This morning in maths we reminded ourselves of what a Rangoli pattern is and why we see them around Diwali time. They are to welcome Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth.
We then used our 2D knowledge to analyse some patterns before completing them.
Beautiful Maths everyone x
Over the past week Nursery have also been learning about the Hindu festival of Diwali, celebrated as āThe Festival of Lightā. We had an Expert Visitor come into Nursery to read our key text āChapatti Moonā by Pippa Goodhart and model how to make Chapattiās with the children after our first attempt to grapple with chapatti making didnāt quite go to plan – it is harder than it looks! The children had lots of fun making their chapatti with Mrs OāDonnell and used their listening ears to carefully follow instructions.
Just look at our beautiful workā¦.
Nursery were also immersed in lots of different provision throughout the week to demonstrate how Diwali is traditionally celebrated. We learned lots of new vocabulary, such as Divaās, Rangoli, Mehndi, Nann, Poppadoms and Spices. The children had lots of fun exploring, experimenting, tasting and creating.
Brilliant learning Nursery, celebrating other traditions and cultures! You have been Go For It Gorillas, Persevering Parrots and Teamwork Tigers.
On Friday 10th November Nursery learned about and celebrated the tradition of Remembrance Day. They watched a short video about the meaning of the day and why we wear poppies as a mark of respect and remembrance. The children learned that the poppies were the first flower to grow on the fields after the war. Teachers modelled how to make our own poppies using loose parts and also how to create a field of poppies, using paint and an apple to print in provision. Just look at our beautiful work!
For snack we also made our own Poppy toast. We used our fine motor skills to spread the jam. The children were encouraged to think about the shape of the toast and why we were using Strawberry jam to decorate it? Some of the words the children used were; āBecause itās redā, āBecause itās red like a Poppyā, āsame colour as the flowerā, ābecause itās yummy!ā
To draw our celebrations to a close we read a story called āThank you for the Little Thingsā by Caryl Hart to inspire and encourage the children to be thankful for the duty and service of the fallen and our current serving servicemen and women. Finally we watched a beautiful, poignant and child friendly animation about the tragic effects of war lived through the eyes of animals, which the children empathised with and received well. Some of their words were āSadā, āUpsetā, āScaryā, āTheyāre hidingā, āFrightened of the bangsā, āLike fireworksā, āFoggyā, āCloudyā, āPoppies growā, āSoldiers hatā, āHappy againā and āitās safe nowā.
I was so impressed with class five this morning working collaboratively to create this beautiful piece of class art work. ⭐️
After several drafts of a poppy drawing, class five presented their final draft alongside a beautiful piece of handwriting.
We were all really proud of the results ⭐️
As part of our on-going expedition of āWhat do stories Tell us about Autumn?ā Nursery have continued to learn about autumn life and animals, as well as celebrations that happen in late autumn. This week through our story āIt Was a Cold, Dark Nightā by Tim Hopgood, Nursery have explored how Hedgehogās hibernate through the winter. Ned, the Hedgehog in our story was looking for somewhere to live and hibernate. Check out our story via this linkā¦
Nursery were encouraged to explore and investigate how safe the place Ned finds to live, really is? We were thinking about the traditions and celebrations that happen around Bonfire Night. Many people or organisations build bonfires in open spaces, which Hedgehogs might think are a good place to hide and hibernate under the bonfire wood piles. It is our job as a community to check for the Hedgehogs before lighting fires to save the creatures who are just trying to stay warm and cosy.
This led to further thinking about what bonfire night is. Nursery learned all about Guy Fawkes and that that we celebrate the 5th of November to remember the foiling of the Gunpowder plot. Words the children used to explain this were ānaughty Guy tried to blow up housesā, āGuy was going to explodeā and āGuy got caught by police, put him jailā. To bring the historical figure to life the children made Guy sock puppets. We stuffed socks with straw, glued on goggly eyes, drew on his moustache, face and hat. They did a great job!
As part of our Wise Wednesday Crew Nursery investigated ways in which we can keep ourselves safe during bonfire night by watching a short video of Blippi and exploring a feely bag of protective clothing. They learnt the catch phrase āFireworks are great, stand back and give them spaceā.
As part of our Thoughtful Thursday Crew the children passed around and investigated an unused Sparkler. They described it as āPointyā, āRoughā, āsmoothā, āhardā and ābendyā. The teachers then modelled how to safely hold and dispose of a lit sparkler outdoors. There were quite a few of Nursery children who had never seen a sparkler before. It was an exciting experience for them.
Next we all tried a traditional bonfire night food āParkinā. The children used these words to describe how the parkin tastedā¦. āToo saltyā, āToo Sourā, āStickyā, āChocolateyā, āLike Gingerbread menā . Everyone tried it, which was great as it is always nice to try new things.
The childrenās homework was to take home a Sparkler to enjoy and experience with their parents and to send in a photo along with any words the children had used to describe their what they saw, heard or felt. Here are the resultsā¦..
Words used to describe their experience were; āgoldenā, āyellowā, ācoolā, āsparklingā, āsparklyā, ābrightā, ālike fireā, ālike starsā, āfizzyā, āpshhh!ā(when it extinguished in the bucket), āwhiteā, ādangerousā, āburnyā and glitteryā. Awesome learning Nursery and everyone was very Fire safety conscious too – Well Done!
On Thursday 12th October, Nursery celebrated their first Harvest Festival. We have been learning about religious celebrations in Autumn time, as part of our on going expedition āWhat do stories tell us about Autumn?ā We recently made āGruffalo Crumbleā using autumnal ingredients which have been harvested and began our explorations from there. The Children watched a short programme explaining what Harvest Festival is, during their āThoughtful Thursdayā Crew. Nursery parents very kindly donated food to help us celebrate Harvest Festival and we looked at the different kinds of foods that grow in fields and are made from harvested ingredients.
Nursery then read a couple of pages from a non fiction text titled āFestivals through the year – Autumnā by Anita Ganari. This text told us that traditionally Christianās donated food to decorate the church and feed people who didnāt have enough food. We also found out that there is an ancient farmers tradition, where people would make Corn Dollies with the last pieces of corn from the Harvest. These dollies would be hung in barns and farmers kitchens until the end of the winter and then replanted into the fields the following season as seeds to make more corn and bring good luck. Nursery had a go at making their own corn dollies.
Finally as our celebrations drew to a close, we talked about how we would donate all of the food we had collected to the local food bank in Askern, to help local families within our community. We are very proud of our efforts and grateful for the huge generosity of our families – Thank you for helping us to make this possible. Just look how much food we āharvestedā to donate!
This week Nursery have been creating Gruffaloās hats, (as part of our second case study āWhat do you see if you take a stroll in autumn?ā) using a variety of 2d shapes. Nursery have been learning about matching shapes and using language such as āPairsā and āThe sameā. The children have thought hard about the names of the shapes and how many of each shape they will need when creating their Gruffaloās faces to match the model… They have done a wonderful job so far, here are a few!
Last week the Nursery children were learning about the different kinds of animals that live in woodlands, through our story āThe Brave Little Owlā written by Penny Little and Sean Jullian. We are very fortunate to have a beautiful wooded area within our school grounds, just behind Nursery. So we went to explore the woods and see if we could spot any autumnal animals on a woodland animal hunt.
Children checked off the animals from their list and named them. We also found some natural treasures within the woodland such as feathers and dandelions which sparked some curiosity and interesting questions. Well Done Nursery.
Last week we welcomed back two very special individuals. Crewso, the Early Years Crew Bear, who had been enjoying his summer in Leeds. He has been meeting new children and soaking up all of the local History of Leeds and surrounding areas within Leeds City Museum. Crewso had taken part in the āLeeds Going On a Bear Huntā initiative to raise money for the Leeds Childrenās Hospital, a cause very close to our hearts and community. However, when Crewso heard through the grapevine of the return of one our reception pupils, Bruce, he knew it was time to come home.
We would like to thank all of the families who took part in the Leeds Going on Bear Hunt, in Leeds this summer. We would be delighted if you would share your photos with us, by sending them to your class teacher via Dojo. We would also like to thank all of the EYFS children and children across the campus for designing and creating such a beautiful bear to help share our story and supporting such a worthy cause. We are Crew!
