Nursery News Spring Term, April 2014 Did You Know? The Weston Hall at Pre-Prep is available for hire for parties or other events. Please contact the Pre-Prep office (01284 385412) for more details.
LEARNING FOCUSES THIS HALF-TERM
Birthdays Lilly Bomberg Charlotte Anderson Antonia Mendola
Stars of the Week Jonathan Zagni Kitty Cooper Sam Hall Max Carter
Reminders Don’t forget – summer uniform for the summer term and white PE kit. We do hope we have lovely weather, so please make sure your child brings in a hat and sun cream.
STORIES We explored stories that inspired the children most. We re-enacted Room on the Broom, and looked at sequencing and rhyming. We also made daffodils to celebrate St David’s Day. BOOK CHARACTERS We looked at more of Julia Donaldson stories including The Gruffalo, (which recently celebrated its 15th Anniversary) and A Squash and a Squeeze. Such wonderful stories are perfect for Early Years as they are non-gender specific, which is an area that is currently under discussion in the world of children’s books. We celebrated World Book Day with the children dressing as their favourite character. We made a collaborative Gruffalo which we now proudly display on the wall! We also managed to squeeze in making and eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Yum!
Thank You We would like to say a big thank you to Mrs Tattersall for doing the fantastic puppet show ‘The Gruffalo’ at our Nursery Open Morning.
Here is a picture of us making shamrocks in celebration of St Patrick’s Day
MUSIC We explored musical instruments including our new wind chimes outside, and some new tapping sticks, tapping out simple rhythms and rhymes. We were very proud of how all the children performed at our Music Morning.
SPORTS RELIEF
SPRING
In P.E. we worked in teams and had fun running in the obstacle race. We wore fun coloured socks to show our support.
We made blossom trees and the children loved our new finger paints. We discussed Mother’s Day and talked about special people in our lives and why we love them. For our final week of the term, our focus was Easter, with plenty of Easter crafts and chocolate! SOUND OF THE WEEK Every week we focus on different letters of the alphabet. The children have been enthusiastic about bringing in objects from home beginning with that sound. We have used photos of our sound table to make an alphabet frieze which is displayed in the garden. The children are always looking at these to spot their own toys that
they have brought in! We extend our learning of letter sounds (phonemes) in our activities, some examples of which are shown here.
Q
for Queen. We looked at pictures of the Queen wearing a crown and decided to make our own. Charlotte even joined in from home and sent us this lovely photo!
R
for rabbits. We made rabbit ears in preparation for our music performance.
S for spiders. We made our own Incey Wincey Spiders and the children enjoyed using them to act out the rhyme.
T
for tiger and Charlotte’s tiger came for
tea! We look forward to lots of umbrellas and vases in the weeks to come!
Musical Infants Having fun during our weekly Forest School session!
We are pleased to launch a new musical Parent, Baby and Toddler session with Jennifer Howells G.T.C.L., L.T.C.L. The sessions will run on Wednesday mornings during term-time starting Wednesday 30 April 9-11am (9am-10am music and refreshments, followed by 10-11am play). The first session will be a £1 taster and sessions will be £5 thereafter. We hope to see you there! Musical Infants is a class aimed at introducing children aged 1–4yrs to music and instruments by combining traditional children’s songs with the Kodaly Method and classical music. Using songs and games, children build their confidence and learn about musical pitch and rhythm whilst having lots of fun. There is a “Coffee break” half way through for a friendly chat with other parents. Please speak to one of our nursery staff for further information
Parent, Baby and Toddler
Now offered here at Culford.
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We have been enjoying the sunshine and our wonderful all-weather garden area. As our group reflects what we do in the Nursery as a ‘mini Culford’, we have followed many of the same focus activities as the Nursery. It is wonderful to see the children becoming more at home here, so those that do stay have a seamless transition into Nursery and are happy to settle and learn from day one. Next term we will be offering a soft play area in addition to the current classroom and craft areas. We welcome any suggestions or ideas from parents for anything further we could offer in these sessions. We look forward to welcoming you back on Friday 25th April and hope you all have a wonderful Easter.
Dates for your diaries Friday 25th April Craft and music session Friday 2nd May Nino’s children’s clothes sale and normal session
NINO’S Children’s clothes sale Friday 2nd May Stylish, practical and affordable clothes to view and buy from a new shop recently opened in Bury St Edmunds. How often do your children get to play whilst you shop?
Friday 9th May Craft, music session and swim session (11-12)
Any parents that would like further information about the school, please ask the Nursery staff or indeed members of the Marketing and Admissions team that visit our group to answer any queries.
Friday 16th May Craft and music session Friday 23rd May Craft and music session HALF TERM Friday 6th June Craft, music session and swim session (11-12)
South Suffolk Show The 126th South Suffolk Show will be taking place at Ampton Racecourse on Sunday 11th May 2014. Culford will be attending so please do come and say hello!
Friday 13th June Craft and music session, Usborne Books Friday 20th June Toddle Waddle to raise money for the Meningitis Trust Friday 27th June Craft music session and swim session (11-12) END OF TERM
Return on Friday 5th September Culford School Nursery Bury St Edmunds Suffolk, IP28 6TX 01284 385413
Website These newsletters are available at www.culford.co.uk under the Nursery ‘Information for Parents’ section