AUGUSTUS AND HIS SMILE

This is the book we have been working with this week.
We have talked about feeling happy and feeling sad and how different activities, experiences and even weather can affect the way we feel.
To really get to grips with the story, we constructed different elements of the story in the gym and took it in turns to act out the story.

Augustus crawls through the bushes....

Augustus climbs the tallest trees....

Augustus scales the peaks of the highest mountains...

Augustus swims to the bottom of the deepest oceans...

Augustus finally finds his smile in a sparkling puddle!

Not only were we developing our gross motor skills, we were expanding our imaginations and developing our literacy and language skills.

Later we made maps of Augustus's journey to find his smile.

We have also been dancing along to a happy song you can find it by clicking this link or looking in our SONGS AND RHYMES section

HAPPY DANCE

We have also been doing the ROLY POLY rhyme which makes us all giggle! Click below

ROLY POLY

Also in the classroom we have been working with numbers

and on fine motor skills and collaboration and cooperation

We've managed to get outside every day this week:

building shelters in case the rain started pouring down!

working on our core strength and balancing 

examining the last of the strawberry plants

We've had a busy week so make sure you have a good rest of the weekend!

HOMEWORK

Have a go at the rhythm and rhyme games on busythings.co.uk

Listen to one of our stories.

Ask your child if they can remember all of things that Augustus did that helped him to find his smile.

Help your child to draw a picture or make a collage of something that makes them feel happy and bring it in to school to show us!

MUMS AND DADS

This week we read one of our favourite stories, Monkey Puzzle, the children love joining in with the little monkey who's desperately trying to find his mum in the jungle.
Click below to hear the story.
Monkey Puzzle

We talked about our own mums and dads and drew pictures and made paper dolls. Can you recognise yourself?

We've had lots of rainy weather which means it's sometimes been too wet to go outside, but we still manage to get active with sessions in the gym instead.

We also keep our fingers active developing our fine motor skills. This tray of paint may look beautiful it soon got all mixed up using the forks. Later children got their hands into the paint and made some fantastic scratch marks, swirls, circles and lines.

In phonics we have been exploring body percussion- what noises can you make with your body? We had fun working in pairs finding out what noises we could make with a friend, like clapping together or tapping someone else's back while they said ahhhhhh.

HOMEWORK

Listen to the 5 little monkeys song again. 

Practise writing numbers 1-5.

Play with the number of monkeys: what if there were 8 monkeys and 2 fell off the bed? What if there were 4 monkeys and 1 snuck back on the bed while mum wasn't looking?

SELF PORTRAITS

Marvellous Me

This week we have been thinking about the different things we can do with our bodies.
Some big things like running, climbing and jumping, some smaller things like drawing and painting.

 drawing

 scooting

crawling

rolling


We have joined in with the story From Head to Toe, practising the refrain I can do it!
Listen to Miss Lucie and the children reading by clicking the link below
From Head to Toe

In phonics we have been listening to the sounds of different instruments and have been developing our working memory.

listening to the pitch of the different boom whackers in the gym.

In maths we have been practising reading and writing numerals from 0-10.

making numbers using play dough.

HOMEWORK
How can you use your body to help at home?
Listen to the MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS clip in Tasks and Challenges. Do you have a favourite musical instrument or style of music?
Can you spot any numbers in your house or in the car on the way to school? Which numbers?

TGI FRIDAY!

Well it's the end of our first full week at school and I for one am looking forward to a long sleep tomorrow!

I have added some links on the side of the blog for you to look at, including stories, songs and challenges and at the bottom of the blog there's a link to letters that I have sent home. I will try to add different elements as the year goes on so please keeping checking in and add comments if there's anything that you think I can add.

Here are a few photos from the past week: dressing up, playing cat and mouse with the parachute, exploring play dough, doing some building work and listening to stories.

HOMEWORK- 

• Talk about the photos in the blog with your child, ask them what they remember doing at school this week!
• Use the links on the right to listen to a song or story.
• Complete one of the challenges on the tasks and challenges page.
• Have a rest and enjoy the weather (hopefully!)

Thank you for the positive comments on the blog, I really appreciate them.

Have a great weekend,
Miss Lucie

CLASSROOM BEHAVIOUR

We have been thinking about how to behave in the classroom.
We know that we have to be kind to each other, share toys and equipment, move around carefully and use indoor voices.
Today we read a story about some Nursery Children who do not know how to behave, they are very naughty indeed!!
Click the link below to hear the story again.

Miss Lucie reads Let's Take Over the Nursery

SING A RAINBOW!

At school this week we've been learning to sing a rainbow. You can sing along at home by clicking the link below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/schoolradio/subjects/earlylearning/nurserysongs/F-J/sing_a_rainbow


There has also been some great collaborative play in the sandpit. These diggers were really busy working hard all playtime!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

What a great first day!
Well done to all of the parents and children who took the big move to Reception in their stride and settled in with barely a wobble!
We had a lovely day getting to know the classroom and new friends and teachers and the day went very smoothly.
Our natural kitchen was a hit with both boys and girls before lunch time!