Category Archives: Literacy

Expressive Arts, Literacy, Outdoor Learning

Al fresco Bookbug šŸ˜

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As the sun came out on this beautiful Friday, Bookbug came to visit us to share some songs storiesā€¦.

We all said ā€˜Halloā€™ to Bookbug with a great big hug followed by

The Wheels On The Bus, our wipers were swooshing

The children jumping up and down on the bus

Sticking out our tongues being a Little Green Frog

We all enjoyed our interactive touchy freely story about a teddy bear

Finishing off with Little Bunnies!!!

The children love when Bookbug comes to visit and if you fancy joining us heā€™ll visit once a month morning and afternoon and you can come and join in the fun šŸ˜

 

Literacy

Itā€™s as easy as ABC!

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Today in nursery we had lots of fun making our own little letter hunt to develop our letter recognition. We created a little sensory bucket for our letters to hide in, and made it really colourful and sparkly!
Some children loved seeing all the different colours and shapes too.

Some children found different letters they recognised, They could relate the letters to different familiar words.
ā€œThatā€™s an M for mummy. And me!ā€

Other children loved finding all the letters in their names..

We had lots of fun exploring our fine motor skills too, using our hands as well as the tongs to develop our pincer grip and strengthen our little muscles to collect different letters and little sequins. The children loved helping each other find things and it spurred on lots of social conversations with each other.

ā€œThatā€™s an M. Thatā€™s in my mummyā€™s name too! What does your mummyā€™s name start with?ā€

ā€œIf you turn the M upside down itā€™s a W!ā€

ā€The O is like a little cats eyeā€

Well done everyone!

This type of learning experience would be perfect to try at home, and youā€™ll probably have everything you need in your cupboard. You could use sand, rice, lentils, crumpled or shredded paper for example. You may even try hiding numbers, hiding shapes, or even make your own shapes with different sensory resources! Good luck šŸ˜šŸ¤©

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Creativity and Imagination

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Today the children were presented with a tray of interesting resources to explore and design their own models.
With the natural feathers and pieces of wood the children decided to make some animals. Ā I will make a owl with feathers. The children chatted about owls they have seen at the animal park and what noise they make.

Some of the children chose to make people using pegs for the legs. This is my mummy she is at work.

Todays activity has involved developing fine motor skills such as using scissors and glue sticks also picking up smaller parts especially when they stick to your fingers !

Todays fun at the tinker table has let the children ask and answer questions, talk to each other sharing experiences and ideas. We have extended our knowledge and understanding of how to use a variety of materials.

We have some great animals and models to admire . Well done šŸ‘

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Mark making masterpiece

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We have been developing our mark making skills in the Studio room.
Our children enjoy exploring their mark making skills in a variety of fun, unique ways. Some of the ways we have been extending our mark making skills been using pastels, water paints and we experimented with marbling inks.

Mark making is a very important skill for our children to learn, but what is mark making? Mark making is a term used for the creation of different pattens, lines, textures and shapes. This can be done on a piece of paper, floor, outside in the garden or on an object or surface.

Mark making is a sensory and physical experience which can be enjoyed by all ages and abilities.
Today in the Studio we extended our mark making skills by using cardboard and a selection of mark making tools to create pictures of our favourite things.

We made race cars, ice creams, our family and our toys.

We enjoyed showing each other what we made, discussing what our favourite things were. Ā We were proud of the work we created. We like to be responsible to the environment and reuse and recycle our cardboard.

Some of the children enjoyed using the easel to mark make using pens and chalks.

We have opportunities to mark make across each of the playrooms, through arts and crafts, shaving foam, mud kitchen, and playdough to name just a few. What mark making do you like to do at home?

Literacy

Snakes and ladders šŸŖ±šŸŖœ

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Today the boys decided to play a game of snakes and ladders. This game encourages collaborative play, turn taking, patience!

Working together to set up the game encourages number recognition and colour recognition deciding which colour of counter youā€™d prefer.

Playing the game encourages touch counting, directional language forwards, backwards, up the ladder, down the snake.

ā€œYour turn, my turnā€ rolling a six, gets another turn – understanding the rules of the game and developing an understanding that it may not always be your turn is a concept that some children can find very hard.

We then developed our learning experience by creating our own snakes and ladders boards.

Snakes and ladders is a fantastic game with many learning opportunities and can be lots of fun!šŸ„°

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Textile Textures

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Today the children explored a variety of materials and different textures in the sewing area.

We looked at cellophane,carpet, silk, felt, bubble wrap and hessian. The children were able to describe how these materials felt.

ā€œThis is a bit jaggyā€

ā€œIt is so softā€

ā€œThis one is smoothā€

ā€œOh thatā€™s crinklyā€

We cut the materials into squares and thought it would be a great idea to make our own texture board.Ā  The children chose the materials they wanted to use and were keen to create stitches on them, using good hand and eye co-ordination we were able to put together a selection of materials for our board.

We then displayed our work on the texture board in our sewing area.

The children were very proud of their hard work and the children invited their friends to come have a look and feel the different textures.

Literacy

Bookbug plays hide and seek!šŸ˜

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Today the children and Bookbug had an impromptu game of hide and seek!

 

The children took turns hiding Bookbug characters within in the room, then gave their friends clues using directional language forwards, backwards, in, under, over .

 

The children were using their problem solving skills to recall the clues and were working together to find the toy the quickest.

After such a busy game we were glad when it was time for snack!

 

Literacy

Jack and the Beanstalk

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Today in the noisy and quiet room the children were keen to act out the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.

First, we decided to read the story to familiarise ourselves with it.

 

The children enjoyed re-telling their favourite parts in the story.

ā€Fee-fi -foo-fum! Jack Pott, what have you done?

ā€œFee – fi -Foo – fum, Ā I smell the blood of a Englishman. Be he alive, or be he dead, Iā€™ll use his bones to grind my bread.ā€

The children each chose a character to play in the story and we used the props to help us re- tell the story.

 


ā€œ want to be Jack so I can climb up the Beanstalkā€

ā€œ I am the goose that lays the golden eggs, Jack you have to rescue me from the giantā€

ā€œ I am Jackā€™s mummy and I am going to throw the magic beans out the window ā€œ

 

Ā 

ā€œQuick chop the beanstalk, the giant is after meā€

The children had so much fun acting and developing their language skills by expressing various characters dialogue in the story.

They also developedĀ  their social skills by expressing their characters feelings and showing respect through turn taking, co-operating and sharing with each other.

Why not give it a try at home and re-tell your favourite storyā€™s or make one up. Have fun! šŸ˜Š

 

 

 

 

 

Literacy, Trips and Outings

Visiting the library

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We enjoyed a lovely visit to Busby library this morning. While walking to the library, we discussed what type of stories we like and which books we might choose.
Once we arrived we chose a book each and settled down to read them. We discussed what we thought the story might be about by looking at the covers then started to explore the books.

We enjoyed reading a story called Thereā€™s a Shark in my Bath altogether. I asked the children what they would do if they found a shark in their bath and they responded
ā€œI would run away.ā€
ā€œI would give him into trouble.ā€
ā€œI would put him on the naughty step because heā€™s not allowed in my bath.ā€

Then Peter from the library also read us a lovely story about a Penguin.

We even got to dance like a penguin šŸ§

Expressive Arts, Literacy

Loose Parts Play

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This week in the Discovery room we have had lots of fun exploring loose parts.

We have collected lots of different items to create our loose part trays. Using our excellent fine motor skills, we sorted our loose parts into groups of similar items.

Filling and emptying lots of different sized containers using tweezers and tongs helped us develop our fine motor skills, and develop our understanding of volume and measurement.

ā€œThis one has lots of big and small piecesā€.

ā€Itā€™s full. Iā€™m emptying it outā€.

It was lots of fun choosing which loose parts we would use to create our transient artwork. We have such wonderful imaginations!

ā€œItā€™s a volcano with lava coming outā€.

ā€I made a caterpillar with pom pomsā€.

ā€I made a maze. The board is the way in. That one is the way outā€.

Some of us decided to choose our own loose parts to create the letters of our name. Ā We each drew our letter then carefully placed our loose parts along the lines. Ā Donā€™t they look fabulous!

To challenge ourselves further, we decided to make our names from our favourite loose parts. Ā We decided we like the pom poms, colourful matchsticks and gems the best!

There are so many fabulous things activities we can do with loose parts that help us develop a wide range of skills, our imaginations and creativity.
Loose parts can be anything from cardboard boxes, yoghurt pots, cotton reels and shells or sticks we can collect on holiday!
Why not have some fun with loose parts at home and see what you can create!