Nursery have enjoyed a day of Red Nose Day themed fun and learning. We have used our motor skills to fish for red items in the water tray, decorated Red Nose Biscuits, designed, cut and made superhero masks, made funny red rose faces on sticks and taken part in a special red nosed themed crew with the parachute practising our teamwork skills. All of the children looked amazing in their red clothes and especially designed T-shirts for the school competition, raising money for such a good cause.
During our Thoughtful Thursday Crew this week, Nursery were thinking about animal cruelty following on from our learning about how we can care for animals. The children experienced a toy dog fastened inside a cage, who was crying and whimpering. It was cramped and dark. The children empathised with the dog and were outraged about how he was been treated and his needs not been met. The children consolidated their learning by suggesting what the dog would need to meet his needs, make him happy and live a healthy lifestyle. Some children even linked the dogs emotions to our zones of regulation, suggesting that the dog would be in the blue and red zone.
The children showed kindness towards the dog and suggested that ”he should be let out” and “allowed to play” and ”go to the toilet” or ”have a drink and some food”. We decided to rescue the dog and when the children let the dog out, Nursery cheered. The children wanted the dog to live with our other toy dogs in our tuff tray with comfortable surroundings. ”He’s now in the Green Zone” one of the children remarked. Amazing work Nursery!
We have been so impressed with the t-shirt designs around school today. Below are the winners from the different classes, voted for by the children. Our overall winner, picked by Mrs Ponsonby is . . . Brooke!
We will make sure all of our winners get their prizes on Monday morning – well done everyone!
Thank you to everyone who wore red, designed a shirt or made a contribution to Comic Relief.
Mrs Parsons xx
Science week went hand in hand with the culmination of our expedition on “How do things grow and change?” So we combined the two celebrations and it was great! The children show cased and shared their learning and beautiful work with their families. Together they experimented with planting cress heads and making bird feeders.
The children shared their learning journeys displaying work from over three case studies which were as follows; How can I help my body to grow? What happens when we plant a seed? And What happens to animals as they grow?
And took home their final products, a Daffodil in a hand decorated pot, tied with a ribbon of their size at the beginning of the expedition. Just look at our beautiful work!
On Tuesday Nursery were lucky enough to visit Boston Park Farm as part of our exploration of our over arching guiding question for our current expedition of ”How do things grow and change?” The children had a wonderful day exploring the farm and meeting the animals in their natural environment – a very first for some of us. We met cows, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys, alpacas, chickens and cockerels, turkeys, rabbits and a firm favourite spring lambs!
There were bumpy tractor rides through the fields and forests into the open countryside led by Farmer Jack. The children were invited to sit on and experience the tractors in the barns… some pretended they were going to plough the fields, others were going to collect the cows, whilst some were going the seaside on their tractor. A thrilling encounter for any child!
We took part in farm themed crafts using loose parts and natural materials to create our very own sheep. The children used fine motor skills to carefully construct their creations. They all looked fabulous!
Between all of the hard work and exploring the children also had some free time to pursue their own agenda and visit the beautiful play grounds and areas available really soaking up the sun and nature around them.
Not to mention lunch! Children were excited to share their lunchtime and experiences with each other, making new friends as both Nursery sessions were together.
We also had a stow away – who wanted to come and experience the farm too… one of Nurseries Everywhere Bears!! He had fun meeting the baby lambs too!
In preparation for Nurseries visit to the Farm tomorrow we have read the story ”What the Ladybird Heard”. We have also been learning about farm animals, their key features and the sounds that they make. We have played observation and description games and listening games. We’re looking forward to our visit and seeing the animals in real life.
Nursery children have had an absolute ball today! Taking part in fun physical sessions led by Kixx coaches Josh and Ellie. Last week we were Pirates…. ooh arr! This week we have been Swamp Monkeys. The children moved in a variety of ways, whilst pretending to be monkeys swinging from branches. Listening and observation skills were a must. Utilising all of their gross motor skills manipulating balls that were crocodile eggs. It was a challenge not to break them, the skill was egg-stravagant!
One of the children from morning Nursery found a dead spider today in the playroom. They brought it to me and asked me to look how beautiful it was. We spent a little while admiring the spider and its markings along with its long legs. I questioned the child what do you think happened to the spider? ”I don’t know, maybe he got poorly and died?” they replied. The child then shared their own experiences of death linked to a family pet when they were a baby. I invited the other children to come and see the spider and they sat patiently as the child carefully put the spider into a little cup for them to see. He then passed it around his peers.
In Nursery this week we have been thinking about how to help keep our brains healthy and how to show kindness. We have taken part in various crews on sharing, kindness, exercise and our feeling monsters (zones of regulation). The children brought in their own teddies to share with their friends in a circle game. Every other child had a teddy and they sang a song called ”Pass the Teddy”. The aim of the game was to bounce the bear on their knee and then when the music stopped they had to pass the bear to the child next to them without a bear/toy so that they could have a turn too. All of the children were very gracious and kind to share their bears and they were very understanding that not everyone was holding a bear without feeling left out or possessive over their teddy.
Today the children thought more about the range of emotions they may feel via the feeling monsters (zones of regulation). We made stick puppets of the monsters. Nursery recognised that each emotion needed different facial expressions, such as a smile, frown, scowl or excited face. The children used amazing cutting skills to create the faces of the emotion they wanted to explore. They used googly and sticky eyes and drew on the appropriate mouth/ expression. We were were very proud peacocks of our final results!
As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, Nursery have taken part in a special dancing crew to show how exercise can lift their mood and make them feel happy. We did a comparison of before and afterwards to see if they felt any different. Most children said they felt happier.
