Nursery News 31st March

Dear Nursery Parents and my Nursery class,

I never thought that I would be writing to you in these circumstances. It is very sad that our Nursery year has been cut short but to keep everyone safe, it had to happen. 

However, the nursery children were working very hard and they were all making great progress and we had lots of work still to do in term three. Even thought nursery is closed with a little guidance from me and your support, our children can continue to develop and grow over the coming months.

I will try my best to share the topics and activities we were going to do over the coming weeks and I will also give you my email address so that you can contact me with any worries/concerns or even with a good news story.

In the nursery we have areas for specific work e.g. house corner, sand,water,numeracy activities etc about twelve areas on any given day so now you have an insight into how busy your children are. If you are lucky enough to have a toy room or a spare room you are not using- you could set it up so that it resembles nursery. This will allow the children to access resources and work independently which will free you up to do something else. This could include an area for jig-saws, board games, drawing and writing activities, construction activities i.e. duplo/lego/blocks, water and painting. Of course this is just a suggestion and activities can be done anywhere. You have to make it work for your family- we can only do our best- don't get stressed out by this!! Remember home is not school.

Just before Nursery closed our activities we were focused around St Patrick's Day and Mothers Day

• the children had been reading stories about mummies
• painting and drawing pictures of their mummy
• talking about their mummy using describing words
• making Mother's Day cards (cutting and sticking)
• looking at the colour green i.e. finding things that were green and labeling them
• cutting and sticking green collage pictures
• making St Patrick's Day cards
• looking at food that is green (using all our senses to explore it)

Last week i.e. Monday 23rd March we were going to work on some more "Spring" activities

• Pick some daffodils and talk about them, simply label them i.e. flower, stem, leaf
• Using paint,chalk,markers,pencils or crayons try and make a daffodil by yourself
• Talk about mummy and baby farm animals i.e. cow/calf, pig/piglet etc using farm animals if you have them
• Sing your songs and rhymes in your March newsletter
• Try and find some stories about the farm e.g. Farmer Duck etc read and enjoy
• We were going to plant "cress seeds"- I don't suppose they were on anyone's shopping list!!!

In Nursery this week Monday 30th and next week Monday 6th April we were going to be getting ready for Easter- some of the activities you will still be able to do at home and others you may not because you might not have the resources. Begin by talking about Easter with your child- what do they know- what does it mean to them

• Looking at eggs i.e. shape, colour, feel, taste
• Where do they come from? What's inside? Is it a chick?
• Crack them open and have a look!!
• Use the eggs then to make scrambled eggs on toast (cooking is always a great activity to work on our number skills e.g. how many eggs do we need?)
• Hard boil some eggs and allow children to decorate them. Roll them in your garden!!
• Using any type of paper, card etc draw and cut out oval shapes- our nursery children have been using scissors in nursery but still need supervision!! 
• Decorate your oval shapes with anything you have to make "Easter Eggs"
• Make "Easter Cards" using whatever you have i.e. paper,card, paints, markers etc. Talk with your child before they begin to gather their ideas about what they are going to do, what do they need etc.
• Make chocolate rice krispie buns and decorate with mini eggs- don't forget this is a great opportunity for number work i.e. count out how many bun cases you need, how many mini eggs are you going to put on each bun? This is also a great activity for introducing new vocabulary and for investigating what happens when you heat chocolate i.e. it was a solid and now it has melted!! "Words build my brain"
• Using play dough children can make egg shapes (big/small) Give them some egg cups/ buns cases or some kitchen utensils to extend the activity. I will post some play dough recipes when I find them!!

These are just a few of the activities we would have been doing in Nursery but there are lots more on the internet which are suitable for Nursery children if you need them. Children's brains grow when they talk with real people and play with real things. Get outside as much as possible and lots of sleep- stay healthy!!

Don't forget what we talked about a couple of weeks ago at our parent teacher meetings: 

• Colour, shape, numbers, counting, letters, writing our name and most importantly reading stories every day are ongoing all the time in the Nursery.

These activities are more successful if they are presented in a fun way i.e. through games such as number/snap, number letter bingo etc

Remember these are only suggestions even if you only read some stories every day that's a positive. It is more important that our children feel loved, happy and secure at this time. Stay home and keep safe!!

My email address is bhollywood665@c2ken.net

Don't hesitate to contact me- Mrs Hollywood