Nursery Newsletter - 24th January

Dear Parents | הורים יקרים,

We’ve had another fun and busy week at school!

It’s heartwarming to see the children playing collaboratively, taking turns, and sharing so nicely. They have truly become a cohesive group, which is wonderful to observe. They had great fun hoovering the Nursery classroom with our miniature Henry Hoover—just like the real one! Role play is an excellent way to develop the children’s personal and social skills while also expanding their vocabulary and communication and language skills.

Show and Tell

This week, we continued with our ‘Show and Tell’ sessions. The children enjoyed asking questions to those who brought in their ‘Show and Tell’ items. We have been focusing on using question words such as ‘who,’ ‘what,’ ‘when,’ and ‘why.’ This is an ongoing focus for the rest of the term and ties into the area of Communication and Language.

Literacy

In Literacy, we continued practising oral blending and segmenting, with a particular focus on words beginning with the letter sound ‘t.’

The children also learned the letter sound ‘t,’ exploring words that start with this sound. They reviewed alliteration and practised finding words that rhyme with ‘teach and teacher.’
Throughout the week, they:

•  Shared objects representing the letter sound ‘t’ with the class,
•  Created hand-printed tigers, and
•  Practised writing the letter ‘t.’

These activities also tie into Expressive Art and Design.

Supporting at Home:
If you practise letter sounds with your child, please use the correct pronunciations. For reference, here is a video demonstrating the proper sounds: Click here.

Mathematics

In mathematics, we practiced our counting skills up to 20. We also explored positional language, where the children enjoyed coming to the front of the class to position themselves and a toy dog in various positions, including “in front of,” “behind,” and “next to.” Additionally, we learned new vocabulary such as “beneath.”

Art 

We read the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds, a beautiful story about a girl named Vashti who learns to overcome self-doubt with encouragement from her teacher. Inspired by Vashti’s story, the children created their own dot pictures using a variety of colours, including experimenting with colour mixing.
These activities link to Expressive Art and Design and Understanding the World. The children’s dot pictures were amazing and very individual. Like true artists, they signed their artwork, which we will continue to display. Next week, we will explore more about artists.

Music
The children began the lesson by saying hello and introducing themselves. They continued from last week’s activities, performing actions to music by Beethoven and singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” with accompanying movements. They enjoyed hiding under the parachute while singing and concluded the lesson by chatting with Mrs. Cohen’s special turtle puppet.

PE
In PE today, Nursery focused on developing their core strength through exercises such as squats and star jumps as well as learning team skills, playing games.

Ivrit
We are so excited that the Festival of Spoken Ivrit Theatre Company are once again visiting the EYU. The show that will be performed is called The Lion and the Mouse.

This week we learnt many Ivrit words in preparation for the show. 
Lion אריה (aryeh)
Mouse עכבר (achbar)
Stork חסידה (chasida)
Bear דוב (dov)
Present מתנה (matana)
Crown כתר (keter)

We played games and made a crown (keter) to wear for the day of the show.
We can't wait to welcome the Israeli Theatre company next Monday.

Jewish Studies
This week, Nursery continued exploring the Jewish Way of Life topic of Berachot (blessings), focusing on the beracha of Ha-Adama. This blessing is recited for fruits that grow directly from the ground or from plants and vines that wither and require replanting each year to produce fruit, such as pineapples, melons, watermelons, bananas, and strawberries. Do you have a favourite Ha-adama fruit? We played a game, putting different fruits in either Ha-Adama or Ha-etz baskets; it was a bit tricky but lots of fun! Each of the children made a cool pineapple out of card, crayons, tissue and other crafty resources, each one different from each other, but equally wonderful. Just like the Nursery children themselves!

We also reviewed the story of baby Moshe in Mitzrayim and looked at parashat Va’era, in which Hashem told Moshe to go to Paroh to ask him to let Benei Yisrael go. Wicked Paroh refused, so Hashem sent seven plagues: blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, animal sickness, boils & hail. We listened to the song Frogs Here, Frogs There and made up some fabulous actions to go with it. We also heard an extremely catchy song by Uncle Moishy called Makkos, which you can have a listen to at home, and which you will probably find yourself humming for the next week! Nursery children joined forces with Reception class to welcome Mr Faik from Wild Fangs Animal Encounters to the EYU. The children saw and touched lots of different and fascinating creatures (including amazing frogs) and asked lots and lots of questions, which Mr Faik so patiently answered! Children, I am so proud of how gentle and calm you were with the animals and how much you connected with this week’s parasha and the plagues that Hashem sent to the Mitzrim through this animal encounter. Each of the children made brilliant springy frog pictures which came out so well!

Today, we had our Kabbalat Shabbat party. Here are this week’s Shabbat table participants:
Shabbat Aba: Ray
Shabbat Ima: Abigail
Shabbat Ben: Arthur
Shabbat Bat: Mia

Reminders

• Show and Tell Rota: Please check if it’s your child’s turn and send them in prepared.
• Snack Time: If you think your child may get hungry, please send an extra fruit snack.
• Tu B’Shvat Fruit Sign-Up: On Monday, 27th January, a sign-up sheet will be outside the classroom for Tu B’Shvat fruit contributions. Tu B’Shvat will take place on Wednesday, 12th February 2025. Please sign your child’s name next to the fruit you will bring.
• Next Week: The children will learn the letter sound ‘p.’ Please send your child in with an object beginning with the letter sound ‘p’ by Monday, 27th January. Kindly ensure the objects are items your child is comfortable leaving at school for a short period.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.
Shabbat Shalom,
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari, and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter - 17th January

Dear Parents | הורים יקרים,

We had another fun and busy week at school!

This week, we continued discussing the class rules, reinforcing the importance of good sharing and kindness towards each other. This activity supports the area of Personal, Social, and Emotional Development.

We also started our ‘Show and Tell’ sessions for this term. The children practised asking questions, with a few of them chosen to engage their peers who brought items for ‘Show and Tell.’ Our focus was on using the question words who, what, when, and why, and we will continue developing their understanding of these over the coming weeks. This activity is aligned with the Communication and Language area of learning.

Literacy
In Literacy, we continued practising oral blending and segmenting. This week, we focused on words that begin with the letter sound ‘a.’

• The children learned the letter sound ‘a’ and explored which words start with this sound.
• They reviewed alliteration and practised finding words that rhyme with ‘ant.’
• During the week, they shared objects representing the letter sound ‘a’ with the class, created hand-printed alligators, and practised writing the letter ‘a.’

These activities also link to Expressive Art and Design.

If you are practising letter sounds with your child at home, please ensure you use the correct pronunciations. For reference, here is a video demonstrating the proper sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJx1NSineE.

Next week, the children will learn the letter sound ‘t.’ Please send your child in with an object beginning with the letter sound ‘t’ to share with the class. All items must be brought in by Monday, 20th January. Kindly ensure the objects are items your child is happy to leave at school.

Mathematics
This week, we explored basic 2D shapes, revising shape names, including more complex shapes like pentagons, hexagons, and octagons. Some children enjoyed creating different patterns using a variety of shapes.

Art and Artists
Over the coming weeks, the children will be learning about different artists. To prepare, we explored colour mixing. We read the book Mixed and discovered how the three primary colours can be combined to create a variety of new colours. The children enjoyed experimenting with colour mixing and created beautiful pieces of artwork. We also discussed how adding white makes colours lighter and adding black makes them darker.
This activity links to Expressive Arts and Design and Understanding the World.

Music
The children began the lesson by saying hello in Gujarati: “Kemcho.”
They then performed actions to some music by Beethoven and sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” with accompanying actions. They had fun playing a game with the parachute and ended the lesson by counting with Mrs. Cohen’s special turtle puppet.

PE
In PE this week, Nursery focused on developing core motor skills, such as running, jumping, hopping, and balancing.

Ivrit
We had another great week in Ivrit, learning a new song called 'Chamesh Tipot Be'toch Anan' (5 drops inside a cloud). Here is a link to the song -  
https://youtu.be/zJEubNsv29w?feature=shared
Enjoy listening to it with your child and practise some new words: 
Anan 'cloud' ענן
Tipa 'drop' טיפה
Geshem 'rain' גשם

We also saw Podi, but because hedgehogs like to sleep during the winter (חורף) season, we had to make sure Podi is dressed warm enough. 

We also used our interactive board with Misaviv La'olam program and the children enjoyed playing with it while learning new exciting words in Ivrit about winter חורף.

Jewish Studies
This week Nursery class started a three-part project on Brachot as a class as part of our Jewish Way of Life curriculum. This week’s delicious focus was on the bracha Ha Etz, which is what we say on fruit and veggies like apples, olives, oranges, cherries and pears which grow from a perennial tree/vine (one that does not renew their stem ) and does not grow too close to the ground. We talked about how sometimes we try new fruit and we don't always know the right bracha for it, so the children were interested to have a go using brachos.org where we plugged in lots of different yummy things and within seconds we were graced with the right bracha. What fun! The children each made fabulous fruit paintings to take home and for an EYU bracha display, which looks absolutely gorgeous. Have a look on Tapestry over the next few days for a peek!

Nursery also explored the amazing, exhilarating Parasha of Shemot. In Shemot, Moshe is born into a Jewish family in Mitzrayim just as Paroh, the King of Mitzrayim wanted to get rid of all Jewish baby boys! Moshe's mummy, Yocheved was very brave and hid him at home for as long as she could. When she couldn’t hide him any longer, she chose to put him in a basket in the river, hoping that he would reach safety. Moshe’s sister Miriam watched after him as he floated along the Nile to make sure he was alright. Paroh’s daughter Batya spotted him and reached and took him out of the water. She took Moshe home to the palace where he grew up. Wow! Yocheved was kind, Miriam was kind and Batya was kind, and they were also all extremely brave! They could have got into a lot of trouble for their kindness. We discussed the people in our lives who are kind to us: our beloved parents, grandparents, friends and teachers were all mentioned. We had a go at singing a little song to the tune of 'Darling Clementine', the lyrics being
In the water,in a basket,
Who could that sweet baby be? 
In the water, in a basket, floating oh so quietly. 
It was Moshe, baby Moshe, baby Moshe- so tiny. 
It was Moshe , baby Moshe put there by his kind mummy.
Each of the children made a fabulous Baby Moshe Floating in the Nile craft. Well done children, they look beautiful!

Today, we had our Kabbalat Shabbat party, and the following children were on the Shabbat table:
Shabbat Aba: Sacha
Shabbat Ima: Serena
Shabbat Ben: Elisha
Shabbat Bat: Amelia

Reminders

• Please remember to check the Show and Tell rota and send your child in if it is their turn.
• If you think your child may get hungry, please send them an extra fruit snack.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.
Shabbat Shalom
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari, and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 10th January

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

We hope you all had a lovely break and we wish you all a happy and healthy 2025.

We had a fun first week back at school!

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development, firstly we discussed the class rules. We reiterated the importance of kindness towards our classmates, using kind words, taking turns and sharing. 

The children had fun in our new role play area a ‘coffee shop’ where they enjoyed making cappuccinos with our pretend coffee machine. It was lovely seeing them interacting with each other. Role play is an amazing way to develop both their Personal, Social and Emotional skills and Communication and Language further.

In Literacy, we continued to work on oral blending and segmenting. The children listened to the new words being sounded out. It is great to see them getting more confident in working out what the words are. 

The children started to learn the letter sounds following the phonics scheme, Essential Letters and Sounds. This is the scheme that the whole school is following and they will continue as they go into Reception. They learnt the letter sound ‘s’. We discussed which words begin with the letter sound ‘s’ and reminded the children what alliteration is.  The children also had fun seeing how many words they could say that rhymed with the word snake. 

They shared with the class the objects they had chosen to represent the letter sound learnt. They made a sun for the letter sound ‘s’ and learnt to write the letter ‘s’ using the correct formation. This also links to the area Expressive Art and Design. 

If you are practising the letter sounds with your child, please make sure you are using the correct pronunciations. Attached is a video of how to pronounce each of the sounds correctly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJx1NSineE

Next week the children will learn the letter sound ‘a’. Please could you send your child in with an object beginning with the letter sound ‘a’ to share with the class. Please can all objects be brought in on Monday 13th January. Only send in items that your child is happy to leave in school.

In Mathematics, we completed the calendar. We discussed that it is now January and that it is the new year of 2025. We spoke about the four seasons and that it is winter and how during the winter the weather changes. We chatted about the different clothing we wear to keep us warm over the winter months. The children created winter pictures including making snowmen. This also covers the area of Understanding the World and Expressive Art and Design.

In Mathematics the focus has been revising simple patterns where we discussed different patterns that can be found in fabrics including spots and stripes. Some of the children enjoyed making coloured patterns using the pegs and made patterns using the different sized teddies. We continued to develop their understanding of daily routines which is done by using the visual timetable and talking about what happens next.

We revised numbers 0-10 and the children were keen to practise writing the different numbers.

This week the children had their first library session of the term where they listened to a story and then selected a book to bring home. All library books must be returned no later than Tuesday of each week.

PE
In PE today Nursery focused on developing their core motor skills such as Running, jumping, Balancing, Squats, Throwing and catching through different activities and movements.

Ivrit
It was so lovely to welcome the children back to Nursery after a long break. I hope everyone had a great holiday.

This week, the children were introduced to our new topic 'Choref' 'חורף' -  winter.
They met another friend of Podi's, Shoobi Doobee, and they helped dress him up for the winter season.
We created 'geshem' 'גשם' (rain) with our fingers and sang songs in Ivrit about the rain.

We learned the word 'mitriya' 'מטריה' (umbrella) and how it is so important to use when it's raining - גשם. The children jumped in our 'makeshift' rain puddle and used the umbrella to protect themselves.

We played the 'What is Missing?' game, with hidden pictures and the children worked hard to guess what was missing. 

Jewish Studies:

Nursey class it is great to be back in your happy company, I have really missed seeing your smiling faces! Each of the children is doing so nicely with their tefillah, so this week we have started to integrate Adon Olam into our morning routine. Adon Olam is such a beautiful prayer that reminds us that Hashem is the true Master of the Universe; always with us, and a constant source of comfort and fortitude. There are lots of different tunes for Adon Olam, some that are solemn and others that are zesty and upbeat. Do you have a favourite melody for Adon Olam in your family? There is a lovely version that can be found here Halleli Adon Olam . Have a listen at home and see if your child can join in or clap along. The children each made colourful spiral mobiles that spin round and round, just like the Earth, under the watchful and loving eye of Hashem. 

This week, Nursery class had a very quick whistlestop tour of the Jewish family tree as we refreshed our memories about Avraham, Sarah, Yitschak Rivkah, and Yaacov. We learned about Yaacov’s wives and children. We discussed Yaacov’s son Yosef, his special cloak, his brothers’ jealousy and his journey to Mitzrayim! We then focussed on this week’s parasha of Vayechi in which Grandpa Yaacov now an old man recites a blessing called  ‘Hamalach Hagoel Oti’ over his beloved grandchildren. This song is often sung at night as a sort of lullaby by mummies and daddies across the Jewish world. The children made a fabulous Hamalach Hagoel Oti crafts depicting a Jewish child sleeping in bed with the words of Yaacov's lullaby peacefully drifting over her. If you would like to listen at home, here is a link to a Modern Israeli version of Hamalach Hagoel Oti which the children absolutely loved listening to in class!

Today we had our Kabbalat Shabbat party and the following children were on the Shabbat table:

Shabbat Aba  Emmanuel
Shabbat Ima  Mia
Shabbat Ben  Ray
Shabbat Bat  Abigail

Reminders:

• Please post holiday pictures on Tapestry so the children can share with their friends.
• As doors and windows will be open during the day, please make sure your child has extra clothing to put on if they are cold.
• Please make sure you send your child in with hats, gloves and snoods which are preferred instead of scarves for safety. Please make sure all items of clothing are labelled, including shoes, gloves, hats.
• Please can you send in any junk modelling that you may have including small boxes, egg boxes, empty kitchen rolls.
• You will have received the new Show and Tell schedule. This will start next week on Thursday 16th January. Please check the schedule for when it is your child’s turn.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend. 

Shabbat Shalom.
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 13th December

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

I can’t believe this is my last Newsletter for this term.

The highlight of the week was our Chanukah sing-along and thank you for joining in. It made it extra special for the children to be able to sing along with you. They worked hard to prepare the special video and we hope you enjoyed it. It was such a lovely way to end the most amazing first term. We are so proud of all the children for what they have achieved in such a short time. They have grown both in their confidence and in their learning and it has been lovely to see. 

This week the children painted their Chanukiah with Mrs Dagul. We hope you enjoy lighting your child’s chanukiah that you made with them. I think you will all agree they painted them so beautifully. We want to wish you all a Happy Chanukah! Please post any pictures of your child lighting their chanukiah on Tapestry. 

The above is linked to the areas of Communication and Language and Expressive Arts and Design.
    
In Literacy, we continued to work on oral blending and segmenting. The children enjoy listening daily to the new words being sounded out. It is great to see them getting more confident in working out what the words are. The children also listened to new CVC words being spoken, where they had to work out what the initial, middle and end sounds were.  We will be continuing with this next term and will start to learn one letter sound a week.

Please could you send your child in with an object beginning with the letter sound ‘s’ to share with the class. Please can all objects be brought in on Tuesday 7th January. Only send in items that your child is happy to leave in school.

It was our last ‘Show and Tell’ session of the term.  Again, really interesting items were brought in. It is wonderful to see how the children have gained so much confidence when speaking in front of their peers. This links to the area of Communication and Language. Show and Tell will resume next term.

This week there was no library session. Library will resume next term. 

In Mathematics we revised numbers 0-10. The children had fun going over each of the numbers, counting different objects using 1;1 correspondence for each number and then learning how to write each of the numbers. 

Mrs Dagul did her last baking session for the term. The children made chocolate muffins which they enjoyed eating as a special end of term treat. 

Music
The lesson began with the children listening to Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, engaging in actions connected to Chanukah as they moved along with the music. They explored a variety of musical instruments, practising playing and stopping in time. The children then sang the Chanukah song Al Hanissim with enthusiasm. The session concluded with a conversation led by Mrs. Cohen’s special puppet, as the children excitedly shared their plans for Chanukah celebrations.

Ivrit
Enjoy completing your Chanukah activity booklet and have a wonderful winter break.

PE
In PE today, Nursery focused on developing their core and leg strength through different exercises such as squats, lunges, hopping and star jumps.

Jewish Studies
In Jewish Studies this week, Nursery looked into Chanukah a little more with the focus this week on the miracle of the oil and the significance of latkes and sufganiyot. We also talked about Jalebi which are fried sweet treats eaten by Jews from Morocco and India. Yum yum! Each child made a gorgeous latka frying pan craft to take home!

We also looked at parashat Vayishlach. In Vayishlach, the time has come for Yaakov to return home with all his family. He is frightened to meet his brother Esav because the last time they were together Esav was angry with him. Yaakov wants to make friends so he sends lots of presents to Esav. He sends lots of goats, sheep, cows, donkeys and even some camels. When they meet this time, Yaacov and Esav don’t quarrel. We learn from this that even if we don’t get along with someone very well, we still have to be polite, respectful and nice. Each of the children made a fabulous textured sheep picture as an aide memoir. 

The Reception and Nursery children joined forces and participated in an amazing Chanukah Extravaganza! First the EYU was visited by Captain Fantastic who amazed us all with his wise cracks and his cool magic. What a wonderful Chanukah treat! Everyone then made their way over to the Main School to join their big brothers and sisters and mummies and daddies for a beautiful and meaningful Chanukiah lighting. Children, you have worked so hard this term and we are so excited to have shared another wonderful chag with you. We cannot wait to welcome you back to the EYU to learn about the next chagim after the Winter break. 

On Friday we had our beautiful Shabbat party.

The following children were on the Shabbat table today:

Shabbat Ima   Rebecca
Shabbat Aba   Arthur
Shabbat Ben   Emmanuel
Shabbat Bat   Serena

Fun things you can do on your holidays:
Mathematics:

• Continue to look at numbers in the environment. Discuss with your child which numbers you can see on doors and buses. Also look for objects containing numbers, for example tape measures, telephones, weighing scales.
• Please keep on practicing your child’s counting skills, for example by counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning.
• You can go on a shape hunt. Discuss with your child all the different shaped objects you can see when out and about, eg, what shape is the pizza or the wheels on your car.

Literacy:
Rhythm and rhyme:

• During the holidays read rhyming stories to your child and discuss with them which words rhyme. Explore with them how many rhyming words can they make to create a rhyming string. These words can be made up. For example pat,cat,hat, jat, mat, vat.

Gross and fine motor skills:

It is important to continue to work on your child’s fine and gross motor skills.

• Lovely activities for both fine and gross motor skills can be found on the following Improve Kids Fine Motor Skills with 30 Materials & Activities Websites:
• Hands on as you grow fine motor skills:https://handsonaswegrow.com/fine-motor-skills-activities/
• Hands on as you grow gross motor skills:https://handsonaswegrow.com/kids-activities/gross-motor-activities/
• Fine motor skills Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.co.uk/TheOTToolbox/fine-motor-skills/
• Gross Motor Skills Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.co.uk/stirthewonder/gross-motor-activities/
• Practice your child’s scissor cutting skills. It is important to remind your child to keep their thumb on top when cutting.

Pen and pencil grip:

• It is important to continue to model the correct pen/pencil grip to your child. At this stage your child should be able to mark make and express what they have drawn.

Tapestry:

• It would be lovely to see photos and videos of fun activities you do with your child during the  holidays. It would be lovely to be able to share with the class on our return . Please post on Tapestry.

We want to thank you all for all your support.

We look forward to seeing you all back next term.

We wish you all a lovely break.

Shabbat Shalom, 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 6th December

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

This week has been another very busy week in Nursery!

We talked about being very kind to our friends, ensuring we use kind words and kind hands at all times. The children are really starting to be able to use their words more to resolve different situations. We continued to focus on using our manners making sure we say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. It is lovely to see that the children are starting to do this automatically without always having to be prompted.

The above is linked to the areas of Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language.
    
In Literacy, we continued to work on oral blending and segmenting. The children enjoy listening daily to the new words being sounded out. It is great to see them getting more confident in working out what the words are. The children also listened to new CVC words being spoken, where they had to work out what the initial, middle and end sounds were. 

We continued to read different rhyming stories which the children like to inform you of which words rhyme.

We went over what alliteration is; when words begin with the same letter sound. The children enjoyed playing whose name begins with which letter sounds, whilst completing the register. We also discussed whose names begin with the same sound. The children also had fun trying to make up tongue twisters for each of the initials in the children’s first names.

You can also play, ‘I Spy With My Little Eye’, something beginning with the letter sound ‘s’,’a’ etc. Your child can go around the house and see what objects they can find that begin with the same sound. Teaching the correct letter sound is important, so I have attached a video for you to listen to, to hear how each sound is pronounced before you teach your child.
Please watch the attached video which will help you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJx1NSineE

The children enjoyed their weekly visit to the library where they selected a new book to bring home. Please make sure you return your child’s library book no later than Tuesday of the following week.

We enjoyed more amazing ‘Show and Tell’ this week, where the children spoke with confidence, sharing what they had brought in. This links to the area of Communication and Language.

The children also carried on practising writing their names with Mrs Uddin. The key focus is making sure the children start each letter at the correct starting point. If practising at home, they must learn the correct formation and starting points. 

In Maths we carried on learning about Subitising. The children stayed focused while a selection of objects was shown on the screen and the children had to work out how many objects there were without counting them. Story books where children can see up to three characters are a great way to extend children ‘s subitising skills. The children enjoyed listening to ‘The Three Little Pigs’ where they continued to practise this.

The number of the week was number 10. We found ten of a variety of different objects. We showed ten fingers and discussed how to write the number 10. Please continue to look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with a 10.

The children had another fun baking session with Mrs Dagul making latkes. Mrs Dagul discussed with the children how we make them and all the different ingredients needed. She showed them how you grate potatoes using the grater. She also explained to them that she wears a special glove to protect her hands when grating. The children took turns to put all the ingredients into a bowl and then mixed them all together. She discussed the special ingredient ‘oil’  and went over the miracle of Chanukah and how the oil was only meant to last for one day, but it lasted for 8. This also links to Physical Development and Understanding the World.

Last week the children started learning how to play with the Beebots which are small programmable robots. This introduces the children to creating simple programs. This week the children continued to practice moving the Beebots around the classroom, in different directions including right and left. Some of the children also tried to see who could get to the other side of the room the fastest. They all had great fun. This also was good for practising their counting skills because they had to count as they pressed the button to see how many moves the BeeBot was going to make. It was also lovely to see them working collaboratively. This covers the area of Understanding the World and Maths.

Music
In Music this week the children continued to practise different Chanukah songs which they are excited to share with you at our Chanukah singalong.

PE
In PE, the children developed their core motor skills and played games that focused on their agility, hand-eye coordination and reflexes.

Ivrit
This week we had fun practising our Chanukah song. We counted Nerot נרות (candles) in Ivrit and learned about their colours, such as adom אדום (red), kachol כחול (blue), tzahov צהוב (yellow) and Yarok ירוק (green). 

We made a Sevivon picture and played with the Sevivonim.

Jewish Studies

In Jewish Studies this week, we continued to look into Chanukah. Each of the children made a handprint Chanukiah card to give to mummy and daddy, which we will be sending home closer to the chag. We also focused on the sevivon/dreidel and how it was used by the Jewish people to trick Antiochus’ soldiers into thinking they were playing a game instead of learning Torah- what a clever ruse! We decorated our own tiny sevivonim/dreidels with the letters Nun, Gimmel, Hey and Shin, for Nes Gadol Haya Sham and sang lots of Chanukah songs including Sevivon, Sof Sof Sof, I Had a Little dreidel and Maoz Tsur. We read lots of Chanukah books in class, including an old favourite Maccabee Jimboree by C.Holland.

Nursery class also looked at Parasha Vayetzei. In the parasha, Yaacov leaves home and travels to Charan to find a wife. On the way, he stops for a rest and has a dream in which Malachim are going up and down a ladder reaching all the way up to the heavens. Hashem tells him that he will have lots of children and that they will inherit the land of Israel. Nursery children made beautiful sparkly abstract pictures of Yaacov's ladder with lots of colourful gems and heavenly clouds made from white tissue paper. We integrated a spot of maths and movement into our parasha lesson by playing all sorts of ladder games: spinning dice and laying corresponding lollipop stick rungs down, building ladders from stickle bricks and comparing their heights and adding and subtracting rungs from a giant ladder made of foamy bricks in the Nursery playground. We had a go using the foamy brick rungs as stepping stones - jumping and balancing and having an absolute ball. Well done Nursery, you showed such brilliant can-do attitudes!

On Friday we had our beautiful Shabbat party.

The following children were on the Shabbat table today:
Shabbat Ima   Amelia
Shabbat Aba   Elisha
Shabbat Ben   Sacha
Shabbat Bat    Serena

Reminders:

• Please make sure you send your child in with a coin for Shabbat. We like the children to learn and understand the importance of giving Tzedakah.
• Now that the weather is turning cold please can you make sure your children have suitable clothing for outdoor play, including gloves and scarves. Please can you make sure that scarves are not long and are safe as during play these can get pulled. Snoodes are a very safe option. Please can you also make sure all these items are clearly labelled.
• Date for the diary: We are looking forward to seeing you at our Chanukah show on Wednesday 11th December at 9.00 am. We will be starting prompt. Your child will need to be dropped off promptly on this day at 8.30 am so that we can be ready to start on time. 

Shabbat Shalom, 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 29th November

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

This week has been another very busy week in Nursery!

The highlight of the week was seeing you making your child’s Chanukiah with them. There was such a lovely atmosphere in the room which was so lovely to see. Thank you for coming in to make this such a special occasion for your child. The children will paint their Chanukiah and we look forward to seeing lovely pictures on Tapestry of them lighting them on Chanukah with you and all the family.

We carried on talking about the importance of being very kind to our friends, ensuring we use kind words and kind hands. It is great to see the children beginning to resolve situations themselves by using their words more. We have also been working on our manners making sure we say please and thank you so that it is starting to become an automatic process without having to be prompted.

We continued to do some more  breathing activities where the children stayed focused on inhaling through their noses and exhaling through their mouths. This has been a great way to start our day.

The above is linked to the areas of Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language.
    
In Literacy we continued to work on oral blending and segmenting. We continued to sound out new words for the children to work out what the words were. The children listened to some CVC words that were spoken and they had to work out what the initial, middle and end sounds were. 

We carried on developing the children’s ability to work out how many  syllables there were in different objects and words.

The children enjoyed playing some rhyming games on the IWB. They enjoyed listening to pairs of rhyming words and they had to work out if the words rhymed or not. If the words rhymed, they put their thumbs up and if the words didn't rhyme it was thumbs down.

The next game was a game called ‘Silly Soup’. We learnt the rhyme:
“I am making lots of silly soup, 
 I am making soup that’s silly,
 I am going to cook it in the fridge, 
 To make it nice and chilly.”

The children had to decide from a selection of different objects which objects rhymed to put in the soup, for example a mat, hat, and cat.

We also started to learn about alliteration. We discussed what alliteration is; when words begin with the same letter sound. We played ‘I Spy With My Little Eye’, somebody’s name beginning with the letter sound ‘S,A’ etc. We discussed whose names begin with the same sounds.  We will continue with alliteration next week.

The children carried on practising writing their names with Mrs Uddin. It is lovely to see how well the children are progressing with writing their names. If practising at home it is really important that they learn the correct formation and starting points. This also links to Physical Development. 

The children enjoyed their weekly visit to the library where they listened to a story and selected a new book to bring home. Please make sure you return your child’s library book no later than Tuesday of the following week.

We enjoyed more amazing ‘Show and Tells’. The children are really starting to develop their confidence when speaking in front of their friends. They are also beginning to be able to ask some great questions using the words who, why, when and where. This links to the area of Communication and Language.

In Physical Development the children had fun with Mrs Jungbacke rolling on mats. The children were working on strengthening their upper bodies. Whilst they were rolling on the mats, they had to keep their bodies straight like a pencil and use their tummy muscles to move their whole body. For added fun, they had a sponge brick wall to knock down at the end. To challenge them further, the children were asked to do it in pairs, with heads together and holding a soft toy in their hands or with a soft toy above their heads.  It required good coordination and working as a team. They had a lot of fun and it was great exercise for them. This is a great gross motor activity for developing their upper body strength further.

In Maths we continued to focus on ordering numbers and saying their number names. Some of children enjoyed playing the game ‘Ten Green Bottles’ where they had to order the bottles onto their wall from 1-10. They then took turns to pick up a red tile which had varying numbers of dots on them. They counted the dots using 1:1 correspondence. They then had to find the matching bottle on their wall and when a match was found the numbered bottle was placed in the recycling bin. They carried on playing till all the bottles had been taken off the wall. This game is  great for developing turn taking, number recognition and counting using 1:1 correspondence. 

We also started learning about subitising. This is the ability to recognise small quantities without counting. It is important to guide the children to notice key characters or objects in stories. When reading a story to your child, encourage them to focus on where they can see 1,2, or three items. Story books where children can clearly see up to three characters is a great way to extend children‘s subitising skills. The children enjoyed listening to ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ where they started to  practise this.

They also watched a selection of images of different objects with different quantities up to five be shown on the whiteboard. They had to try and say how many there were without counting them but just by sight.

The number of the week was number 9. We found nine of a variety of different objects. We showed nine fingers and discussed how to write the number 9. Please continue to look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with an 9.

The children had another fun baking session with Mrs Dagul. They made biscuits in the shape of people. This was linked to this weeks parasha. They helped to measure out all the ingredients and mix them together to make a biscuit dough. They then used the biscuit cutter to make the shape. They added different features to their biscuits to make them different like  Esav and Yaacov. We reiterated to the children it is okay to be different and whatever our differences are we must still be kind to everyone. This is also linked to the area of Personal, Social and Emotional Development.

In Understanding the World we continued learning about autumn. We discussed hibernation in more detail and read some hibernation stories. Some of the  children had fun finishing off the hibernation home they had made for the soft toy animals with leaves and feather. They will use this next week to help extend their learning of how animals hibernate.

Music
In Music this week the children started to learn some different Chanukah songs which they look forward to sharing with you at our Chanukah concert.

PE
In PE today, Nursery developed their core motor and hand eye coordination skills through different tennis related drills and activities.

Ivrit
This is our second week learning about Chanukah in Ivrit lessons. We learned the word Sevivon סביבון and continued using adjectives such Gadol גדול (big), Katan קטן (small) to describe the candles and Chanukiot. 
We had so much fun looking at Sevivonim and playing with them., watching them light up in the dark. 
We counted our Nerot (candles) on the Chanukia in Ivrit.

We practised the song for the Chanukah show and had fun with Podi of course. 

Jewish Studies

In Jewish Studies this week Nursery started to look at Chanukah- focusing on the significance of the Chanukiah and how it resembles the Menorah that was in the Beit Hamikdash. The children made brilliant moveable Chanukiah crafts that have the bracha on the back to help them light the Chanukiah at home! Nursery children dressed up and role played the Kohen Gadol lighting the Menorah and rolled out Chanukah candles from play dough. Well Done Nursery, you did a smashing job!

Reception and Nursery children joined forces this week to make Chanukah cards for Jewish school children in Uganda. The children heard a little bit about the Abayudaya Jewish Community and how the tefillot and minhagim combine Jewish law and liturgy with African melodies and customs. Each of the children made a card for a specific child in Uganda and we decided that really we ought to have a Kerem school trip to visit the children in person and hand deliver them! 

Nursery class explored the parasha of Toledot this week. In the parasha, we learn how Yitzchak and Rivkah got married and had twin boys – Esav and Yaacov. The twins grew up and were very different in appearance, character and behaviour. We talked about our different hobbies and what we like to do in our spare time for fun. We listened to this hobby song which you might want to play at home. We learned that Esav was a hunter and Yaacov loved to study. When Yitzchak was old, he asked Esav to hunt an animal and prepare a tasty meal. Esav listened to his daddy and went immediately to prepare a meal. Rivkah asked Yaacov to do the same thing, and he did as she asked. We learn from Esav and Yaacov how important it is to honour our mummy and daddy. We call this middah ‘Kibbud av va-em’. The children worked on their nurturing sides, dressing and caring for baby dolls in the EYU outside space, just like Rivkah would have done for her twin babies. Nursery, I can tell that you are going to be such lovely and caring mummies and daddies yourselves one day. Each of the children made a beautiful hand print keepsake for their mummies and daddies to treasure at home.

On Friday we had our beautiful Shabbat party.
The following children were on the Shabbat table today:

Shabbat Ima   Abigail
Shabbat Aba   Ray
Shabbat Ben   Emmanuel
Shabbat Bat   Amelia

Reminders:

• Please make sure you send your child in with a coin for Shabbat. We like the children to learn and understand the importance of giving Tzedakah.
• Please send in any leftover vegetables, vegetable peel or fruit in a named bag so the children can put them into the compost bin. Thank you!
• Please make sure you send your child in with gloves, scarves and hats so they can wear them when it is cold. Please make sure they are all named. The doors are often open so if you think your child may get cold you may want to put an extra layer on them to  keep them warm.
• Date for the diary: We are looking forward to seeing you at our Chanukah show on Wednesday 11th December at 9.00 am. We will be starting prompt. Your child will need to be dropped off promptly on this day at 8.30 am so that we can be ready to start on time. Thank you.

Shabbat Shalom, 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 22nd November

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

This week has been another very busy week in Nursery!

Following on from Anti-Bullying Week we continued to approach the subject in a sensitive and age appropriate way. We talked about being very kind to our friends, ensuring we use kind words and kind hands. We reiterated that if the children have any concerns they must tell their teachers, who can then help them to resolve any issues and model to them on how best to use their words.

We  enjoyed different breathing activities where the children stayed focused on inhaling through their noses and exhaling through their mouths. We discussed how this is an excellent way to calm ourselves down.

We read a variety of different books including, ‘Monty Manatee’, ‘Giraffe Left Out’, and ‘Walk Tall’.The focus of these books is about friendship, kindness and inclusivity. 

The above is linked to the areas of Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language.
    
In Literacy we worked on oral blending and segmenting. We sounded out new words for the children to work out what the words were. The children listened to some CVC words that were spoken and they had to work out what the initial, middle and end sounds were. 

We carried on learning about syllables and clapped out how many syllables there were in different objects found in our surroundings, the days of the week and the months of the year. 

The children enjoyed seeing how many rhyming words they could say to make a rhyming string. Please continue to work on rhyming with your children at home either reading rhyming stories or just giving them a CVC word for example ‘sat’ and seeing how many words they can say that match the starting word.

The children carried on practicing writing their names, using the correct letter formation. Others worked on developing their pen/pencil control. This will be ongoing. If your child is starting to want to write their names at home please make sure that they use the correct letter formation and starting points, because once learnt incorrectly it is really hard to correct. A laminated copy will be given to you with prompts on where each letter starts. This also links to Physical Development. 

The children visited the library and enjoyed listening to a story. They then selected a new book to bring home. Please make sure you return your child’s library book no later than Tuesday of the following week.

We enjoyed more amazing ‘Show and Tells’, where the children spoke with confidence, sharing what they had brought in. Some of the children asked questions to the children who had brought in their items. We introduced the key words for asking questions for example: Who gave it to you? Where do you keep it? Why did you bring it in? When did you get it? This links to the area of Communication and Language.

In Physical Development the children completed some fun fine motor activities with Mrs Jungbacke. The first was creating a snowman using q -tips dipped into the paint. This is great for further developing their control when drawing and writing. The second was creating bracelets using hama beads which is an excellent activity for developing the children’s hand-eye coordination.

In Maths this week the focus was ordering numbers and saying their number names.  We counted by rote to 20. The children enjoyed a counting game called Counting Caterpillars where the children had to select a numbered counter and place it on the caterpillar in the correct sequential order. They also had fun playing Bingo where they each had a board with a selection of different objects on. Both these games are great for developing turn taking, number recognition and counting using 1:1 correspondence. 

The number of the week was number 8. We found eight of a variety of different objects. We showed eight fingers and discussed how to write the number 8. Please continue to look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with an 8.

In Understanding the World we continued learning about autumn. We discussed hibernation in more detail and read some hibernation stories. Some of the children had fun making a hibernation home for the different soft toy animals. 

In expressive art and Design and Understanding the World the children had fun being creative with the leaves by painting patterns and designs on them. We will continue exploring different leaf craft activities next week.

PE
In PE today, Nursery focused on developing their balancing, coordination and leg strength through different motor activities.

Ivrit

It is hard to believe that Chanukah is approaching. What a great opportunity for the children to learn numbers and colours in Ivrit. This week we learned all about 'nerot' (candles) נרות .We compared different types of candles and worked out which ones are Chanukah candles - 'Nerot Chanukah', counting the numbers in Ivrit 'achat', 'shtayim', 'shalosh' - 1,2,3... 

We also compared the sizes and learnt adjectives to describe the candles, such as 'gadol' גדול (big) and  'katan' קטן (small).

The children placed the 'nerot' into a variety of Chanukiot of different shapes and sizes using the adjectives again 'gdola' and 'ktana' to describe the Chanukia.

Jewish Studies
This week Nursery class looked into what makes Shabbat special. We discussed all of our favourite aspects of Shabbat. Some of us love being at home with family - some of us like laying the table on Friday night with pretty napkins and flowers and others of us love going to shul and getting sweets! We all had something interesting to say. The children each made a grape juice and kiddush cup pop-up craft to take home to remind us of the unique beauty of Kiddush!

We took part in Mitzvah Day this week, and Reception and Nursery classes joined forces to participate in a joint Mitzvah Day project for North London Hospice. The children were asked to make a picture showing ‘My Favourite Thing!’ for a big display in North London Hospice’s main entrance. Wow Nursery, your pictures were so joyful and comforting.

This week, the Nursery class learned about the parasha Chayei Sarah. In this Torah portion, Avraham and Sarah’s son Yitzchak has grown up. Avraham sends his trusted servant Eliezer on a mission to find a wife for Yitzchak. Eliezer meets Rivkah at the town water well where she gives water not only to him but to all his camels! When Eliezer sees what a kind person Rivkah is, he knows that she must be the right wife for Yitzchak. The children had a go at making Rivkah's Well out of duplo, sponge bricks and sticle bricks. Everyone had a go at making their own Rivkah by the Well collage featuring a lolly stick Rivkah. We learned that Eliezer gave Rivkah lots of nice jewels and presents, and so we made colourful patterned necklaces out of chunky threading beads. Well done Nursery!

On Friday we had our beautiful Shabbat party.

The following children were on the Shabbat table today:

Shabbat Ima   Serena
Shabbat Aba   Sacha
Shabbat Ben   Arthur
Shabbat Bat    Mia

Reminders:

• Please make sure you send your child in with a coin for Shabbat. We like the children to learn and understand the importance of giving Tzedakah.
• We are looking forward to welcoming you next Friday 29th November from 8.45am-9.30am to make your Chanukiah’s with your children. Drop off will be at the normal time of 8.30am. There will be refreshments waiting for you! Mums and Dads are both welcome. 
• Please send in any leftover vegetables, vegetable peel or fruit in a named bag so the children can put them into the compost bin. Thank you!
• Please make sure you send your child in with gloves, scarves and hats so they can wear them when it is cold. Please make sure they are all named.The doors are often open so if you think your child may get cold you may want to put an extra layer on them to  keep them warm.
• Please can you make sure your child is at school no later than 8.40am. It is hard for me to start the day when there are several children missing. Thank you for your ongoing support with this. 
• If you see any lovely leaves when you are out and about please can you bring them in. Thank you.

Shabbat Shalom, 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 15th November

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

This week has been another very busy week in Nursery!

It was Anti-Bullying Week. We approached this subject in a sensitive and age appropriate way by calling it ‘Kindness Week’ where we discussed using kind words and kind hands.

We started the week by everyone wearing odd socks and we discussed that this was to celebrate what makes us all unique and that we are all different. We talked about the importance of being kind to everyone whatever our differences are. The children designed their pair of odd socks and discussed one kind thing they were going to do. We also talked about imagining putting on our kindness socks for the day to remind us to do only kind things.

We also stressed to the children that if they are unhappy or worried, or someone has said or done something to upset them, they must always come and speak to the teachers so they can help them sort out the situation. We reminded the children that they could put any worries they may have inside the ‘worry monster’. We re-read Ruby’s Worry to the children to remind them of the importance of telling someone if they are worried.

We enjoyed completing some breathing activities where the children stayed focused on breathing in through their noses and out through their mouths. Some of the children closed their eyes. 

We read a variety of different books including ‘‘The Go Away Bird’ and ‘The Lion Inside.’ The focus of these books is about friendship, kindness and inclusivity. This topic will be ongoing.

The above is linked to the areas of Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Physical Development.
    
In Literacy we  continued to work on oral blending and segmenting. We continued to sound out different words for the children to work out what the words were. We will continue with oral blending and segmenting daily.

We started to learn about what a syllable is; it makes up part of a word. We started to clap out the syllables in all the children’s names and discussed how many syllables there were. We also started to look at how many syllables there were in different words.

Each morning some of the children continued to learn to write their names, using the correct letter formation. Others worked on developing their pen/pencil control. This will be ongoing. This also links to Physical Development. 

The children visited the library and enjoyed listening to a story. They then selected a new book to bring home. Please make sure you return your child’s library book no later than Tuesday of the following week.

We enjoyed more amazing ‘Show and Tells’, where the children spoke with confidence, sharing what they had brought in. Some of the children asked questions to the children who had brought in their items. We introduced the key words for asking questions for example: Who gave it to you? Where do you keep it? Why did you bring it in? When did you get it? This links to the area of Communication and Language.

In Maths this week the focus was ordering numbers and saying their number names.  We counted by rote to 20. The number of the week was number 7. We found seven of a variety of different objects. We showed seven fingers and discussed how to write the number 7. Please continue to look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with a 7. 

Linked to the topic of autumn the children had fun making leaf biscuits with Mrs Dagul. They helped to measure out the different ingredients and mix them together to make the biscuit dough. They then used the leaf cutter to create their leaf shaped biscuit.

In Understanding the World we continued learning about autumn. We discussed some of the things that happen in autumn:

• The children were interested to learn that some animals, for example hedgehogs, dormice, toads, bees and bats hibernate to escape the cold winter. We discussed that hibernation means that the animals will sleep until spring.
• We talked about how birds will migrate in autumn. We discussed that migration means that the birds will fly to find a warmer place to live until spring.

We continued to discuss the five senses and how we use them throughout the day. We focused on the sense of touch while the children made their grass heads.  They had fun making their grass heads where they used their hands to fill their pots with soil nearly to the top and then sprinkled the seeds on top of the soil. The seeds were then lightly covered with a little bit more soil. They then sprayed the soil. 

Please encourage your child to look after their plant. It is important that your child understands the importance of caring for all living things, including plants. Once the grass has grown, your child can give their grasshead a hairstyle using bows and clips. 

Please post on Tapestry any pictures of your child caring for their grass head and also showing any growth. It would be lovely for them to be able to share with the class! 

Some of the children had fun helping to empty the compost bin. It felt amazing to be able to use our own soil which we made. We then put it into the raised beds. The children then helped to plant a variety of seeds including peas and broad beans.

Music
The children started the lesson with their hello song, where they used both shalom and bonjour. They enjoyed dancing to an autumn leaf song, “Leaves Are Falling Down, All Over the Town”. They continued singing the song Open Shut, Big and Small, alongside different actions. They completed an activity with the parachute where they had to stretch up and down. They ended the lesson chatting with Mrs Cohen’s special puppet Tzavi. 

PE

In PE today, Nursery focused on developing their hand-eye coordination skills through different tennis activities and games. These skills included holding the racket, swinging the racket and striking the ball.

Ivrit

The children are continuing to strengthen their Ivrit vocabulary and conversation. They can now use some of the words and phrases connected to Autumn (Stav - סתו), such as 'ruach' רוח (wind), 'alim' עלים (leaves), 'ananim' עננים (clouds) and 'geshem' גשם (rain).
We had more fun with Podi and Hezi Hahilazon (Hezi the snail) and played games on the interactive board. 
The children also strengthened their fine motor skills whilst creating patterns of leaves in different colours and shapes. 

Next week we will start learning words and phrases for our new Ivrit topic- Chanukkah!

Jewish Studies

Nursery continued to delve into our Shabbat curriculum and this week we focused on the mitzvah of lighting Shabbat candles. We learned that when Sarah lit her Shabbat candles, the light was said to have lasted all week! Sarah’s tent was filled with light and warmth. We discussed the fact that when we light our own Shabbat candles, we are joining generations and generations who have brought their own unique beautiful light of Shabbat into their homes for thousands of years. We decided that this week, when we look at the Shabbat candles we will try to think about the Jewish ladies in our lives that we love and to say thank you to Hashem for them!

This week, Nursery class also looked at parashat Vayera, in which Avraham and Sarah have now settled in Eretz Cana’an. One day, they welcomed three very special visitors, who were actually angels (malachim) in disguise to their tent. Avraham brought them water to wash their feet and asked them to rest under a tree. Then he hurried to organise and prepare a meal for them. We discussed the importance of hachnasat orchim (welcoming guests) and helping others to feel comfortable. We discussed the different nice things to eat and drink that we like to serve guests when they come to visit. In the Nursery playground, the children hosted Mrs Udin for a delicious role-play brunch. The children loved listening to a rather catchy tune called 'Hachnosos Orchim' by Uncle Moishy all about Hachnasat Orchim / Welcoming Guests, which you might like to  play at home. Each of the children made their own brilliant 3D Avraham and Sarah's tent scenes with gorgeous glittery tents. How fabulous! Nursery class I am so proud of your hard work this week!

On Friday we had our beautiful Shabbat party.

The following children were on the Shabbat table today:

Shabbat Ima   Amelia
Shabbat Aba   Emmanuel
Shabbat Ben   Elisha
Shabbat Bat    Rebecca

Reminders:

• Please make sure you send your child in with a coin for Shabbat. We like the children to learn and understand the importance of giving Tzedakah.
• Please remember to check the previous email sent out with the date of when your child can bring in their show and tell.
• We would like to invite parents in on Friday 29th November to make a chanukiah with your child. The session is from 8.45am-9.30am and drop off will be at the normal time of 8.30am. There will be refreshments waiting for you! 
• In our garden area we have a compost bin. We would like the children to learn about composting so please could you send in any leftover vegetables, vegetable peel or fruit in a named bag so the children can start to put them into the compost bin. Thank you!
• Please can you make sure all fruit is cut in line with the guidelines previously sent out. For example grapes must be cut in quarters lengthways and blueberries in half lengthways. 
• Please can you make sure your child is at school no later than 8.40am. It is hard for me to start the day when there are several children missing. Your support with this is really appreciated.
• If your child is bringing a bike to school please make sure you park it at the side of the house, not in front of the house or inside the house. Thank you.

Shabbat Shalom, 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 8th November

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

Firstly I want to thank everyone for coming on our autumn walk. It was such a lovely morning and the children really enjoyed themselves.

We have had another very full and busy week in Nursery!
    
In Personal, Social and Emotional Development, we continued to discuss kindness towards each other, sharing and taking turns and being aware that our actions can affect our friends’ emotions.

In Literacy, we started learning about ‘Rhythm and Rhyme’. The main focus is to develop an understanding of rhythm and rhyme in speech. We read the book, ‘The Gingerbread Man’ where the children were encouraged to join in with the repetitive phrase, ’Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread man!’  We also read the book, ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,’ where the children also had fun joining in with the repetitive phrases running throughout the book. We discussed what a rhyming word is and the children enjoyed listening to a fun rhyming series called Oi Cat, Oi Dog and Oi Frog. We will carry on reading this series over the next few weeks.

We also continued to work on oral blending and segmenting. ‘Simon Says’ is a fun game that we played in class that you may like to play at home. Different words were sounded out, for example, “Simon Says get your c-oa-t, coat!”, “Touch your t-oe-s, toes!” “Touch your f-ee-t, feet!” Each day we also sounded out different words for the children to work out what the different words were. We will continue with oral blending and segmenting daily.

In the mornings some of the children continued to learn to write their names, using the correct letter formation.

Others worked on developing their pen/pencil control. We will continue to do this regularly. This also links to Physical Development. 

In Physical Development the children worked on developing their fine and gross motor skills this week. They enjoyed completing an obstacle course for gross motor skills and enjoyed a variety of activities including, cutting, threading and picking up small objects using tweezers for fine motor skills. The objective was to further develop the children’s hand and upper body strength.
 
The children visited the library and selected a new book to bring home. Please make sure you return your child’s library book no later than Tuesday of the following week.

We enjoyed more amazing ‘Show and Tells,’ where the children spoke with confidence, sharing what they had brought in. Some of the children asked questions to the children showing their ‘Show and Tell.’ We introduced the key words for asking questions for example: Who gave it to you? Where do you keep it? Why did you bring it in? When did you get it? This links to the area of Communication and Language.

In Maths this week we continued to focus on counting, including hearing and saying different number names. The children sang along to lots of different number songs  including counting forwards and then counting backwards.

The number of the week was number 6. We found six of a variety of different objects. We showed six fingers and discussed how to write the number 6. Please continue to look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with a 6. 

In Understanding the World the children continued learning about the five senses. 
Following on from the sight walk, the children designed their own page in their own story book called, “Nursery, Nursery What Can You See?”

Some of the children continued to play in our ‘Opticians’ role play area. Role play is an excellent way for your child to develop both their Communication and Language skills and to further extend their vocabulary.

In Understanding the World the children enjoyed learning that there are four seasons, and we are focusing on the current season autumn. We discussed some of the things that happen in autumn:

• The days start to get shorter and colder and it gets dark much earlier.
• The leaves start to fall off the trees and change colour. We talked about the different colours leaves turn, including brown, orange, red and yellow.
• The squirrels collect lots of nuts and acorns and hide them in the ground. During the winter they stay in their nests and only come out to eat the food they have hidden.
• When you are out and about, please continue to talk with your child about autumn and what you can see. The children collected lots of lovely interesting items on their autumn walk. With all the special things that they collected they designed their own collage pictures, including making leaf people. We will continue to discuss autumn over the next few weeks.

The children also learnt about Bonfire night. They learnt the following facts:

• People celebrate Bonfire Night on the 5th of November.
• We discussed how a long time ago some men wanted to be rid of the King. They put gunpowder under the Houses of Parliament. The gunpowder was found just in time and the King was saved. Guy Fawkes was the man that tried to get rid of the King. Bonfire Night is also called Guy Fawkes Night.
• People watch fireworks and bonfires burning.
• We talked about some of the food that people eat on Bonfire Night, including jacket potatoes and toffee apples. Some people also eat a cake called parkin and drink hot chocolate.
• We talked about the importance of fire safety and that they must stay far away from fire and lit fireworks.
• We discussed the colours and sounds of the different fireworks. The children then enjoyed making firework pictures with forks dipped into paint. They then sprinkled their fireworks with glitter.

This links to Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design.

Music
The children started the lesson with their hello song, where they used both shalom and bonjour. They enjoyed dancing to an autumn leaf song where they had to throw scarves into the air and catch them as if the leaves were falling. They sang a song Open Shut, Big and Small, alongside different actions. They ended the lesson chatting with Mrs Cohen’s special puppet Tzavi. 

PE
In PE Nursery focused on developing their core motor skills such as running, jumping, balancing, squats and learning how to strike a ball with a bat.

Ivrit

This week we continued learning more new words in Ivrit connecting with Stav סתו  - Autumn, such as 'ruach' רוח (wind) and 'alim' עלים (leaves).
We played with Hezi Hilazon (Hezi the Snail) and made our own Alim עלים leaves, playing fun games whilst listening to a song about Shalechet שלכת (falling leaves). We listened to Israeli songs about Stav and picked up all the leaves. 
 Have a lovely Autumnal weekend!

Jewish Studies
This week, Nursery class started to delve into the topic of Shabbat, as part of our JS General Knowledge curriculum. We focused on Shabbat Zemirot and explored the fact that Shabbat Zemirot can have lots of different tunes and melodies. Some can be slow and calm or even a bit sombre, whilst others are cheery and invigorating. Different melodies can rouse different memories or emotions. Each week at Shabbat Party, Nursery class usually sings Shalom Aleichem to this particular tune: Shalom Alechem by B.Segal, but in class, we learned another melody that is a bit faster and more upbeat. There are so many Zemirot and so many different tunes! Do you have a favourite? What emotions or memories do they bring up? Each of the children made a lovely Shalom Alechem keepsake, using paint, card and masking tape- each one a little different from the next, but just as meaningful (just like the different tunes we have for our Zemirot).

We also looked at the parasha of the week Lech Lecha where we meet Avraham Avinu and his wife Sarah.  Avraham and Sarah were the first ever Jewish people, and they loved Hashem. Hashem told Avraham to take his family and leave his home and his country to travel to Eretz Yisrael. Avraham and Sarah listened to Hashem and did what He told them to do straight away! They took all their possessions with them, their animals and their servants. Avraham and Sarah also took their nephew Lot and his family and his animals with them. They listened to Hashem and followed His directions. Nursery class explored the concept of listening to directions and had a brilliant time working with the EYU's Beebots - small robotic cars that the children were able to programme. Avraham would have travelled by camel, and so we cut out camel masks for some role-play activities, made patterns with our colourful connecting camel maths resources and each child made their own handprint camel collage. We also learned that Avraham was sad that he and Sarah didn't have any children and that in parashat Lech Lecha Hashem promised Avraham that one day he and Sarah would have lots of descendants - as many as the stars in the sky! Nursery class used cookie-cutters and other tools to make lots of play dough stars and played matching star pattern games.

On Friday we had our beautiful Shabbat party.
The following children were on the Shabbat table today:

Shabbat Ima   Rebecca
Shabbat Aba  Arthur
Shabbat Ben   Serena
Shabbat Bat   Ray

Reminders:

• Please make sure you send your child in with a coin for Shabbat. We like the children to learn and understand the importance of giving Tzedakah.
• Please remember to check the previous email sent out with the date of when your child can bring in their show and tell.
• We would like to invite parents in on Friday 29th November to make a chanukiah with your child. The session is from 8.45am-9.30am and drop off will be at the normal time of 8.30am. There will be refreshments waiting for you! 
• In our garden area we have a compost bin. We would like the children to learn about composting so please could you send in any leftover vegetables, vegetable peel or fruit in a named bag so the children can start to put them into the compost bin. Thank you!
• Tapestry: We love to see pictures of what you have been doing with your children at home, including fun outings, baking, playing games etc. Please make sure you are sending your child in with their fruit cut according to the guidelines which were sent out previously. Thank you.
• Please can you make sure that all long hair is tied up fully and not half up, half down. The importance of this is that by putting hair up you are making an effort to keep your hair to yourself and are at less of a risk of having hair to hair contact.
• On Monday 11th November it is ‘Odd Sock Day’ for anti-bullying week, please ensure your child is dressed in odd socks.

Shabbat Shalom, 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team
 

Nursery Newsletter 1st November

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

We hope you all had a lovely half term break.

We have had another very full and busy week in Nursery!
    
In Personal, Social and Emotional Development we continued to discuss the importance of using kind words, kind hands and how actions can affect someone's feelings. This links to the areas of Communication and Language.

In Literacy we  focused on body percussion sounds which is where we make different sounds using different parts of our bodies. The children sat in a circle and the adult produced a body percussion sound which was then ‘passed’ to the child sitting next to them, such as clap, clap, clap. The sound went all around the circle and when it had reached the end we asked the following questions. Do you think that the sound stayed the same all the way round? What changed? We then made the activity more difficult by introducing a simple sequence of sounds for the children to pass on (e.g. clap,clap, stamp, stamp).
  
We also introduced oral blending and segmenting. It is important that the children have plenty of experience listening to adults modelling oral blending and that they are introduced to grapheme-phoneme correspondences. For example, when giving children instructions or asking questions, the adult can segment the last word into separate phonemes (sounds) and then blend these together to say the word. ‘Simon Says’ is a fun game that we played in class that you may like to play at home. Different words were sounded out, for example, “Simon Says get your c-oa-t, coat!”, “Touch your t-oe-s, toes!” “Touch your f-ee-t, feet!” Each day we also sounded out different words for the children to work out what the different words were. We will continue with oral blending and segmenting daily, continuing to add new words each day.

In the mornings some of the children started to learn to write their names,  using the correct letter formation. It is really important that they learn the correct formation as it is really hard to correct once learnt incorrectly. Others worked on developing their pen/pencil control. We will continue to do this regularly. This also links to Physical Development. 

In Physical Development the children  worked on developing their fine motor skills this week. The focus was cutting skills. They first practised cutting the playdough and leaves and then completed some paper cutting activities. The objective was to develop the children’s cutting skills and also to further develop their hand strength. 
 
The children visited the library and selected a new book to bring home. Please make sure you return your child’s library book no later than Tuesday of the following week.

This week we started our show and tell sessions. It was lovely to see the children speaking confidently and informing their classmates about the items they had brought in to share. This is a great way of developing your child’s confidence, extending their vocabulary and further developing their communication skills. This links to the area of Communication and Language.

In Maths this week the focus was on counting, including hearing and saying different number names’. The children sang along to lots of number songs including One Potato, Two Potato, One, Two Buckle My Shoe, Once I Caught a Fish Alive, 5 Little Ducks and 5 Speckled Frogs. These songs encouraged the children to join in counting forwards and then counting backwards.

This number of the week was number 5. We found five of a variety of different objects. We showed five fingers and discussed how to write the number 5. Please continue to look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with a 5. 

As part of the topic ,’ All About me’, the children enjoyed learning about the five senses. We discussed which part of the body each sense is linked to. We focused on the sense of sight. The children enjoyed making binoculars. They selected which colours they wanted to paint their binoculars and then decorated them with glitter. We discussed that the shape used to make their binoculars is a 3D shape called a cylinder which links to Mathematics.

We listened to the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? After the story, the children went on a sight walk around the EYU using their binoculars to see what they could see. Next week the  children will create their own page in their class story book called, Nursery, Nursery What Do You See?

We discussed that some people need to wear glasses to help them see better. The children had fun playing in our new role play area which is set up as an opticians. They enjoyed making glasses either by colouring in and cutting them out or by using pipe cleaners. We also talked about some people who can't see at all and are blind. Some of the children tried painting a picture being blindfolded to experience what it was like not to be able to see.

In Understanding the World the children enjoyed learning about the festival Diwali which started this week. This is a Hindu festival which is their Festival of Light. It is important that the children learn about other religions and that other people celebrate in different ways. Some of the children enjoyed chalking rangoli patterns, designing mehndi patterns by drawing around their hands and then creating a pattern using brown felt tips. Mrs Uddin brought in a sari to show the children and talked about it and Mrs Dagul had fun making an Indian sweet with the children in their baking session.

Music
The children had fun in music where they started the lesson with their hello song, where they used both shalom and bonjour.
They sang a variety of different songs weather and season related. 
They listened to the instructions and completed different actions including jump, jump, stop and spin, spin and stop. 
They got the opportunity to play different instruments.
They ended the lesson saying hello to Mrs Cohen’s special puppet, who asked the children about Sukkot and what they did in the Sukkah?

PE
In PE, Nursery focused on developing their team skills through different activities and games that required strategic thinking, teamwork and collaboration.

Ivrit
It was so lovely to see all the children after the long Sukkot break. I hope you all had a good Chag.
Our new topic for the next few weeks is all about Autumn סתו Stav.
We met my friend Chezi the Chilazon (snail) and we all learned that he loves to come out from his Kunchiya (shell) when it's Geshem גשם  raining.
Here is a link to show and sing with your children:
https://youtu.be/73Pre2Shb6w?feature=shared

The children made a beautiful Bayit בית home for Hezi in our art project.

Jewish Studies
Nursery class looked at two parashot this week. First we learned about the creation of our amazing world by Hashem in parasat Bereshit. We learned that Hashem created the world in six days. He created the sea, the sky and the earth as well as all the creatures and people. On the seventh day, Hashem stopped creating and had a rest - Shabbat. The world and Shabbat are wonderful gifts for us to cherish! Each of the children made Bereshit crowns, which colorfully depict and celebrate the creation of the world and Shabbat. The children learned a song called 'Who made the colours of the rainbow?' with brilliant actions. Nursery, you are such talented singers and dancers. I think we should go on tour!

This week we also looked into Parashat Noach and the children made fabulous paper animals that will be on a new Noach display here in the EYU. Nursery learned that Noach was a good man but the people all around him were horrible to each other. Hashem told Noach to build a tevah (ark) because He was going to bring a mabul (flood). Hashem told Noach to take his family and lots of animals into the tevah so that they would be safe. Noach and his family looked after all the animals. When the flood was over a dove brought Noach a branch from an olive tree. Hashem placed a rainbow in the sky and promised never to make such a big flood ever again. When we see a rainbow, we can say a bracha  to remember Hashem's promise. We enjoyed lots of animal puzzles and bingo games and we sang The Animals Went in Two by Two together. Wow! What a busy week we have had Nursery, I am so glad to have you back in class after the Sukkot break!

On Friday we had our beautiful Shabbat party.
The following children were on the Shabbat table today:

Shabbat Ima   Amelia
Shabbat Aba  Elisha
Shabbat Ben   Sacha
Shabbat Bat   Abigail

Reminders:

• Please make sure that you send in Tzedaka (coins for charity) each Friday. It is important that the children understand the importance of giving and that there are people less fortunate than ourselves.
• Next week's Autumn Walk: Wednesday 6th November 9.00 am. Please make sure you are at school promptly at 9.00 am for our Autumn walk.
• Please remember to check the previous email sent out with the date of when your child can bring in their show and tell.
• We would like to invite parents in on Friday 29th November to make a chanukiah with your child. The session is from 8.45am-9.30am and drop off will be at the normal time of 8.30am. There will be refreshments waiting for you!
• In our garden area we have a compost bin. We would like the children to learn about composting so please could you send in for example any leftover vegetables,vegetable peel or fruit in a named bag so the children can start to put them into the compost bin. Thank you!

Shabbat Shalom, 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team
 

Nursery Newsletter 15th October

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

We hope you had a good fast. What a busy couple of days the children have had in Nursery!
 
We started the week with a lovely visit to Serena’s sukkah, where the children heard from Morah Sari all about the sukkah and had some special treats. They also enjoyed listening to the story ‘Sammy Spider’s First Sukkot’ read by Mr Newman. Thank you to Mr and Mrs Newman for hosting us.

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development we continued to discuss different emotions, focusing on being worried or scared. The children were encouraged that if they have any worries at school they must write them down by mark making or by drawing a picture and then put them into the worry monster's mouth. The worry monster will gobble them up! The children finished decorating their own worry monsters using a variety of different collage materials. Please chat to your child about the worry monster that they have created. At home, encourage them to express any worries they may have and encourage them to use their own worry monsters if needed. (Remember to remove the worry out of the box so by the morning it has gone).

All the above also link to the areas of Communication and Language and Expressive Arts and Design.

The children enjoyed their regular weekly visit to the library where Mrs Dagul read them a story. Please make sure your child’s library book is returned no later than Tuesday in order for your child to be able to select a new book.

In Mathematics we revised numbers 0-4. We continued to practise counting by rote to 20. You can practise your child’s counting skills by counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning. 

In understanding the World the children were excited to learn about Canadian Thanksgiving Day with Mrs Ranson. They discussed all the things they should be thankful for. They then made special cupcakes which were decorated with red and white icing and topped it with a Canadian flag. 

PE
In PE today Nursery have been focusing on developing their running skills, style and fitness. They are learning how to prepare themselves on how to start a race, for example on your marks, get set and go! They have also been developing their hand, eye coordination skills through different activities and games.

Ivrit
After learning in Ivrit all about a sukkah and how to build it and make it nice to sit in, we had the great pleasure of sitting in Mr and Mrs Newman's (Serena's) sukkah. 
The children took home the beautiful artwork sukkahs they had made last week.  

Jewish Studies

This week was a short one, but it was absolutely jam-packed with Jewish studies crafts, activities and songs. We reviewed our Sukkot learning from last week and had a chance to make bright  Sukkah decorations in the shape of a pomegranate with a photo of each child holding arba minim.  We then delved into the topic of Simchat Torah, learning that it is a celebration of the fact that we have finished reading the Torah in shul and that we are starting to read the Torah once again. What an honour and a privilege it is to start the Torah again, surrounded by our friends and our beloved community. In preparation for Simchat Torah we learned two songs together, Torah Tziva Lanu Moshe and David Melech Yisrael. We had a listen to a lovely version of David Melech  by Rechov SumSum, featuring images of Israel, which the children were really enthralled by. The children honed their artistic skills making elegant painted flags with decorative Sukkot sponge patterns, to wave and dance with on Simchat Torah.

Reminders:

• Autumn Walk: Wednesday 6th November 9.00 am. If you have not already let me know that you wish to come on our Autumn walk please email me to confirm. (We should be back no later than 10.00 am)
• Please continue to collect conkers, acorns or fir cones and bring them in. 
• We still need empty kitchen roll holders for an activity after half term.
• Tapestry: We love to see pictures of what you have been doing with your children at home, including fun outings, baking, playing games etc. Please post any pictures onto Tapestry for us to see so that your child can then share with the class.
• If anyone has any unwanted newspapers please can you bring them in.
• It is really important that the children work on their fine and gross motor skills both at home and school. Please find attached some links below with some lovely activities.

       Improve Kids Fine Motor Skills with 30 Materials & Activities | HOAWG 
       (handsonaswegrow.com) Fine motor skills.

       Gross Motor Activities for Kids (handsonaswegrow.com) gross motor skills.
       (806) Pinterest Fine motor skills.
       (806) Pinterest Gross motor skills. 

• Show and Tell will start on Thursday 31st October. Please check the rota for the date your child can bring in their Show and Tell.

Wishing you all Chag Sukkot Sameach and Moadim Le'Simcha, 
Have a great half term.
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 11th October

Dear Parents הורים יקרים

We have had another very full and busy week in Nursery!
    
In Personal, Social and Emotional Development we discussed the different feelings and emotions we may experience on a daily basis. We talked about different vocabulary to describe how we feel, including happy, sad, angry, worried, sleepy and excited. We read the ‘Colour Monster’ book which discusses how different colours can reflect how we are feeling, for example yellow can make us feel happy, blue sad and green calm. The children then designed their own colour monster and then expressed how their colour monster was feeling. Perhaps you can have a chat with your child and discuss with them how the different colours make them feel. We also talked about if they were ever worried about anything that they must talk to the teachers and tell us how they are feeling. 

We read the book, ‘Ruby’s Worry’. This book covers the importance of discussing your worry because if you don’t, the worry gets bigger, but if you talk about it your worry will disappear. We talked to the children about the class worry monster and that if they have any worries, they can write them down by mark making themselves or with the support of a teacher and then put them inside the worry monster. The worries will then disappear. The children enjoyed creating their own ‘worry monster’ which they can use at home to put their worries in.  We will finish these off next week.
 
All the above also link to the areas of Communication and Language and Expressive Arts and Design.

In Literacy the children enjoyed shaking socks to see if they could identify what was inside them, either by the sound they made or by the feel of them. Some of the items inside the socks were Lego, coins, shells and pasta. 

We started to help develop the children’s awareness of sounds made with instruments and noise makers. A set of instruments were laid out on the floor. The identical set of  instruments were hidden. One child was chosen to go and play one of the hidden instruments whilst another child had to choose which instrument had been played. It was then revealed if they had found the same match. The instruments will be available for the children to continue exploring the different sounds they can make.

The children enjoyed painting their names using q tips. They carefully formed each letter and also practised saying the different letter sounds in their names. This also links to Physical Development.

The children enjoyed their regular weekly visit to the library where Mrs Dagul read them a story. Please make sure your child’s library book is returned every Monday in order for your child to be able to select a new book.

In Mathematics, the number of the week was number 4. We found four of a variety of different objects. We showed four fingers and discussed how to write the number 4. Please continue to look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with a 4. We have also been continuing to practise counting by rote to 20. You can practise your child’s counting skills by counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning. 

The  children continued to measure themselves against the height chart. We discussed who was the tallest, shortest or the same height. We also discussed other measuring tools including a ruler and a tape measure. Some of the children enjoyed making measuring sticks using the cubes. They used their measuring sticks to see how many cubes long different objects were. They then counted the number of cubes used by using 1-1 correspondence. 

Some children enjoyed following the different teddy patterns. The children had to work out which sized teddy was required from the three sizes small, medium and large and also by colour.

In Physical Development and Mathematics the children enjoyed making moon sand. They helped to measure the ingredients out and then with their hands mixed them all together. They then used  different moulds to make small sand castles. This is a great activity for developing the children’s fine motor skills.

The children had fun with the playdough. To develop their hand strength further, the children listened to a programme which is called, ’Dough Disco’. They manipulated the playdough in a variety of ways. We will continue to do this regularly. 

In Understanding the World we discussed Black History month. The children learnt about Rosa Parks. We talked about how she came up against racism and how black and white people had separate restaurants, parks and even bathrooms. Black children were not allowed to go to the same schools. We talked about how during this time in history, many things were segregated. On the buses, the rule was that black people had to sit at the back of the bus. They also had to give up their seats to white passengers. Black passengers who did not obey the rules would be arrested. On December 1st 1955 Rosa refused to give up her seat for a white passenger. She refused to move and was arrested and put in jail.  The most important message for the children to understand is that we must be kind and accepting of everyone whatever their differences are. The children enjoyed designing their own buses and drew Rosa Parks to go in their bus. 

In the absence of Mr Antony this week the children enjoyed competing in a variety of races including running, jumping and hopping with Miss Cowen. They also enjoyed jumping in the jumping sacks and using the body boards. 

Music
We started the music lesson saying ‘shalom’ and the children said their name.
They then played an action game where they had to copy the instructions, ’just like me’.
They had fun playing the different instruments. When the word, ’stop’ was said they passed their instrument to the next person so they all got an opportunity to play them all. They continued playing a parachute game where they were singing and jumping up and down with the parachute.

Ivrit
This week in Ivrit we had great fun learning about Sukkot and more importantly we learnt to dance and sing in Ivrit to the song Patish Masmer פטיש מסמר
Here is a link to watch with your child at home: 
https://youtu.be/TODTgzdUfH0?feature=shared

We made a small Sukka using wooden planks and some branches for the Schach (the roof of the Sukka). Our friend Dvora the Bee came to visit the Sukkah. 

The children worked very hard making their own Sukkah which they will finish and share with you next week.

Jewish Studies

Nursery class got straight into a jam packed week! On Monday we started to explore new aspects of Yom Kippur. We learned that before Yom Kippur we try to say sorry to people we might have made sad or upset during the year. We discussed how during Yom Kippur, grown-ups don’t eat or drink but children can eat and drink. We learned that on Yom Kippur, none of us wear leather shoes. We had a brilliantly informative class discussion on what kinds of slippers we have, but conceded that we would probably end up having to wear our wellies this weekend because of all the rain! The children made bright slipper collages which came out beautifully. We also spent some time bringing maths into JS, by drawing round our feet and measuring them using rulers and block counters. We compared our feet sizes with our friends'. Well done Nursery class; that was a lot of fun!

Nursery class also started to learn about Sukkot. We learned that when Bnei Yisrael left Egypt they lived in huts - Sukkot, and so during the chag we sit, eat and enjoy life in our own Sukkah. We looked at a real Lulav and talked about the need to say a bracha before we shake it with the Etrog. The children had a go with our lulav and etrog stencils and felts and they all made lovely Sukkah collages.

On Thursday, Reception and Nursery joined together for a special EYU Challah Bake to mark the anniversary of the sad events that took place in Israel last year. We shared a few thoughts on the importance of tikun olam and of Jewish unity and our hopes for a lasting peace in Israel.

On Friday we had our beautiful Shabbat party. The following children were on the Shabbat table today:

Shabbat Ima   Abigail
Shabbat Aba   Sacha 
Shabbat Ben    Emmanuel
Shabbat Bat     Mia  

Reminders:

• Please make sure that you send in Tzedaka (coins for charity) each Friday. It is important that the children understand the importance of giving and that there are people less fortunate than ourselves.
• Autumn Walk: Wednesday 6th November 9.00 am. We need parent volunteers to be able to do this. Please let me know if you would like to come with us. (We should be back no later than 10.00 am)
• If you are out and about and see any conkers, acorns or fir cones please can you collect them to bring into school.
• Next week we will break up on Tuesday 15th October at 3.00 pm and return on  Monday 28th October.

I wish you all an easy fast צום קל ומועיל

Shabbat Shalom.
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team

Nursery Newsletter 2nd October
    
Dear parents   הורים יקרים

Although it has been a short week, we have had a lot of fun!

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development we carried on discussing the importance of using our words and reminded the children how to resolve different situations by doing some role-play. This also links to the area of Communication and Language.

We continued discussing the topic, ”All About Me” and talked about our families. We discussed all the different members in our family and some of the children drew a family picture. This will be finished off next week.

In Understanding the World we continued learning about the body. The children painted a full sized person. They completed this by one child lying on the floor and the others drawing around them. They then painted all the different features and added clothes and then took turns to label different parts of the body. This also links to Expressive Arts and Design and Communication and Language.

In Literacy, we continued with the Letters and Sounds Programme, Aspect 1, where the main focus is on developing your child’s awareness of sounds in the environment. We reiterated the importance of being a good listener. The children were given beaters and they went around the outdoor area tapping different surfaces. We discussed how the sounds change depending on the surface that is being hit. 

In Physical Development the children played parachute games with Mrs Jungbacke. They had to listen carefully to the instructions. This is a great gross motor activity for further strengthening the upper body and also their hand strength.

In Mathematics, the number of the week was number 3. We found three of a variety of different objects. We showed three fingers and discussed how to write the number 3. Please continue to look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with a 3. We have also been continuing to practise counting by rote to 20. You can practise your child’s counting skills by counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning.

Some of the children had fun weighing different objects on the weighing scales. They experimented by putting in objects on both sides to see which object was the heaviest and which was the lightest. They also tried to make the scales balanced so the objects on both sides weighed the same. Other children enjoyed measuring themselves against the height chart. We discussed who was the tallest, shortest or the same height.

The children enjoyed making fish biscuits where they discussed the recipe, helped to weigh out the ingredients and mixed it all together. They helped to roll out the biscuit dough and then used the fish cutters to create their fish.

In Expressive Arts and Design, some of the children enjoyed apple printing. Firstly, they learnt how to make green by mixing together yellow and blue. They then used the apples to make their prints. 

PE
In PE today the children focused on developing their hand-eye coordination skills of catching and swinging through tennis games and activities.

Ivrit
This week we focused on Rosh Hashanah through Interactive Podi games.
The children had a great experience and lots of fun exploring the board and expanding their vocabulary in Ivrit. We also had lots of fun Rosh Hashanah games using the familiar words in Ivrit.

The children will receive their Dvash picture this week to take home.

Jewish Studies
Nursery class brought their Rosh Hashanah preparations to a timely conclusion this week in Jewish Studies, as we focussed on the concept of Rosh Hashanah as the birthday of the world. The children sang a rather joyous rendition of Happy Birthday and Yom Huledet Sameyach to the world in class. This year Rosh Hashanah will mark the start of the Jewish Year 5785, and we had a lively class discussion where we shared our hopes for the new year. Some of us were looking forward to making new friends and doing lots more crafts, while others are holding out for a new pet or toy. All of us agreed that we wanted this year to be a fun and healthy one! The children made a lovely smiley planet Earth sporting a party hat to cherish at home. Everyone got to take home their beautiful Rosh Hashanah craft bundles filled to the brim with such gorgeous work. Nursery class, I am so proud of all that you have achieved and all of the wonderful learning you have done to prepare for the chag.

Reminders:

• Autumn Walk: Thursday 6th November 9.00 am. We like to take the children on an Autumn walk to the park. We will need parent volunteers to be able to do this. Please let me know if you would like to come with us. (We should be back no later than 10.00 am)
• If you are out and about and see any conkers, acorns or fir cones please can you collect them to bring into school.
• Please can you send in your child with an empty kitchen roll holder.
• Next week Friday 11th October the children will finish at 12.30pm. (Erev Yom Kippur).
• This week you will have received an email with the date of your child’s Focus Meeting. Please do not swap with each other but contact me directly if you can’t make the date and time.
• Please send in any junk modeling eg egg boxes, shoe boxes, plastic milk bottles.

We wish you all a Shana Tova Umetuka and a healthy and happy year ahead.
Shabbat Shalom, 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team
 

Nursery Newsletter 27th September
    
Dear parents, שלום הורים יקרים

First of all thank you to everyone who joined us for the curriculum evening. It was so lovely to be able to show you all the wonderful work your children have completed in such a short time and also for you to experience some of the activities and lessons your children complete during a typical day in the Nursery. 

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development, we continued our topic, ‘All About Me’. The children had fun sharing their special things that they had selected to put in their ‘Me Bags’ with their classmates. This is a great activity to help the children to develop their confidence in speaking in front of their friends. To further develop their speaking skills, we will be starting ‘Show and Tell’ sessions after half term, an email has been sent out today with further details. This also links to the area of Communication and Language and Literacy.

In Understanding the World we focused on learning about the body. We discussed the names of the different parts of the body. We went over the familiar ones but also discussed the ones that may not be so familiar, such as knuckles and thighs. For our music and movement sessions the children enjoyed learning different body songs including ‘Head, shoulders, Knees and Toes’. We also discussed the different organs inside our bodies, including the heart and the brain. We talked about how the body is covered with skin and that we have a skeleton that has many bones in our bodies. It also links to the areas of Communication and Language.

In Literacy the children continued to self register when coming into the classroom by selecting their individual bee with their name on it to put into the pot. This will help the children to develop the ability to recognise their own names.

We read a book called, ’It's Mine.’ We discussed different scenarios and talked about different strategies on how the children should deal with different situations. For example, if someone is playing with a toy that they wish to play with,  they can’t just grab it. They need to use their words. For example, “Please can I have it?” We also discussed that the person who is playing with that toy  may have just started playing with it and they can say, ”I have just started playing with it, I will let you have it when I have finished.” 

Please work with your children by helping them to use their words to deal with difficult situations as they arise. Some of the children came up to the front where we practised role-playing different scenarios and which vocabulary to use.

The children enjoyed their second visit to the school library where they listened to a story and then selected a book to bring home. Please can you return your child’s library book each Monday. If the book has not been returned, your child will not be able to bring home a new one and this causes the children disappointment.

In Literacy, we continued with the Letters and Sounds Programme Aspect 1, developing your child’s awareness of sounds in the environment. The children continued developing their listening skills. 

They made their own listening ears. They drew their ears and then cut them out and stuck them on their band. These were then used to go on our listening walk. We walked all around the EYU stopping to listen to see what sounds could be heard. This also links to the areas of Communication and Language and Physical Development.

In Mathematics, the number of the week was number 2. We found two of a variety of different objects. We showed two fingers and discussed how to write the number 2. Please continue to look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with a 2. We have also been continuing to practise counting by rote to 20. You can practise your child’s counting skills by counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning.

Mrs Dagul did another amazing baking session with the children where they made honey cake for Rosh Hashanah. She discussed with them what the different pieces of equipment are used for, for example a sieve.  She also discussed the importance of using white eggs, but that it is still necessary to check that the eggs don’t have red blood spots because this makes the eggs not kosher. The children all helped to either crack the eggs, weigh out the different ingredients and then to mix all the ingredients together, making sure that all the lumps had gone!

Mrs Jungbacke did a fun activity with the children introducing them to sinking and floating. She had a variety of different objects including wooden, metal, heavy and light objects and they discussed whether the object would sink or float. They then placed the objects in the water to see what happened.

Music
The children had a fun music lesson this week. They started the lesson singing everyone's names.
They practised their listening skills by copying Mrs Cohen, for example clapping hands, touching their heads, knees etc. They enjoyed practising playing with the different instruments and dancing with a scarf to a Rosh Hashanah song. They also met Sabby the puppet.

PE
In PE the children focused on developing their coordination skills, awareness and game strategy through different activities and games.

Ivrit
This week we continued learning about Rosh Hashanah. We even had a yummy taste of Tapuach BeDvash תפוח בדבש apple and honey. Everyone enjoyed it.
We repeated our Rosh Hashanah words and had a first game with Podi, on our interactive board. That was so much fun.

Jewish Studies
This week in Jewish Studies, Nursery started to learn a little about Yom Kippur as the next Yom Tov after Rosh Hashanah is Yom Kippur. In shul we will read the story of Yonah. The children heard how Yonah was asked by Hashem to go on a special mission to ask the people of Ninveh to be kinder to each other. Yonah didn't want to go and tell the people of Ninveh off! So he tried to run away from Hashem. But, as the children rightly pointed out, Hashem is everywhere! Yonah ended up spending 3 days in the tummy of a big fish, where he had time to have a good think and daven to Hashem from inside the fish. The fish eventually spat him out on dry land and so Yonah went to Ninveh and told the people to change their ways. Hashem was so happy for the people of Ninveh.  Nursery class made their own big fish with a moveable Yonah in its tummy. See if they can re-tell the story with you at home. 

We also explored a new side of Rosh Hashanah this week. In class, we discussed the fact that during the month of Ellul we prepare ourselves spiritually for Rosh Hahanah by doing Teshuva (saying sorry for any of our mistakes or for hurting others) and by doing lots of Mitzvot. We talked about how it is a lovely minhag / tradition to eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashana to remind us that just as pomegranates are full of seeds, we try to fill our days with Mitzvot. We looked carefully at the seeds of a pomegranate- they looked like beautiful rubies, and we tasted them too. We played a wonderful pomegranate seed counting game on the carpet and each of the children made a pomegranate sun-catcher which can be used to decorate your home (or soon, your sukkah!). 

This week:
Shabbat Ima   Serena
Shabbat Aba   Emmanuel
Shabbat Ben   Arthur 
Shabbat Bat    Rebecca

Reminders:

• Please make sure that you send in Tzedaka (coins for charity) each Friday. It is important that the children understand the importance of giving and that there are people less fortunate than ourselves.
• Autumn Walk: Thursday 6th November 9.00 am. We would like to take the children on an Autumn walk to the park. We will need parent volunteers to be able to do this. Please let me know if you would like to come with us. (We should be back no later than 10.00 am)
• If you are out and about and see any conkers, acorns or fir cones please can you collect them to bring into school.
• Next week the children will finish at 12.30pm on 2nd October. We will also be closed on Thursday 3rd October and Friday 4th October for Rosh Hashanah.  

       On Friday 11th October the children will finish at 12.30pm. (Erev Yom Kippur).
       From Friday 1st November it will be a short Friday and the children will finish at 12.30pm for the rest of

       this term. 

Have a lovely weekend.
Shabbat Shalom, 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery Team
 

Nursery Newsletter 20th September

Dear parents, שלום הורים יקרים

It has been another very busy week in Nursery! The children continued to come in confidently and independently. It has been amazing to see how quickly they have settled into staying for lunch and all day. 

In Personal, Social and Emotional Development, we started our new topic, ‘All About Me’. We talked about how we are all different, from the colour of our eyes, hair and skin tone. The children created their own self-portrait. They looked in the mirror and we discussed the different features they could see and they painted these using the colours they chose. This activity links to Expressive Art and Design.

The children are developing great relationships with each other and are starting to become a cohesive group, which is lovely to see. We continued to make sure the children know each other's names by playing various name games.

We talked about the importance of being kind to each other, focusing on appreciating our differences. We read the book ‘Cinnamon Girl’. It is about a little girl who learns she is beautiful just as she is and that we are all different in our own way. She was upset because she was judged because of the colour of her skin, not for who she really was. We discussed that we must be kind to everyone, whatever our differences are, and that unkind words can hurt someone's feelings.

We introduced the visual timetable which informs the children of the schedule for the day. It is important for them to know the routine and what is happening throughout the day.

The children have their own places on individual carpet mats. Each row is a different fruit group. (pears and apples) The children will be called by their fruit groups to go to different activities including washing for snacktime/lunchtime and lessons including PE and Ivrit. 

In Physical Development some of the children enjoyed fine motor activities, which included threading beads to make a necklace, making shapes on the Geoboards by stretching elastic bands over the notches and having fun manipulating and playing with the playdough. These activities are for developing your child’s hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Each day we listen to a variety of action songs and it is lovely to see the children starting to follow the instructions and make the appropriate actions. We do these before our learning sessions. This links to many areas such as Physical Development, Communication and Language and also Expressive Arts and Design.

In Literacy we started with the Letters and Sounds programme, Aspect 1, where the focus is to develop your child’s awareness of sounds in the environment. We discussed the importance of being a good listener. The children sat quietly in the class listening to what sounds they could hear around them. When the sand timer had finished, the children discussed what sounds they had heard, including a door shutting and someone knocking. The children enjoyed listening to different sounds on the IWB and trying to figure out what each of the sounds were. We will continue developing our listening skills further over the coming weeks.

In Literacy, we also started to encourage the children to self register when coming into the classroom by selecting their individual named bee to put into the pot. This will help the children to develop the ability to recognise their own name.

The children enjoyed visiting the library for the first time to hear a story and select a book to take home. Please make sure your library book is returned no later than Tuesday each week in your child's named folder. If the book has not been returned, your child will not be able to bring home a new one and this causes the children disappointment.

We also continued discussing the story of ‘Flotsam’ where the children were given the chance to discuss what they thought was happening on the different pages in the book.

In Mathematics, we started to introduce the calendar focusing on the days of the week, months of the year and the date. We sang the days of the week song. We have started to focus on a number each week. The number this week is the number 1. We found one of a variety of different objects. We showed one finger and discussed how to write the number 1. Please look around your house and the environment for numbers or objects with a 1. We have also been continuing to practise counting by rote to 20. You can practise your child’s counting skills by counting the steps up to bed and down in the morning.

The children enjoyed making apple crumbles with Mrs Dagul  where they discussed the recipe, helped to weigh out the ingredients and mixed it all together. This is linked to Rosh Hashanah. 

In Understanding the World some of the children enjoyed preparing the soil beds with new compost and mushroom compost. We discussed how the mushroom compost helps the soil to become healthy. Others enjoyed making a scarecrow with Mrs Jungbacke.

PE:
In PE the children continued to develop their core motor skills by running, jumping, balancing, doing squats, throwing and catching through different activities and games.

Ivrit:
We are getting ready for Rosh Hashanah and learning so many new things.
Our new words: 
Tapuach תפוח apple 
Dvash דבש honey
Shofar שופר 
Ugat Dvash עוגת דבש honey cake

We listened to the song Tapuach Bi Dvash and danced with Podi.
Here is a link for our new song. Share it with your child for more Ivrit at home:

https://youtu.be/7lOSO7VZmKA?feature=shared

Jewish Studies:

This week Nursery looked into the parasha of Ki Tavo. In it, we learned about how Bnei Yisrael were about to enter Eretz Yisrael. Hashem had given them a wonderful land with mountains and rivers, beautiful trees, delicious fruit and vegetables and lots of different animals and birds. Eretz Yisrael is referred to as ‘Eretz zavat chalav u’dvash’- a land flowing with milk and honey. The children got a taste of some wonderfully creamy Greek yoghurt laced with clear runny honey, which helped them to appreciate the delicious blessing of a land flowing with milk and honey. Each of the children made a gold and white Chalav U Dvash collage to take home as an aide memoire of the parasha.                                                                                                                   

Nursery continued to look into Rosh Hashanah, this week focussing on The Sounds of The Shofar; those being Tekiya, Sevarim, Teruah, and Tekiya Gedola. The children listened carefully as Morah Cassie blew the Shofar, and they had a go at making the sounds themselves with their big voices. We learned a new song together, the words being 'Too too too, tokeya ha-shofar, shana tovah, shanah tovah'. See if your child can sing it to you at home.  Everyone had the chance to make a place mat for Rosh Hashanah, by stamping paint on white card with apple chunks and sponge shapes. They came out so beautifully! Some of the children also chose to paint their own little plaster of paris honey comb shapes, which will be coming home once they have dried out. Nursery class, we are nearly ready for Rosh Hashanah and I am so impressed with how you have learned so much already.

The children ended the week with Kabbalat Shabbat where they enjoyed grape juice and challah. 

This week:
Shabbat Ima   Mia
Shabbat Aba   Ray
Shabbat Ben   Elisha
Shabbat Bat   Amelia

Reminders:

• ‘All About Me’ bag: So that we can get to know all about your child we will be sending home a bag to be returned on Monday 23rd September. Your child will select 5/6 key items which are special to them and objects that will enable us to learn about them and what they like to do. Please only send in objects that your child is happy to leave in school as this activity may take all week to complete.
• If you are out and about and see any conkers, acorns or fir cones please can you collect them to bring into school.
• Please send your child in with an empty kitchen roll holder.
• You might be finding your child does not tell you much about their school day. Please find a list of questions attached below which you can ask your child.

Have a lovely weekend and Shabbat Shalom.
 
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Morah Sari and the Nursery team

Questions to ask your child instead of

 “What did you do today?”

Parents often find that when they are asking their child ‘what did you do today?’ the response is ‘nothing’. Of course that is not true so try these questions instead and we’re sure you will find out lots about their day.

• What made you smile today?
• What made you proud today?
• Did you learn any new words today?
• What is your favourite part of the school day?
• Tell me something you know today that you didn’t yesterday. 
• What made your teacher smile today?
• Were you a good friend today?
• Who (plural) did you sit with at lunch time? 
• What did you do that was creative?
• What games did you play at lunch time?
• What was the best thing that happened today?
• Was there anything that surprised you today?
• Was anything about today challenging?
• What did you eat for lunch today?
• What are you looking forward to tomorrow?
• What was the hardest rule to follow today?
• What made you feel happy today?
• Teach/show me something that you learnt today.
• What were the best 2 things from your day today?
• Did anything make your teacher frown today?
• Is there anything you wished didn’t happen today?
• Is there anything on your mind that you would like to talk about?
   

Nursery Newsletter 13th September 2024
 
Dear parents, שלום הורים יקרים

What an amazing first week we have had in Nursery! The children have settled in so well and we were amazed how confidently they walked through the classroom doors on their own. They also settled into staying for lunch. It made us feel very proud.
                           
The children have been very busy. They started by walking around their new surroundings and were shown where their pegs and trays were. We discussed the class rules. It is very important that the children get to know each other, so we started to play some introductory name games which we will carry on next week.

In Communication and Language, the children enjoyed listening to the story, ‘Kissing Hand’. It is about a raccoon that is starting school and feels a bit sad. His mummy places a kiss in the palm of his hand, so when he is sad, he can place his palm on his cheek and the warmth from the kiss goes straight to his heart. Then he is happy again.

This is linked to Expressive Arts and Design and Personal, Social and Emotional Development where the children made their own kissing hand and discussed how they felt on their first day at school.

It was lovely to see some of the children role playing in the kitchen in the home corner, making new friends and further developing their language skills. In the outdoor area, the children learnt the rules of playing outside, including how to use the climbing frame. It was lovely to see some of the children climb up the climbing wall, using alternate feet to get themselves up and then coming down the slide confidently. They also enjoyed running over the hill, sliding down it and some had fun crawling through the tunnel. Others enjoyed riding the bikes around the blue track together, and it was lovely to hear them chatting away as they went around and around. This links to the areas of Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language and Physical Development.    

In Literacy, the children enjoyed listening to a variety of different fun stories about starting school.
   
The whole school is focusing on the book ‘Flotsam’. Flotsam was written by Dave Wiesner and is a wordless picture book centered around plastic pollution and the effects it has on sea life. A young boy is down at the beach, examining all the bottles, lost toys, cans and many different types of pollution. During his adventure, he's lucky enough to discover an underwater camera! This camera, however, has its own secrets. The children enjoyed looking at the first few pages in the book and it was amazing to hear them in their own words describing what they thought was happening in each of the pictures. We will continue exploring more pages of the book over the coming weeks.

The children created the sand and sea using different paint effects. This will be used to create our Flotsam wall display in the classroom. They had fun using a variety of different collage materials to create their own under sea creatures including an octopus, starfish and jellyfish. They particularly enjoyed learning some interesting facts about the Octopus including that octopuses are sea creatures with soft bodies and 8 arms. We also discussed that they are mollusks and that a mollusk is an invertebrate meaning they don’t have spines. They repeated the new vocabulary we learnt which was lovely to hear.

In Mathematics, the children enjoyed practising their counting skills to 20 and also sung along to a variety of different number songs.

PE:
The children were introduced to their PE Teacher Mr Antony. Nursery focused on developing their core motor skills including running, jumping, balancing, squats, throwing and catching. They practised this through different activities and movements.

Music:

• The children met their new Music Teacher Mrs Cohen.
• The children sang their names to introduce themselves.
• They sang the song ’Dip the Apple in the Honey’ while Mrs Cohen played her Ukulele.
• Mrs Cohen then discussed the different names of some of the instruments including shakers, bells and a Djembe Drum.
• The children had a chance to play the different instruments and see what sounds they all made.They played the different instruments in a high and the low position and also slow and fast.
• They sang a feeling song and made happy and sad faces .
• They were introduced to Savvy the turtle.
• They ended the lesson playing a game with the parachute where some of the children were hiding under the parachute and on the count of 4 they jumped out of the parachute.

Ivrit:
Let me introduce myself, if you don't know me yet: I am Morah Sari and I will be teaching your children Ivrit every Monday and Wednesday in the afternoon. 

It was wonderful to meet your lovely children today. 
We learned the word Shalom שלום. Shalom can be used as Hello and Goodbye in Ivrit. It also means Peace.

First, I introduced myself and my friend Podi, who is our hedgehog friend. Podi will be coming to our Ivrit lessons quite a lot and we will play his interactive games too, throughout this academic year. Podi has more friends and they will join us too during some lessons. 

We also learned our new Ivrit song " Sha Sha Sha Shalom". 
Here is the link for the song to listen together with your child:
https://youtu.be/ORSu0Lqc5oc?feature=shared

I am looking forward to seeing your children next week and having more fun in Ivrit. 

Jewish Studies:
Nursery class, we have had a wonderful time getting to know each other and I am so happy to be your Jewish Studies teacher. Each morning we start the day at the EYU with joyful tefillah, and Nursery class have been brilliant at singing and clapping along to Modeh Ani. Wow, what a tuneful bunch!
We looked into the parasha of Ki Tetzei, and learned that if you find something, you should not simply pick it up and keep it, because it belongs to someone who has lost it. We discussed times when we had lost something and how it feels to miss a favourite item or a beloved toy. We discovered how the Torah tells us to find out who lost items belong to and give them back to their owners. Each of the children made a bright collage of a girl returning a lost balloon to its owner. They came out so beautifully, I hope you will enjoy discussing them over Shabbat!

This week, we also started to explore Rosh Hashanah, focussing on the custom of eating apple dipped in honey, in the hope for a sweet and good new year. We ate apple slices drenched in honey, and practised saying the bracha ha-etz. We also had a go at saying the bracha of shecheciyahu on some delicious fresh dates. We discussed and explored some different ways to describe the fruits: crunchy, sweet, tangy, delicious, tasty, yummy... The children painted and decorated gorgeous Shana Tovah cards, which we will be sending home closer to the chag.  

On Friday, the children had a Shabbat party. The children were happy to eat their challah and drink grape juice.

The following children were on the Shabbat table today:

Shabbat Aba: Arthur
Shabbat Ima: Rebecca
Shabbat Ben: Ray
Shabbat Bat: Serena

Reminders:

• Please make sure your child’s water bottle is not metal and that they don’t have to unscrew the lid to drink. 
• Please make sure that you have sent in a picture of people who will be collecting your child on a regular basis. Please remember that if your child is having a playdate and will be going home with another member of the class or is going home with anyone else, you must send an email authorizing this. Without this information we are unable to dismiss your child without calling you.
• I hope you are enjoying seeing all the lovely things your children have been doing at Nursery. It would be lovely to hear your comments or even see pictures of activities you have done with your child at home on Tapestry.
• Please can I remind you that no Tapestry pictures can be posted on the WhatsApp group. You have all signed a confidentiality agreement and some parents are not happy for their child’s photo to be shared with others. If you are unable to get onto Tapestry please contact Karen.
• It will be a soft start from 8.30-8.40am. Please make sure your child arrives no later than 8.40am in time for registration, learning the daily schedule and music and movement. It is important they are on time so they know what is happening and don't miss out. Thank you for your support with this.

Shabbat Shalom
Miss Cowen, Morah Cassie, Moran Sari and the Nursery Team