We made Chinese Money Packets and copied Chinese writing to decorate. We had to think about where the sticky tape needed to go to make sure there were no holes and our money did not fall out. We tested our finished product and thought about what we needed to do next to make sure that it did its job. We are looking forward to eating our chocolate coins at home!

We have a Super Hero writing area. When we are busy writing, we can put on costumes so we can be super hero writers. Our teachers are pleased to see our amazing writing.

In maths we are practising counting, ordering numbers, going on number treasure hunts in the outdoor garden and using our numbers to make dragon puppets.

Next week we are thinking about People Who Love us to tie in with Valentine's Day.

Please could your child bring in a photo of their family so we can talk about people who love us and what special things they do for us. We will also be making jam tarts.

Gung Hey Fat Choy! (Happy New Year!)

Chinese New Year

We have been learning about how people celebrate special festivals around the world and the similarities and differences between communities and traditions. This week the children have enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year.  Our theme has given us plenty of opportunities to develop our fine motor skills, work creatively, retell stories, explore new textures while using our language to describe them, use our imaginations and lots more!

We used chopsticks to pick up the noodles, developing our fine motor skills. We talked about what they felt like and the shapes we made. We used scoops to fill pots with rice and used the language of capacity.

We read the story of the Chinese New Year Race. We retold the story using masks and small world props.  

We used our problem solving skills, making bridges to help the animals get across the river.

We used the language of first, second, third and last as we thought about what order the animals finished the race. Outdoors we used cars to race too to consolidate our language skills.

We investigated Chinese New Year artefacts.

Our role play is a Chinese restaurant and we have made menus, taken orders, weighed ingredients and served food. 

 

We practised our pen grip and used whiteboards and pens to make patterns to help us with our writing.

 In Physical Development we practised our ball skills, first balancing different parts of our bodies on the balls, then how to move the balls with only our felt with controlled movements.

 We enjoyed working as a team to be a Nursery Chinese dragon, moving in time to Chinese music, using movements we had seen on the Interactive White Board.

 We made a dragon head and took it outside to make our own dragon dances.

 

As the children have enjoyed our theme so much, we are continuing with this next week too, visiting all areas of the curriculum.

Please don't forget our Phonics Workshop on Wednesday 1st January at 2.30 p.m.  If you need to bring your Caterpillar Nursery child with you, they are welcome to join the Reception children in the Early Years Unit for the duration of the workshop. We hope to see as many of you there as possible.

Please also remember our Parents meetings starting Monday 6th February. Nursery meetings are spread over the week to minimise waiting time which we hope will prove more convenient for parents, while still offering evening appointments for those who prefer it. Please let me know if this is something that works better for you so it can be repeated in following years.

Gung Hey Fat Choy!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

We have been thinking about the cold and changes in seasons this week and last week.

We have been thinking about what clothes we need for different weather types. We dressed the bears to make sure they were nice and warm. We have made our role play into a clothes shop and have been practising writing labels and price tags.

The children were very excited to feel the snow fall on Friday. We had fun exploring it and it gave lots of opportunities to discuss what the children had experienced.

"I'm crushing it!"

"When the snow melts, it is slush."

"It's icy cold."

"The snow is cold cold water."

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

The children have had a fun packed last two days of term.

 

 

 

Thank you so much for all your Christmas greetings, cards, presents and vouchers.  We have had a wonderful first term with your children and are looking forward to lots more fun next year.

Have a fantastic Christmas break and best wishes

Love

Mrs Page, Mrs Ivory and Mrs Woolard

More Christmas Fun!

This week our theme has been Christmas and we have had lots of fun!

We have made our own Christmas cards and posted them in our post box (just like the one we visited on our trip).

 

We made Christmas stockings, using our cutting skills to think about what we might like for Christmas. We wrote our ideas on our stockings too.  

 

We thought about what we would like for Christmas dinner and made it using play dough, which strengthens our fingers.

 

 

We made our own Christmas baubles to decorate our nursery Christmas branches.

We retold the Nativity story using small world characters.

 

We performed in our Christmas Nativity singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We were all super stars! Well done Nursery.

And we had a very special visitor who bought us gifts. He whispered to Mrs Page that he had received our letters that we sent him!

Remember we have a short week next week before the Christmas break, finishing on Tuesday. We will be collecting in all the class library books so please bring back any you have at home.

There will be a party next week to celebrate the children's good behaviour and we will send further information about this soon.

What a wonderful first term we have had with your lovely children.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!



Smartie Artie

The children loved the entertainer Smartie Artie who visited today and we heard some real belly laughs. Here's some happy faces to cheer up your Winter!