In the 2’s room we are developing our fine motor skills through funky fingers activities. Our current activity is using loom bands and pins. As you can see from the pictures the children have to try and put the band on the pin and can then choose to stretch the band to the next pin or just add some more. Many patterns have been created, including – “I made a house Mrs Hutchen” said Ella-May. The children have shown great concentration skills as the try their hardest to problem solve how to attach the bands to the pins.

Our story and rhyme sessions are up and running again. We were so pleased to have such a large turnout for our first session. The children really enjoy having the opportunity to share a story and show off their singing talents to their parents and carers. The aim of our sessions are to use repetitive stories and rhymes to further develop vocabulary. Our sessions run over 4 weeks with next week already being our third session. If you have not yet managed to attend a session we would love you to come, even if only for half a session. If only just to experience the joy of Ms Connors ‘lycra’ 🙂

Since returning, and before coming off on holiday, we have been talking about Easter and reading stories about the Easter bunny and hunting for Easter eggs. On Easter Monday, after a glorious weekend, we had our own egg hunt. The ladies hid eggs around the school grounds and with number clues along the way we had to use our good looking skills to find them. We were successful in finding them all and at the end of our hunt we were treated to an Easter story and a lovely picnic on the sun.

We have been lucky to acquire some new building blocks in the 2’s. The children have loved exploring the shape and size of the blocks and some could not quite believe how heavy they were!!! Working together the afternoon children created a spectacular tower. Through the use of the building blocks the children were developing their language skills, problem solving and how to work together as a team. Marcus was our team leader and directed, using the children’s names, were they should each place there blocks. As the tower got taller they all realised that it was to high for them to reach and place anymore blocks on so decided to build another. I’m sure you’ll agree it is a very amazing creation, and it didn’t fall down.

No weather holds us back from being outdoors. With our waterproof suits on and our wellies we have been outside jumping in the muddy puddles. With a lack of rain recently we have missed being able to jump in the puddles but today we discovered a very large puddle and just had to jump into it. It has been so much fun being able to splash and jump in the puddles. I’m sure you’ll agree from the videos and pictures that the children truly love it.

In the 2’s room we have been discovering relaxation and yoga. We carry out relaxation at the end of session at least twice a week. During our relaxation sessions the children lie on their chosen cushion and listen to relaxing music while the ladies talk them through some breathing techniques and stretches. After many attempts we have found that the children respond to relaxing songs rather than a piece of music, e.g. sounds of the ocean, a favourite seems to be Purple Rain by Prince!!!! We have mastered breathing through our noses and out through our mouth and enjoying stretching our arms out and wiggling our fingers. Relaxation is good for the mind, body and soul.

This week we have carried out our first yoga session. Yoga has many benefits for children. Physically it develops flexibility, strength and coordination. It also improves concentration and a sense of calmness. Cosmic Kids provides yoga sessions linked to popular story books. We have been reading “Going on a bear hunt” and decided to use this as our first session. The children enjoyed carrying out all the different poses and lasted the full 15 minute session. Personally the ladies enjoyed the last part of lying down on the floor and not moving!!!! We will continue to carry out yoga sessions once a week with the possibility of increasing the number of sessions.

After our trip to the supermarket we had to sample what we had bought. On Tuesday 5th February it was Chinese New Year , the year of the pig. Mrs Hutcheson used the food we purchased to create a yummy snack. We had a vegetable stir fry with fresh ginger, soy sauce, and noodles. We also tried curry sauce and shrimp crackers. On leaving nursery we all received a fortune cookie, here’s hoping for good fortune to all for the year head. Kung hei fat choi.

This week has seen a new lunar year start or as we also call it, Chinese New Year. To prepare for a taste of China we visited the Chinese supermarket to find some tasty treats to sample at nursery. Our trip to town involved making a list, taking a ride on the bus, sourcing the items from our list in the supermarket and then after all that hard work we treated ourselves to a tasty snack in the café.

We have been running story and rhyme sessions on a Thursday. All parents and carers are invited to participate in these fun sessions which involve reading a story, singing some songs and of course Miss Connor’s favourite her lycra!!! The sessions use the same rhyming story each week to build and develop language and vocabulary. At the beginning of each session Miss Connor runs through the weeks top tips for talking with your child in a way which will develop their speech and language. We will be running our last session on Thursday 7th February. If you have not been to a session feel free to join us and experience the fun and maybe learn something new. We will be running more 4 block sessions throughout the year.

It has been very cold and frosty this week but we have been lucky enough to have lots of beautiful winter sunshine. We have made good use of our cosy all in one suits and have been exploring the frost both in our nursery garden and the school playing fields. In the garden we have been mark making in the frost and out on the grass we have been exploring the noise the grass is making under foot and how cold it is to touch, along with still playing football!!!