Hello everyone, we hope you’ve had a lovely week, here is a look at what we have been up to…

 

Groups of children created a bus using crates and planks of wood outside. The play expanded when the children created their own bus tickets to hand out to one another.

Children revisited the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff story outside as they designed and built their own bridges and houses using a range of loose parts and blocks, sharing their ideas and why they have used certain materials with others.

Children have started to explore the new Jenga game where they are turn taking and team building as they discuss which blocks they should and shouldn’t take out to help their peers to stop the tower falling down.

Children have been exploring some of their favourite stories such as Superworm where they have been looking at rhyming, feelings, pictures and characters.

Children have been keen to share their ideas for our garden development. Children shared their ideas for an adult to write on a mind map where the children contributed their mark making skills after. Some children shared they wanted to create more dens, someone said they wanted to plant pretty flowers and another shared they wanted pretty things in the house.

Children have been making use of the art resources as they create different dinosaurs and plan how they want them to look and how they can make that happen. Another child created a “little birdie” using junk modelling independently.

 

After developing our dressing up area, children have been making use of the items on show and exploring different role play experiences together.

“it’s my whole family, that’s me, mummy, daddy and my sister” children have been exploring their mark making skills as they create pictures of their family and proudly show it to others

Groups of children have been continuing their interest in UNO as they take turns, show good number and colour recognition and sharing the rules of the game with each other.

Children brought their knowledge of the story of the 3 Billy goats gruff into their play in the garden as they used various loose parts. They had a troll living under the bridge so they needed to travel across very quietly so not to wake it.

 

Reminders:

Peep on Friday 7th March 2026

If you have any permission slips please remember to bring these in within the next week for our trip to the science centre or any eye tests.

 

Have a great weekend!

Miss McKenzie 😊

Hello everyone we hope you have had a good week, here is a look at what we have been up to….

 

 

Outside, children have been exploring the tinkering tray as they use tools to develop their fine motor skills and find out what different components make up the items.

 

Some children took part in researching about ice hockey as one child had been to see their first Ive hockey game the night before. We watched the highlights from the game and discussed the rules, the score and the different teams playing. Children shared their own personal experiences relating to ice hockey and another child linked going to a football match to hockey.

 

Children have been exploring books together independently as they use the pictures to tell the story and point out the different features in the book. Children are becoming more confident when exploring books alone or with a small group of peers.

Children made use of the junk modelling in the art area as they created models using different materials. The children shared the resources and their ideas to make their structures.

 

Children have been building an enclosure for the dinosaurs in the sand tray. They shared that they pushed all of the sand to the side to make an area for them to eat from and an area for them to walk in, they are sharing the space and their ideas well 🦕

Children have been following dance workouts and routines on the smartboard. The children could coordinate their movements and also performed them from memory from the previous day. What started as two children then grew into a bigger group who were inspired by their peers dancing and laughter.

Following on from an interest in the weather conditions and finding ice around the setting. An are a set up that incorporates frozen water balloons, a range of tools, paint, flour etc to encourage the children to investigate and explore the water ice balloons. They used creative skills to decorate the ice sharing their findings on how it peels off. They used hammers to smash the ice to discover ice crystals, they found that one balloon was hollow inside and they could see through. We heard lots of language to describe what they were doing, finding, and to make predictions on what might happen. His interest also discussed how we froze the balloons, linking to freezers and electronic equipment. Also how some countries have lots of snow and ice with penguins and polar bears, recalling their previous interest.

 

 

Reminders:

• most of you will have taken home/your child will have in their bag a learning wall sheet all about Homes and Houses. If you could please fill this out with your child by either drawing a picture or doing some writing to show what your child already knows about the topic or questions for things they want to find out 🤣
• please ensure your child comes dress or has spare clothing for the colder/wet weather e.g wellies, waterproofs, hat, gloves, scarfs and cosy clothing.

Hello everyone, we hope you have had a good week. Here is a look at what we have been up to……

Children enjoyed playing in the art area. They put their creative minds together and used different junk modelling, paints and loose parts to create different models and pictures.

Children continued their interest of the train track and used their imagination and creativity to make a ramp demonstrating the car needed pushed up it to allow it to move. They also discovered that if they let go of the car at the top of the ramp it would just slide down without any force.

Children showed great mark making skills as they used paper to create different drawing using different shapes and colours to take home to their families.

Children worked together in the block area to make a bed and a wall for “the worm”. One pretended to be a worm as the others placed the carpets over her as a blanket.

Children worked together to build a den. They used their knowledge to discuss how to stay safe using the helmets and high visibility vests. They worked together with Fraser recognising how many sides the den has and why they needed that number of sides.

Outside this morning, children were observed exploring the water tray area using a range of weighing equipment and non standard measuring intentions. They used problem solving skills to explore ways to move the water from one place into the bucket to see how heavy the water was.

Children have been coming and enjoying a balanced snack this week of lots of mixed fruits and either crackers, rice cakes or breadsticks. The children were able to independently decide if they wanted snack and could recognise the number of each items to take based on the display boards.

 

We made a special trip to the library for a Bookbug session. We picked out some stories to read there and some for taking back to nursery. The children learned some new songs and the actions to go with.

 

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Reminders:

• Next week is our last week at nursery before the Christmas holidays we are in for a regular full week
• the nursery Christmas sing along is on Tuesday 16th December at 2:30 in the huts where we will sing songs and then come back to nursery for some Christmas themed activities
• the nursery Christmas party is on 18th December in the afternoon after lunch time

 

Have a great weekend, see you all next week ☺️

Hello everyone, we hope you have had a good week. Here is a look at what we have been up to in nursery…

To start off our Monday morning, we had a visit from our friend Mr Robin who wanted to come inside to get warm from the cold weather. We safely caught him and released him outside. We see him everyday in the nursery garden where he is getting closer and closer to use and we often watch what he is up to.

Children have been in the block area showcasing their team work and building skills as they build a range of structures together. They have built things from dinosaur showers to rockets.

Children have been using the outdoor space to explore tinkering with the tools and old electronics and building using the loose parts and cardboard boxes. Children were also using the foam dice to explore number and developing their awareness of subitise.

We had a short forest session in the bottom garden where we had a fire and enjoyed some beans and pitta bread. The children also created a pipe system where they looked at transporting stones to see how to get them to the other end.

The boys have been creating their own den using covers and items to weigh them down to stop them from falling.

Children have been exploring their creative and expressive sides as they use the art area to use wool to wrap around resources. Children have been exploring the xylophone to make louder and quieter sounds and children have been using the picture cards to create their own stories and characters. Two children were using their senses to play in the sand and describe how it feels as they make a waterfall together. Children also made ghosts in the art area so they could make them into kites and fly them in the wind outside.

The children have been enjoying some Danny Go today as they follow along to the instructions and moves and discuss their favourite song to dance to.

 

Reminders:

• Bookbug will be on Friday 28th December from 9:00am in the huts, we look forward to seeing you there.
• Forest will be on Wednesday morning, can you please ensure your child is wrapped up warm, it’s better to have too many layers as we can always take these off.
• Please speak to a member of staff if you would like to sign up or a parent chat with your child’s keyworker which will take place the first week in December.

Have a great weekend! Miss McKenzie

Hello everyone, we hope you have had a great first week back, here is a look at what we have been up to in nursery this week…

 

Children have been exploring their mark making skills this week as they write stories and lists about different things. One child wrote about a speed boat and how they wanted one for Christmas and another child was writing about his mummy. The children were using letters and words they already knew from memory and wrote these independently.

Children were also extending their mark making skills as they used the smartboard to draw pictures for their families. They were helped to find out how to select the pen colour and how to use the different functions.

 

The children enjoyed some spooky themed stories at the forest as they listened to Room on the Broom to identify word patterns and predict what was going to happen next. We then noticed a red squirrel up in the trees. Children then suggested we go on a squirrel hunt and we saw a further 3 red squirrels which had never happened at the forest before.

 

Children have been continuing their interests in animals and birds as they choose to do some bird watching outside. The children collected the resources that they thought they would need to help them such as a book about birds and pen and paper to document what they find.

 

Children created their own treasure maps to  use around the garden. The children drew a layout of the garden and asked the adult to put an ‘x’ marks the spot somewhere on the map for the to search.

 

Children noticed the rain gauges had started to fill up in the garden and spoke about what they were for. The children recognised, with a little support, that the rain had filled up to the number 30.

 

Children have been using their imaginations this week as they create models using the snap n’ play and use wooden sticks for rockets. The children with the snap n’ play created machines and added different elements. The rockets were launched into space and the children spoke about different planets they were going to land on.

We had a group of builders using the loose parts in the garden as they worked together to make dens using the tarpaulins and crates. They shared their knowledge of keeping safe, what clothing they needed to wear whilst on site. “We wear these so we can see people” “ The helmets stop our heads from getting hurt”.

Reminders:

• Our forest sessions are on a Wednesday morning where we meet at Waterstone Crook carpark from 9:00-9:15am where we will then make our way up to the forest.
• We have provided a leaflet to go home for clothing at the forest to support your child with the changing weather, please ask if you have any questions.
• Our Peep group will start next week where we meet every second Friday beginning Friday 7th November at 9:10am. We will meet in the room after drop off and adults will head over to the huts where the children will come shortly after to join for activities. Please speak to Miss McKenzie if you would like to join or have any questions. The Peep session runs for roughly 1 hour.

 

We hope you have a great Halloween weekend, see you next week 🦇

We hope you have had a great week. Here is a look at some things we have been up to…..

 

Children have been exploring the outdoor area to create dens and develop their fine motor skills through cutting and chopping in the mud kitchen using scissors and freshly picked lavender. Children have been collaborating their ideas on how to make a good den using materials and crates.

A group of boys used the wooden blocks to make a track for the toy cars. They weaved the track around the room adding to their design as they went and listening to what others had to say to develop their ideas.

Children have joined in with a colour pattern game as they have to copy the patterned structure on the picture. Everyone worked really hard to match the colours and could recognise when they had made a mistake and worked to correct it with little support. The children requested trickier structures as they went. This opened up the conversation about positional language, height, colour patterns and symmetry.

 

The children have taken an interest in the tinkering table outside as they develop their fine motor skills through using the screwdrivers and unclipping pieces of circuit boards.

 

 

We had our first session this year at the forest which the children thoroughly enjoyed and spoke fondly of. Children were role play9ing that they were selling ice-cream, finding a forest monster made from wood and created their own games together. We also tried cooking pesto pasta for the first time which went really well and the children shared their liking for it.

When we got back we had lots of discussions on what went well and what everyone’s favourite thing to do at the forest was and what they request for snack on the fire next week which will be beans on toast or soup!

 

Children have been linking in nursery to learning at home as they bring in items to share with peers and adults. This has extended our learning wall for animals as children brought in bird books and shells from a recent holiday.

 

Reminders:

• Our forest session is on a Wednesday morning where we will meet at Waterstone Crook car park from 9:00am until 9:15am where we will then head to the forest location, please remember to pick up your waterproofs and wellies the day before.
• Parent chats will be happening next week, if you need a reminder of your time please just ask.
• We will be able to add faces to the blog as soon as we have received confirmation of all permissions for photos.

We hope you have a great weekend and we will see you next week ☺️

The nursery team x

Hello everyone we hope you have had a great week this week, here is a look at what we have been up to…

 

Children have been exploring lots of songs and rhymes as they take part in small group opportunities as they use the wooden song spoons and ‘what’s in the bag’. Children chose an object from a bag and sang a song based on what the character or item was. Children have also been looking at a range of books alone and with peers to see what they can spot in the pictures and retelling the stories together.

 

Children are becoming more confident when taking part in lunchtime and snack routines as they collect what they need with little support and carry their tray to the table and choose who they want to sit next to.

Children have been challenging themselves with puzzles as they complete a range of different jigsaws starting off with the ones with less pieces and working their way up to 100 pieces where they delegated who would complete each area to them combine their sections together to finish the jigsaw.

Lots of new friendships are being formed as children bond over shared interests with familiar and unfamiliar peers.

We have been exploring ball games outside where children used the football to pass to one another, a target to throw beanbags at to see what number would get the most points and using the bats and balls to hit back and forward. The children took turns mark making a line next to the points each time they hit either a 20, 50 or 100.

 

Children have shown a keen interest in using the fire station to explore jobs in the community as they discuss firemen. There has also been men in to cut down a tree this week where children have been keen to find out about what they have to wear and how they keep safe. A child also noticed Rory our janitor with a tool box and quizzed him on what he was doing which lead to a discussion about tools they had at home and what jobs they like to help their families with.

Children have been working together to create a wonderful Christmas tree 🎄 The children had been role playing in the house that it was Christmas time so decided they needed a tree. This gave the children the opportunity to be creative and develop their fine motor skills as they weaved material in and out of the branches.

Reminders:

• can we please ask any relevant paperwork such as the All About Me Sheets, Sun permission slips, Seesaw permissions etc be returned next week. Thank you!
• Please feel free to leave a pair of wellies and waterproofs at nursery for your child for water play and can we ask that names are added to these so they don’t get mixed up with others!

 

We hope you have a lovely weekend and we will see you next week ☺️

 

The Nursery Team 

Hello everyone, we hope you have had a good week. Here is a look at what we have been up to…..

 

Groups of children have been exploring their musical side as they use the wooden spoons to sing with and choose to join in the Lycra songs singing “where are the children” as they take turns to shake the Lycra and hide underneath.

At the forest, children worked together to complete tasks as they made a giant leaf pile. The children used a range of tools and skills to collect the leaves.

Children have been weaving outside as they work on their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Children have continued their interest in bugs as they look for them around the garden. They have been lifting plant pots to look under, searching in the flowers and looking under the shed to find out where they are hiding.

Since the puppet theatre has been moved outside, the children have been using it a lot more and using it to entertain their peers.

Children have been working on their target practice and hand eye coordination as they threw at a target and other children kept score to see which number got the most hits.

Children have further developed their interest in the mud kitchen and bugs as they make a house for the woodlouse and create a salad using leaves and pipe cleaners.

Children crated their own shop area outside using loose parts, junk modelling and a till. The children created their own shop menus and explored giving and receiving change and looking at the weights to see how heavy each item or shopping was.

Children created their own stage where they started to sing songs and put on a performance together and took turns dancing, singing and watching 🎤

It was Luke’s birthday this week and we would like to wish him a big happy birthday 🥳 🎂 we hope you had a great day at nursery 🎁

 

Reminders:

• next week will be our last forest session
• next week will be the last play on pedals sessions

 

Have a great weekend, enjoy the nice weather 😎☀️ Miss McKenzie

 

Hello everyone, we hope you have had a lovely week. Here is a look at what we have been up to….

 

children have been using the block area to explore their creative side as they made a range of structures such as houses and dino dens 🦕

Children have been role playing teachers as they hold a Christmas sing along and count how many accidents have happened that day to mark on the register ✍️

Groups of children have been very keen to investigate the woodwork bench to make models using the new wood that got delivered this week. Children have been reminded about how to use the tools safely and what they can add to their inventions to create interesting shapes and features 🔨

Children have been showcasing their art skills as they create wonderful pictures using a range of materials ♥️

We have had a lovely forest session today, we have been….
swinging from trees,
digging with sticks
building traps using loose parts
imagining we are picking oranges from the trees
discussing the weather and how it makes us feel

Went on a flower hunt around the grounds and took lots of photos of the different types to research their names
making sure we gave the animals space whilst observing them at work 🐝
We then sat around the fire for a tasty hot dog 🌭 or some shortbread 🍪
On our way back, we looked at the road signs and shared what they were there to warn others about

Children have been discussing a lot of Minecraft this week. Children then took their ideas to the block area where a Minecraft pig and panda were made. These ideas were put into the block play book where an adult scribed some of the ideas.

Groups of children participated in their first play on pedals session. We first discussed safety, looking at the bike, the functions such as tyres, brakes and the use in the correct manner. We discussed appropriate clothing such as trainers, their coats zipped up, the correct fitting of the helmet and the saddle height. We talked about listening skills and awareness of others and objects around.

The children have been creating obstacle courses as they used a range of loose parts and work to find out if the items were stable or wobbly and then used trail and error to find a new item instead.

Children have explored using the Lego outside to be creative and build models based on their interests. Children created Minecraft structures with their buddies and others just wanted to explore fitting pieces together and manipulating them to make different shapes 🟨

Children have been using the block area book to design their own houses that they will build. One child shared they wanted a dancing area for the teacher and the other had a pool so she could sunbathe in it. Another child was inspired to design their dream house and added to the book sharing “I would have a striped door”.

 

Reminders

• there will be no nursery on Monday 2nd June or Tuesday 3rd June for a holiday and in service day.
• there will be no play on pedals next week but will continue the following week.

We hope you have a lovely long weekend and will see you on Wednesday 4th June 😄

The Newport nursery team x

Hello everyone, we hope you have had a lovely week. Here is a look at what we have been up to this week in nursery….

 

When walking back from the forest the past 2 weeks we have noticed bees crawling along the ground and warned others to watch out for them. Back at nursery, we used a bee book for research and to find out more about what the bees were doing. We took the book down and went to visit the beehive in the bottom garden area.
The children asked lots of questions they wanted to find out and shared the knowledge they already had about bees. We have added pictures and quotes to our learning wall in the room about our visit.

Children were using the mud kitchen to create soup together. They used a range of leaves and flowers to add as ingredients to their creation.

A group of children took part in activities based around listening and talking. We went around the garden to see what we could hear and spoke with our friends and made posters showing all of the things we could see and hear. Children confidently shared what they also heard at the forest as they spoke about birds and imagined what else they could possibly hear in the garden area.

We have been making the most of the sunshine in the garden as we explore the outdoor environment, making cosy spaces to read, climbing trees, rolling resources and role playing being out at see on the boat spotting sharks 🦈

Children have been displaying their creative skills as they paint in the art area and build in the block area. They collaborated their ideas and shared their achievements with others 🌈

A big happy birthday to Innes, Flora and Lochlan who all had birthdays this week 🥳

 

We hope you have a lovely weekend, remember your suncream, it’s going to be hot! ☀️😎

 

Reminders

• parent chats will be happening again next week, please check in with your key worker if you need a reminder of when it will be!