Firstly, may we take this opportunity to thank all our families for the support given to us during these very trying months and to our staff for the sacrifices some have had to make in order to keep everyone safe at nursery. Unfortunately, Christmas this year will be very different for us all and for many, extremely difficult. We can only hope that the early part of 2021 will bring brighter news for us all.

We would like to welcome Reeve into the Oaks group and Rafe to our Saplings group and to thank everyone who attended the Christmas parties and for brightening our day by wearing festive Christmas jumpers and party wear; we all had a wonderful time.

We have some staffing news: from January Vickie will be moving to the Seedlings group whilst Zoe H will move to Saplings. We also welcome Chloe who will join the team working alongside Sarah, Zoe B and Zoe H.

This week, the Oaks have been busy investigating how the human body works and what effects activity can have on it. Thank you to Evie who very kindly brought in her book displaying very detailed diagrams in the form of flaps that could be lifted to reveal more information. This enabled the children to develop their understanding of the world. Whilst discussing how the lungs work, Noah pointed out that his chest moves up and down when he breathes and Ottile identified that we have a heart and our heart goes “thump thump”. Another area of the body that the children investigated was the brain. The children discussed the various functions that the brain has, including “thinking”, “talking”, and “looking”. After explaining that the brain controls our whole body and all of its functions, the children moved on to look at how the stomach works. It was identified that once a person has eaten their food, it goes into their stomach and is broken into “little pieces” and later appears in our toilets. The children will be exploring how the human body works in more detail in the new year.

The children have also worked really hard this week to ensure their production was ready to be performed on party day. Listening carefully for direction the children had their bells at the ready and sang loudly for all to hear. A few of the Oaks were a little nervous at first but soon overcame their fears and copied all the actions. We had our very own Santa who “got stuck up the chimney” as well as a Star who shone brightly over our Baby Jesus. We are so proud of all of you! The children enjoyed decorating biscuits using spoons to carefully spread the icing and picking up the sprinkles between finger and thumb to distribute them in any way they saw fit. The Oaks also enjoyed playing musical statues, listening for when the music stopped to ensure they stood very still. They showed off their dance moves, some of the children felt a little nervous to dance at first but with encouragement from their peers, they were soon up and dancing. For instance, Thomas was feeling a little shy until Nova came over and took him by the hands so that they could dance together. 

The Saplings have had another busy but fun week putting finishing touches to their Christmas crafts. They have enjoyed the sweet smell of gingerbread as they manipulated scented playdough and Theo commented that it smelt like a gingerbread man! The children then went on to decorate gingerbread men biscuits and couldn’t resist a sneaky bite or two! They have also made Christmas lanterns, testing their hand eye coordination as they carefully placed stickers and tissue paper on the exterior before adding a scented tea light. Some of the children experimented with marks using a fork to work the paint onto a Christmas tree template realising that ‘tools’ can be used in different ways and for a purpose.

The children have enjoyed the outdoor space cycling around wearing themed helmets as they engaged in imaginative play based around their own interests; firemen and policemen being their current favourites. They also enjoyed splashing in muddy water before cheekily calling over the adults to show them just what fun they were having in the mud kitchen whipping up many rather dubious concoctions.

The children enjoyed their Christmas party and after showcasing their singing (I’m sure you’ll all agree they did well) they went on to show off their dance moves to party songs. They did the Hokey Cokey amongst others and played musical statues to which after a few ‘practices’ anticipated the music stopping and were actually very good at standing still. After all that excitement they settled for a nice party tea of sausages, chicken nuggets, sausage rolls and home-made flapjack which as you’d expect went down very well!

The Seedlings meanwhile have been busy getting into the festive spirit of Christmas.
The children enjoyed looking for hidden baubles in shredded paper, developing their sensory skills as they explored different colours and textures resulting in good social interactions as the children all gathered around the table seeking the hidden objects.  Ava, Daisy and Ottie worked together in emptying the tray and thought it was funny to see the paper fall all about them.

They enjoyed decorating their Christmas cookies, but it all became a little too tempting as they were caught licking the icing off their fingers!  The activity was really fun for the children and one that they were really engaged in but also helped to develop a sense of accuracy as they used whole arm to try and lift the sticky, stretchy icing from of the bowl using a spoon to spread upon the cookie. They certainly displayed keen perseverance and determination throughout adding the final touches of decoration.

The Seedlings enjoyed watching the pre-school Christmas performance with all the children sitting beautifully and concentrating for the whole production which is a big task for those so young. We are extremely proud of them all!

Following the children’s interests the Seedlings enjoyed playing with and setting up a ‘safari animals’ small world activity on the tuff tray. They collected stones, logs and tree branches which supported their imaginary play as they used ‘make believe skills’ to communicate with each other whilst playing with animals such as elephants and giraffes etc.  Each of the children demonstrated they could work cooperatively as they took on the responsibility of arranging a small area of the tuff tray.

This week the Acorns showed off their impressive dance moves as they too enjoyed a Christmas party of their own.  Using their whole bodies to move to music the children swayed their arms and stomped their feet.  A few joined in with the songs by creating their own lyrics when they babbled along to Christmas tunes.  Using pointing and eye gaze to share an interest, the children showed a great deal of fascination as they watched disco lights encircle the room. Some used the sound of “oo” to show an interest and draw others in to social interaction. 

The children used whole hands to search for hidden snowmen encased in shredded paper on the tuff tray.  Some enjoyed the sound of tissue paper rustling under their fingers whilst others enjoyed ripping and tearing the paper into shreds! Once the snowmen were found the children clapped at themselves showing a real sense of pride and achievement. After all the fun the children enjoyed their tea party and showed accuracy as they grasped the finger foods and guided them to their mouths.

The Acorns have also continued with their winter and Christmas theme using various materials to create with. They used cotton wool and pva glue to create their own winter displays with some of the children laughing in delight as the cotton wool stuck to their fingers. They used their gross motor skills as they took hold of paint dabbers to strike marks across coloured paper to create their own calendars for next year.  Their cards were created using paint and feet to resemble mistletoe with the tickling sensation exciting them! Finally they explored the texture of porridge oats as they used spoons to scoop the oats into bags to create their own reindeer food to leave out for Santa’s reindeers on Christmas Eve. Some children gave into temptation as they decided the oats were too tasty to turn into reindeer food deciding to eat them instead! 

The children enjoyed some garden time and particularly enjoyed playing with the parachute as they were guided underneath whilst the adults moved the parachute above them in undulating waves.

Stars of the Week:

Oaks: Reeve – for settling in so well at nursery and making lots of new friends along the way.

Saplings:  Annabelle – for always coming in enthusiastically and excited ready to start her day.

Seedlings:  Ava – for her amazing leadership skills in encouraging the others to create a wonderful tuff tray activity.

Acorns:  Kalin – for using more words to communicate and interact with his peers.

Messages: We are still missing a pair of orange gloves illustrated with foxes so if anyone comes across these in their children’s bag please could they be returned, they are named.

Wising you and your families a very, very happy Christmas.

Yours sincerely

John, Michelle and all the team at Broughton