Information and Reminders
Spring Theme - from March
Our focus for the coming weeks will be to provide the children with engaging and stimulating activities with the theme of Spring and Life Cycles that piques the children's curiosity. This will allow the children to question, predict and wonder about their new discoveries. They will explore of new life by growing and harvesting their own crops, which will provide active learning opportunities and fun each day. The children will be given the opportunity to compare length, capacity and time by measuring the different sizes of plants, recording their heights over time, filling pots with soil and water in watering cans to help tend the plants and keep them growing. This will support mathematical development and encourage new discoveries of the world around them, widening their experiences and promote a love of learning. The children will be able to record their findings using the different mark marking tools and clipboards, supporting physical development of holding and using a pencil and writing skills. We will be discussing our bodies and how they grow and stay healthy as well as how plants grow.
Nursery Growing Area
We plan to sow the seeds of beetroot, spinach, carrots, chives, onions, lettuce and basil, as well as planting sunflowers, potatoes, tomatoes, peas, beans and more! The children are very interested and excited about being able to observe and tend the plants in the coming weeks. Then, when it is time, they will harvest the fruit and vegetables and help prepare them to eat at nursery.
Life Cycles
Caterpillars
We are excited about the arrival of our caterpillars due early March! The children will be able to see them transform from tiny caterpillars into beautiful butterflies that will be released in the garden. We will be reading and doing activities around The Hungry Caterpillar book. See the video below.
Hatching Chicks
The nursery will be taking delivery of ready to hatch chick eggs which arrive 15 April! The eggs come complete with incubator, brooding cage, and full instructions. The hatching kit will be at the nursery for 10 days and includes fun educational resources to enhance the learning experience. The experience is a real ‘confidence giver’ to those unused to handling and caring for animals. Unforgettably beautiful and utterly sweet-natured, there are not many sights guaranteed to melt the heart faster than newly hatched chicks. The children will see them go from tentatively exploring to very quickly and confidently whizzing about!
Gardening
We have a guide on Gardening which we hope you find interesting. The link to Mr Bloom’s Nursery is also a worth a look!
How we prepare children for school – A guide which has been compiled by an Early Years Teacher is emailed to parents in March. Please contact us for a copy should you have missed this.
New Menus – April onwards
We're saying goodbye to winter and bursting into spring with our new springtime menus. They're packed with colourful fruit and vegetables and carefully balanced to give your children all the nutrients they need to learn and play with energy. Menus can be seen: https://modn.co.uk/healthy-eating
Book of the month
The nursery has a wide range of books for the children to choose from. In addition to this, the children all have the opportunity to look and listen to the text of the book of the month, and engage in learning, thinking, and responding to that shared text. This will lead to extension activities in the nursery. We hope you will enjoy sharing the story at home!
March - The Hungry Caterpillar
April - A squash and a squeeze
Upcoming Outings and Events
Book Week and World Book Day - 7th March
World Book Day celebrates the joy and value of books and reading, especially for children. We invite the children to dress up on this day as a character from their favourite book, or your child may prefer a simple mask or face paint which is fine. We will be focusing on books and related activities all week, including games and reading by torchlight!
All children can access a digital Book Token which entitles them to a £1 reduction at participating bookshops. The children will make their own books and choose books at nursery as usual that we can all read together.
Mother’s Day Tea Party Wednesday 6th March 4:00pm - 5.30pm onwards
We should like to invite you to our Mother’s Day Tea Party to celebrate this upcoming Mother’s Day. This is a lovely opportunity to meet other mums over a relaxing drink and cake. This applies to all age groups in all rooms.
During that week the children will be making cards and gifts for all you wonderful mums!
Holi Festival of Colour - 25th March
Holi is a Hindu festival that marks the end of Winter and arrival of Spring. Known widely as the Festival of Colour, with dancing, singing and colourful fun with paint!
Healthy Body Happy Me 25th-29th March
We will be taking part in National Day Nurseries Association’s (NDNA) Healthy Body, Happy Me campaign. We will look at all aspects of well-being including physical, mental and environmental over the week. We will give you more information regarding this campaign on Tapestry nearer the time.
Easter
There will be lots of activities at the nursery over the Easter period. The children will be creating Easter bonnets and making hot cross buns with cinnamon and fruit. They will be going on an Easter hunt in the nursery garden and other egg hunts such as a dinosaur egg hunt! They will also be making cards and discussing the time of year. They will also read stories and songs about bunnies and springtime!
We are closed on Good Friday 29th March and Easter Monday 1st April.
Weekly Yoga classes - Children over 2
The weekly visits continue with our well established Yoga teacher, Sam. Children derive enormous benefits from yoga. Physically, it enhances their flexibility, strength, coordination, and body awareness. In addition, their concentration and sense of calmness and relaxation improves.
Parent questionnaire - May
Twice a year we invite you all to complete a questionnaire as part of our self evaluation programme, we would be very grateful if you could take a couple of minutes to complete the questionnaire link which will be emailed to you in early May. The Nursery values your views and comments and your feedback will help us to improve the service you receive. Your feedback will be anonymous.
We also ask the older children their views on the nursery at this time by way of a child questionnaire which will be shared with them at the nursery.
Further ahead..
WESAK - We shall be looking at the festival of Wesak which is on 23rd May. Wesak is the most important of the Buddhist festivals and is celebrated on the full moon in May. It celebrates the Buddha's birthday, with flowers laid at the temples, lanterns candles lit and food laid out. It is a reminder to respect all living things and caged birds are set free as a sign of compassion. The children will make flowers and colourful streamers, elephants, and clay Buddha; not forgetting sampling Asian cuisine!
Bocketts Park Farm in May/June - preschool room children – date to be confirmed
This is a fun outing and thoroughly enjoyed by the children. A tractor and trailer ride is included, pig racing, a goat milking session and a private animal handling session. Please see www.bockettsfarm.co.uk for further information. Invitations will be sent out separately soon.