Welcome back from the summer holidays and hopefully everyone enjoyed the sunshine we had! Please read through the newsletter to see the exciting things your child/ren will be exploring and leaning this term. There are also some important dates to be noted and holiday forms to be completed if holiday club is required.
The children have all settled back into nursery life and those who transitioned to a new room are doing really well and have settled exceptionally well. The children who joined us in September have also settled well into their new routines and we are
Below is the topic each room is exploring this half-term and the exciting activities your child/ren may be involved in. If you feel you can help in any way towards the topic/activities, please see Ali or Debbie.
FIELDMICE ROOM: The topic for this half of the term is: all around us and the weeks will be separated into week 1 – settling in, 2 – our playroom, 3 – around my home, 4 – out on a walk, 5 – around our area, 6 – bear hunt and 7 harvest time.
PSED: The children will be encouraged to settle back in and welcome new children into the group. Routines and boundaries will be established and ‘Golden Rules’ discussed and agreed. The children will be asked to consider each other as well as practitioners and be encouraged to help each other and care for the settings toys and equipment. A gardener will be invited in to work with the children planting seeds ready for the poly tunnel.
C&L: At register and snack time the children will be encouraged to begin to recognise their names, write shopping lists in the role play area and sequence their walk by using the photos which will be taken on the walk. Stories such as ‘Percy the Park Keeper, Little Red Hen and We’re going on a bear hunt’ will be read and the children encouraged to act them out as they retell them. From the story Oliver’s vegetables, the children will discuss their favourite vegetables and look at the ones they are not so keen on.
PD: For gross motor skills the children will be encouraged to move around in different ways using the space safely, respond to signals given by a practitioner, use the wheeled toys and follow a trail around the garden. Using their fine motor skills the children will use scissors during junk modelling, cut up fruit, knead bread dough and explore a feely box full of treasure.
Literacy: Using a sound bag the children will be encouraged to sound out the initial letter of an animal – b – badger/ f – fox. Circle games, nursery rhymes and sticky kids will be explored as well as games where the children record and listen to sounds around the room.
Maths: When the children are helping to tidy away, they will be encouraged to count the toys/equipment as it is put away to ensure all the pieces are there. During junk modelling they will look at the shapes they are using and be encouraged to look for shapes which match around the Field mouse room. As they make gingerbread men, they will follow a recipe looking at the amounts of each ingredient required and weigh out accordingly. During the ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ story the children will talk about prepositions in the story and use a teddy to demonstrate the under, over, through…
UTW: Each day the children will be encouraged to look at the weather and complete the weather chart. On their walk they will be encouraged to observe the different plants and trees they see, and any treasures found will be displayed. Habitats of woodland animals will be discussed and what else may be found in the grass, river, woods, snow…. After reading The Little Red Hen different types of flour will be looked at and the changes of bread will be explored and observed.
EA&D: Using autumn shades the children will explore colours as they paint using leaf cutters. Autumn and Harvest songs will be learnt, self-portraits painted, musical instruments explored, selecting materials for a 3D model and observational pictures drawn to reflect the interest table.
Free Play: In the water tray the children will experience bubbles, warm water, coloured water and containers, filling and emptying different sized containers, floating letters and fishing for magnetic/numbered fish. In the sand tray there will be leaves/twigs/woodland animals to make habitats, wet sand to use rakes forming patterns and shapes to make sand moulds and when the sand is dry’ sieves, sand wheels, spoons and ladles will be added. For role play there will be a bakery shop, tent/caravan, fruit and vegetable shop and road safety will be role played outside. The children will be encouraged to mark make during role play and fill out little story books when retelling the stories, they have heard. Vegetables will be used to print with, and rubbings made using the wax crayons. Using clay and play dough the children will manipulate the materials into shapes and add natural objects collected from their walk into their creations.
RISING THREE’S: AUTUMN
Week 1 – settling in, 2 – weather, 3 – twigs, 4 – autumn animals, 5 – leaves, acorns and conkers, 6 – family trips, 7 – Harvest
PSED: The children will settle in, establish routines, learn new rules and boundaries and meet new friends.
C&L: Stories such as ‘Stick Man’, ‘Bear Hunt’ and ‘Little Red Hen’ will be read and the children will talk about their holidays, weather and the clothes we need for sun, rain, snow….
PD: Using the media of dough the children will make hedgehog shaped bread, after their walk they will make blackberry and apple crumble, they will work towards putting on their own coats and using leaves construct a garland.
Literacy: The children will be looking at books all about autumn, mark making in the gloop tray and mud painting. In the sand tray there will be twigs to mark make with and leaves with initial letters on of the children’s names.
Maths: The properties of apples/twigs/leaves/pinecones will be observed to see if they sink or float. After painting pasta, the children will thread a necklace counting how many pieces they have, prepositions will be explored, and items measured to see which is the longest/shortest.
UTW: The children will be encouraged to bring in autumn treasures and talk about where they found them. Animal habitats will be explored, and pumpkins used to carve and grow seeds from.
EA&D: After collecting leaves and twigs the children will be encouraged to make ‘stick men’, print using leaves, make an autumn tree using handprints and make some bark rubbings using the trees in our garden.
DORMOUSE ROOM: The topic is autumn
Up until Christmas the children will be covering a variety of activities which are associated with autumn. They will fit into the 7 areas of learning allowing the children to explore, investigate and continue to grow their own knowledge and character.
We feel it is important to the children and us to reconnect after the summer break but also with making new connections and bonds with our new children who have joined the nursery. Our focus in achieving this will be looking at and using activities based on the Personal, Social and Emotional Development part of the EYFS.
Each week we will cover something new and will celebrate festivals such as Halloween, Divali, Bonfire night and Christmas. However, if the children find a new interest and lead us down a different path, we will follow their lead and explore they we go and scaffold from there.
We will be looking at autumn a little closer within our own environment, what is around us as we are out walking looking for blackberries, picking apples from our tree in the garden so the children can make a crumble. We will also be collecting sticks and leaves for the children to create artwork using these materials.
We will be celebrating Halloween by creating our own pumpkin patch and the children will be very much involved with this. It will begin with the children being out in the garden digging up the mud in the flower beds and planting and placing pumpkins all around. Additionally, there will be the opportunity to get in a sticky mess with jelly, painting their own pumpkin patches and making handprint spiders.
Before the October half term, the children will be exploring ‘Diwali’ the festival of lights and making little clay, tea light holders as well as trying some Indian style foods.
For bonfire night the children will make their own firework paintings along with moving and dancing to music whilst pretending to be fireworks. Lots of ‘WHOOSH’ ‘POP and ‘BANGS’ are going to be happening!
For the last few weeks of term, the children will be covering everything involved with Christmas – from creating their own grotto/workshop, writing letters to Father Christmas, wrapping presents to create their own crafts for parents. Most importantly is having the children fully submerged into the magic and excitement of Christmas!
TERM DATES:
First half autumn term 2022 – Monday 5th September – Friday 21st October.
Second half – Tuesday 1st November – Friday 16th December.
We will be closed Monday 31st October for FEAST.
Half term – Monday 24th October to Friday 28th October (Holiday form attached if required).
We may open Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th December but there will be limited spaces. The opening times will be 8 am to 3pm with no after school club. If you would like a space, please fill out the holiday form and return ASAP.
BRAMBLES TRUSTEE:
We are looking for a parent to join our board of trustees. They meet once every half term (this relates to 5 or 6 times a year) at Brambles on a Monday morning for 1-2 hours. If you are interested, please let Debbie know.
PACKED LUNCHES:
Due to the shape and size grapes are a choking hazard for young children. If grapes are part of your child’s lunch box please ensure they are cut in half length ways or ideally into quarters.
SCHOOL PLACES:
Children born between September 2018 and August 2019 will be eligible for a school place from September 2023. There is a poster on the door with information or a leaflet is available if required – please ask a member of staff. Parents need to visit www.cornwall.gov.uk/admissions to access the online application system. Where it asks for 3 schools please fill in all 3 spaces with your choices. The deadline for applications is January 15th, 2023.
FUNDING:
If your child is turning 3 this term, they are eligible for funding therefore please see Debbie for a funding form. All children the term after their third birthday is entitled to 15 free universal hours. If you are a single parent and working 16+ hours a week you may be entitled to an extra 15 extended hours. Parents who are both working 16+ hours a week are also entitled to these extended hours. To attain the extended hours, you as parents will need to go to www.cornwall.gov.uk and apply for 30-hour childcare. You will be given a 11-digit code beginning 500… Every 3 months you will then be sent an email to update your details for the code to continue. Please check your junk file as this is where they tend to go! This code needs to be applied for before the end of the term they will be turning 3 and you are able to apply a month or so before your child’s 3rd birthday. Once you have the form and have completed it, please return it to Debbie along with your child’s passport/birth certificate for proof of ID. Until the ID has been provided Debbie cannot apply for your child’s funding.
If children are only eligible for the universal funding of 15 hours a funding form is still required and proof of ID (see above).
FOCUS:
The main focus this term will be feelings and emotions. How we manage them and how they impact on our friendships. The colour monster is a tool we use, and the children seem to engage well with the stories and the colour monsters themselves. Additionally, the children will be learning our rules and boundaries, the expectations anticipated of them within their new groups and from the practitioners themselves.
ZUMBA:
This has recommenced in the sports hall on a Wednesday morning from 10.00 -11.30 am. The children aged 2 years and above from the Dormouse room and the rising 3’s attend from 10-10.30 am (cost £1.00) and the pre-school children attend 10.30 – 11.30 am (cost £1.50). The pre-school children are adjusting well from the half hour lesson they had before the summer holidays to the full hour they are now experiencing! Jo is running these classes and the children all love participating. If your child does not attend on a Wednesday but would like to join these sessions, please see Debbie.
FACEBOOK: Brambles Nursery
Please keep an eye out for updates from Alice on our chickens, they are growing and very happy in their new home in our back garden. If you are not a member of our Facebook page, please send a request so you can be kept up to date with Bramble’s life.
PAPER:
If anyone has any odd/spare rolls of wallpaper, they no longer require we would be very grateful of them. If anyone has contacts who can source scrap paper, we would be really thankful as we use a huge amount each term!
STAFF:
We are always looking for bank staff and at the moment we would like to extend our team here at Brambles. We are currently looking for a level 3 practitioner and have a part time and full-time position available. If any parent is interested or know someone who may be please see Debbie.
Thank you.