Celebrating Rosh Hashanah…

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Hello Everyone!

We’ve had a great time this week drawing self portraits, making our golden rules and learning about Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year.

We were introduced to the festival of Rosh Hashanah by Avi, who had been celebrating it with his family. So we looked at a book about Judaism and watched a video clip on Cbeebies to learn more about how Jewish people celebrate Rosh Hashanah. You can watch it here… https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/the-lets-go-club-celebrating-rosh-hashanah

We saw a family eating apples with honey to wish each other a sweet new year ahead, so for our pudding after lunch we tried some honey with our apples and pears and it was delicious.

On the video we also saw them making cards to give to family and friends, so the children wanted to have a go at making their own cards too. As the children were really enjoying learning about the Jewish faith we set up the Curiosity Cube with the book, pictures, apples and honey for them to discuss in their own time. 

As we have been in Green Room a few weeks now we decided it was a good time to discuss our Golden Rules. We asked the children how they think we should behave in our room to keep up safe. The children suggested lots of different things including being kind, with our hands, feet and words. We discussed how we look after our toys in our room and how we can share them, using a sand timer. We talked about how we walk inside and what might happen if we run and something we have been working on for a while, is everyone helping tidying up. We have been encouraging the children to help tidy up by giving them a superstar sticker for those who have been trying hard to help. 

We noticed that the children were not getting involved in the water play. So, we decided to capture their imagination and turned it in to a dinosaur swamp as lots of our children love dinosaurs.

This engaged the children, but they were very conscious about keeping their hands clean which signalled to us, as practitioners, that we need more opportunity for messy play, so watch this space!  

As we have been drawing our own self portraits, the children were then challenged to draw each other instead and talk about their friend’s features. The children then showed their portraits to each other on the gallery wall.

Our children love building with Magnatiles and have been getting more and more creative! We love magnatiles as they incorporate so many skills including talking about 2D and 3D shape names, problem solving and collaborating to build new things. This week the children made a rocket and a Batman face.

Every week the children have a session with Caroline from Stretch-n-Grow and this week they were using all their bodies and throwing balls too. Not only is this physical activity great for keeping them healthy but it also helps build muscle and co-ordination for their early writing skills.

When children are learning, they have to revisit skills again and again and last week we read ‘Oi Cat’ so this week, to give them more opportunities to rhyme, we read ‘Oi Dog’.

Aspect 1 – General sound discrimination – environmental

We would highly recommend these books at home if you don’t have them already and they are great for rhyming and comical too (even for parents!) There are a number of aspects to Phonics before they learn the conventional sounds eg. C-a-t. Here are the aspects that we will be reinforcing, as they can do some already, and some we will be introducing during Green Room before we learn some sounds from Phase 2.

The aim of this aspect is to raise children’s awareness of the sounds around them and to develop their listening skills. Activities suggested may include going on a listening walk, drumming on different items outside and comparing the sounds, playing a sounds lotto game and making shakers.

Aspect 2 – General sound discrimination – instrumental sounds

This aspect aims to develop children’s awareness of sounds made by various instruments and noise makers. Activities include comparing and matching sound makers, playing instruments alongside a story and making loud and quiet sounds.

Aspect 3 – General sound discrimination – body percussion

The aim of this aspect is to develop children’s awareness of sounds and rhythms. Activities include singing songs and action rhymes, listening to music and developing a sounds vocabulary.

Aspect 4 – Rhythm and rhyme

This aspect aims to develop children’s appreciation and experiences of rhythm and rhyme in speech. Activities include rhyming stories, rhyming bingo, clapping out the syllables in words and odd one out.

Aspect 5 – Alliteration

The focus is on initial sounds of words, with activities including I-Spy type games and matching objects which begin with the same sound.

Aspect 6 – Voice sounds

The aim is to distinguish between different vocal sounds and to begin oral blending and segmenting. Activities may include Metal Mike, where children feed pictures of objects into a toy robot’s mouth and the adult sounds out the name of the object in a robot voice – /c/-/u/-/p/ cup, with the children joining in.

Aspect 7 – Oral blending and segmenting

In this aspect, the main aim is to develop oral blending and segmenting skills.

To practise oral blending, the teacher could say some sounds, such as /c/-/u/-/p/ and see whether the children can pick out a cup from a group of objects. For segmenting practise, the adult could hold up an object such as a sock and ask the children which sounds they can hear in the word sock.

You can have a go at playing games at home involving these skills too. We will add some to eyLog and the blog as we go through the year. If you have any further questions about Phonics, you can contact kate@juicenursery.com

Next week we are looking forward to an Autumn scavenger hunt in the park on Tuesday and welcoming Grandparents in to nursery on Wednesday to celebrate Grandparent’s Day!

Have a great weekend!

The Green Room Team

Let’s get creative…

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Hello everyone,

We’ve had a great week this week, with a visit to the park, drawing self-portraits and building with recyclable materials.

On Muddy Morning we headed to the park with Group B children for the first time. The children were ready in their suits and had to listen carefully to instructions to keep themselves safe when crossing the roads. When we got to the park we had snack and a play. The children enjoyed practicing their number skills, as we counted back from 5 on the roundabout before ‘blasting off’. Other children wanted to build a den with Jo’s help.

As we are learning about each other and ourselves, we asked the children to draw a self portrait, describing what they could see. The children used the mirror in front of them to help them talk about their own unique features. You can see this beautiful artwork displayed above our sandpit when you pick up or drop off. We will ask the children to do their self-portrait again, later in the year, as it will show how much they have progressed with their mark making skills.

Thank to everyone who has helped their child with their ‘All about Me’ bags, we have loved looking at your photos and the added information you have sent about your children’s families, interests and holidays. If you haven’t sent it in yet then don’t worry, it’s not too late. Just please send it in when you can.

To provide an opportunity to explore and create, we provided the children with a range of recyclable materials in order to create something of their own. Through this process we encourage them to think about what they would like to make, how they are going to stick it together and to support them in any problem solving. During these activities we focus on process over product, because we want the children to feel proud of the learning that they have achieved to get to the end point.

This week we formally introduced scissors in to the environment as the children in Green Room have access to a Creative Station where they can make whatever their imagination wishes. Part of this is using scissors independently, so we talked to the children about how to use the scissors safely. The children then wanted to get busy with their cutting skills so we provided them with toy magazine and they chose the pictures they wanted to cut out. This is a great way to encourage children who have been reluctant to use scissors as they are intrigued by the pictures of toys and then they want to come and get involved and then we can support them to get cutting. This is something you can also try at home using magazines, newspapers of shop catalogues, depending on your child’ interests

We love to incorporate the telling of stories as much as possible, with the aim of embedding a life long love of the joy of reading in to the children’s lives. This week we have read a range including ‘Oi Cat’, which helps the children’s understanding of rhyming, ‘Harry and his Dinosaurs go to School’ and ‘Owl Babies’, which help the children to understand how stories are structured, characters, feelings and plots.

We have had a number of costumes in our roleplay which the children have enjoyed dressing up in. Not only are they using their imagination for creative play but they are also developing their independence by dressing themselves too.

As we look forward to the year ahead, we are very keen to invite our children’s families in to nursery as much as we can and as part of this we would love to have any parents that fancy coming in. This could be something as simple as sharing a story with us, telling us about your job, or you may have a certain skill that you can come and share with us or even teach us. It maybe a festival that is important in your culture, or your faith, that you can tell us more about, such as Diwali, which we know some of our children will be celebrating in November. If you would like to come in and spend some time with us, we are happy to support you in whatever you would like to do, so please do get in touch.

Next week on Muddy Morning we will be looking for signs of Autumn. 

Have a great weekend.

The Green Room Team

Remembering Her Majesty The Queen

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Hello everyone! 

We’ve had a very busy week in Green Room, going to the park, making smoothies and having a tea party with Paddington.

On Tuesday, our first group of children ventured to the park for Muddy Morning. In these early days, our focus is very much on supporting them to get themselves ready, with putting on their puddle suits and wellies as independently as possible, before walking to and from the park. When we got to the park, the children had their snack and a drink and then were free to explore the park in their own way.

They use lots of different skills to do this including their physical skills to run, negotiate space, balance and climb. They are also using their communication skills as well to play games, make up new games and take turns.

The children who remained at nursery had been having a conversation about their favourite smoothies whilst having their snack. So, we wrote their favourite ingredients down and then headed to the market to buy it. When we came back to nursery, the children chose their own fruit and used their fine motor skills to cut it up and put it in their smoothie and drink it. They then used a range of vocabulary to discuss with each other how it tasted.

Like so many others, we were very sorry to learn the sad news of the passing of the Queen. In order to honour her, in an age appropriate manor, we set up our light cube with Royal related resources and added pictures and stories to our Conversation Station for the children to make observations and to talk about what they have heard. They also had opportunities to make their own crowns and the children collaborated to make a card of condolence to send to the palace. We decided to have a tea party with Paddington, with marmalade sandwiches, which we also felt was an appropriate mark of respect. 

To get to know our children even more, we asked them to bring in a bag, containing items, all about them. The children have really enjoyed sharing their favourite things with their friends and staff. We have taken a picture of all their special things and will add their picture to a box that we will have on the wall that will contain their Best Book, as well as pictures and art work to take home. The Best Book is a place where they can record, or stick, anything they feel proud of and it is a way for us as staff to record their mark making progress. 

We are really impressed with how quickly the children are settling in to the room and the new routines. They have been continuing to explore the room and the resources and we have been recording their interests, likes and dislikes and where they are up to with their learning as an entry point in to Green Room. We are very excited for the year ahead and watching them make progress in the different areas of learning. Here are a few further photos showing some highlights from the week.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Green Room Team

Welcome to the Green Room 2022!

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Hello Everyone,

Welcome to Preschool! You have probably met most of the staff already, including Nat, Kim and Lucy. Some of you may have seen Kate about but, not at drop off or pick up, as she works from 9.15 until 2 Tuesday to Friday. But here is a picture of her, so you know who she is.

We’ve had a great time settling into our room this week. Although the children are physically in the same room, we have moved all the Green Room furniture and resources so we hope it feels a bit different for them.

This week we have been settling into routines and getting to know each other. We have sent home an ‘All About Me’ bag so the children can choose their favourite things to add to the bag. We would also love a picture of their families so we can add it to our Family Wall, which will help instigate some conversations and offer some comfort too.

If you don’t have a picture printed off you can send it to our room email and we can print it off. If you do send a picture in the bag, we will photocopy it and send you the original copy back. It is really important that we spend time getting to know your little ones, getting to know their interests, cultures, likes and dislikes so we can incorporate this within their learning and help them achieve their Next Steps.

At Circle Times we have been getting into the routine of sitting on the carpet and showing good listening skills. We have started to sing a song to remind the children how to behave on the carpet. You can practice if you would like, b singing it at home too.

To the tune of Frere Jacques;

Eyes are watching,

Ears are listening,

Lips are closed,

Hands are still,

Feet are really quiet,

You should really try it,

Listening well, listening well

Some of the children were showing an interest in a story called ‘The Pirates Next Door’ by Jonny Duddle. They loved listening to the rhyming language and Kate doing a pirate voice. Afterwards, we made eye patches and telescopes and pretended to be pirates!

The children also showed an interest in bees so we supported them to make a bee hive and we turned the Conversation Station in to everything to do with bees.

Next week we will be starting Muddy Morning. The way it is going to work this year is that half the children will go one week and the other half of the children will go the following week. We have found this the best approach in terms of managing the children and keeping them safe. We will let you know what week your child will be going but if you could bring in a pair of wellies, to stay at nursery for the year, by Tuesday, we would very much appreciate it. We will provide a waterproof suit to keep them dry, depending on the weather however, if you could make sure your child is suitably dressed for the day (as we know the weather can change quickly in this country!) We would recommend that beautiful dresses, skirts and designer wear stay at home as joggers or leggings work best as the children will need to be able to move freely when they are running, climbing and rolling down hills!

We are very much looking forward to the year ahead, and working in partnership with you, to give them the very best start in life.

Have a great weekend.

The Green Room Team