2019 – 2020 – Page 20 – Hecklegirth Nursery

Senses Hunt

We hope that everyone is enjoying spending time together as a family. To help the children think about their senses of sight, touch, sound, smell and taste, they could perhaps go on a senses hunt around the house as well as the garden if you have one?

Ask the children to help you write a list of what they are looking for before they set off and then see what they can find. Suggestions might be:

something red
something that makes a noise
something rough/smooth
something that has a smell
something you can eat
something long
something soft

The children will no doubt come up with much more interesting and creative suggestions and it would be great to use their ideas, provided they are achievable of course. We would love to hear from you if anyone does this with their child.

Planter Update

Mrs. Irving has been out a walk with her family and left a message for everyone:

“How wonderful the children’s planter looked last night on our daily walk. The bright, vibrant colours of the flowers brought a smile to our faces. Well done everyone!”

That’s great news Mrs. Irving, thank you for keeping an eye on our planter. I wonder if anyone else has been to have a look at it with their families? Please let us know if you have and what your family thought about it.

I Can Sing A Rainbow

As part of our recent work on language and communication, the children have been learning “I Can Sing a Rainbow” using sign language so hopefully they will be able to show you what they have learned by singing along with this video. We have added a picture of the signs below to help you learn along with your child. Just like “Baby Shark”, this is another addictive song but it will undoubtedly put a smile on your faces.

Just refresh the blog page if you want to watch video again.

Visit Our Planter

As you may have noticed in the local paper, we have taken over responsibility for one of the planters on the High Street. Small groups of children have been visiting it and we have made a start in looking after it, recently adding a selection of plants. A new plaque was also added, just prior to our unexpected closure, so we have the Hecklegirth logo in place to help everyone find our planter.
Perhaps some of you could go a walk to find it one day (opposite The Blue Bell Inn) and let us know if the plants are still looking healthy?

Great Work

Mrs. Maxwell has left a message to say that she thinks the photos of Peep activities at home are “great work!”.

She has also been listening to the “Baby Shark” song to encourage handwashing and staying healthy: “Love this idea Mrs Carruthers. I am now going to be singing this all day though “.

It is a very catchy song, so apologies to our families if you get a little fed up of hearing it once the children learn it, but it is spreading a good message. Keep singing and washing hands everyone to stay safe!

Wash Your Hands

We know that lots of our children absolutely love the “Baby Shark” song so thought this might be a useful little clip to encourage them to wash their hands and follow healthy guidelines at home.

Learning At Home

Eileen, our Lifelong Learning Co-ordinator, has been in touch with an update. She said that the Peep group is continuing online which is great news.
Last week’s activity was about making a magic sounds box and one of our families has kindly shared photos from home of them doing their activity which looks super. An Easter book has also provided fun learning activities, such as matching pairs and cracking a code, which have been done without help from Mum or Dad so very well done to this little pupil.

We would love to hear what others have been doing so that we can share it on our blog. Click on the “Leave a comment” link to the left of this post or look at “How to add a comment” on the right, under Support Information, for simple instructions if you are unsure how to leave us a message.

Rhymes Together

Rhymes are not only fun and engaging for young children but they can make a real difference to their language and literacy. Research suggests that children who have a good understanding of rhyme do better in literacy than children who have poor skills in this area.

• The rhythm of nursery rhymes can help children’s listening skills – they are the foundations of the careful listening needed for developing clear speech.
• Rhyme helps children begin to recognise patterns in words and to discriminate between different sounds, for example ‘cat’ and ‘hat’, which are the skills needed in the future when sounding out words for reading.
• Many nursery rhymes and songs also have their own actions that can help to engage even those who struggle to listen and most children enjoy the combination of music and actions. Actions encourage them to take part, engaging them in repetitive songs and rhymes, which in turn support their language development.
• Finally, singing and rhyming is a wonderful way for families to bond with your children. Music is proven to help reduce stress levels and spending just a few minutes a day sharing a song or rhyme together can have a positive impact on everyone’s mental health.

This unprecedented closure of nurseries and schools is an opportunity to have fun with your children, learning lots of different nursery rhymes which will not only be a wonderful experience to share but will also benefit their development for the future. We will put a “Nursery Rhyme of the Week” on our blog during the times that the children would normally have been in Nursery as a suggestion, but the more rhymes they enjoy, the better.

We suggest starting with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” as most children are familiar with it and should be able to join in with the words and actions. We will be listening hard for Hecklegirth Nursery children singing “Twinkle Twinkle” all over the town.

Award Winner

Very well done to our most recent award winner who received his certificate on the last day Nursery was open. We are very proud of you and hope that you are keeping up the good work at home.

Daffodil Cheer

We would like to share this little gallery of beautiful daffodils by the Rainbow Room children in the hope that they will provide a little cheer. I wonder if you could count how many times you see daffodils if you go on a daily walk?