Thursday 26th March

Dear Parents

Firstly I want to wish Raymond a happy 4th birthday today. Have a great day.

We are continuing our weekly topic of traditional fairy tales. Today’s story is The Gingerbread Man. A video of the story will be sent out to you..

Please find below suggested activities that you can do with your children today. 

Please continue to send pictures and videos of your children learning so beautifully at home. It really cheers us up seeing what your children are all doing, especially during this difficult time.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Kind regards

The Nursery team

Communication and Language

Listen to the story The Gingerbread Man. Hope you enjoy!!

Literacy 

Before listening to the story please discuss with your child the repetitive phrase repeated in the story. 

Run, run, as fast as you can, You can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man. 

Please encourage your child to join in when this phrase is recited. It is important that we continue to expose the children to rhythm and rhyme. Please ask your child if they can tell you which two words rhyme.

Please continue to read lots of rhyming books. If you do not have any at home there is a selection that can be found on youtube. 

A few examples of rhyming books are:

Zog, A squash and a Squeeze,The Gruffalo and What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson.

Oi Frog, Oi Dog and Oi Cat by Kes Gray and Jim Field.

When reading the books please you can ask your child the following:

• Can they tell you key events that happened in the story

• Can they tell you the key characters in the story

• Can they retell the whole story in their own words

It is a great activity to develop your child’s confidence, communication skills, language and to extend their vocabulary.  If you can film your child talking to you, it would be lovely to see.

Mathematics

Ongoing

• Continue to complete the calendar daily.

• Continue to practise counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning using 1-1 correspondence.

• Continue to work on number recognition and 1-1 correspondence. A lovely Gingerbread Man activity will be sent out where the children have to cut out the gingerbread men, count the spots using 1-1 correspondence and then find the matching numbered pan.

The Gingerbread Man number and quantity matching cards will be sent out as an email.

• Number formation. Practise writing your numbers 1-10 using the correct formation.This can be done using different medias e.g chalk, shaving foam, flour. 

A number formation sheet has been previously sent out. 

Physical Development

Continue to practise throwing the ball underarm.

You can then introduce throwing the ball overarm .

Basic techniques for correct overarm throwing:

• Stand straight and upright, ball in your throwing hand, facing your target.

• If you are throwing with your right hand, turn sideways 90 degrees to your right (reposition your feet so you are standing sideways to your target).

• If you are throwing with your left hand, turn sideways 90 degrees to your left (reposition your feet so you are standing sideways to your target).

• Make sure your feet are shoulder-width apart.

• Lift your non-throwing arm to “point” at your target and shift your weight to your back foot.

• Lift your throwing hand so the ball is near your ear (right ear if you are throwing with your right hand, left ear if you are throwing with your left hand).  You are ready to throw.

• In one motion, shift your weight to your front foot, drop your pointing arm, and twist your torso as you bring your throwing arm over your shoulder to release the ball at your target.

Practise how far your child can throw the ball. This is a very good activity for developing your child’s gross motor skills and developing the strength in the upper body.

Gingerbread Man

A  Gingerbread Man pattern tracing template will be sent out.

Please show your child how to draw along the dots to form the pattern and then let them try to do this independently. This activity is to help develop pen control and your child’s concentration.

A blank gingerbread template will be also sent out for the children to design their own gingerbread man.  They can draw or decorate with different collage materials.

Expressive Arts and Design

Make playdough

Introduction

Play dough is a really quick, easy and satisfying thing to make. It can be used in all kinds of learning activities. It needs to be stored in an airtight container or bag if you are going to reuse it.

Making playdough is also an excellent fine motor activity especially when kneading the dough which will help to develop your child’s hand strength further.

Please discuss with your child the recipe and instructions and try to encourage your child to help measure out the ingredients.

Play Dough Ingredients

2 cups of plain flour

3⁄4 cup salt

2 cups of warm water 

Food colouring (optional)

Play Dough Equipment

Cup 

Bow

Spoon

Method

• Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water.

• Measure out 2 cups of plain flour and pour into the bowl.

• Measure out 3⁄4 cup of salt and pour into the bowl.

• Measure out 2 cups of warm water and pour into the bowl.

• You can add food colouring if you wish. (Just a drop of your favourite shade).

• Stir the mixture together. It will become sticky. Continue stirring until the mixture has 

  all come together.

• Once the mixture has come together, use your hands to knead the dough.

• If your play dough is too sticky you can add in extra flour.

• Knead the dough into a smooth lump.

You can add ginger or cinnamon if available to your playdough or anything else you may have in your cupboard. Encourage your child to knead the playdough like the old lady in the story of The Gingerbead Man. Then ask the following questions:

• What does it smell like?

•  Roll out the playdough. Use a Gingerbread Man cookie cutter if you have or if not you can use any shape cutters. 

• Decorate with raisins, googly eyes, beads etc. Can you use your dough to make any of the animals in the story? Gingerbread playdough mats will be sent out for you to use.

Wednesday 25th March

Dear Parents

I hope you are enjoying the videos. There will be more sent out throughout the week for your children to watch.

Please find below a selection of activities that you can complete with your children today. 

Although it is strange not seeing you all on a daily basis, it has been overwhelming to see the amazing work that has been done out of the school environment. The pictures and videos of your children learning so beautifully at home, has made us all so proud of them. Please continue to send in the photos and videos.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Kind regards

The Nursery team

Literacy

Goldilocks and the Three Bears Walk

Let your child explore by going on a walk (in your garden) like Goldilocks did in the forest. What can you see? Can you see flowers? Trees? Birds? Houses? ...etc. 

The children can then draw a picture of what they saw on their walk. Once they have finished their drawing it would be great if you could scribe for them and label their picture, so that we know what everything is. It would be great if you could take a picture of it and send it to us. (Some children may be keen to label their picture themselves) A sample picture is above, painted by Miss Lefort.

The children could use the binoculars that they previously made for their walk. This is a good activity for the children to develop their mark making skills. 

Mathematics

Ongoing:

• Continue to complete the calendar daily.

• Continue to practise counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning using 1-1 correspondence.

• Continue to work on number recognition and 1-1 correspondence.

• Number formation. Practise writing your numbers 1-10 using the correct formation.This can be done using different medias for example chalk, shaving foam, flour. (A number formation sheet has been previously sent out) 

Make bear sandwiches

Before making your child’s bear sandwich with them, please take the opportunity to discuss what healthy foods they could use to make the sandwich. 

• Let your child spread their own topping on their bread

• Let your child decide what fruit they would like to use for the ears and other facial features (see photo for ideas)

• Where possible let your child cut the fruit i.e the banana into slices

Cutting is good for developing fine motor skills.

You can ask some mathematical questions. What shape is the bread? How many corners are there? You could also talk to them about the edges that go around the bread.

The story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears offers so many mathematical opportunities.

• Talk about who is the tallest, shortest, oldest etc in your family. You could all make a line in size order

• How many bowls were there in the story? Can you find 3 different sized bowls in your kitchen? 

• Can you find 3 different sized bears? You might use your cuddly toys to represent the  characters in the story

• Can you find 3 spoons, 3 chairs, etc.? Place one bowl next to one spoon, next to one bear. This is a great 1-1 correspondence activity.

You can also look around the house to see which objects you can find that vary in size.

Physical Development/Mathematics

Goldilocks and the Three Bears - size ordering.  (This activity will be sent out by email)

Discuss the different sizes. Let your child cut out the pictures and then put into size order from the smallest to the largest. This is a very good activity to develop your child’s cutting skills.

Physical Development

Please continue to practise ball skills with your child focusing on throwing underarm. 

• Face your target

• Step with your opposite foot towards the target (i.e., if throwing with right hand, step towards target with your left foot)

• Use a pendulum arm motion with the arm you are throwing with (i.e., like you are bowling)

• Follow through to the sky or ceiling with hand you are throwing with

Firstly practise how far your child can throw the ball. This is a very good activity for developing your child’s gross motor skills.

To make this more fun, you can find a bucket or box for your child to throw the ball into. This is a game that family members could enjoy together, especially as the weather is so nice. You can use the bucket score sheet where your child can write their name and record their scores. (This sheet was previously sent out.)

Understanding the World

Discuss which festival is coming up.

Video story of Sammy Spider’s First Passover will be sent to you.

Expressive Arts and Design

Exploring different textures.

In the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears there are a lot of words used to describe different textures for example hot, cold, lumpy, soft and hard.

Let your child go around your home and see what items you can find to create a sensory book. What other words can you use to describe texture? What could you find that is smooth? What could you find that is fluffy? What could you find that is rough? Etc

Your child can make a little book with different textures.

Tuesday 24th March

Dear Parents

I hope you enjoyed the video of the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  There will be some more videos posted today for your children to watch. 

Today we are carrying on with the topic traditional fairy tales focusing on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Please find below a selection of activities that you can complete with your children today. 

Please continue to send any photos of your child completing the activities, so that they can be put into your child’s journal. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Kind regards

The Nursery team

Literacy

Revision this week:

General sound discrimination instrumental sounds

To experience and develop awareness of sounds made with instruments and noise makers

Please log into Busy Things  

Busy Things log in

Username/email:keremNursery

Password:           keremeyu

Go in to phase 1 -Sound discrimination.  

Let your child play the following games:

• One dog - band

• Wake a Dog

• What’s in the box

• Quiet or loud?

These games work on your child being able to select the correct sound to match the instruments played and also to differentiate between what is quiet and loud.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears 

Make stick puppets.

Goldilocks-    Let your child draw a little girl with blonde hair

Daddy bear-  Draw one big bear

Mummy Bear-Draw one medium size bear

Baby bear-    Draw one baby bear

Use different collage materials to decorate your puppets with eg using yellow wool for Goldilocks hair or if you don’t have wool you could use string and your child could colour the sting with a yellow felt tip pen. Let your child cut out their drawings and stick them onto lollipop sticks. Cutting is good for developing your child’s fine motor skills. A picture showing an example of the stick puppets will be posted onto the blog.

Mathematics

Ongoing:

• Continue to complete the calendar daily-

• Please sing the songs days of the week and months of the year.

Days of the week song- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXMofxtDPUQ

Months of the year-     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPeAo1hz8GA

Continue to ask your child questions eg Which day was it yesterday? What day is it tomorrow?

• Continue to practise counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning reciting the numbers names as each foot is placed on the step

• Continue to work on number recognition and 1-1 correspondence. It is important that when your child counts the number of objects, they point to each object reciting the number name at  the same time.

          Firstly ask your child to put the numbers in the correct order. 1-10/ 1-20.  (Numbers 1-20 previously sent)

          Next they need to count the correct number of objects using 1-1  correspondence to ensure

          the number of objects matches the number correctly. Different objects can be used, for example beads, animals or cars.

Making porridge:

Mrs Dagul’s Porridge recipe:

1 cup of porridge oats

200 ml water ( depends on the consistency you like)

2 teaspoons of honey

Optional- Add fruit 

Discuss the recipe and the instructions with your child on how to make porridge:

Measure out the different ingredients

Pour the water over the oats

Cook for 6 minutes on the stove and lower heat

Take off the heat

Add the honey and fruit

I will also send you another recipe that allows you to make the porridge in a microwave rather than on the stove.

Please discuss with your child what a recipe is. Then explain what the instructions are and how to make the porridge using the different ingredients.. Also please can you discuss how much of each ingredient is required and then demonstrate to your child how to measure out the correct quantities using different measuring tools.

I look forward to hearing about the special porridge your child makes and what extra ingredients they chose to put into their porridge.

Please send in any photos or videos of them making porridge.

Physical Development

Continue to practise ball skills with your child focusing on throwing underarm.

• Face your target

• Step with your opposite foot towards the target (i.e., if throwing with right hand, step towards target with your left foot)

• Use a pendulum arm motion with the arm you are throwing with (i.e., like you are bowling)

• Follow through to the sky or ceiling with hand you are throwing with

Firstly practise how far your child can throw the ball. This is a very good activity for developing your child’s gross motor skills.

To make this more fun you can find a bucket or box for your child to throw the ball into. This is a game that family members could enjoy together especially as the weather is so nice. I will send you a ball in the bucket score sheet where your child can write their name and put in their scores. 

Expressive Arts and Design/Communication and Language 

Please take photos and we would also love to see any videos.

Monday 23rd March

Dear Parents

We hope that you are all keeping safe and well. This week’s topic is traditional fairy tales. Please find below suggested activities that you can do with your children today. 

It has made the Nursery team feel really proud to see all the lovely work the children have been doing at home and thank you for supporting your children in completing these activities, it is very much appreciated. Please continue to send any photos of your child completing the activities, so that they can be put into your child’s journal. 

At school, the children spend a large part of the day learning through child initiated play. This is to enable them to develop their own ideas. It is important that the children get a mixture of both free play and where possible some adult led activities. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Kind regards

The Nursery team

Communication and Language

Listen to the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Hope you enjoy!!

Literacy 

After your child has listened to me reading the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (see video sent by email), please ask them the following:

• Can they tell you key events that happened in the story

• Can they tell you the key characters in the story

• Can they retell the whole story in their own words

If you can film your child talking to you, it would be lovely to see.

Mathematics

Ongoing:

• Continue to complete the calendar daily

• Continue to practise counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning reciting the number names as each foot is placed on the step

• Continue to work on number recognition and 1-1 correspondence

It is important that when your child counts the number of objects, they point to each object reciting the number name at the same time.

Firstly ask your child to put the numbers in the correct order.  1-10/ 1-20. (Numbers 1-20 previously sent)

Next they need to count the correct number of objects using 1-1  correspondence to ensure the number of objects matches the number correctly. Different objects can be used, for example beads, animals or cars.

New:

Number formation . Practise writing numbers 1-10 using the correct formation. This can be done using different media, for example chalk, shaving foam, flour.

A number formation sheet will be sent out by email for your child to practise.

Numbers to 12 can be linked to the famous song found in the Hagaddah Who knows One?

onehttps://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=utube+who+knows+one&view=detail&mid=4432490630C548D13C6B4432490630C548D13C6B&FORM=VIRE

Discuss with your children the following:

1= Hashem

2= the Luchot (the tablets of stone that Moses brought down)

3= the Fathers (Abraham,Isaac and Jacob)

4= the Mothers (Sarah,Rebecca,Rachel and Leah)

5= are the 5 books of the Torah

6= are the 6 books of the Mishnah (oral law)

7= the days of the week

8= are the days till a Brit Millah

9= are the months till a baby is born

10= are the ten commandments

11= are the stars in Joseph's dream

12= are the tribes of Israel

Physical Development

Please practice ball skills with your child. The focus this week is to be able to throw a ball underarm.

• Face your target

• Step with your opposite foot towards the target (i.e., if throwing with right hand, step towards target with your left foot)

• Use a pendulum arm motion with the arm you are throwing with (i.e., like you are bowling)

• Follow through to the sky or ceiling with the hand you are throwing with

Firstly practise on how far your child can throw the ball. This is a very good activity for developing your child’s gross motor skills.

Expressive Arts and Design

Act out the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This could be a family based activity where different family members take a part in the story. Let your child look around the house for different props to help them act out the story.

This is a good activity for developing your child’s vocabulary and communication and language skills. Please take photos and we would also love to see any videos.

A mask template will be sent out in an email which your child can cut out. This will enable them to develop their cutting skills.

The children can also draw and cut out and paint their own masks - The masks can be put onto lolly sticks or a straw and secured with elastic.

Friday 20th March 2020

Dear Parents

Please find below activities that you can do with your children today. Please continue to send any photos of your child completing the activities, so that they can be put into your child’s journal. 

It is really lovely to see some of the activities your children have been doing at home. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom

Kind regards

Miss Cowen

Literacy

Continue to work on developing your child’s listening skills.

Listening skills- Revision

To develop children’s listening and attention skills.

Continue to play different listening games on Busy Things.

General sound discrimination- environmental sounds.

• Which animal?

• Matching sounds

• Sound crates

• Searching for sounds

Busy Things log in

Username/email:keremNursery

Password:           keremeyu

Sound Shakers

Allow your child to make different sound shakers. Take a pair of socks and you can use some of the following items for them to listen to the different sounds that they can make: 

bells

rice

pom poms

beans

marbles

beads {different sizes and materials}

milk caps

stones

money

It is about developing your child’s listening ear and for them to understand that different objects make different sounds.

They can also play a matching game. Fill a variety of socks with the same objects and see if your child can find the matching pair.

Mathematics

Ongoing:

Continue to complete the calendar daily.

Continue to practise counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning using 1-1 correspondence.

Continue to work on number recognition and 1-1 correspondence. 

It is important that when your child counts the number of objects, they point to each object reciting the number name at the same time. 

Firstly ask your child to put the numbers in the correct order. 1-10/ 1-20. (Numbers 1-20 previously sent.)

Next they need to count the correct number of objects using 1-1 correspondence to ensure the number of objects matches the number correctly. Different objects can be used for example beads, animals or cars.

Understanding the World

Today is the first day of spring.

Discuss with your child the four different seasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BkkzF9z4-g

This is a fun song about spring that they could sing along to.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=utube+spring+is+here&view=detail&mid=695BCF47CCB2F883D4EB695BCF47CCB2F883D4EB&FORM=VIRE

Physical Development

Please continue practising mark making with your child.

Continue using the pattern cards that were sent yesterday.

Copy the patterns using different medias. You can fill a tray with flour, sand or shaving foam. The children can use their fingers to form the patterns. They can also use a cotton bud or paintbrush.

Expressive Arts and Design

Please encourage your child to look around your garden/park to see which spring flowers are growing. Perhaps you could take some photos and then encourage your child to pick one type of flower to paint. This is a good activity to develop your child’s creative skills.

They could also create a hand and footprint daffodil which is a fun and messy activity. This will allow your child to explore the feel of different textures and enjoy messy play at the same time.😀 (see attached photo)

If you would like to, your child could dip their foot in green paint for the stem of the daffodil, then dip their hand in the yellow paint for the flower part of the daffodil and then they paint in orange for the centre of the flower, the stamens. I look forward to seeing photos!!

Thursday 19th March 2020

Dear Parents

Please find below activities that you can do with your children today. Please continue to send any photos of your child completing the activities, so that they can be put into your child’s journal. 

It is really lovely to see some of the activities your children have been doing at home. 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Kind regards

Miss Cowen

Literacy

Continue to work on listening skills activities.

Listening skills- Revision

To develop children’s listening and attention skills.

See below a selection of listening games.

See if your child can tell you what the sound is before the answer is revealed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GhEGU0wUc0&t=33s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GhEGU0wUc0&list=TLPQMTYwMzIwMjBnFYX33qj5Bg&index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiDcUIYncCA&t=30s

Listening games on Busy Things.

General sound discrimination- environmental sounds.

• Which animal

• Matching sounds

• Sound crates

• Searching for sounds

Busy Things log in

Username/email:keremNursery

Password:           keremeyu

Mathematics

Ongoing:

Continue to complete the calendar daily.

Continue to practise counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning using 1-1 correspondence.

Number hunt

Please go on a number hunt to see which objects you can find around the house that have numbers on them. Please also discuss the pictures of where numbers can be found outside the home. (See email where you will find the link to some sample pictures of where numbers can be found around the environment).

Physical Development

Let your child practice mark making. (please see the email sent with some mark making patterns). See if your child can copy the patterns.

• They can either paint them onto paper

• Use a whiteboard and whiteboard pen

• Use cue tips dipped in paint

• Chalk them in the outdoor area

• Use a paint brush and water and mark make on to the paving stones

Expressive Arts and Design

Let your child design their own binoculars using a kitchen roll tube.

Discuss with your child the shape of the kitchen roll and that it is a cylinder and it is a 3d shape. 

The children can then use their binoculars to go on their number hunt!

Tuesday 17th March 2020

Dear Parents

Please find below activities that you can do with your children today.

It would be appreciated if you could send in any photos of your child completing the activities, so that they can be put into your child’s journal.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Kind regards

Miss Cowen

Literacy

Listening skills- Revision

To develop children’s listening and attention skills.

See below a selection of listening games.

See if your child can tell you what the sound is before the answer is revealed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GhEGU0wUc0&t=33s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GhEGU0wUc0&list=TLPQMTYwMzIwMjBnFYX33qj5Bg&index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiDcUIYncCA&t=30s

Mathematics

Please continue to complete the calendar daily with your child including the days of the week, months of the year, date, weather, season. You can ask your child questions i.e which day comes after Monday, Wednesday etc. Which month were they born in? (When is their birthday?)

Days of the week song- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXMofxtDPUQ

Months of the year-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPeAo1hz8GA

Counting 

It is important that the children work on their 1-1 correspondence.

Please count the number of steps up to bed and down in the morning. It is important that your child says the number as each foot is placed onto the step.

An email will be sent out with a puzzle to complete.

Firstly work on ensuring your child can recognise all the numbers to 10 and then find the card with the correct number of objects to match. It is important that when your child counts the number of objects, they point to each object reciting the number name at the same time. (10-20 is included if children can complete.)

Physical Development

The children enjoy music and movement activities. It is important that the children can listen to the instructions and then follow them independently. You may need to support them with this to start with. 

Please find below some fun music and movement activities with the Sticky kids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3UwfdiyApI

 bend and stretch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn02FVLBY-0

Head shoulders knees and toes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSBSD_hYpVg

We are going to jump.

Expressive Arts and Design

Junk modelling

Please let your child design something of their choice using junk modelling.

A few examples:- see photos above

Instruments:- Rainbow tambourine, rain stick, guitar.

Other ideas: A dragon, a robot.

This will help your child to extend and develop their own imagination.

Monday 16th March 2020

Dear Parents

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Please find below activities that you can do with your children today.

Please send in any photos of your child completing the activities, so that they can be put into your child’s journal.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me by email.

Kind regards

Miss Cowen

Nursery Newsletter- 13th March

In Literacy we explored different mouth movements for example – blowing, sucking, stretching and wiggling the tongue. The children practised making different sounds with their voices, for example:

■ going down a slide – wheee!

■ bouncing a ball- boing, boing.

■ hissing like a snake – ssssss.

■ keeping everyone quiet – shshshsh.

■ gently mooing like a cow – mmmoooo.

■ looking astonished – oooooo!

■ being a steam train – chchchchch.

■ buzzing like a bumble bee – zzzzzzz.

■ being a clock – tick tock.

In Expressive Arts and Design some of the children enjoyed exploring colour mixing and painted pictures with the colours they had made.

In Mathematics some of the children enjoyed playing in both the sand and water tray. They used cups to fill the different sized containers. They counted how many cups were required to fill them up. They also enjoyed counting beads on numbered pipe cleaners, practising their 1-1 correspondence. We also carried on reinforcing counting by rote and number recognition. The children decorated a number 1 as part of the Pesach book they will be making. They had to cut the paper to size, to fit the number. They then used a piece of Numicon to print the number 1 and made 1 dot and wrote the number 1.

In Understanding the World the children enjoyed STEM week. They enjoyed completing a variety of different science experiments. The first one was a fizzy colour experiment. The children used pipettes to squeeze drops of food colouring, mixed with white vinegar on to bicarbonate of soda. We discussed what happened and the children enjoyed sharing their ideas. We explained that the acid from the white vinegar caused lots of fizzing and the colours merged together to make other colours. 

Some of the children also enjoyed making boats. They cut out their own sails and attached them to the apple, which acted as the base of the boat. We then tested the boats to see if they floated. The children also enjoyed an oil and water experiment. They mixed oil and water together in a container and then shook it. They watched excitedly to see what happened and observed that the water and oil separated. We then added an egg yolk to the mixture and this caused the oil and water to mix together.

On Tuesday this week the children enjoyed celebrating Purim. It was lovely seeing them all dressed up. They enjoyed decorating their special bags to put in their mishloach manot which they had brought in to share with their peers. It was also wonderful to see the children confidently walk down the catwalk showing Reception and their classmates their costumes. They also enjoyed singing different Purim songs with Mr Fingerhut. The morning ended by hearing the Megillah with the Rabbi and the children shook their greggers when Haman’s name was mentioned.

In Jewish Studies the children started to learn about the next festival Pesach and that the holiday lasts for 8 days (7 days in Israel) and during this time we do not eat chametz - foods made using wheat flour.  We talked about where wheat grows and how it is made into flour. The children also started to learn about Seder night and have started to make their very own Seder plate.

In PE this week the children continued with the ongoing focus of developing their ball skills. They practised throwing and catching.

Important Reminder:

• Kippot and Tzitzit- Please make sure that all boys come in wearing kippot and tzitzit.

• Please make sure your child’s change of clothes bag is full. If there is no change of clothes and your child needs changing you will be contacted to bring them in so that we are able to help change your child. Please check at home to make sure that you don’t have any other child’s clothes. Thank you.

• Please remember to return your child’s library book by Wednesday so that your child can choose a new book to bring home.

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter- 6th March

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language some of the children enjoyed acting out the Purim story in the role play area, which has been turned into a palace. It was lovely to see the children expanding and developing their language and communication skills.

In Communication and Language the children enjoyed the weekly show and tell session. Some of the children asked questions to the child that had brought in their show and tell. They used key words to ask a question for example who, why and when. 

In Literacy the children explored how different sounds are articulated. The children used a mirror and played at making faces and copying movements of the lips and tongue. We talked about different sounds and words and discussed the way our lips move when sounding out ‘p’ and ‘b’, the way that the tongue pokes out for ‘th’, the way the teeth and lips touch for ‘f’ and the way lips shape the sounds ‘sh’ and ‘m’.

In Expressive Arts and Design some of the children enjoyed decorating the palace in the role play area by cutting out rectangular shapes for the bricks and then painting them. The children enjoyed colour mixing and painting the bricks a variety of different colours.

In Mathematics some of the children enjoyed doing number puzzles by counting the number of objects and finding the matching numeral. Some of the children used the magnetic numbers to make sums and also practised their number formation.

In Understanding the World some of the children enjoyed planting the potatoes that had been chitting on the window sill. The children helped to fill the potato sacks to just under half full and then they carefully placed five potatoes into each sack with the roots pointing upwards. They then covered the potatoes with more soil. 

In Jewish Studies this week the children continued to learn about Purim. They have enjoyed making their own greggers to take to shul and they learnt to make a noise when they hear Haman’s name.They had fun making different masks and crowns.

The children continued to make puppets for Purim. This week they focused on Queen Vashti, Mordechai, Haman and King Ashaverosh. The children used a variety of different collage materials.

In PE this week the children continued to develop their ball skills focusing on catching and kicking the ball. The children also pretended to be different animals.

In Music the children continued to learn a variety of Purim songs.

Important Reminder:

• Kippot and Tzitzit- Please make sure that all boys come in wearing kippot and tzitzit.

• Please could you send in any junk modelling. 

• Please remember to return your child’s library book by Wednesday so that  your child can choose a new book to bring home.

• Please make sure your child’s school bag has spare clothes in it.

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter- 28th February 2020

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language we read a variety of different books covering different areas of PSHE.  We talked about the correct use of our hands and making sure our words are kind. We also discussed the topic of germs and the importance of washing our hands. It was lovely to see the children joining in the discussions.

In Communication and Language the children enjoyed the weekly show and tell session.

In Literacy we continued with alliteration and made up fun sentences. For example Ben has a big ball, Tim has ten tickly toes. This is something you could practice at home.

In Expressive Arts and Design and Understanding the World the children continued with the topic of space and finished their space books.  They made their own stars, planet Earth and drew and cut out their own aliens. The children continued to enjoy junk modelling and made a variety of aliens and space rockets.

In Mathematics we continued to complete the calendar, singing the days of the week and months of the year songs. The children continued singing number songs and played number games on the IWB to extend their number recognition. Some of the children enjoyed playing with the numbered cars and parking then in the numbered car park. They had to count the number of dots and then find the matching car number. 

In Understanding the World the children made bird feeders by threading Cheerios onto the pipe cleaners.  We discussed how in the winter when the weather is cold food is scarce. Please hang the bird feeders in your garden and watch to see which birds come to visit. We would love to see any photos that you can take and then we can share them with the class.

Each year we plant potatoes in our garden area but before we can plant the seed potatoes we have to chit them. Chitting is when the seed potatoes has to sprout before planting. We will be watching the potatoes on our windowsill to see how they change and when they sprout we will be able to plant them. 

In Jewish Studies the children have started to learn about Purim. They have enjoyed making their own greggers to take to shul to make a noise when they hear Haman’s name. They also had fun making different masks and crowns.

The children started making puppets for Purim. This week they focused on Queen Ester using a variety of different collage materials and next week they will complete the rest of the characters in the Purim story. 

In PE the children continued to develop their listening skills to follow instructions. They enjoyed  playing a variety of balls games.

In Music the children focused on Purim learning the song Chag Purim, Chag Purim, Chag Gadol L’yeladim.

Important Reminder:

• Kippot- Please make sure that all boys come in wearing kippot.

• Further to the email from Ms Simon it was decided with Kerem Cares: Kehilla that birthdays will no longer be celebrated with cake or treats. You can now make a  donation of a book to the class or a donation to a charity. We will still blow out candles and sing happy birthday to your child on their special day.

• Please could you send in any junk modelling. 

• Please remember to return your child’s library book by Wednesday so that  your child can choose a new book to bring home.

Shabbat Shalom

The Nursery Team