Yummy Pancakes!

It probably didn’t escape your notice that it was pancake day this week.  So, of course, we simply had to make pancakes and eat them too!  Unfortunately, the Ipad ran out of power just after we’d taken this photo, so you’ll have to take our word for it that they were delicious!

Can you remember the four ingredients we used to make the pancakes?  That’s right; flour, milk, eggs and oil.  We stirred the mixture up in a bowl and then the grown-ups carefully poured a little bit of the mixture into a frying pan – “to make them flat”.  Can you remember why the grown-ups did the cooking and not the children?

When it came to eating them, we squeezed a little lemon juice over them and then sprinkled a little sugar on top.  Finally, we rolled them up.  Yummy!

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http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6815/traditional-pancakes-with-sugar-and-lemon.aspx

The children were particularly intrigued by the lemons and several of them wanted to have a go at tasting a lemon slice.  We all agreed lemons are very sour indeed!  Can you think of any other foods that have a sour taste?  What sort of a face do you make when you eat something sour?

Our key text this week had to be Mr. Wolf’s Pancakes which you can revisit here:

Can you remember how Mr Wolf’s neighbours knew the pancakes were ready?  That’s right, they could smell a delicious smell all around the neighbourhood!  Do you have a favourite smell?

In Nursery this week, the water tray smelt wonderful, thanks to these slices of fresh lemons and oranges.  Of course, these ones were not for eating! We know that we only eat things in Nursery at snack time after we have washed our hands.

This week we have been talking to the children about why it is important to wash our hands before we eat something.  We explained that we need to make sure our hands are nice and clean so that any germs on them don’t end up in our tummies as this can make us feel poorly.  We also explained that germs are very sticky and they like to hide all over our hands, not just on our finger tips!

This is why we need to pull up our sleeves, use soap and make sure we wash the fronts and backs of our hands, in between our fingers and our thumbs too!

We enjoyed watching this NHS video which demonstrates how to get “happy, clean hands!”:

 

 

In My Heart

Last week, we read a lovely book called ‘In My Heart’ by Jo Witek which talks about times when our hearts might feel happy, brave, mad, calm, broken, heavy, hopeful, afraid, silly, shy and proud.  You can revisit the book here…

 

We have also been talking to the children about how to use their sensory bottles to help them feel calmer when they feel angry, sad or overwhelmed.  You can read more about the benefits of using sensory bottles to help children regulate their emotions here

Don’t forget, your child’s EYFS Profile on Seesaw is accessible over the half term.

Please remember there is NO SCHOOL on Monday 24th February as it is an INSET day for teachers.

We hope everyone is having a lovely half term!

 

 

Messy Play and Healthy Minds

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Those of you with older children at St. Matthew’s will probably know that it was Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week last week.  Miss Manhire (who is our Year 6 teacher and KS2 phase leader) organised lots of events throughout the school to mark the week and to encourage a school-wide conversation about mental health.  The theme for this year’s week was ‘Find Your Brave’ and you can find out more about it here:

One of the Characteristics of Effective Learning that we always encourage the children in Nursery to demonstrate is ‘playing and exploring’ which includes the idea of ‘having a go’.  We want the children to feel safe and settled and brave enough to ‘have a go’ at activities and experiences that they may not usually try or come across.

This week, we wanted to give the children lots of sensory experiences.  There is evidence to suggest that these sort of experiences are really important for brain development in the Early Years of life (you can read more about this here if you like…).  These experiences can also have a soothing, calming effect which promotes self-regulation of our emotions.  They can be very messy though, so don’t forget to put on your apron if you are trying any at home!

We have also been busy making our own calming, sensory bottles which look like a glitter-storm or whirlwind!  The children have loved making these and we would be most grateful for any more donations of small (500ml) plastic bottles next week so we can ensure each child has a bottle to bring home.  Thank you if you have already sent bottles in!

At story time, we read two of my favourites…

First, we read ‘A Color of His Own’ by Leo Lionni which tells the delightful tale of a chameleon discovering the importance of friendship for self-esteem.  You can re-visit the story below and do remember to turn the sound off if you would like to read it aloud yourself.

Next, we read ‘The Colour Thief’ by Gabriel Alborozo which tells the thought-provoking story of an alien called Zot who decides to steal all the colours from planet Earth.  The Nursery children quickly decided this was not a very ‘kind and friendly’ thing to do!  Luckily, Zot meets a little boy who helps him realise just how sad he will make the people on Earth if he takes all the colours.  What can you remember about the story? Look at the pictures below to remind you…

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We hope everyone has had a lovely weekend and managed to stay safe and warm in spite of Storm Ciara!

Noodles & Pandas

We carried on with our Chinese New Year theme this week, surprising the children on Monday with a tuff tray full of noodles and chopsticks!  But, everything wasn’t quite as it seemed and the children soon discovered the ‘noodles’ were actually long pieces of wool!

This didn’t seem to matter and they set to work happily chopping, pinching and scooping up the noodles into their bowls.  Some of them even had a very good go at using the chopsticks!  Well done Nursery, we are so impressed by your fantastic fine motor skills!

“Anyone for noodle tea?”

On Tuesday, Mrs Morris set to work in the kitchen making some real noodles!  The children couldn’t contain their excitement and crowded around to watch her carefully boiling the water on the stovetop, putting the hard noodles in and straining the soft noodles out!

The children all listened very carefully as Mrs Morris explained what she was doing and reminded the children about how to keep themselves safe near the hot water and stove.

When the noodles were ready, Mrs Morris wondered if any of the children would like to taste them and, of course, the answer was a resounding yes!

“Yummy!”

“Delicious!”

“More, please!”

You can find out more about how Chinese New Year is celebrated, including some of the food that is eaten with chopsticks, in this lovely CBeebies video.

At story time, we found out about an animal that is native to China.  It is black and white with black ears and black patches around its eyes.  Can you guess what it is…?Image result for mummy and baby panda"

We read the delightful story of Pi-shu the Little Panda by John Butler.  It tells the story of a little panda and his mummy who are forced to find a new home when humans begin to destroy their natural habitat.

Pi-shu has to walk through the snow to find a new home but luckily his warm coat and his mummy keep him warm.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video clip of this one for you to revisit at home but it is well worth a re-read if you happen to come across it in print.  Instead, here’s a delightful clip of some panda bears enjoying a snowy day!

Chinese New Year

Image result for gung hay fat choyWe read the story of the zodiac which tells how the Jade Emperor invited 12 animals to race across a wide river so that the order of the zodiac could be decided.  The animal who won the race would have the first year named after it, the animal who came second would have the second year named after it and so on…

Can you remember who won the race? And who came last?

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If you would like to revisit the story at home, this CBeebies clip is a good one to watch:

Next week, we will be finding out about how Chinese New Year is celebrated and the preparations that take place in people’s homes.

Within the children’s own play this week, we have noticed a particular interest in construction of all sorts!

We have been very impressed with just how challenging the self-set projects have been, both inside and outside in the garden; where the ongoing construction looks set to rival the Great Wall of China!

We hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

 

Welcome to the Spring Term!

We have had such a super start to the Spring Term in nursery!  Our older children have impressed us all by settling back into the classroom quickly and happily.  They have also been doing a wonderful job of looking after the 7 new children who have joined us since the start of term.  We are very proud of how thoughtful they have been in welcoming the new children and showing them what happens during our mornings at nursery.

Our new children have also been impressing us with how well they have settled into their new classroom and how brave they have been when saying goodbye to their grown-ups.  We would like to wish all of our new families a very warm welcome to our Nursery and we hope you are already beginning to feel part of the St. Matthew’s community.

This term, our topic will be ‘Out & About’.  We will be reading lots of stories about getting out and about in the big wide world!  I will shortly be sending home our Spring Term edition of Nursery News which will provide more information about the topic and give you some ideas of activities you might like to try at home.

This week we have been reading lots of snowy stories, despite it having been a rather wet and stormy week in West Wimbledon!  We read the stories of Tiger in the Snow (by Jack Butterworth), Snow (by Sam Usher) and When Will It Snow? (by Kathryn White).

Image result for tiger in the snow nick butterworth

You can revisit ‘When Will It Snow?’ with your child here – I would highly recommend you turn the sound off and read the story aloud yourself.

Although it doesn’t look like it’s going to be snowing anytime soon at St. Matthew’s, it does look like we will have some chilly mornings next week which will hopefully lead to some frost and maybe even some ice in the garden…

Talking of ice, some of the children came back after the Christmas break talking about the Frozen 2 film.  Their excitement inspired us to create this snowy castle landscape to support their imaginative play…

As well as this sparkly tuff tray, filled with glitter and coloured sand to encourage the development of their mark-making skills…

Despite the lack of real ice and snow this week, we did have plenty of rain which produced something the children absolutely love…

They were thrilled at the chance to get their wellies on and get out & about in the puddles!!

Jumping, wading, squelching…

Sweeping, sloshing, pushing…

Creating, swirling, mixing…

Who knew puddles could be such fun?  Why, Nursery of course!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

 

Festive Fun!

It’s so hard to believe that we are already here in the final week of term!  It has been a really wonderful term packed full of playing, laughter and lots of smiles!

We are so proud of each and everyone of the children; they have all grown a little bit more everyday; not just physically, but also in terms of their self-confidence and independence.

We hope everyone has a wonderfully restful and peaceful Christmas and we look forward to welcoming the children back to Nursery in January.  There will be 7 new children joining us when we return.

PLEASE NOTE:

The Nursery Christmas Party will take place during the normal morning Nursery session this week on Wednesday 18th December.  If your child would like to wear a Christmas jumper that day or a special party dress, please feel free to send them into school wearing this.  If they would prefer to come to Nursery in their normal clothes that is also absolutely fine!  If you do choose to send them in in something special, please remember it will be a normal, messy morning in Nursery!

The Christmas Party is a chance for us to celebrate with our Reception friends.  We will spend about an hour in the big hall where we will play party games and do some dancing!  We will also be having some party food and drinks and we would be most grateful for any contributions you may be able to make towards this (please see the list of suggested contributions in the classroom).  Thank you!

The last day of term for Nursery will be this Thursday 19th December. This is also the last day for the Little Acorns.  Children in Nursery break up one day earlier than the rest of the school so we can hold an Open morning for the new children starting in January.

The first day back for the children will be Wednesday 8th January. This is also the first day back for the Little Acorns.  Again, we start back a little later than the rest of the school so that we can carry out home visits for the new children.

Thank you for your understanding.

As you may have noticed, the classroom is now looking decidedly festive!  Here are a few photos from last week…

Here’s our Christmas Post Office & Sorting Centre – the children have been hard at work, wrapping parcels, writing Christmas cards, stamping parcels and letters, posting them and even delivering them around the classroom.  It certainly feels like the busiest time of the year!

The large wooden car received yet another makeover this week…can you guess what it might be and who it might belong to…?

Our placing & arranging table was brimming with an inviting array of Christmassy colours and objects.  The children love to spend a quiet moment at this table which is always a feast for the senses…can you spot the snowman with his scarf?

The polar bears were out in force roaming around their snowy landscape.  At one point, they decided they wanted to roam further afield and come down from the table top onto the carpet.  It was a bit too far for them to jump but, luckily, the Nursery children were on hand to come up with some ingenious construction ideas to help them get down – well done Nursery, you are always so kind and friendly!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!  We are looking forward to the final four days of festive fun!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

What a particularly busy week it has been in Nursery!  The children performed in not one, not two, but three performances of our Christmas show.  We have been so impressed by how hard they have all worked to learn the songs with actions, to remember where to stand on the stage and to understand what to expect from an audience.  We couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of them.  Well done Nursery!

And thank you parents and carers for coming to watch the show – your children were so excited to see you in the audience!

Here are some candid backstage shots taken while we waited patiently for our cue…

Pete the Cat & our Shoe Shop

When it’s time to get ready for home-time, one of the things we always do is sit down to change into our outdoor shoes.  Several weeks ago, we happened to play an impromptu game of ‘shoe shop’ at this time and, ever since, the children have wanted to play it over and over again!  So, we decided it was time to give them their very own shoe shop to enhance their learning through play.  This has linked very nicely with our ‘Who am I’ topic and our particular focus on our growing and changing bodies.

The shoe shop was very well stocked with footwear for every occasion including welly boots, sandals, slippers, high-heels, football boots and even ballet shoes!

The children have absolutely loved the experience and have been busy measuring, comparing, checking and choosing.  All the while, they have been practising their super speaking and listening skills to take on the roles of shop keeper and customer!

Price tags and receipts have been written, while money has been carefully counted out, handed over and placed in the till.  Sometimes, customers have even been given change and a 5p carrier bag!

A particularly groovy cat, by the name of Pete, must have caught wind of our shoe shop, as he decided to come and visit us this week.  Pete is a rather unusual cat as he loves shoes (and he is also blue, as one of the children pointed out: “cats aren’t blue, Miss Cronin”)!

MerryMakers 14.5" Pete the Cat Doll, based on the book by James Dean

In particular, he loves his own brand new pair of white shoes.  Unfortunately, his shoes never stay white for long as Pete doesn’t tend to look where he’s going when he’s walking down the street!   We know all of this because we read the fantastic story of Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin.

You can revisit the story here in this video clip.  As always, please ensure you watch the video clip with your child to ensure autoplay videos and adverts are suitable for young children.  Thank you!

The children were so taken with Pete and his book that we often discovered them re-reading the story for themselves…

In fact, the book was so well loved and had been re-read so many times that, by mid-week, I had made a rather startling discovery: when I picked it up, I realised that all the words and pictures had fallen out of it!  I had a good look under the cupboards, in the dressing up box and even in the magic room but without any success – the book was empty!  Fortunately, the children knew the story so well that, when I shared this problem with them, they suggested we simply re-write the story ourselves, sticking our own pictures back into the book to create our own version of the book!  Thank you Nursery, what a super idea!  Thank goodness you remember the story so well!

We are still working on our version of the book and we hope to complete it next week, so do look out for it at drop-off time and perhaps ask your child to show you their page…

Have a lovely weekend everyone and wrap up well!

Leave us a comment…

If you are one of our parents/carers reading our blog, please consider leaving us a comment now and again…

We very much appreciate your feedback and it is always lovely to hear if your child has enjoyed something in particular this week…

Here are some of the comments we have had from parents/carers in the past…

“What wonderful adventures the nursery children are having!”

“So much happens in a morning…. I’m grateful for this blog and all the photos. Thank you for keeping us in the loop!”

“I love reading the Nursery blog! I have learned so much about what the children are learning. Wow! thank you for keeping us parents so well informed.”

“Such a brilliant opportunity for the little ones to see touch feel and experience the reptiles and creepy crawlies. They’re very brave to have held them. Thank you for setting the example for them.”