Welcome to Term 5!
It’s going to be a super quick term with lots to pack in! We are excited to be introducing Loose Parts play in the garden (Click here to read through our blog post about Loose Parts Play), as well as introducing woodwork in Sun and Star rooms.
The children will safely be introduced to real tools (children sized). They will develop their skills to make a plan, follow their plan and carry out their plan whilst making models from recycled materials and wood. We hope the children will be bringing all of their fabulous creations home to share with you!
We will also start planning how to support your children with their transitions ahead, including writing the end of year reports to celebrate all their success at Nursery.
Oral Health
As part of our Early Years curriculum, it is important that we focus on the importance of looking after our teeth. We will be continuing with the “The Big brush Club” this term to support children to clean their teeth every day.
Even though the children are still so young it is important to try and sign them up to your local dentist and start good habits of visiting and having check-ups.
We also ask that the drink bottles that children bring to school should only have water in them. If your child struggles to drink water, only add very watered-down squash to help protect their teeth.
There are also some leaflets in Reception on top tips on swapping sugary treats for healthy alternatives.
Staffing Updates
This term we have new staff members Kirsty and Lottie joining us. Kirsty has already started and will be working across the school. Lottie will be joining us in a couple of weeks and will mostly be based in the two-year-old rooms.
We are very excited to welcome them both.
Drop Offs and Pick-Ups
Unless specifically agreed with your child’s key worker, children should be dropped off at 9am: Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri and 8.45am/12 on Wednesdays.
There is a slight change for the two-year-olds on Wednesdays: they need to come in via Reception at 12.10 and then collected as usual at 3.10pm. This helps the team to set up for Wednesday afternoons.
Collection is at 3pm every day (11.45am for M-W children).
If you need to collect before this, we need you to come at 2.30pm. Exceptions will need to be booked in with the admin team. Children will need to be signed in and out if they arrive/leave outside of our set hours. Thank you.
Family Link
The Nurture Programme is off to a flying start this term. Its great to have so many parents join us. I look forward to working closely with you. If anyone else is interested in attending this course in the future, please came and talk to me to find out more about it.
We have been asked to try out some new ideas that are being trialled by ERIC, the potty-training support team. We will be reaching out to parents as we find out more.
In the meantime, if you are finding the transition from nappy to potty particularly tricky, come and see me so that I can consider you for this.
Lucy Hobbs, Family Link Worker
Dates for Your Diary
Monday 5th May: Bank Holiday
Friday 23rd May: Term ends
Monday 2nd June: Term 6 begins.
Wednesday 9th July: Inset day.
Term 5 Curriculum
This term our Curriculum focus is “Making A Model”. The children will be learning all the skills needed to be able to make a model independently. They will begin by exploring how to use recycled materials, glue and tape to attach things together. Our older children will then begin to move to using real tools to be able to make small models using wood. They will explore using hammers, nails and saws to plan and create with!
The children will be exploring all areas of the curriculum through this focus:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development: The children will be learning to co-operate in groups, take turns and happily wait for their turn, follow safety rules and instructions and use talk to solve their own problems.
Language Development: Be able to talk about stories, being aware of story structure and the main characters, listen and respond to friends, follow and recall simple instructions. They will be learning vocabulary to join sentences together e.g. and, next, because. They will learn to “plan” and “review” their work.
Physical Development: developing skills to make controlled marks with pens etc, , chose how to move, using words to describe movements e.g. running, walking, crawling, creeping. They will develop skills to use tools such as scissors, hammers and a saw with safety and accuracy.
Maths: Continuing to explore “subitising” skills. They will notice groups up to 5 and be able to share a set of objects between a small group of friends. They will be able to begin to explore “5-frames” to help them organise groups of objects. They will use “subitising” vocabulary and sequencing words.
Literacy: Exploring rhyme and making their own rhymes, using their names. They will develop mark making to start to write letter like shapes and some letters from their names.
Expressive Art and Design: Using sounds and instruments to represent characters from stories, using rhyme in songs, explore colour and how to use it in their own creative work. They will make plans to follow through with their creative ideas.
Understanding of the World: They will explore and talk about forces in relation tot heir model making and wood working.
We have leaflets for Core Books and the Curriculum for this term, to help you to support your child’s learning at home this term. Your child will bring home the models they make. Ask your child to talk to you about their models and to tell you how they made them. The resources we use are very accessible at home, so maybe make something together! Most importantly, have fun together! You will find the leaflets in the school entrance, in the leaflet rack. Please help yourselves.
Sun Safety
Although it is still chilly, the sun is beginning to make an appearance. Please be aware of sun safety, children can burn even when it’s cold.
As soon as it starts getting a little warmer, children will begin to need sun cream applied before they come to Nursery and start to bring sun hats. Thank you.