Good Morning Nursery :)

Art/Mark Making

Listen and sing along to the story ‘When I Grow Up.’ What do you want to be when you grow up? Draw a picture of it and write your name.​

Shape/Fine Motor

Cut and stick some shapes to make a pattern/picture. With your grown up, name and describe the shapes that you are making.

Phonics

Play the ‘Noisy Neighbour’ game for phonics today with your grown up. Play some sounds. Name and describe what you think is making the sound. Can you hear a knock at the door, the doorbell ringing, voices talking? 

​Have a lovely weekend :)

Art/Mark Making

We’re going to look at Islamic Art today. It has inspired many Artists from all over the world.
Islamic Art is full of colour, patterns and uses lots of shapes! Look at these patterns, which one is your favourite? Why do you like it? What shapes can you see?

Try a simplified version of Islamic Geometric Pattern with your children.

​You and your grown up can create and paint a star together today! It’s fun to create pieces of artwork with the people you love. Write your names together on your work.

​Number and Fine Motor

Can you use your playdough to roll 10 balls? Maybe you can make the balls different sizes!
​Make a long caterpillar and some shorter ones! Count how many balls of playdough long they are. What does your fuzzy wuzzy caterpillar like to do?

Phonics

Can you make a ‘Silly Ssssssss Soup?’ Find some objects around your home that begin with the sssssss sound. Talk about the letter S and how it makes a ssssssssss sound like a hissing snake ssssss. Name the objects and make the sss sound! Sing the ‘Silly Soup’ song and mix your objects into your bowl. 

Join in with Rakhi’s ‘Silly Sssssss Soup’

Art/Mark Making

When we talk about process art we are talking about how the art is being created and the thinking behind it. Process art is NOT about teaching children HOW to do art or following rules on how to do it as this does not build children’s creativity and self expression.

Children’s artwork should never be made to be prescriptive. Process art is about encouraging children to explore their ideas and it is about creating a space for them to discover and explore art themselves. It is about freedom not rules.

Today we are going to encourage our children to try out new ideas, explore their feelings through their artwork and discover new possibilities. Process art is about thinking. Artists take risks, make connections, notice details, test new ideas and experiment just like our children do everyday. We can develop this further through process art. 

We’re thinking about another Artist today. Her name is Alma Thomas. 

Have a go at creating a picture inspired by Alma Thomas. Explore the colours, different materials, paint or pens. Copy the letters of your name onto your work :)

Number/Shape

Play a paint splat game with Rakhi using cotton balls, paper and some paint! What numbers can you find to help you play the game?

​Phonics

Keep playing with your shakers and making music! What other rhythms can you play? Rakhi is playing a different one today to ‘Once I Caught a Fish Alive.’ Remember to talk about the rhythm is it fast, steady, slow? 

Fine Motor

You can make a paper chain today if you like :). Yesterday on zoom after our playdough disco we made really long caterpillars and a shorter one. Can you make a really REALLY long paper chain and a shorter one?

Art/Mark Making

Have a look at another type of art by Vincent Van Gough. He liked to use pointillism to create his pictures and he blended the colours together. Can you have a go at mixing colours and making dots using paint or pens to create a beautiful picture? You can sign your name on your picture by copying the letters in your name like Artists do :). 

Exploring number/shape through Transient Art

Can you use objects from around your home to create some art? Move the objects to make a picture and count how many you have used altogether. Can you find the matching number?

Phonics

Can you use the shakers that you made to play the rhythm in different songs and nursery rhymes? Talk about the rhythm, is it a fast, slow or steady beat? Which shaker did you choose and why?

​Fine Motor

Good Morning Nursery. I hope you had a lovely weekend. It really felt like winter yesterday! What did you see out of your window? Talk to your grown up about what season we are in and what we can see when we look outside? How do the trees look different?

Can you write your name somewhere today? Rakhi wrote hers in the snow yesterday. It was so wet and it was freezing! Next time I’ll wear my gloves! Where will you write your name?

We’re going to be thinking about Artists and Illustrators this week for our topic ‘People who help us.’ Talk to your grown up about all the ways Artists can help us.

I think the most important way Artists help us is by making us feel happy and calm. We feel these emotions when we look at pictures. Artists help us to remember things that have happened and they help us to think about the world around us. They tell stories through their pictures just like you! You are all Artists and you help people around you every day because you make them happy and there’s nothing more important than that!

We’re going to be exploring different colours this week and mixing colours to make new ones! I hope you enjoyed our story ‘Elmer’ on zoom. At the end of the story the Elephants turned into Artists and painted themselves in patterns and in Elmer’s colours. Elmer painted himself grey! 

Art/Mark Making

You can make your own easel and canvas by using some old packaging and clipping your paper onto it.

Mix your paints and see what colours you can make to create a beautiful sunflower.

Please don’t draw the sunflower for your children. Let them use their imagination, have fun and create their own work. To you it won’t look like a sunflower but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t one! Our children will say “I can’t do it like that can you do it for me?” and to that we say “You can do it your way and it will be amazing. I’d like to learn your way when you’ve finished can you teach me?”

Number/Shape

Transient Art

We are going to be thinking about Transient Art. Transient Art is when we position objects in different ways to make a picture. We are going to be thinking about another Artist called Giuseppe Arcimboldo! He painted  pictures of ‘fruit faces!’ We can make our own fruit faces and count how many pieces of fruit we have used altogether. 

Phonics

We can make some shakers today and talk about the sounds they make! What will you fill your shakers with?

​Fine Motor

Make more faces using tissue roll, pens and scissors!

Nursery you’re working so hard and having so much fun. Rakhi and Aysha have loved seeing what you’ve been doing at home :).

Art/Mark Making

A long long time ago there was a fire in London on a street called Pudding Lane! The fire was so big, lasted so long and spread so quickly so they called it the ‘Great Fire of London!’ Rakhi went to visit Pudding Lane and she met someone who needs Nursery’s help....

Rakhi made a playdough cake to say thank you to the Firefighters! Can you make some? Or a real cake? You can mark make a label for it. Yummy! Yummy! What flavour cakes will you make?

Number/Shape

How will you decorate your cake? Count your decorations and find the matching number!

Phonics

Can you listen to these sounds? What can you hear? Name what is making the sound. Describe and talk about the sounds you can hear. 

Fine Motor

We’ll be playing with playdough today! Use your hands, your fingers and other tools like a rolling pin and  play dough cutters. It will make the muscles in our hands really really strong!

Art/Mark Making

Have a look at some of these fire safety signs. Talk to your grown up about what they mean and where you might see them.

Rakhi has made a building using duplo and she’s been mark making some of these signs. She stuck them on her building! 
Brave firefighters, can you have a go at making some buildings using duplo, blocks or lego and can you mark make some fire safety signs to stick onto it. We need to help people to stay safe!

This is a smoke alarm. You can find smoke alarms around your home. Talk to your grown up about what they are and how they work! How do you change the battery? Where are your smoke alarms at home, do you know? I’ll show you one of mine! Count how many you have altogether.

Shape/Number

We’re going to find squares today around our home or outside if we go for a walk. Sing our shape song with Rakhi and see what square shaped objects you can find? Look what I found!

Phonics

We can play a sound bingo game today. These are sounds that brave Firefighters hear all the time. Do you know what is making these sounds? Listen to the sounds and find and name the correct picture. 

Fine Motor

Use your busy fingers to cut and fold some paper today. We’re making a book! I wonder what your book will be about? Will it be a story of all the firefighting adventures you went on this week, or something else? 

Art/Mark Making

We can mark make a map today that will lead us to all the fires that we need to put out using our special firefighting equipment. Let’s pretend that we are brave Firefighters! Where can you see the fires? How did they start? How are you going to put them out? Use your map in your role play. 

Imagination helps us to create stories, to think of new ideas and test these ideas. When we support, facilitate and extend this natural desire that children have to want to pretend, we are letting them know that their thoughts, ideas and their rights to explore are valued. This is something that is developed in children, of all ages, only through play and experimentation. It develops the early story telling, story writing skills that are essential to have before they even pick up their pen.

Can you make some of the equipment that the Firefighter needs? Can you make a fire engine? 

Number/Shape

Play finger football with Rakhi today and lets practise finding numbers and counting. You can have a go! You can add more numbers if you like and more pen lids!

Phonics

Join in with Rakhi’s song and actions and guess what animal she is describing. Can you make the sound that the animal makes? Have a go at thinking of your own and use the song to help you. 

Fine Motor

Art/Mark Making

Can you mark make a list of the Firefighting equipment you will need to put out the fires? Mark make your list and go on more Firefighting adventures. Tell me about it on Tapestry. 
Parents, allow your child to make their own marks of what they need to put out the fire. Please don’t ask them to copy my writing. They do not need to know how to write these words, they need to be encouraged to make as many meaningful marks to them as possible and to be encouraged and supported to give meaning to their marks. 

Number/Shape

Nursery! Rakhi’s numbers are on fire! She has found some numbers and she’s using water in a spray bottle to spray them. When she chooses 2 she sprays the number 2 times. How many times will she spray the number 5? Can you try? If you can find the numbers 1-5 when they’re all jumbled up and out of sequence then maybe you could try numbers 6-10?

Phonics

For Phase 1 Phonics today we are going to be practising some body percussion. Can you copy the sounds, rhythms and movements that Rakhi is showing you?

Can you think of your own?

Can you make the rhythm and your singing faster? Can you slow it down?

​Describe the rhythm, is it steady, slow, fast?

Fine Motor

Can you stretch and count some rubber bands onto a bottle, just like how Aysha is showing you?

I hope you all had a lovely weekend :). 
Just a reminder for this week, Tuesday is our ‘Play Dough Disco’ day and Friday is our next ‘Show and Tell’ session. Thank you to our three wonderful Nursery children who shared last Friday, Rakhi really enjoyed listening to you!

This week we are learning all about Firefighters and how they can help us. Watch the video below and go on an adventure with the Fire Rescue Service. 

Firefighters don’t just put out fires, they also help to rescue people and animals that may be stuck or in danger! Watch Topsy and Tim meet some brave Firefighters. 

​Art/Mark Making

Watch Rakhi’s Superhero Fire Fighting adventure. Can you role play and go on your own Fire Fighting adventure? What fires are you putting out? Who are you rescuing? How did the fire start? 
Can you mark make a telephone message and write down what was said, is anyone hurt, what’s their address? Keep on talking Nursery we love listening to you!
Parents, to encourage children’s early writing we need to demonstrate and model writing for purpose. We need to talk about our writing to our children as we’re making lists, writing messages etc. Play along side your children and show them how fun it can be to add mark making to their play. 

Watch Aysha create a fire painting by cutting kitchen roll and dipping it in red, yellow and orange paint. Can you have a go? Can you talk about your painting, how are you creating it? What colours are you using? What does your fire look like? 

Number/Shape

Firefighters use a ladder to help them climb up really tall buildings, to rescue people and animals and to put out fires! Rakhi has made a ladder using masking tape and she has stuck it on her fridge! She wrote numbers 1 to 5 and stuck them on her ladder. She used her feet to climb up and down the ladder, counting forwards and backwards. You can have a go too! 
If you can recognise the numbers 1-5 confidently in any order maybe you can make the ladder taller with 6-10?

Sing and climb the ladder with Rakhi!

Phonics

We are going to tap or clap the syllables in our name today. How many syllables are in your name? Can you find out how many syllables are in your family’s names, or in your cuddly toy’s names?

Fine Motor

Have a go at making some play dough today with your grown up. Grown ups I have sent you an email with a recipe if you need one! I can’t wait to see you all for our ‘Play Dough Disco’ tomorrow :) where we will be learning and developing our language skills, number, shape and strengthening our fine and gross motor dexterity!