Nursery
MRS KERRY PALMER
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TRANSITION INFORMATION
SCHOOL READINESS
Herts for Learning Early Year’s team have produced activity cards that have been designed to support children starting Reception as part of their Supporting Smooth Transition procedures. Parents and carers can easily keep these cards on their digital devices, making them accessible for use during activities at home or on the go. These cards are a great way to introduce new ideas and help children develop skills that will benefit their learning journey at school.
Poster with QR code to easily access a digital version of the transition cards.
CURRICULUM
MATHS IN NURSERY
Maths in Nursery
Please read the attached document to find out more.
Maths can be found across of areas of our curriculum and in many of the activities and areas in our Nursery environment, both indoors and out.
To see more images of Maths in Nursery click here and select the Nursery button.
Numbers through rhyme
Shapes around us
MARK MAKING AND LITERACY
Mark making and Literacy
Nursery Rhyme guide for parents
Phonics in Nursery Before reading
Writing letters at Flamstead End
Read Write Inc. Handwriting phrases
Ideas to help with pencil control
Literacy elements can be found across of areas of our curriculum and in many of the activities and areas in our Nursery environment, both indoors and out. At the beginning of the academic year, a focus is placed on early marking, listening skills and developing communication skills. As the year moves on we begin exploring phonics through games and activities that include elements of ‘Read, Write, Inc’ (the phonics programme used in the main school).
To see more photos of our mark making, click here and select the Nursery gallery.
BEING CREATIVE
Being Creative in Nursery
In Nursery we love to explore the mark making table, the craft area and use the painting easels.
Children are encouraged to plan out ideas, select resources and adapt their work to achieve their desired outcomes, all independently. We love to see how children take the skills we teach and come up with their own creative ideas.
See more images here.
BEING OUTDOORS
Nursery Book Swap Library
In Nursery, and at Flamstead End, we try our hardest to ensure the children have a love of reading and being read to. Through the story time, games, role-play and other activities within the Nursery that children have access to, we hope we show children how fun and rewarding and informative books can be.
As you are aware, there are points throughout the school year where reading is highlighted more than usual – Book Day, Reading Week are examples.
We have another element to our reading within the Nursery – a Nursery Book Swap Library.
How it works…
Outside our Nursery, each day will be a trolley full of books that have already been donated to the school by kind families and members of staff.
The children can freely take a book from the trolley to share with you at home and return as and when they have finished sharing it at home. This could be the next day, the next week. If your child would like to keep the book as it becomes a favourite to their collation please feel free to do so and leave a book in exchange.
It would work similarly to going to a local library but with no library card needed and more convenient as it is right outside our door.
We hope our little trolley library becomes a success and is well used. I, along with the other Nursery staff love books and reading with the children. We would love for the children to share this love of books with you at home too.
The trolley will be available daily.
Nursery's Games Trolley
We offer a Games and Puzzle Trolley outside our Nursery for you to use.
This trolley will be available daily.
The children can freely take a game or puzzle from the trolley to share with you at home and return as and when they have finished sharing it at home. Please can we ask that you sign out the game or puzzle you take to play and date when you return it so we can monitor how well the trolley is being used.
50 Things To Do Before You're 5
50 Things is an exciting initiative that supports children’s learning at home. It is inspired by parents and carers with each activity developed by Early Years experts and language specialists to create a fabulous resource for families.
More information can be found here 50-things-intrroduction-letter-pdf.pdf
Oral Health
In Nursery we support the understanding of good oral hygiene. Throughout the year children will take part in adult led tasks, child initiated play activities and hear stories based on visiting the dentist and cleaning their teeth.
Nursery Blog Autumn 2024
AUTUMN
In Nursery we love to explore the seasons and find out what is happening around us. We have used 'Autumn' to support a variety of our curriculum objectives.
Autumn colour hunt
Colour mixing pumpkin painting
TALES TOOLKIT
This term we have joined the Tales Toolkit Team. The scheme encourages communication, vocabulary development, imagination, story telling, problem solving and a whole array of early skills needed for children.
In Nursery we have used familiar nursery rhymes as an introduction to the scheme. Children have been exploring the four elements of story telling - character, setting, problem and solution using Humpty Dumpty, Hickory Dickory, Jack and Jill and Incy Wincy as inspiration.
Humpty Dumpty
Hickory Dickory
Incy Wincy
Nursery Blog Summer term 2024
We have begun the term with a visit from PC Dan. He came into school to meet all the children at Flamstead End. In Nursery we were able to see inside the police car and hear it's siren. We saw what PC Dan keeps in his boot for emergencies, and he spoke to us about the equipment he needs to carry. The children asked lots of questions to find out what happens in the day of a policeman.
We have had a busy second half of the summer term exploring various artists and their work. The children took part in various discussions before creating their own pieces inspired by these artists.
We were joined once again by the brilliant story teller, Vickie Holden-Swinton.
She told us all about Bob - a bear who was supposed to be enjoying a picnic that did not go according to plan. We followed this with our own delicious picnic with our teddy bears.
We were joined once again by the brilliant story teller, Vickie Holden-Swinton.
She told us all about Bob - a bear who was supposed to be enjoying a picnic that did not go according to plan. We followed this with our own delicious picnic with our teddy bears.
Spring Bonnet Parade 2024
We love celebrating the arrival of spring with our annual bonnet parade.
The children proudly paraded around the school showing the other children and staff their beautiful bonnets. The children worked hard, at home with support of family members, to create an array of colour and texture that welcomes spring.
We finished the Nursery session with a spring themed class assembly where the children sang a variety of songs and rhymes to their families.
See more images here
Book Day March 2024
To celebrate Book Day this year in Nursery we explored Judith Kerr's book 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea'.
The children explored all things tiger related. We used non-fiction texts to find out about real tigers and we shared other stories about tigers.
We also had our own tea party, I wonder if a tiger came to our class?
The children celebrated Book Day by creating their favourite character using a potato!
Images can be seen here
As part of a whole school activity the Nursery used an image from 'Ten-Word Tiny Tales' by Joseph Coelho. We talked about the image and finished a story that begun...'she spent days trying to climb out of the sky'.
Nursery Blog - Spring Term 2024
The term began with a visit from Jack Frost, the children arrived to find he had turned our room blue and white, as well as freezing our pencils, scissors and toys in ice that we had to try and free.
Over the following few weeks we discovered how ice is formed, went out around our school to find the cold, spoke about the weather in Cheshunt and made comparisons to other countries, explored winter science experiments and learnt how to keep warm and safe in winter.
We have been lucky enough to have more mystery guests visit Nursery, thank you to those who have been in to share stories, talk about their jobs and teach us new skills.
SEE SEPARATE PAGE SECTIONS TO FIND OUT ABOUT NURSERY'S WORLD BOOK DAY 2024 AND OUR ANNUAL BONNET PARADE 2024
As part of our topic, looking at our community, we went on a local walk. We had to look out for man-made and natural features of our environment. We also spotted buildings that linked to our learning - the local doctors, dentist and chemist, as well as the vets near by. Some of us even spotted our own houses!