Nursery Newsletter-  13th December

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development the children had fun learning the rules of how to use the parachute. They learnt the vocabulary for different positional language including lifting up, lowering down and going under. The children had to wait and take turns and it is great to see the progress they have made with this.

In Physical Development the children continued with a selection of different gross motor activities. They learnt how to use the body boards, jumping sacks and carried on with the egg and spoon, developing good hand and eye coordination skills.

In Literacy the children enjoyed going up to the library, listening to stories and sitting reading books of their choice.

In Phonics the children started to learn about rhyming words. They listened to the story ‘Room on a Broom’ and discussed all the different words that rhyme. We explained to the children that rhyming words are words that sound the same. During the holiday please explore rhyming words with your children, especially when reading stories to them. We will carry on with this next term.

In Mathematics the children continued to learn to recognise and write numbers, practised their counting skills and played a selection of number games. In the holiday please explore numbers with your child by looking around the environment to see what numbers you can see. For example bus numbers, door numbers and any other unusual places numbers can be found. Please send in any photos of different numbers so that we can discuss this when we are back next term.

In Jewish Studies the children continued to learn about the story of Chanukah.

In Expressive Arts and Design the children finished painting their chanukiahs. They also enjoyed making a chanukiah using junk modelling.

In PE the children practised following instructions. They started the lesson with a warm up and then worked on their ball control skills learning the correct way to kick a ball and then they practised dribbling the ball. They also learnt how to head the ball.

Important Reminder:

• Spare clothes - Please can you make sure that your child’s spare clothes bag comes back refilled ready for the start of next term. If your child does not have clothes in their bags and they need changing you will be called to bring in a spare set. Please can I also ask if you can check your child’s school uniform and should you find an item of clothing belonging to another child please return it to us. Thank you.

• Next term the children will be learning about people who help us. If anyone would like to come in and chat with the children about the job they do, please email Miss Cowen and we can discuss dates and times.

• We will also be introducing Show and Tell. Please see the information section on the website for the details.

Thank you for coming to our Chanukah show today. The children made us all so proud with their amazing singing and what a lovely way to end the term.

We look forward to seeing you all next term.

Have a lovely break and Chanukah Sameach.

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter-  6.12.19

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language the children enjoyed playing in the home corner. We continued to work with the children on turn taking and sharing and reminded the children to use their words to achieve what they require. 

In Physical Development some of the children enjoyed playing football and also a variety of different races in the outside area. They enjoyed jumping in the jumping sacks, playing egg and spoon and also using the body boards.

In Literacy we continued with general sound discrimination – instrumental sounds. We continued to practise passing different rhythms around the circle and at the end discussed if it was the same rhythm that they had started with.  We also played some phonics games on the interactive whiteboard re-enforcing the children’s knowledge of sound discrimination,

In Mathematics some of the children enjoyed exploring ordering numbers using the magnetic numbers. Some of the children also enjoyed printing numbers to 10 using sponge numbers. Some of the children were learning to write numbers using the correct formation. 

The children had the opportunity to make moon sand in the outside area. They helped to measure out the different ingredients, which were flour and baby oil. Together we counted out the number of cups of flour and oil, saying the numbers as we counted. We also discussed whether the cups were full or empty. They really enjoyed mixing all the ingredients together! Using the moon sand the children enjoyed making mini sandcastles and numbers using the sand moulds.

In Jewish Studies the children continued to learn about Chanukah and completed special dreidel and latke crafts to take home next week for Chanukah.

In Music with Mr Fingerhut, the children continued practising for the Chanukah show. 

In Expressive Arts and Design the children used Chanukah themed sponges to make pictures. Some of the children painted their Chanukiahs which will be finished next week ready for you to use at home.

In PE the children continued to develop their ball control skills. They put their foot on the ball and rotated the ball backwards and forwards. The other activities that they did were to lay on the ball pretending to be superheroes and also they sat on the ball to work on their balancing skills. They were also ran around the blue track, ensuring they did not bump into anyone. This was to help them to develop their spatial awareness.

Important Reminder:

• Spare clothes - please make sure that your child’s bag is full of spare clothes. Please can you check at home to see if you have any other child’s clothes. It would be appreciated if you could look and return these before the end of term.

• Just a reminder that next Friday13th December you are invited in for coffee and doughnuts straight after  drop off to see the new outside area. This will be followed by the class Chanukah show.

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter-  29th November

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language the children enjoyed playing in the home corner, setting the table and cooking dinner. It was lovely to see them sharing the resources and chatting so nicely to each other.

In Physical  Development some of the children enjoyed an autumn cutting activity, where they practised developing their scissor cutting skills and the correct way to hold the scissors.

In Literacy we continued with general sound discrimination – instrumental sounds. The children practised copying a rhythm. We passed the rhythm around the circle and at the end discussed if it was the same once it had gone all the way around the circle.  

We also played some phonics games on the interactive  whiteboard on the Busy Things website. It would be great if you could visit the site and play some of the phonics games with your child.

The log in is: 

Username /Email: KeremNursery

Password :            keremeyu

In Mathematics some of the children enjoyed making patterns using the Numicon, playing number recognition games and writing numbers. They also played the Monster Bingo shape recognition game.

In Jewish Studies the children learnt about Parashat Toldot. Yitzchok and Rivka had twin boys Eisav and Yacov. Eisav was a hunter and Yacov loved to study Torah. Eisav swapped his firstborn status for a bowl of red lentil soup after coming home starving from a day of hunting. Yitzchok who is blind wanted to bless his older son Eisav so Rivka dressed Yacov up as a hairy man (like Eisav) and Yacov got the blessing instead.

The children learnt about twins and how they can either be identical and look the same or can look completely different.

In Understanding the World some of the children helped to plant some of our autumn vegetables. We discussed the different types of plants and also that some plants need more space because of their size. This linked to Mathematics when the children used a tape measure to make sure the correct distance was left between each plant.

In Music with Mr Fingerhut, the children continued to practise for their Chanukah show. 

In Expressive Arts and Design some of the children made autumn trees using their fingers for the leaves and also colour mixed different autumn colours.

In PE the children played a game of statues. They froze pretending to be sleepy statues. They then pretended to swim around the blue track in the outside area which was the sea! They then played a game where they had to run away from the shark and pretend to be an octopus. They finished with a game of hide and seek.

Important Reminder:

• If you have not already sent in waterproofs, please when buying them can you make sure that they are a thick material as some are letting the water in and the children are still getting wet.

• Please continue to send in junk modelling for the children to use to make Chanukiahs.

• Spare clothes - please make sure that your child’s bag is full of spare clothes. If your child has NOT got clothes in their bags and your child needs changing you will be called to bring them in. Please could you also check at home to see if you have any other child’s clothes as some children are missing some items.Thank you.

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter- 22nd November

We hope you all enjoyed the long weekend.

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development the children continued to work on developing their sharing and turn taking skills. We continued to model the correct use of language/ vocabulary to help them achieve what they require.

In Communication and Language the children continued to enjoy playing in the Kerem’s Opticians. It was lovely to hear them developing their conversations and vocabulary so beautifully.

In Physical  Development some of the children used both their fine and gross motor skills to do bark and leaf rubbings.

In Literacy we continued with general sound discrimination – instrumental sounds. The children listened to the different sounds made by each instrument. The pairs of sound makers were shown to the children and one set was placed in a bag. The children took turns to select a sound maker and once all the children had selected one they were reminded to listen carefully to the sound played. The child with the instrument that matched the sound stood up when they heard it.

In Mathematics the children continued to look at the class calendar each morning. We sang a variety of songs for the days of the week and months of the year. Some children made a number line using numbered acorns and also enjoyed matching Numicon pieces to the numbered acorn using 1-1 correspondence.

In Jewish Studies the children learnt about Parashat Chayai Sarah. The children learnt about the kindness of Rivka giving water to Eliezer’s camels without being asked and through this act, Eliezer knew she would be the right choice of a wife for Yitzchok. Eliezer travelled with lots of jewellery for the wife he finds and gave it to Rivka.  Rivka was very happy to be Yitzchok’s wife. Mazel Tov!

In Understanding the World the children learnt that there are four seasons in the year and we focused on Autumn. We discussed what the weather is like in autumn and how the days start to get shorter and colder. We talked about what happens to the trees in autumn and that the leaves on some trees start to turn into different colours and that some of the leaves fall off the trees.

We discussed how certain animals i.e hedgehogs hibernate through autumn and winter. We also discussed how squirrels collect lots of nuts and acorns and hide them in the ground and in the winter come out to eat the food they have hidden.

In Music with Mr Fingerhut, the children have been preparing for Chanukah learning some lovely songs. 

In Expressive Arts and Design the children finished off their leaf pictures and then some of them made collage pictures with the remaining leaves and sticks collected on our walk.

Thank you to everyone for coming in to make chanukiahs with your children. 

Important Reminder:

• We will be continuing with the autumn topic next week. Please send in any good quality leaves you can find for leaf printing.
• If you have not sent in wellington boots and waterproofs please do so that your child does not miss out on going outside in all weather.
• We also want to make chanukiahs using junk modelling. Please can you send in any cardboard egg cartons, cereal boxes, empty kitchen roll holders and anything else you think suitable. Thank you.

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter- 11th November

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development we continued the topic ‘All About Me’. We went through all the 5 senses - sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing.

In Literacy the children created their own storybook called ‘Nursery, Nursery What Can You See?’ focusing on the sense of sight. We discussed that some people cannot see and are blind. Some children chose to be blindfolded and experienced what it would feel like not being able to see. Whilst being blindfolded, they then painted a picture. The children had fun in our new role play area, the Kerem Opticians. They learnt the role of an optician, made their own glasses and also wrote price labels for the glasses.

Some of the children enjoyed exploring the sense of smell by making their own play dough. They selected a variety of different scents to put in the play dough.

In Literacy we started Aspect 2 : General sound discrimination –

instrumental sounds. 

The children enjoyed playing several games which allowed them to experience and develop awareness of sounds made with different instruments and noise makers. We discussed the names of a variety of different instruments and listened to the sounds they make. The teacher then played one of the instruments behind the screen and the children had to find the matching instrument.  We then talked about fast and slow rhythms and loud and quiet sounds.

The children then enjoyed a game called ‘Grandmother’s Footsteps’.

Grandmother had a range of instruments and the children decided what movement went with each sound e.g. shakers was walking backwards, bells was skipping. Grandmother stood with her back to the children and played an instrument. The other children moved towards the Grandmother making the movements of the instrument played. The first person to reach the Grandmother took over the role and the game started again.

In Mathematics we introduced the class calendar. We discussed the days of the week, months of the year, the year, season and weather. 

In PE the children started by finding their own space outside and then pretended to be an aeroplane. They also practised moving in a variety of different ways around the track, skipping, running, hopping and jumping. They then enjoyed playing the bubble game. They also acted out being animals at the zoo.

In Jewish Studies the children learnt about Parashat Vayeira about welcoming guests into their home, just like Avraham fulfilled this mitzvah wholeheartedly.

The children’s craft was drawing guests in their home which they decorated.

They also then learnt about Chessed (kindness) and as it is Mitzvah Day this Sunday, we concentrated on kindness and the children made love hearts to give to a friend in the class.

In Understanding the World the children loved going on our Autumn walk. When we came back to school we discussed all the different things we had found. This cross referenced with Literacy where the children listened to the story Leaf  Man. 

In Expressive Arts and Design the children were allowed to use all the items collected on the walk to design their own picture. This will be continued next week. Thank you to everyone that joined us on our walk.

In Understanding the World the children learnt about Rememberance Sunday and watched a special video http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/poppies. They then all made their own poppy.

In the music lesson the children sang a variety of different songs. They started singing slowly and discussed how the music made them feel sleepy. When the music increased in loudness it made them feel lively. They then marched around the room pretending to be soldiers.

Important Reminder:

• We will be continuing with the topic Autumn next week. Please send in any leaves or anything of interest that we can share with the class. We also need a selection of unusual leaves to use for mud painting and leaf printing.
• Please make sure you have signed up for making your child’s Chanukiah with them which will take place next Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd November.
• Please make sure you send your child in with waterproofs and Wellington boots which can be left at school. We will be planting in the new gardening area and completing other gardening activities. If your child does not have the correct clothing they will miss out on the activities.

Enjoy the break.

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter- 8th November.          

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development,we continued the topic ‘All About Me’. We focused on feelings, discussing what makes us feel happy, sad, angry or scared. The children made their own feeling face, choosing which emotion they wanted to draw. Then they shared with us why they chose that emotion.

We then went onto discuss the five senses focusing on sight. The children painted a telescope using a kitchen roll tube and then went into the outdoor area to see what they could see. We then read the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear what can you see?  Next week the children will create their own class storybook.

In Literacy we carried on with developing the children’s listening skills and awareness of sounds in the environment. We went outside and the children were given a beater to explore how different sounds can be made, for example tapping, stroking, with their beaters. We then discussed the different sounds that they heard when tapping the wooden shed, the grass and the paving stones.

In Mathematics the children counted how many letters are in their name and then practised writing the number.

In Physical Development the children had great fun learning how to use the new climbing frame. They learnt how to go up using the rope ladder and climbing wall and to come down using the slide. They also enjoyed running over the new ramp and crawling through the tunnel using their gross motor skills.

In PE the children started with a warm up, running and hopping around the new track in the outdoor area. They learnt how to jump properly by putting both feet together and then learnt how to swing their arms at the same time. They also learnt to run moving their arms backwards and forwards and ended the lesson learning to walk backwards.

In Jewish Studies the children learnt about Parashat Lech Lecha. They learnt that Avram travelled with Sarai to the land of Canaan on camels. The children learnt that Hashem said to Avraham that he is the father of Bnai Yisrael and will have descendants as many as the stars in the sky and grains of sand. This linked to Expressive Arts and Design where the children decorated a star and made a handprint camel. They then re enacted the journey by playing with toy camels in the sand.

In Understanding the World some of the children helped to clear the gardening area preparing for next week, when the new Autumn vegetable plants arrive.  We cleared the old leaves and pulled out the dead plants.

In the music lesson we continued working on pitch and speed recognition and keeping to a pulse. This linked to the feelings topic where the children listened to different types of music.

Important Reminder:

• If you are volunteering to come on our Autumn walk please be outside the main door for 8.55 am prompt on Thursday 14th November so that I can go through all the necessary details with you.
• We will be setting up an Autumn  Interest table in the classroom so please send in any leaves, conkers or anything of interest that we can share with the class.
• Please make sure you sign up for coming in to make Chanukiahs with your child on the 21st and 22nd November. 

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter- 1st November

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development, we continued our topic ‘All About Me’. The children loved sharing the special things they had selected to put in their ‘me bags’ with their classmates. It was lovely to see them listening so well to their peers and also waiting their turn. This activity allowed the children to develop their confidence, by having to speak in front of the class and also to further develop their communication skills. 

In Expressive Arts and Design the children finished off their self- portraits. Some of the children also helped to make a full length portrait of a girl and boy adding all the features. They then labelled the picture with the different parts of the body.

This linked to the Understanding the World lesson where we talked about all the different parts of the body. The children learnt that the skeleton is made up of lots of bones and the bones give the body its shape. They also learnt that the bones protect the organs inside our body. We talked about how muscles help our body to move. They also learnt that the heart is a special muscle inside the body and is found inside their chest.

The children also enjoyed playing a fun body game. A child was selected to sit in the centre of the circle and then they had to roll a dice which had a picture of different body parts on each side. The child rolling the dice called out the body part and then had to place a sticky note on the body part of the child sitting in the centre of the circle. It was lovely to see the children taking turns. They also had fun dancing to a variety of body songs.

In Physical Development the children carried on with the finger gym activities when they first arrived in the morning. This week they focused on making different patterns using lolly sticks, making pictures using the pegs and sewing numbers.

In Literacy we carried on with the Letters and Sounds programme. The focus was to continue to develop the children’s listening skills and awareness of sounds in the environment. The children played a variety of different games to reinforce their listening skills.

The children also made their own name plate. They dipped their fingers in the paint then painted around each letter saying the sound whilst it was being formed.

In Mathematics we continued practising counting and number recognition.

In Jewish Studies the children learnt about Parashat Noach. They made their own Noah’s ark and finger printed a rainbow. They also learnt the song The Animals Went in Two by Two. 

Also in Understanding the World the children learnt about Diwali, the Indian festival of lights. The children watched a video and shared their ideas about what they saw. We talked about different religions and how people who celebrate Diwali are Sikh or Hindu. We also talked about being Jewish and discussed that Jewish people celebrate Chanukah as the festival of lights.

In the music lesson the children continued to learn to sing using different tones, from loud to quiet and then practised moving in different ways according to the type of music. For example floating, stomping and learning how to use the space around them.

Important Reminder:

• If you have not already sent in a baby photo of your child to share with the class please can you do so. A photocopy of a photo will be fine.
• Date for your diary - we are still looking for helpers for our Autumn walk on Thursday 14th November.  Please let me know if you are able to join us on our Autumn walk.
• Please can every child send in a named kitchen roll on Monday.
• For your information the children wear school uniform when they are on the shabbat table, not their own clothes. 

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter - 25th October.

We hope that you had a lovely break.

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development, we started our new topic ‘All About Me’. We discussed how we are all different. We will be carrying on with the topic next week and we would like you to use the brown paper bag that has been sent home today. Please read the instructions on the bag and we look forward to seeing their chosen goodies next week! Please only send in objects that do not need to be returned home on the same day. 

In Expressive Arts and Design the children created their own self-portrait. They looked in the mirror and we discussed the different features they could see. This included the shape of their face, hair and eye colour. They then selected the correct paint colour and added their different features. Some of the children also drew a self portrait.

In Physical Development the children continued with the finger gym sessions when they first arrived in the morning. 

The children loved our new role play area, the shoe shop. They acted out being customers and came in to buy new shoes! They were also shop assistants where they priced up the shoes, served the customers and even used the measure to find out what size shoe their customers were. It was so lovely to hear the children developing their language and extending their vocabulary. It also gave them the opportunity to develop their mathematical skills by discussing the cost of the shoes and writing the price label.

In Literacy we continued to work on developing the children's listening skills and awareness of sounds in the environment. The children sat quietly in the classroom with the sand timer on. Once the sand had reached the bottom we then discussed which sounds had been heard. 

In Jewish Studies the children learnt about Parashat Bereishit. The children made their own interpreted piece of art, connecting to the first and second days of creation. Day 1 -Light and Dark. Day 2 -The Heavens and Earth. They learnt that Hashem created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th - Shabbat. The children also enjoyed making challah for Shabbat. We suggest the following cooking instructions - bake for approximately 20 minutes at 180 degrees. We hope the children enjoy eating them tonight!

Important Reminder :

    •    If you have not already sent in a baby photo of your child to share with the class please can you do so. A photocopy of a photo will be fine.

    •    Date for your diary - Thursday 14th November.  Please let me know if you would like to join us on our Autumn walk.

• When you are sending in birthday treats please can you make sure they are parev. 

 Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter - 11th October 2019

We hope that you had a good fast.

In Physical Development the children continued with the finger gym sessions when they first came in. They were able to choose which activity they wanted to complete.The activities were threading, sorting worms by colour, using tweezers to pick them up and matching screws and bolts by colour and shape. It would be great if you could practise fine motor activities at home in order to help your child develop their hand strength. These are fun activities and can be found on Pinterest and Hands on as you Grow.

In Mathematics the children played a variety of number games to develop their counting skills. 

In Literacy the focus was on developing the children's listening skills and awareness of sounds in the environment. We discussed the importance of being a good listener. The children sat in the classroom quietly with the sand timer on. Once the sand had reached the bottom we then discussed which sounds had been heard. We also then listened to a variety of different everyday and animal sounds and the children then had to guess what the sound was. The children then put on their listening ears that they had made and walked around the EYU discussing what sounds they could hear. There were some interesting conversation!

What you can do at home!  When you are out and about or even at home please encourage your child to listen attentively to the sounds around them. Then perhaps you can talk about the different sounds they can hear. The children can use the big ears that they made at school to go on their listening walk with you. After the children have enjoyed a listening walk indoors or outdoors, please make a list of all the sounds that they can remember and bring it in for them to share with the class.

In Jewish Studies the children learnt about Succot.  The children made a lovely succah decoration to take home to hang up in their succah. They also made a picture of their families in the succah. They used lolly sticks for the walls and then went outside to collect leaves for the roof. This linked to Literacy where they were able to develop their mark making skills by drawing family members. They also enjoyed making a succah using the large blocks.

The children also learnt about Simchat Torah.  The children decorated and made their own flags to wave in shul.

Rabbi Ford visited the EYU and taught the children about the mezuzah. They watched him put up our class mezuzah and they all said amen to the bracha. He told the children that it contains a scroll with the Shema and if you can’t reach it to kiss it you can look up at it.

In P.E the focus was on moving in a variety of different ways. The children had to run and pick up a cone and then to find the matching pair by colour. They practised their hopping and skipping skills and learnt to move sideways like a crab. The children also practised their ball control skills. They had to put their foot on top of the ball and turn it around in a circle with their foot. They then moved the ball backwards and forwards and side to side practising their gross motor skills.

Important Reminder :

• When we return from holiday the topic will be All About Me. Please can you send in a baby photo of your child to share with the class. A photocopy of a photo will be fine.
• Date for your diary - Thursday 14th November.  Thank you if you have already replied but we are still looking for parent helpers to enable us to go on our Autumn walk.
• Focus Meetings - Please find listed below your allocated time slot for your child’s first focus meeting, where we will discuss how your child has settled into Nursery and their personal targets will be set for them.  These dates have been arranged so that both your child’s teacher and key worker can be present. These meetings will be from 3.05-3.25 pm and on a Friday at 12.35pm. Please can you confirm to me by email that you are able to attend.

Focus Meetings

Please find listed below your allocated time slot for your child’s first Focus Meeting, where we will discuss how your child has settled into Nursery and their personal targets set for the term.  These dates have been set so that both your Child’s Teacher and Key worker can be present. These meetings will be from 3.05-3.25 pm and on a Friday at 12.35pm

Please confirm that you are able to attend.

Thank you

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 5th October

We hope you all had a lovely Rosh Hashanah. Although a short week, we have still been very busy!

As part of the Physical Development learning goal, it is important that the children complete fine motor activities on a regular basis to strengthen both their hands and pencil grip. First thing in the morning, the children come in and after self registering they are able to move around a selection of activities during our finger gym sessions.  These include threading large beads to make necklaces, threading small beads on to pipe cleaners and making patterns using the pegs. Lots of fun fine motor activities can be found on the following websites, Pinterest and Hands On As You Grow, under fine motor skills.

In Jewish Studies the children learnt about Yom Kippur and read the story of Jonah and The Big Fish. The children then made a big fish using tissue paper and drew their own Jonah. The children learnt about why we do not wear leather shoes on Yom Kippur and that adults fast by not eating and drinking.

In Tefillah the children continued to learn new Tefillot. This week the boys learnt the tzitzit bracha where they hold a corner of their tzitzit and say the bracha and the girls also learnt a bracha.

In Literacy we continued with the fish theme reading different stories from the Rainbow Fish. The main focus of the books is about sharing and being kind to each other. Some of the children designed their own fish by either doing a hand print fish or painting a fish. We then discussed their fish's name and what kind deed their fish was going to do.

In Mathematics some of the children enjoyed helping to pick the apples from our apple tree. The teacher used the apple picker and then the children excitedly took them out of the bag. It was a good counting activity where the children counted the apples into the wheel barrow.  We then recounted the apples using good one to one correspondence.

In Literacy we will be starting our Letters and Sounds Programme. We will start with Aspect 1: General sound discrimination – we will be working to develop children’s listening skills and awareness of sounds in the environment. The first activity is a listening walk, which we will go on next week. The children enjoyed colouring in their ears in preparation to use on the walk. They then worked on developing their cutting skills to cut out their ears.

Reminder :

• Please send your child in with a coat as the weather is getting cold.

• Please send in Wellington boots and waterproofs. Your child will miss out on fun activities in the outdoor area as the weather changes.

• I will be sending out a list of allocated dates for your child’s focus meeting next week to start after the holidays. These meeting will be held after school just after 3.00pm once the children have been handed over. 

• Date for your diary.  Thursday 14th November - After Tefillah and register, (approximately 9.00 am) we will be going on an Autumn walk to the park. The children we be learning about Autumn and the changes they can see in the environment. In order to take the children to the park we will need lots of parent helpers. Please let me know if you are available to join us. Thank you.

• Please make sure your child’s bag is replenished with spare clothes.                                                             
• Please make sure that all of your children's clothes are labelled, including gloves and hats.                               
• Please make sure your child is sent in with a cut up morning snack. 

• Please make sure all boys are sent in wearing tzitzit and kippah with clips.

If you have any queries please email Miss Cowen on tcowen@keremschool.co.uk

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 27th September

It is lovely to see that the children have settled so well staying all day at Nursery. They have also continued settling into the lunchtime routine.

This week we continued to discuss the class rules. We focused on turn taking and read a book called Sharing. It is about different situations and asked questions on what the children would need to do in different scenarios. For example if the children want the same toy, how they could resolve the situation fairly by using their words rather than their hands. This is something we will continue to work on at school. At home if situations arise where sharing is difficult, please help your child by modelling the correct use of words to achieve what they need.

In Expressive Arts and Design the children colour mixed paint to make green, by mixing blue and yellow. They then dipped the apples picked from the garden into the paint to make apple prints for their apple print placemats. This was linked to our Rosh Hashanah theme. We hope you enjoy using the mats during Rosh Hashanah and discuss the bracha on the placemat for eating fruit from the tree, focusing on the apple.

Each day we have being listening to a variety of action songs where the children listen to the instructions and then make the appropriate actions. We do these before our circle times first thing in the morning and after lunch. This covers many areas from Physical Development, Communication and Language and also Expressive Arts and Design.

Also in Expressive Arts and Design and Mathematics the children made hand print bees. They painted their hands yellow and then talked about the pattern on the bees body. The children then painted black stripes and a head of the bee.

Following on from the children’s interests of posting letters in the outdoor area we read the story the Jolly Postman. The children then wrote letters and put stamps on them. This linked to Literacy. It was lovely to see the children mark making and expressing what they had written in their letters.

In Mathematics when cutting the apples for apple printing we discussed whole and half. 

The children enjoyed threading the numbers to make number necklaces. We encouraged them to find numbers starting from zero to 10 in order. They threaded with good hand and eye co-ordination.

The children participated in playing the math's game Ten Green Bottles. They ordered the green bottles from 1 to 10 and placed them on the wall. It was so lovely to see such amazing turn taking. They then picked up a red tile and counted the dots using 1-1 correspondence. Then they had to find the bottle with the corresponding number and post it into the bottle bank.

We had a fun circle time where we learnt about weighing. We discussed heavier and lighter using the balance scales and then the children worked in groups experimenting to make one side heavier/lighter. Then they took out or put in different objects to make the scales balance.

Child initiated play:

The children enjoyed using the wooden bricks to build independently. They built synagogues and Alton Towers. It was lovely to see them really thinking about the design of their buildings. They carefully placed the bricks ensuring they were balanced.

They explored colour mixing themselves.

Davening in the home corner.

Reading independently.

The children enjoyed their first PE lesson in the outdoor area. Firstly they jumped and hopped around the cones that were set out. They then practised their ball control skills, kicking the ball around the cones.

In Music the children started by warming up their voices singing Twinkle Twinkle. Then they sang using different speed options from fast to slow. They then sang a song pointing to different parts of the body and enjoyed dancing to the music, stopping and freezing when the music stopped. The lesson ended with the children singing Dip the Apple in the Honey.

In Jewish Studies the children continued to learn about Rosh Hashanah. The children loved making their honey cakes. They discussed the recipe, then helped to measure out the ingredients.  We discussed why we eat sweet foods. They learnt how to check if the egg was kosher. This links to both Understanding the World and Mathematics. A lot of activities cover many of the different learning areas.  The children enjoyed having a tasting session in the Jewish Studies lesson where they tasted foods which were sweet and sour and then discussed the different flavours. 

It would be appreciated if you could return the plastic zip lock folders so we can re use. I hope you love the work that the children have enjoyed making in their Jewish Studies lessons.

We ended the week drinking grape juice and eating challah dipped in honey and also apple dipped in honey. Please see below the Shabbat rota which will start after all the Yom Tovs.

Other Information:

• Please see below the Shabbat rota which will start after all the Yom Tovs and also the Key Worker information for your child.

• Please make sure you send your child in with wellington boots and waterproofs so they don’t miss out on outdoor activities, for example jumping in muddy puddles and cooking in the mud kitchen.

• Also please make sure you send your child in with a fruit snack. The fruit snack must be cut. Also if you are sending in stone fruit the stone MUST be removed. Thank you.

• On your way to school if you see any conkers, acorns, fir cones or interesting leaves please would you bring them in. We will use the conkers etc for weighing and counting activities.

• Each week the children will have different lessons on specific days: (The days may change.)

       Monday: PE

       Tuesday:Music, Kodesh, Ivrit

       Wednesday: Kodesh, Ivrit

       Friday: Kodesh/Kabbalat Shabbat

We wish you and your family Shana Tova.

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Kabbalat Shabbat 

Please see the timetable below. 

Nursery - Key Workers

Nursery Newsletter 20th September

It was lovely to see so many of you at the Nursery Curriculum evening.

We have had another very busy week in Nursery. It has made us so happy to see how the children have come in so well, separating from their families and nannies at the door. When they come in to the classroom they put away their snacks and get ready for the day.

We are encouraging the children to self-register. They all have a named bee and when they come in we are helping them to find their names and put it in the pot. This will help with name recognition.

We have been going over the class rules and reminding the children the importance of listening to the teachers, putting their hands up if they want to ask a question and asking permission if they need to leave the classroom. We also talked about putting the lids on both glues and pens and what will happen if we don’t.

The main rule we focused on was being kind to each other. We read the book Hands Are Not For Hitting by Martine Agassi. We talked about what to do if another child takes a toy off them and that they must not use their hands to get it back but to use their words eg “I was playing with that, please may I have it back.” It is also important that they know that they can ask the teacher to help them resolve difficult situations. This is one of the main learning goals for Personal, Social and Emotional Development. 

It is important that the children get to know each other now we are altogether. Some of the children came up to the front of the class and introduced themselves by saying their name, their favourite colour and favourite food.  We will carry on next week so that everyone gets a chance.

In Expressive Arts and Design the children painted their own apple trees. They colour mixed together red, yellow and blue to make brown for the trunk of the tree. They then colour mixed blue and yellow together to make green and used this to make apple prints on their tree. They also used red paint to print red apples.

The children continued developing their mark making skills by both drawing pictures and using chalk in the outdoor area.

In Mathematics the children enjoyed learning about sinking and floating in the water tray which was made yellow to look like honey. We also discussed capacity where the children filled bottles. We talked about full, half full and empty. We also played a game where the children had to run, jump or hop to the number that was called out. 

The children loved playing Bingo where they listened to the number called and then looked at their board to see if they had the same objects to match the number. They used 1-1 correspondence to count the objects. 

Child Initiated play

It was lovely to see the children doing lots of child initiated play including:

Playing in sand.

Reading books independently.

Socialising and making new friends.

Cooking in the mud kitchen.

Making a farm. The children sorted the animals out by type and then counted how many of each there were.

Making a large farm with the blocks.

In Music the children enjoyed singing different Nursery rhymes including Twinkle Twinkle and Baa Baa Black Sheep. They also moved in different ways to the music. They grew bigger when the music got louder and they grew smaller when the music got softer.

In Tefillah we continued learning Modei Ani where we thank Hashem for waking us up and Torah Torah to remember that the Torah is our gift.

In Jewish Studies we learnt about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. We talked about how we eat sweet things, like apple and honey to ensure we have a healthy, happy and sweet new year. The children completed lovely Rosh Hashanah activities. Mrs Roodyn brought in the head of the fish, this is to remind us to be thoughtful like the head.

Reminders:

Please remember to send in any photos of authorised  adults picking your children up and please sign on the sheet outside the door if your child is going home with anyone different.

When sending in a fruit snack please make sure stoned fruit has been cut and the stone removed. All apples and other fruit must be cut. Grapes must be cut lengthways, not in half.  Thank you

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team