January 2022

Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!

Gross and Fine Motor Skills

We hope you borrowed your book for Weekend Reading - children are encouraged to choose their own book on a Friday, take it home to share and then return it on Monday.
Remember you can borrow your child’s Learning Journey when you collect them.

This week the whole school have been enjoying different versions of The Gingerbread Man. There has also been a focus on physical skills across the nursery: we know how important the development of gross (big) motor skills is on brain development. Children have been supported to take part in various games that will get them using their whole bodies such as football, What’s The Time Mr Wolf  and Duck Duck Goose. These games include balance, control, coordination and are lots of fun. Large mark making with chalks and paint have been great to engage children for longer periods of time and encourage them to communicate about their senses. 
A focus on fine motor skills has been developed through sculpting with clay with some children. Staff then added water and paint to the clay to get the children’s whole bodies moving. Children sustained interest and used lots of vocabulary to respond. 
Children were supported to develop skills using one handed tools when they baked and decorated gingerbread men (and women). Children used their hands to knead and used rolling pins and cutters to create their shapes from the dough. These skills children also develop daily along with imagination when playing with playdough.
Some children created their own books: retelling familiar stories and making up their own. We encourage children to return over the course of the week to work on their books and mark making, supporting them with their ideas, ascribing meaning to their marks, drawing representations and writing some recognisable letters. They used a variety of resources such as pens, pencils, scissors and staplers.
Next week we will be celebrating Chinese New Year - we welcome the Year of the Tiger.
Kung Hei Fat Choy if you are celebrating!

Book of the week from 27 January 2022: Chinese New Year - we will be using books telling the story of Chinese New Year and the animals of the Zodiac

The Three Little Pigs

We love stories at Children’s House. This week the whole nursery has been looking at the traditional tale Three Little Pigs. Children have been supported to develop listening and attention and join in with repeating language in the story. “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I'll blow your house down!” Some children were able to identify the characters and setting and others could retell the whole story plot. 
​Book making was popular with a group of children developing skills as authors and illustrators.
Across the nursery there was a focus on mathematics: some children went out for a walk in the local area and were encouraged to look UP. They saw lots of different homes and noticed the shapes and textures. When out walking children often share lots of talk and show great knowledge of the local area. In school they used 3D blocks and 2D shapes to create houses and tessellated shapes creatively. Some children made ‘Huff and Puff Paintings’ and counted the amount of puffs it took to blow their paint away.
Children also used cornflour and playdough to develop their motor skills and were able to use rolling pins and cutters with increasing skill. 
Children were supported to develop an understanding of keeping warm: lots of large movements in the garden and obstacle courses.
Across the whole school we are also supporting children to develop concentration and be able to sustain in both adult lead experiences and their own initiated play.
Children are developing independence and we encourage them to make choices: when you talk to your child about their learning, encourage them to think about what they would like to do. Use open-ended questions such as “I wonder what will be in the garden today?” or “I wonder what you might make today?”
Book of the week from 27th January 2022: The Gingerbread Man
We will also be introducing Weekend Reading - every child will choose their own book on a Friday, take it home to share and then return it on Monday.
Remember you can borrow your child’s Learning Journey when you collect them.

Happy New Year Friends!

Welcome back. The children have come back and are settling well, most are happy and getting used to their routines again. At Children’s House we know how important routines are for young children. It has been lovely to hear some of their news and watch friendships between children develop.
We are also welcoming new friends and families to the nursery this week and over coming weeks.
Children in all classes have been focusing on the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears They have been developing listening and attention skills, joining in with key parts and retelling the story. Children have also been involved in making porridge and building bear’s house in the garden.
We have been chosen to take part in some research with the Institute of Education & University College London called Talking Time which is designed to support speaking and listening. Researchers have asked if they can film the Children's House staff as their work is of a high standard and they would like to use them as role models!
Over coming weeks Becky, Guthsna and the whole team will be working together to make sure that the learning objectives for the week are displayed in class for parents to read.
Please remember you can borrow your child’s Learning Journey to share at home. Just remember to return it to school the following day so key workers can add new learning to it.
Remember although this blog will now be updated weekly, children are engaged in wonderfully rich learning every single day, which will appear in their Learning Journey!
Week beginning Monday 17thJanuary 2022
Our book of the week will be 'The Three Little Pigs'