Little Gems Class Page

Summer Term One

It has been a busy half term at Little Gems, the children have shown they are keen gardeners by planting seeds to help encourage more bees and butterflies into our garden. They have enjoyed learning the importance of bees within our environment and how they keep the food chain alive.

They have done an excellent job at taking care of their grass heads, these can be used repeatedly to practice their scissors skills. The grass heads will need a haircut every couple of weeks to keep them tidy and presentable.

We have lots of keen mark makers in nursery who have been actively trying to write their own names and those of their friends. We also have many keen artists and the skills they are showing are fabulous.

We also received some caterpillars to help us understand and learn about a life cycle, the caterpillars are busy growing fat and working their way to the top of their pots to form the chrysalis. Hopefully, we shall see the beautiful butterfly pop out before the half term holidays.

The children have been practising hard for sports day, and trying to complete the races independently, please cheers loudly for them at the event. It can be daunting in front of a large crowd but be assured the staff will take great care of them.

Once again, thank you for your continued support over the half term and enjoy your break. As we return for the last half term before we say goodbye to some of our Little Gems who will be off to school. Please can you support your children to be as independent as they can, this will help with the transition from nursery to school.

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Spring Term Two

What a busy half term it has been, finally we got to see the sunshine and what a difference it makes.

The children have been busy learning all about the words, full, empty, tall, short, heavy, and light during our maths sessions, they have done this through lots of practical activities in the water tray, mud kitchen, and home corner.

We cannot forget a great two weeks taking care of the eggs and watching them hatch. The children learnt lots of new things, such as how to identify if the chick is a girl or boy, what it is called when they are pecking their way out of the egg, the home we kept them in when they were eggs and the home, we moved them too once they had hatched. The children were extremely kind and caring when handling the chicks and this was a great learning opportunity.

We are impressed with the children’s blending skills and syllable awareness during our phonics sessions, our younger children are really developing their listening skills during their phonics sessions being able to identify environmental sounds around the home, different animals, and musical instruments.

During our weekly PE sessions, the children have enjoyed learning to control a ball using their feet, gymnastic skills were also a focus and the children got to use some of the climbing and balancing equipment.

The children have loved learning about the people that help us in our community, it was lovely to see them take on the roles at Police Officer, Fire Fighters, Doctors, Nurses, Post People, and teachers.

We also took part in a sponsored Hop to raise funds for Thames Hospice, thank you to all those that sponsored the children, I know your money will make an enormous difference.

We would like to thank you for your continued support this half term and have a lovely Easter Break.

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Spring Term One

What a busy half term it has been, the children have been learning about healthy and non-healthy foods and can now with little support sort the two different food groups.

We have enjoyed using stories to help teach us and look at different fruits and vegetables.

The children have loved making their own fruit salads, they were excited about using their own knives, but of course we spoke about how to use the knife safely, keeping our fingers out of the way. They chose the fruits they would like to use, and it was lovely seeing some try new fruits.

They have had the opportunity to design a healthy meal using pictures from magazines, cutting these out and designing their plates of dinner, we have used different vegetables as mark making tools, which the children found very amusing.

During our maths sessions we have been learning about numbers four and five, to help us, we looked at the artist Mondrian as he created art using tape and paint to create four-sided shapes. The children loved creating their own pieces of Mondrian artwork.

We cannot ignore the rain, what a very wet half term it has been, this has not stopped the children from exploring the outside, we have used brooms, bubbles and food colouring to help develop our gross motor skills while creating large marks on the ground, we enjoyed making bird feeders and did a little bird watching, although we tried our hardest to be quiet and still the birds were still a little hesitant about stopping by for some food but Mrs Sherlock assured us that she did see some Blue tits early one morning enjoying a feast.

During our phonics lessons we are becoming experts at clapping out syllables and rhyming, our younger children have been practising those vital listening skills by identifying a sound and matching it to the corresponding picture.

I would like to say a big thank you to those parents that have come in and read to the children in their home languages, it has been a great experience for the children and they have loved it, if any other parents would like to come in and read we are always happy to arrange a time for you to do so.

It was lovely getting to meet and talk to you during out parents’ meetings, it was lovely to share the fantastic development your children are making.

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Autumn Term Two

What a busy half term The Little Gems have had.

Our pre-schoolers have been learning about rhyme and how to break words up in to syllables by clapping them out. The younger children have continued to take part in rhyme time sessions and build their repertoire of nursery rhymes up. These are all the early stages of reading and writing.

In maths we have been looking at numbers one and two not just recognising the numeral but the quantity too, we have also begun to look at pattern, using natural objects.

The children enjoyed learning about Vincent Van Gough and looking at his painting Starry Night. They then created their own master pieces, using their skills to mix colours to create light and dark blue for the nighttime sky.

We have enjoyed reading lots of different stories about Autumn and the dark nights, the children got to explore the dark using a dark tent and torches. They enjoyed looking at books in the dark tent, using the torches to see the pages.

We have been strengthening our hands with messy play, small hammers and golf tees and making super sculptures out of playdough.

We have enjoyed looking at different celebrations we all take part in, Diwali, Fireworks night, Remembrance Day and finally Christmas.

We got to share Christmas lunch together, and the children loved having the grown-ups sit and eat lunch with them.

I am so impressed with their skills to learn new songs, they have worked hard on learning five new songs for the Christmas Concert, I hope you are as proud of them as we are. It is very daunting to get up on stage for most people let alone when you are only 2-4 years old. We hope you enjoyed the performance.

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Autumn Term One

Little Gems have all settled back into the Little Gems routine, since returning from the summer.

It has been lovely welcoming new friends and watching new friendships bloom. The children are picking up the routines and settling in lovely.

They have all loved our weekly PE sessions with Mr Fenton and Mr Bachelor where they are learning to follow instructions while learning new skills.

We have been learning lots of new nursery rhymes during our daily rhyme time sessions. During these sessions, the children learn the new rhyme, listen to sounds associated with the rhyme and use their voices to make sound patterns. Our older children are learning what rhyming words are and how to clap out syllables.

The children have loved learning about and recognising different colours during maths, they have enjoyed making rainbows and sorting coloured objects into groups. We have also looked at matching and the same.

They have loved spending time in our garden especially the mud kitchen, collecting leaves and adding them to their delicious recipes they make.