The Blog of Cathedral Primary School's Nursery Class
We used a wash of blue watercolour over oil pastel to create our stars.
We looked at the patterns and colours in Van Gogh’s village and drew our own houses to complete the scene.
How do you feel on a clear, starry night?
Why do you think the watercolour paint does not stick to the oil pastels?
We have begun a topic on fairy tales and castles this term, and began by writing some Fairy Godmother spells for Cinderella. Here is the display in our new writing corner:
Come and take a closer look next time you are in class!
We have also been busy in our role play castle, and have made golden goblets, crowns, towers and a chandelier to make it really special.
What else could we add to our classroom to continue the fairy tale?
Can you think of any other stories set in a castle?
Many thanks to all the parents and carers who attended our Easter Stay and Play on Wednesday, it was a really special occasion for all of us.
Also, we were very pleased when Bob, our youngest chick, learnt to walk during fruit and milk time! By the afternoon, he was strong enough to go into the brooder with Bill and Ginger, the other two chicks. They will all be going back to Surrey Docks farm this weekend, and I’m sure they would love to be visited in their new home.
Please find photos from the day below, and a video of the Spring Song written and choreographed by Nursery!
Dear Parents/ Carers,
Please find below some resources for supporting learning at home.
Literacy:
It is important for reading and writing that children are able to hear the sounds in words and connect these to letters. The videos below show children at Cathedral School saying the letter sounds and demonstrating how to ‘sound-talk’ simple words.
* Practise asking for things in sound talk when playing or at the dinner table and encourage your child to use their ‘robot arms’ to help distinguish each sound (e.g. “please can I have the c-u-p?”).
* Practise writing in different mediums, e.g. a tray of sand, salt or shaving foam; or use chalks or big brushes and water to write on the floor outside.
* Encourage your child to write and draw for different reasons, such as writing cards to friends and relatives, or helping to write a shopping list. Labelling their pictures using phonic knowledge is a good way to introduce writing into drawing activities.
* Encourage independent reading by asking children to make predictions about stories and describe what they see in the pictures in more detail, or ask them to tell you their own story.
* Hunt for letters and sounds that they know in books or on signs outside and try playing phonics ‘I spy’, listening out for the initial sounds in words.
* Please follow the link for the letter formation used in school. Letter Formation
* Please follow the link for the order the letter names and sounds are taught in Nursery, with a guide to pronunciation. Letter Names and Sounds for parents
Maths:
* Introduce addition and subtraction into play, e.g. by inviting toys to a tea party. “Three more teddies have come to the party, how many are there now?” Use mathematical vocabulary such as ‘add’ and ‘equals’ when playing.
* Mathematical questions to ask when playing with small world toys:
Can you share with your sister? How can we make it fair?
Which ones are the same/different?
Can you put them in size order?
Can you make a pattern with your dinosaurs? (Big, small, big, small)
Can you find a dinosaur taller than this one?
How many green cars have you got? How many red? Can you add them up/How many altogether?
* Create games around finding and writing numbers, e.g. rolling a dice and counting the spots, then finding that numeral in the room or chalked on the floor outside.
* Practise counting actions, e.g. “how many times can you hop on one foot?” “how many steps are there to our house?”
* Please follow the link to some number songs and rhymes we sing at Nursery: Nursery Counting Songs
Online resources and Apps:
* Youtube videos from ‘KidsTV123’ have fun and accurate songs about shape and number. Their ‘Phonics Song 2’ is also useful as the sounds are pronounced correctly.
* Sing along with Jolly Phonics Songs on Youtube and think about other words that begin with the sound in the song.
* The ‘Pocket Phonics’ app supports letter formation and helps children match sounds to letters.
I hope you find these resources and suggestions useful and fun! Please share in the comments section any activities your child has enjoyed.
Best wishes,
Miss Dace
We have had a fantastic Book Week in nursery, looking at ‘The Little Bear Book’ by Anthony Browne. We wrote our own versions of the story for display:
Also, have a look at the amazing independent writing the class have done using Little Bear’s magic pencil!
On Book Day, we dressed as book characters and had a visit from Class 3, who read to us. What was your favourite thing about Book Week?
Our topic for this half term is ‘New Life’. We have plants growing indoors and outdoors, and an incubator full of eggs.
For DT Week, as a school we focused on buildings, and thought about designing a new London landmark. In Nursery, we experimented with a wide variety of construction materials to create towers, homes, castles, offices and bridges. We also saw a 3D printer in action, thanks to Mr Morrell and Mr Rojas!
We have become palaeontologists in Nursery! After finding out about the different sort of work scientists do, we decided to investigate dinosaurs, and have made our own fossils from salt dough and have constructed a very large stegosaurus skeleton.
We also used the theme of dinosaurs in literacy, and have been telling our own versions of the Julia Donaldson book, Tyrannosaurus Drip. Here are some of the illustrations from Nursery’s own picture book:
Our topic in nursery this term is Scientists. The class has really enjoyed finding out what scientists do, and discovered that they can all be scientists too when they explore the world around them and ask questions.
We have used the book Meet Einstein by Mariela Kleiner and Viviana Garofoli to spark lots of exciting discoveries in class.
We have been using role play, junk modelling and large scale construction to explore our topic and make our own inventions.
Thank you to all the families who attended our Nativity Play and Stay and Play sessions. Thanks to your support, the whole class had a wonderful time and nursery felt very festive!
Here are some photos from Stay and Play.
Merry Christmas!
