Nursery News 6th December 2021

NURSERY NEWS

6th December 2021 – Edition 245

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A.Information regarding the beginning of the New Term in January 2022.

B. Christmas Cards

C. What the children are learning about this week?

A. Information regarding the beginning of the Spring Term in January 2022.

School reopens on 4th January 2022.

During the Autumn term, all children in Little Nursery have been classed as ‘Two Year Olds’. Little Nursery Children who have had their 3rd birthday between the 1st September 2021 and 31st December 2021 are now entitled to universal 15 hours funding, or for some families, 30 hours funding. These children will be based in Little Nursery, and their keyworker will be Miss Gaffney. They will now be known as ‘Green Group’. At this time, eight more children will join ‘Green Group’ from our waiting list. Mrs Watson will be the keyworker for these brand new children.

We will put a Green Group sign on the fence, so Green Group parents will know where to wait in the morning. It will be on the Little Nursery side of the front gate, but will be behind our 2 year olds.

B. Christmas Cards.

We as a staff, would like to ask parents to consider sending just one Christmas card in to school, written ‘To all my friends at Willow’. These cards will then be displayed for all to see in the library corridor.

C. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is ‘Christmas’.

In Catkins this week we will be making tree decorations, using card. The children will explore marble painting and make their own unique baubles to hang from the tree or use as a keepsake.

The children will also have access to our brand-new soft play equipment, they can build up their physical skills by climbing, rolling and stretching across these soft and colourful shapes.

In the link the children will have great fun baking a variety of cakes and biscuits throughout the week. There will be a different recipe every day, including mince pies and Christmas cupcakes. By the end of the week the children will be expert chefs and may even be able to help with Christmas dinner!

Outside, the children will be making reindeer food to help keep Rudolph and his friends full of energy for their long journey around the world. Miss Gaffney will also

be using natural resources, found by the children, to build and decorate a Christmas star.

In the classroom, the children will make their Christmas cards and handprint Christmas tree pictures. This is a lovely way to express themselves through art and use their hands as tools to paint.

The theme in big nursery is also ‘Christmas’.

In room 1, Miss Skai will be working from a literacy point of view and encouraging the children to write letters to Santa. She will also be reading ’Dear Santa’ written by Rod Campbell, with small groups of children and encouraging them to make predictions regarding what happens next in the story.

In room two Miss Howe will be teaching the children about 2D shapes, by working with the children to create a picture of a Christmas tree. The children will use paint, stars and sequins to decorate their trees and will discuss the shapes they have used. Miss Howe will explain that the shapes we see all around us have names and will support the children in learning the names of the shapes used in this activity, for example, the tree is a triangle, the card used is a rectangle and the tree stump is a square.

Mrs. Cashmore will be working with the children on their Christmas cards, they will be using different resources to create a wreath card. Mrs. Cashmore will be talking to the children about the resources they will need in preparation for making their cards, as well as encouraging the children to improve their math’s skills by counting the pom-poms used for their wreath.

Outside, Mrs. Patterson will be making miniature Christmas trees, using clay and real branches that have fallen from trees in our garden. Mrs. Patterson will show the children how to drizzle glue and sparkles over their tree. This gives the children their very own sense of ‘Christmas magic’ and is a beautiful memento for them to either keep or give to a loved one.