Manager’s Corner

M A Y 2 0 1 5

D A T E S F O R

D I A R Y !

Beavers

Staff Development and Training

We have been very busy this half term updating our

knowledge in some important areas such as

Safeguarding & First Aid.

There are too many staff to name so well done to all those

who attended the Safeguarding training.

Also, a huge well done to Ashley, Bethany, Deri, Morag, Jessica,

Chloe & Kayla for completing and passing their

Paediatric First Aid Training.

This half term in Beavers we have managed to

explore our outdoor environment with us having

lots of nice sunny weather! We have loved doing

some activities outdoors including foam play,

water play and posting balls through holes.

We have been getting very messy and creative

with paints and have used our hands to make

prints of beautiful butterflies. We have also been

painting some spring animals such as lambs and

chicks and we even got the opportunity to meet

some real life chicks that our school were

hatching! As well as taking part in some Spring

themed craft activities, we have been focusing on

learning different animal sounds by singing

songs such as ‘Old Macdonald had a farm’.

We love listening to stories and singing during

our circle times especially with our new nursery

rhyme finger puppets! We also enjoy learning

how to baby sign by adding actions to our songs.

Next term in Beavers we will be looking at things

we do in the summer time by focusing on themes

such as the beach and sea creatures and we do

hope that the weather holds out so we can

continue to spend some time outdoors in the

summer sun!

Newsletter

It has been a busy little half term but what fun we have had! The children have settled extremely well into their new groups and have already made some wonderful relationships with both children and staff.

It has been lovely to see a slight change in weather and the children have loved it! They have been making the most of the sunshine by playing in the sandpit, participating in some gardening and hunting for bugs using the magnifying glasses and bug catchers! Let’s just hope the weather stays dry so the children can make the most of our wonderful outdoor area.

Over the past few weeks both Pre-Prep & Prep 1 Junior staff have placed notices on their doors to ask for a named sports bottle to be brought in for each of their children. As the children are

Friday 12th June – Flag Day

Today the children will explore all the wonders of

flags. They will explore shape, pattern and colours and will create their own personal

flag.

Friday 19th June – Father’s Day Stay & Play Session Calling all Dads, Brothers,

Uncles & Grandads…join us in celebrating Father’s Day by participating in some fun art

& craft/baking activities! Sessions will be held 9-10am

& 2.30-3.30pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

Monday 22nd June – Summer Solstice

To mark the longest day of the year the children will learn all about the sun by

taking part in lots of creative themed crafts as well as lots of outdoor activities whilst

enjoying the sunshine!

Thursday 2nd July – Prep 1 Junior Trip

This term the children will be going on a trip to Blackpool Zoo alongside the children

from Clarendon Cottage Prep School & Monton Village

Nursery. Look out for letters regarding this over the

coming weeks.

Friday 3rd July – Summer Fair

Join us at our annual PTA Summer Fair to help raise funds for the nursery. A

range of stalls will be available to not only buy

goodies from but win them too! More information about this event will be published

soon.

Friday 10th July – Prep 1 Junior Sports Day

All Prep 1 Junior children will be invited to participate in our annual Sports Day at

Monton Cricket Club – it is a lovely occasion and sure to bring a smile to your face. Please look out for letters

regarding this over the next couple of weeks.

Tuesday 14th July 2015 – Parent Open Evening

Join us to discuss your child’s progress and achievements.

More details to follow nearer the time.

Wednesday 15th July –

End of year party! Today all the children will

have a party to celebrate the end of term and to say

goodbye to those children before they move to ‘big school’! Any donations of party food will be greatly

appreciated.

always hard at work they often become thirsty so if you haven’t already done so, please can you bring a sports bottle in for your child. Due to family circumstances it is with regret that we have had to say goodbye to Jean who works in Pre-Prep. Jean was an incredible member of staff who was dearly loved by her colleagues and children at the nursery. It is without a doubt that she will be missed dearly by all. We have a busy half term coming up so make sure you have a look at the ‘dates for diary’ section to ensure you and your child participate as much as you can! We shall ensure we place reminders around the nursery and on our Facebook page about any upcoming events nearer the time. If there is anything in particular you would like us to celebrate then please do not hesitate to inform a member of staff. The Management Team

Beavers children exploring their new activity board! This

provides them with the opportunity to develop their

small motor skills.

Pre-Prep

Badgers This half term in Badgers we

have been learning about

Spring. We created a lovely

spring display which we were

very proud of as we won dis-

play of the month for the hard

work we put into this. We had

the chance to participate in lots

of spring related crafts and

created some wonderful

artwork such as butterflies,

bees and flowers. While doing

this we have been learning our

colours. We have played in

coloured water, coloured

spaghetti, gloop, playdough

and many more textures!

At circle time we have been

reading lots of stories and we

are becoming much more

confident to join in with the

words and phrases. Some of

our favourite stories are ‘Dear

Zoo’, ‘We’re going on a bear

hunt’ and ‘Never use a knife

and fork’.

We have recently started

learning about Minibeasts in

Badgers and as part of this

topic we have been creating

spiders, ladybirds and

butterflies. We have also been

enjoying going on bug hunts

in the garden using the bug

catchers. On our last bug hunt

we managed to find a snail

and enjoyed looking at this on

a closer scale during

circle time.

Next term we will be starting our

new topic based on ‘Under the

Sea’. We will be creating lots of

sparkly fish using a range of

materials and will also be

exploring in blue gloop and water

with our under the sea animals.

As well as learning about this

topic, we will also be learning

about summer and creating a

new summer themed display.

activities. We made our own

beanstalks using real magic

beans and we also baked our

own gingerbread men!

During our next topic we will

be learning about ‘People Who

Help Us’. As well as learning

lots of new facts and taking

part in some fun filled activi-

ties, the children will have the

chance to dress up as a fire-

man, nurse etc and act out the

role of these very important

people.

Over the past few weeks in Pre

-Prep we have started to intro-

duce incentives such as ‘star of

the week’ whereby one child

every week will receive their

own certificate and mini trophy

We have had a fun filled half

term in Pre-Prep and our new

children have settled in really

well into their new class.

The children enjoyed our topic

‘Senses’ where we took part in

lots of fun themed activities

such as food tasting and

messy play. The children

enjoyed making sensory boxes

filled with lots of different

textured media.

Our recent topic has been

‘Fairytales’ and the children

have loved listening to

different stories and

participating in lots of creative

Prep 1 Junior We have had such a busy half term in Prep 1 Junior participating in lots of events. Our children particularly enjoyed the ‘Frozen’ cinema night at our school and dressing up as their favourite book character for World Book Day! We said goodbye to some children this term and have welcomed new children with open arms from Pre-Prep. They have all settled in really well and we have been having lots of fun together!

The children have enjoyed a couple of topics based on their interests including Fairytales and Under the Sea. This was complimented with a trip to the Blue Planet Aquarium which we all thoroughly enjoyed and spoke about for weeks! The children began to show a keen interest in the life cycle of a shark in particular and enjoyed learning the names of more unusual sea creatures such as a sea urchin and an anemone.

We have recently started to learn about Life Cycles following the children’s interests and they have

absolutely loved observing the caterpillars in our classroom. We have watched them grow, turn into cocoons and now four of them have turned into beautiful painted lady butterflies! We are continuing our Life Cycle topic by looking at Minibeasts and the children are enjoying exploring in their very own Minibeast garden that we have set up in the role-play area.

We are looking forward to our next trip to Blackpool Zoo in July as we love learning about animals!

to take home as a reward

for something special. The

children will also have

the chance to take

home ‘Gerald the

Giraffe’ one at a time

whereby they will have

the opportunity to look

after Gerald for the

weekend and write a

diary based on his

adventures!