Duckling News - Summer Term 2, 2022

Where has the time gone and almost at the end of the Summer Term, there has been so much going on this second half of the term.

After the May Half Term the children have been learning about ‘Seaside’. The children have engaged with all activities on offer learning about creatures in the sea, Sharing and Turn taking, Underpants following the NSPCC The Pantosaurus Song! | #TalkPANTS | NSPCC - YouTube. Sports Day, Ark Farm and looking at moving up and Transition.

It was so lovely to have so many of you come and support at Sports Day and watch the skills they have been learning in their P.E. lessons. We hope you enjoyed as much as the children and us. Soon Ark Farm will be visiting us as an end of Term treat.

We mentioned last term about having some tadpoles, they are still tadpoles!. We were hoping that they would have grown on to the next stage and become froglets by now. Who knew they took this long!! I hope by the end of term the children in Nursery will be able to see them move along the life cycle. We shall keep you updated.

We have taken advantage of this lovely warm weather, by spending much more time outside in our lovely shady garden. When it got extremely hot we have had the paddling pool out and our sprinkler to cool off the children, with a treat of an ice pop to help cool them down. 

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Duckling News - Summer Term 2022

What a wonderful first half to the summer term the children in Nursery have had!

The term started off with the children learning about ‘Growing’.  The children loved learning about life cycles of the Butterfly and looking at growing different plants from seeds. 

We had a food tasting week, making Pea soup. The children enjoyed mashing the peas with a potato masher and then adding all the ingredients to the blender and watching the difference in state from solid to liquid. It was a very tasty treat!

When we learnt about the life cycle of the frog, we were very lucky Mrs Newnam had bought in some frog spawn from her pond at home for the children to look at and observe, over time the eggs were getting larger, we moved them to our outside area where they saw them hatch into tadpoles, we will keep you posted on when they turn into froglets.

Taking advantage of the good weather has enabled the children to be outdoors a lot more and the children have loved being free flow between inside and outside.  Over the first half of summer the children have enjoyed watering the flowers and seeds and planting them on in to the bigger planter. I'm sure it wont be long before we can try the tomato's, strawberry's, runner beans, potatoes and carrots. We will keep you posted on this!

Duckling News - Spring Term 2022

What a wonderful and busy term the children in Nursery have had!

The term started off with the children learning about ‘People Who Help Us’.  The children loved learning about people in the community who help us. 

There were several trips, on foot to the local village shop, where Chan welcomed us with open arms as we all entered his shop to buy a stamp each!  The children also particularly enjoyed choosing biscuits and a few sweets whilst we visited the shop and the shopkeeper!

When we learnt about Police officers, the Nursery was over run by a small police force!  The children went into the main school to see the other children and to check on ‘how things were’!!  There was much laughter as the Nursery children went into the classrooms and said, “ello, ello, ello” as they entered and even more laughter as one ‘little police officer’ handcuffed his elder sister!!!

Another highlight was when Mr Hailes the (ex) firefighter came to visit the children.  They were able to try on a real fire helmet and loved watching Mr Hailes and Miss Pyman as they dressed up in the fire fighter’s uniform.

The children thoroughly enjoyed a visit from the Veterinary Surgeon and Nurse when they came to Nursery.  There were 1st hand opportunities to dress up in ‘scrubs’, to bandage a poorly (pretend) puppy and to wear protective gloves and masks.

Taking advantage of the good weather has enabled the children to be outdoors a lot and the children have loved digging up the soil and planting seeds and primroses.  In the coming weeks we are hoping to see some green shoots that hopefully will grow into tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers – we will keep you posted on this!

Autumn 2, Week 5, 2021.

This week the children have learnt all about repeating patterns. They now understand what a repeating pattern is and can continue it, can spot when "silly Mrs Jordan" has made a mistake and correct it and have really enjoyed the problem solving element of creating repeating patterns of their own.

Ducklings amazed me with their flexibility and control as well as their listening and attention skills as they took part in a 'Christmas Yoga' session. The children were able to create and hold lots of different poses including a Christmas tree, star, sleigh, reindeer and Santa Claus himself! They really enjoyed testing what their bodies could do and developing their gross motor skills; a fantastic effort and lots of fun, well done Ducklings!

As the weather drew colder this week, we have been recapping and summarising our Autumn learning. The children used magnifying glasses and other tools to explore and sort natural materials according to size, texture, type etc. which encouraged some wonderful descriptive vocabulary and critical thinking. They then used their knowledge and understanding of what happens to trees in the Autumn time to create some beautiful paintings. A little bit of snow got us all excited too and we loved playing outside in that but not before we talked about how the snow made us feel, what we should wear to keep warm and dry and we even had an excellent try at putting on all of these nice warm clothes independently!

Another super week Ducklings, well done!

Autumn 2, Week 4, 2021.

This week Ducklings have been learning all about emotions. We have shared some lovely stories and the children have expressed their thoughts and ideas and tried really hard to understand why the characters in the stories felt the way they did. We have also looked at pictures to demonstrate each emotion and this led to some fantastic discussions on how we can recognise emotions from facial expressions, actions and body language. The children also shared examples of when they had shown a particular emotion and what that looked like as well as what can be done to make themselves or their friends feel better when they are sad. They displayed excellent listening and attention skills as well as turn taking too, well done Ducklings!

The children absolutely loved making model hedgehogs out of clay. They made lots of comments on its texture and enjoyed transferring skills developed in our 'dough discos' to manipulate the clay and mould into the desired shape before pinching and pulling to make the ears and nose. Finally they used scissors and tools to create the spikes and eyes. They were so proud of their finished product and thoroughly enjoyed the process, well done Ducklings, they look amazing!

We continued to learn about different Festivals and Celebrations and this week found out all about Thanksgiving. The children were able to tell me that "America is a long way away" and informed me that "you can't go in the car Mrs Jordan, it's too far! You have to go on an aeroplane and put your seat-belt on so they can bring you some dinner!"  They were fascinated to learn about foods eaten at Thanksgiving and many made good comparisons, commenting, "that's what I eat at Christmas". Pumpkin pie was a harder sell however, with lots of gasps and exclamations of "yucky!" and "that's 'scusting!" Ducklings then crafted a Thanksgiving turkey while talking about all the things that they enjoy, that make them happy and that they are thankful for. It was heartwarming to hear that the special people in their lives were at the top of all of their lists.

Autumn 2, Week 3, 2021.

Ducklings have worked incredibly hard this week and crammed so much into their learning, they really have been little sponges!

We began by looking at one of the children's favourite stories, We're Going On A Bear Hunt. The children listened well, joined in with repeated phrases and even came up with actions to accompany the story; it really was a big hit!

We then talked about what they had noticed about the seasonal changes associated with Autumn. They were able to comment on how the leaves had all changed colours and were falling off the trees, how the weather had got much colder than it was in the Summer time and we talked about how the days were getting shorter as it got dark earlier in the afternoon and stayed dark later in the morning. We then looked at the story, We're Going On A Leaf Hunt and this quickly became a new favourite! The children commented on all they could see in the pictures and quickly recognised that the pattern and repetition was "just like the Bear Hunt". They built on this prior learning and absorbed new phrases and vocabulary such as "let's find colourful leaves" and "it's a wonderful day!" They found the introduction of a skunk in place of the bear to be hilarious, especially as "skunks are stinky!!" They then wanted to go on their own leaf hunt to find "colourful leaves" and were thrilled to find leaves that that were red, yellow, orange and brown, "just like in the story".

These activities have inspired an even greater love of books and the children have spent a lot of time looking at books independently, with friends and wanting to know more about the things they have seen in them... cue a visit from 'Ollie the Owl' who prompted some enthusiastic discussions about owls and other woodland animals.

Singing and dancing to 'Dingle Dangle Scarecrow' has also been very popular this week and led to a lovely craft activity where the children made their very own scarecrow puppets. They also took the opportunity to learn about the shapes they were using to make their scarecrow (triangles, rectangles and circles) and identified and matched them when making their puppets.

Another incredible and fun packed week Ducklings, well done, I am so proud of you all!

Autumn 2, Week 2, 2021.

This week the children have been exploring a range of Autumnal objects and learning new vocabulary to describe each item. They then took part in a turn taking game where one of them had to hide an object and their friends had to guess which object they had hidden, using the new vocabulary they had learnt to describe it. Really excellent turn taking and use of descriptive language Ducklings, well done!

Autumn 2, Week 1, 2021.

As we start our new learning about Festivals and Celebrations, this week the children have enjoyed finding out about Diwali, the Festival of Lights. They showed great interest when learning about all the customs and traditions and were keen to take part in all the activities on offer, including creating their own Diya lamps, Rangoli patterns, Mehndi hand designs, representing Ganesha, the God of luck, protection and fortune, as well as the remover of obstacles and one of the favourite gods of the Hindu faith. They even found time to taste some traditional food, which I have to say, went down an absolute treat!

On Friday, the children began to talk about Bonfire Night and wanted to create paintings of fireworks. Lots of them will be attending displays for the first time this weekend and will experience fireworks for the first time. They were very interested to learn about firework safety and how to keep themselves, others and animals safe. We are very much looking forward to some excited chatter and hearing all about their experiences next week! 

Autumn 1, Week 7, 2021.

Wow! The last week of term and the children have been as busy and engaged as ever, they make me so very proud!

This week they have had a lot of fun with role play in the 'shop' where they have used their imagination and along with real life experiences while continuing to build relationships and develop their communication and language, Literacy and Maths skills. There have been so many positive interactions between the children with turn taking and sharing at the forefront, happy and often quite comical conversations and opportunities to learn and develop vocabulary; they have really made me smile!

We have also been learning all about how to keep our teeth healthy. The children have taken part in various activities to support and imbed their learning including teeth brushing songs, cleaning teeth (why this is important and how to do it) and discussing which foods are good and not so good for our teeth and why. The children were delighted to take home their very own new toothbrush and toothpaste as well as activities and information to share with you at home. This will provide them with opportunities to show and tell you about what they have been learning as well as provide ideas of how you can support them with this at home; they were really very excited about this!!

May I take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and to say a huge well done to all our little Ducklings; you have made an amazing start to the year and I am so very proud of each and every one of you. Have a wonderful Half Term and we cannot wait to hear about all that you have been up to and beginning more fun and exciting learning when you return.

Autumn 1, Week 6, 2021.

What an action packed and fun week we have had in Ducklings!

The children had a fantastic time (and got very messy!) while making and exploring 'oobleck'. They were mesmerized as they put their hands in the apparent liquid, only to find it had turned to a solid, "it's like glue... no, it's hard" before squeezing it, picking it up and watching it trickle through their fingers as it returned to its liquid state, "it's all runny again!" The vocabulary they used and developed was amazing; they built on each others ideas and used them to express their own thoughts about the different textures surrounding this sensory experience. The looks of excitement and wonder were an absolute joy!

The children have continued to work on their counting and number recognition by making the most of all the activities on offer, including using tweezers (also great for developing their fine motor skills) to count out the correct number of pom-poms expressed as a numeral as well as marks, counting how many fish they could catch and saying whether they had 'more' or 'less' than their friends, recognising and representing a repeating pattern as they made snails and exploring capacity and using the language of size as they filled different sized containers with water beads.

We have also seen some fantastic teamwork and real friendships being made on our 'building site', as well as hearing some beautiful singing voices, wonderful dance moves and enthusiastic music making as the children enjoyed taking part in Music and Movement activities. Well done Ducklings; your passion for learning and experiencing new things has been extraordinary this week and we are very proud of each and every one of you! 

Autumn 1, Week 5, 2021.

This week the children have loved sharing pictures of themselves and the people who are important to them, as well as special times that they have experienced outside of Nursery. It was a joy to see them being so animated as they talked and shared lots of stories about things that they remembered and have enjoyed. They were very passionate when talking about the special people in their lives and keen to listen and learn all about their new friends too! This activity not only provided some lovely drawings, but some really beautiful interactions and communications; it was a privilege to be given the opportunity to gain a real insight into their lives. Thank you to all the 'Grown Ups' who made this happen by sending in pictures of our wonderful children!

Ducklings have also worked hard on developing their Gross and Fine Motor Skills. They had fun using sand, chalk, playdough, connecting men and peg boards to strengthen those little muscles and moved in every way possible - running, jumping, sliding, balancing, catching, throwing, crawling... the list is endless, to develop their core strength; they must be exhausted!

Well done Ducklings for another fun filled and action packed week!

Autumn 1, Week 4, 2021.

It has been so lovely to watch our Ducklings really begin to bond this week. The children have discovered many shared interests which has led to some fantastic imaginative role play.

They worked together with the construction blocks in the garden to "build a house" before going inside to the mud kitchen to "make soup" using the resources available to them.

One child pretending that a plate was a steering wheel led to an impromptu "bus ride" where the children drove very fast, leaning from side to side as they raced around corners and there were many humps in that road as they bounced up and down! They finished by singing and performing the actions to 'The Wheels on the Bus' song, they were fantastic and had a lot of fun!  

Dancing to music and exploring the way different instruments sound has also been a big hit, along with the book corner where the children have spent a lot of time telling each other wonderful stories by looking at the pictures. All stories had a beginning, middle and end, demonstrating that they are beginning to realise how a story is structured. The children even turned the outdoor story area into a "drive through library" and continued their love of story telling outside!

One very rainy day, the children voted to listen to a Peppa Pig story at snack time. This inspired the joint decision by the children that they wanted to go outside and "jump in muddy puddles" just like Peppa. They had clearly listened carefully to the story, as they insisted, "Mrs Jordan... we must wear our boots!" before going outside!

Another fun and fabulous week; well done Ducklings!

Autumn 1, Week 3, 2021.

Our little Ducklings have been fantastic again this week, embracing every challenge and experience that has been on offer with such enthusiasm, they really are a joy!

They have really enjoyed exploring number and have spoken about how old they are and represented that number in various ways including using their fingers, mark making and drawing objects, counting objects from a larger group, identifying numbers that are more or less and lots more besides! They have also shown a great interest in construction and used fine and gross motor skills to build using various resources. This led to lots of lovely discussions relating to size, length, shapes and plenty of opportunities for counting.

The children have been developing their listening skills, focusing on sounds that we can hear in the environment. We went on a walk around Haynes village (accompanied by Bertie, the School Dog) and the children listened carefully and identified a wide range of sounds, both natural and man-made. This promoted a lot of interaction and excited discussions between the children. They bounced off each others suggestions and ideas, adding details relating to their senses and extending their vocabulary. They also took part in a letter hunt and found examples of the first letter of their names in and around the School grounds. 

Ducklings have also shown themselves to be a very caring bunch this week when they found a lonely snail inside one of the tyres on the School field just before lunch. They were concerned it might be "hungry" and immediately set about getting it some food (leaves & fruit from a tree). They then said it needed a "nice comfy house" and worked as a team, making it a "bed" from sticks and bark, adding a "blanket" made from leaves & finally adding "decorations" (flowers and feathers) to make its new home look nice. As we went in for lunch, the children said goodbye and wished it "a nice sleep". They were very gentle with the snail and I am certain that due to their efforts, it is now very happy in its new home! Well done Ducklings!

Autumn 1, Week 2, 2021.

I have been so impressed this week with how quickly the children are settling into life as a member of Ducklings Class! They are already getting to know all the routines of the Setting well and are keen to understand and follow instructions that help them to learn. What a fantastic start; I am so very proud of them!

This week, our 'Marvellous Me' theme has challenged the children to find out what their bodies can do. This has led to trying lots of new resources and activities that encourage using their Gross Motor Skills. They have had a lot of fun in the garden walking on stilts, balancing on tyres, riding the trikes, crawling under the climbing frame (while playing hide and seek) and they absolutely loved our trip to the park - we clearly have some dare devils in the class but it was so lovely to see them encouraging and supporting other children who may have been a little less confident. A brilliant time was had by all!

The children have also been painting some great self-portraits and showed confidence in describing themselves and their unique features, as well as noticing similarities with their friends. The children enjoyed colour mixing and selecting the brushes and colours that they needed. We certainly have an enthusiastic bunch of little artists who focused well and were really pleased with what they achieved.

The most lovely thing about this week has been watching the children beginning to interact with one another and seeing those relationships beginning to form. They have come together through shared interests and friendships are already beginning to develop which is just wonderful. Hearing them all laughing together is such a joy and I cannot wait to hear more of it as they get to know each other even better.

What a brilliant start Ducklings, really well done! We are so very proud of you!

Autumn 1, Week 1 2021: Welcome to Ducklings!