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Nursery

Nursery Start to the Year

We have had a great start to our first year in school!  We have spent our first few weeks exploring all the wonderful spaces we can access and using a wide range of resources.  Our new ‘Story Phones’ are very popular and we have enjoyed listening to stories and songs.  Topics we have covered so far include ‘All about me’, ‘Transport’ and ‘I can..’ exploring all the skills we have.

We have had lots of adventures in Little Acorns class and we have really enjoyed exploring the great outdoors!

Nursery Outing to Cromer

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as we disembarked in Cromer. Our first destination was the RNLI station at the end of the pier where we looked at the lifeboat and tried on safety helmets. Then it was time to make our way down to the beach where Jess the lifeguard gave us some advice about staying safe. After a picnic lunch, we couldn’t wait to dip our toes in the sea. Some of us managed to fit in a visit to the Henry Blogg museum before we sat down to enjoy an ice cream treat. On the way back to our coach we bought Cromer crabs for tea!

Nursery Outing to Billockby Hall Farm

It was a sunny spring morning for our visit to Billockby Hall farm. We watched some of the calves being bottle fed before going to find a young calf which was very wobbly on its legs as it had only been born at six o’clock that morning. After a tour of the milking parlour we boarded a trailer for a tractor ride across the fields where we could see the shoots of barley, wheat and sugar beet.

Nursery Wedding Celebrations

Nursery celebrated the Royal Wedding by making Prince William's favourite biscuit cake. Then they had a Royal Dance and finished off with a Royal Fun Run! Well done Nursery!

Sausage Making with the Nursery children

Everyone enjoyed making organic sausages.  We then cooked the sausages on a BBQ outside.

Nursery Visit to Wroxham Barns Junior Farm 

We eagerly boarded the school minibuses for a visit to Junior Farm at Wroxham Barns. Clutching our bags of animal food we braved the fresh Spring air to find animals looking for a friendly pat and hopeful that they may be the lucky recipients of some of the food pellets or grains. The goats were particularly greedy and we had to be mindful that they didn’t catch us unawares and take all the food at once including the bag! Bottle feeding the lambs was a highlight of our visit and other popular activities included cuddling a guinea pig and stroking the rabbit. Some of us tentatively opened the hen house hatches and were lucky enough to find some eggs inside. We were extremely vigilant about remembering to wash our hands after feeding or touching the animals. After a picnic lunch and exploring the adventure playground we set off on our journey back to school.

Hearts

We recognised St. Valentine ’s Day by making heart shaped collage pictures and baking some delicious apple and strawberry heart shaped tarts. Always interested to know more about how our bodies work, Krishna’s daddy came to tell us about our heart and some of us eagerly donned gloves so we could have a closer look at a pig’s heart.

Fish

As a follow up to our work on water, we made some observational drawings and paintings of fish. We were curious to find out more and used magnifying glasses to identify the scales, fins and gills before finding out about the bones and backbone inside.

Numbers

We have been busy searching for numbers in our school environment. We found evidence on doors, key pads, telephones, hopscotch grids and car number plates.  Armed with clipboards we drew our own numbers, crossed them off on a 100 square grid and some of us numbered bottles in a crate.

Bubbles on the playground

During a rainy week we decided to add eco-friendly washing up liquid to some more water from the hose to make our ‘trikes and bikes’ session different. We found out about transporting water and making tracks with wheels. Some of us discovered how water flowed and were involved in building dams.

Boats

After reading the story about Noah’s Ark, we experimented with mixing paint to make colours of the ‘sea’ for our work relating to boats, pairs of animals and fish. The Nursery children set up a role play boat show centre in the garden. Tickets could be purchased at the kiosk, boat building was in evidence and experts were on hand to moor the boats.

Nursery Carol Singing

The nursery children all enjoyed walking around the school Carol singing on the last day of term. Here they are singing with Mrs Pritchard and Mrs Walwyn.

Activities outdoors

Whatever the weather, the Nursery can often be found outdoors. We enjoy ‘energetic’ time every morning choosing from activities including jumping on a big mat and closing our session with ‘parachute’ games.

We have fun in our Foundation Stage garden, cleaning our play vehicles, splatter painting and listening to stories under a tree.

We often go for walks in our woods and a favourite stop is to climb on the branches of an old yew tree. We also take pleasure in building pretend bonfires and making dens in our Forest School classrooms.

Nursery visit to the Farm Shop and Notcutts Garden Centre

Recently, the Nursery children excitedly boarded the school minibuses for the short journey to Notcutts Garden Centre. On arrival we were greeted by parents and helpers who accompanied us to the City Farm Shop. We investigated the fruits and vegetables, comparing colours, sizes, shapes, weights and lengths. Some of us chose to buy a fruit or vegetable to take back to school.

At Notcutts Garden Centre we were met by Mr Reynolds. We each chose a hyacinth bulb and he kindly showed us how to plant it in a pot. Freddie found a banana plant that was taller than he was and we bought it to take back to the Nursery. We enjoyed our mid morning snack in the patio restaurant area before returning to school.

Nursery celebrate Divali

We celebrated the Hindu festival of light with the help of some of our Nursery parents. We heard the story of Rama and Sita and we dressed up in traditional costumes. Some of us made divas from clay whilst others drew Rangoli patterns with chalks. Lots of us were eager to make coconut sweets.

Pumpkin Fun.

Around Halloween time we had lots of fun working with pumpkins. We counted them and made number lines. We scooped out the seeds and used paint to make patterns and prints. We found different ways to transport them in the garden and opened a ‘Pumpkin shop’. We hammered tacks into pumpkins and read the story ‘Pumpkin Soup’ which inspired us to chop up the flesh and cook soup – delicious!

Samaritan’s Purse Shoebox Appeal

During November the Nursery children and their families supported the ‘Samaritans Purse’ Christmas Appeal. We wrapped up shoeboxes in Christmas paper and sorted the gifts so that each one was filled with a selection of small toys, stationery items, toiletries, hats, gloves and sweets. We were able to fill ten boxes which were sent to children in other countries who would not otherwise receive any presents at Christmas.

Children in Need

The Nursery raised £25.63 for Children in Need by bringing in any loose change their families could spare to cover a large outline picture of Pudsey Bear. We had so many coins that we had to draw a second Pudsey Bear! After sorting the coins and counting them in rows of ten we put them in bags ready for banking. We enjoyed stories and rhymes about bears and baked some Pudsey bear buns.