Getting ready for BIG school!

Leave a comment June 27, 2023 juicenursery

Hello Everyone!

Last week was a great week and lots of our children have started to visit their schools they will be attending in September!

You may have heard the term ‘school ready’ a few times this year and might be wondering if your child is ready and what you can do at home to support them in this transition.

The main characteristics your child’s teacher will be looking for are;

·         having strong social skills

·         can cope emotionally with being separated from their parents

·         are relatively independent in their own personal care

·         have a curiosity about the world and a desire to learn.

These characteristics are important for using as a foundation to build on their knowledge in other areas of the curriculum. 

Here is a map of all the skills the children will need to be ‘School Ready’ 

http://www.moatfarm-inf.sandwell.sch.uk/reception-2022-intake/#pgcSgb-sl-0_sl_2533  

You may be wondering about the Literacy and Numeracy element of what they should know before going to Big School. On the map you will see that if they have an interest in numbers, like singing number songs and can recognise some numbers in the environment then that is a great start. Many of our children can count to 10 securely and some need a little support to count to 20. We recommend a fun way to reinforce counting to 20 is by playing hide and seek in the park and a lot of our children count to 20 when they are washing their hands too.

You may also be thinking about where they should be with their reading and writing too? Again, on the map you can see that the expectation is that they have an interest in stories, can recognise their own name, can follow instructions and enjoy making marks. In Green Room, the children enjoy time sharing books in groups and independently, when the children come in in the morning, they find their name on their peg and when they sit down for lunch. Throughout the nursery and Green Room we have been working through their Phase 1 Phonics skills which include;

·         Environmental sounds

·         Instrumental sounds

·         Body percussion

·         Rhythm and rhyme in speech and song

·         Alliteration

·         Voice sounds

·         Oral blending and segmenting

We also introduce the children to the start of Phase 2 sounds to give them a basic foundation and therefore confidence when they start Phonics in their new setting. Some children will start to be able to read basic CV and CVC words too. We always introduce phonics through fun games and there are apps and games online to support this too.

Independence is a very important aspect of the children’s learning and being ‘school ready’ and we are always supporting this in Green Room and you can support independence at home too. You can do this by encouraging you child to open wrappers by themselves, using a knife and fork, getting themselves dressed, managing buttons and zips, putting on shoes, going to the toilet by themselves and looking after their own things.

We can’t stress enough how important a good sleep routine is aswell, making sure they get enough sleep to be able to enjoy their time at school and be ready to learn.

If you would like some more information on School Readiness then we recommend this website https://www.pacey.org.uk/working-in-childcare/spotlight-on/being-school-ready/ and we also recommend watching Time for School on CBeebies together to help you child with any questions they may have about starting at their new school https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/time-for-school  At nursery we have been reading stories about starting school and we have added different types of school uniform to the role play area to help them practice those independent skills.

We hope that this is helpful, but if you have any questions or concerns please let us know.

The Green Room Team

Celebrating Father’s Day

Leave a comment June 16, 2023 juicenursery

Hello Everyone!,

We hope you’ve been enjoying the sunshine, although a little too warm at times! We’ve had a great week in Green Room keeping cool in the pool, practicing our mark making skills and celebrating Father’s Day!

It was a little warm on Tuesday, and we thought it was a little too far to walk to and from the park in the heat, so we opted to paddle in the garden instead. The children used the cold water as a cooling station and then turned it in to a pirate ship and had to walk the plank! 

In PE the children have been practicing their egg and spoon balancing skills which will help them on our Muddy Morning Sports Day, which we will be inviting you to come along to, in July. When we have confirmed dates we will let you know. 

On the Conversation Station this week we added whiteboard pens and names of the different children and staff in our room and the children had a go at writing them. As you can see there is a lot of ‘writing’ on there and this great that they are confident at making different shapes, strengthening their fingers and they will turn in to more recognisable letters as they develop. But right now, ‘having a go’ which is one of our Characteristics of Effective learning, is what we are encouraging them to do. 

We have enjoyed reading a couple of books this week, written by the same author and illustrator ‘Emergency’ and ‘Choo Choo Clickity-Clack’. We discussed in great detail the different vehicles and their job in an emergency. We also discussed what we do in an emergency, if we needed one of these vehicles, using the phone from the roleplay area we dialed 999 and roleplayed the discussion we would have with the operator. 

As a lot of the children have had or been getting chicken pox, they wanted to discuss this at length, even asking to see what chicken pox virus looks like in our bodies!! So we had to Google that one, and found what it looks like under the microscope in our blood stream, discussing red blood cells and white blood cells.

We were very happy to have so many Daddies join us for our Father’s Day Stay and Play. The children had a lovely time and always love showing you all around the room! The children have been busy making you a little gift (which we hope you like) and a card, to show how special you are to them. We also read ‘ My Dad Is Brilliant’ by Nick Butterworth and talked about the reasons that they think their Dad is brilliant too. 

Jo went on holiday and saw lots of sea creatures and took some pictures of them and showed them to the children. They then had a go at drawing their own sea creatures and playing on our exploratory under the sea tray with different textures.

We have started to practice our songs for Graduation which is only a matter of weeks away now. If you haven’t already, please add Wednesday 12^th July at 10am to your diary for our Graduation Ceremony in the Town Hall. There will be songs, photos, certificates, laughter and most likely a few tears! It’s a great way for us to send off our little ones on their way to Big School!! We do appreciate that this date won’t work for everyone, so we are thinking of how we ensure that all our graduating children (and parents) get to celebrate their achievements this year, so will be back to you on this.

Have a great weekend!

The Green Room Team