Welcome to the Nursery Class!

Welcome to Manor Park Nursery.

Hello and welcome to the class page. Mrs Dolby and Mrs Lockley are the Early Years Teachers. Miss Jones and Mrs Page are the teaching assistants. Mrs Bell is our care assistant.

We look forward to watching your child learn and grow throughout their time in nursery with fun activities and experiences that we have planned.

Spring Term 2 2022

Week commencing 27^th June 2022

Ocean plastics and Recycling

This week the children have been learning about the harmful effects of plastics found in our oceans and to sea creatures. We have  also been learning about what we can recycle. The children helped pick up the litter from our nursery garden and sorted it into paper/card, plastic, and household waste. They have had great fun looking at the variety of packaging to find the recycling symbol. The children have engaged and thoroughly enjoyed an array of fiction and non fiction books about plastics and recycling. We have had great fun making our own paper from old magazines that had been shredded, then blended to a pulp in a blender.  The children mixed the pulp with water and paint and then carefully poured it through a sieve. The excess water was pressed out with a cloth and the paper was turned out to dry.

Week commencing 20^th June

Ocean predators

The children have learnt facts about Great White Sharks and Orcas. We have learnt that Orcas can be found in all five Oceans. We have compared facts about each predator and practised our phonic knowledge and writing skills to label our pictures as well as recognising and writing numbers to 5 and beyond. The children have experimented with paint and bubble wrap to create some beautiful effect sea creature pictures. We have enjoyed the warm weather with the children hand washing the nursery dolls clothes and pegging them out to dry using their gross motor and fine motor skills. We have investigated different sounds with our instruments in the nursery garden and practised our cutting skills in making sharks! 

Week commencing 13th June 2022

Ocean habitats

This week we have continued our topic on Oceans and looked at Ocean habitats. We have learnt facts about Octopi, Jellyfish and Seahorses and learnt new vocabulary: endoskeleton, exoskeleton, vertebrate and invertebrate. The children have made amazing sun catchers with silhouettes of sea creatures and ocean colours. We have labelled our sea creatures, looking at initial sounds at the beginning of each word.  The children have followed instructions on how to draw jellyfish and used shapes to build their own sea creature.

Week commencing 6^th June 2022

'Oceans'

This week we have been learning about Oceans. We have learnt there are five oceans: Pacific, Southern, Indian, Arctic and Atlantic. The largest ocean being the Pacific. The children have created their own oceans by exploring different colours of turquoise, blue, white and silver onto foil using cotton wool balls. They have ordered ocean animals using language: small, smaller and smallest: big bigger and biggest. We have created our own rock pool with the children using nets to explore ocean habitants. On Wednesday we participated in 'World Ocean Day' and watched the 'live' rock pool podcast where we learnt interesting facts about starfish, crabs and sea anemones. 

Week commencing 23rd May 2022

Celebrating The “Queens Platinum Jubilee.”

Week Commencing 16^th May 2022

Buckingham Palace

This week the children have been learning facts about Buckingham Palace in preparation for celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee next week. They have created and designed their own Buckingham Palace using Lego and manipulated play dough. The children enjoyed using the coloured paints to create their Grenadier guards and practised their scissors skills. We have counted out the jewels on the crown to the corresponding number and used the scales to balance the assortment of lentils and beans.

Week commencing 9^th May 2022

Homes in cold countries

This week we have been looking at homes in cold countries across the world. Igloos in the Arctic and Log cabins in Alaska.  We have extended and learnt new vocabulary: dome, semi-circle, cylindrical, sub-zero, freezing and what animals inhabit this cold country. The children have made igloos out of sugar cubes and marshmallows and explored sensory play with painting on ice blocks. They have drawn horizontal and vertical lines to look like snow blocks on their igloos and used strips of paper to design their own Log cabin. In mathematics they have counted the Arctic pictures making marks to represent numbers; rolled the dice and counted out ice rocks to the number. 

Week commencing 2^nd May 2022

Houses in hot countries

Continuing our topic on 'Houses and Homes' we have been looking at homes in hot countries. We have learnt about Trulli houses in Italy; Rondavel houses in Africa; Bedouin homes in the desert and Yurt homes in Mangolia. We have discussed what materials the houses in hot countries are built of and how they are different to the homes we live in. We have shared non-fiction books that feature homes in hot countries. We have used mathematical language to describe what the houses look like. (Dome, circular, cylindrical) and learnt the properties of the 3D shapes of a cone and a cylinder. The children crafted their own Rondavel house out of different materials, using sticks, play dough clay and straw. They have practised their fine motor skills drawing their own interpretation of houses in hot countries, and made Bedouin tents outside. On Friday the children tasted different fruits which originate from hot countries.

Week commencing 25^th April 2022

Houses and Homes

This week we have introduced our topic 'Houses and Homes'. The children have looked at the houses we live in in our community. We have learnt that we live in all kind of houses: Detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat, bungalow; apartment.  The children have drawn houses and used their writing skills to label their house with a roof, window, door, and chimney.  We have learnt that homes are puzzles with shapes that we know. Rectangle, circle, square and triangle. The children have used these shapes to design a home. We have used wooden craft sticks to copy shapes of houses and manipulated play dough to complete the house with either a door, window or roof.  Outside we have used balance scales to investigate which objects are heavy and which are light, and used rollers and paintbrushes with water to strengthen our gross motor muscles. 

Week commencing 19th April 2022

Celebrating the Patron Saint of England ‘St George’

Our Easter Bonnets 

Week commencing 28^th March

Easter

The children have continued to embed their knowledge and understanding of repeating patterns and practised their cutting skills in cutting out 2D shapes and arranging them to make a person.

We have looked at traditions to celebrate Easter and the meaning of Easter in a child friendly way. The children have been on a scavenger hunt looking for Easter symbols; Excitedly been on an Easter hunt looking for chocolate eggs hidden in the nursery garden; tasted hot cross buns and learnt to ‘sign’ the song ‘Hot Cross buns’. The children have engaged in Easter crafts making patterns on Easter cards and decorating Easter baskets. The week ended with an amazing parade of Easter Bonnets worn by the children

Week commencing 21^st March 2022

Patterns 

Carrying on from art week and inspired by Lubaina Himid’s artwork the children have been looking at patterns and repeating patterns.  

We started looking at how we can repeat a pattern using two colours and then increased it throughout the week to three colours. The children have used coloured cotton reels and unifix cubes to create their own repeating patterns. We have looked at different patterns in the clothes we wear and matched animal print to the animal. The children have looked at and talked about the patterns around them. We have used rollers, paintbrushes with water and chalks to create our own patterns and shapes outside. 

Week commencing 14^th March 2022 

Art week 

This week the children have been learning about the African artist Labaina Himid. Labaina Himid was born in Zanzibar Africa. We have learnt that Labaina uses bright colours, shapes, and patterns to create her artwork. Taking inspiration from her artwork nursery have used colourful materials and textiles to create an individual piece of artwork onto fabric. Each piece of artwork has been sewn together to make a patchwork picture. In addition to celebrating art and creativity within the whole school the children had the opportunity to take part in African drumming with Milo. 

St Patrick's Day 

We celebrated St Patrick's Day (Patron Saint of Ireland) on Thursday 17^th March. We tasted Irish bread and potato bread, traditional food of Ireland. Mrs Page talked to us about Irish traditions and retold a folk story about leprechauns, pots of gold and rainbows. We had fun looking for the pictures from the story around the nursery garden. 

Week commencing 7^th March 2022

Traditional Tales: The Elves and the Shoemaker

Continuing our theme of traditional tales we have read the story of The Elves and the Shoemaker. To the delight of the children, they have had the opportunity to pair up and try on different types of shoes. Some were more appealing than others! This led to the discussion on what shoes you would wear in the seasons of Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. The children had their feet measured by a foot measure which some of the children were familiar with in their own experiences of shopping for new shoes. We were able to record each children's size and then see which size was the most popular.  We have designed some beautiful shoes using different creative materials and strengthened our fine motor skills by tapping into shoe templates with split pins.

We have continued been super scientists looking at objects that float and sink. We found out that objects that were heavy (stones and screws) that were put in sealed containers floated on the surface of the water, yet individually they sank!

World Book Day

On Thursday 3rd March we celebrated World book day. The children dressed up as their favourite book character. Throughout the week the children have brought in their favourite book to share and read with their nursery friends.  

Week commencing 21^st February 2022

Traditional tales: The Three Billy Goats Gruff

This half term we are continuing with our theme of traditional tales. This week we have been retelling the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children have had so much fun acting out the characters using props as well as acting out the story in our P.E lessons. They have used their cutting skills to create their own scene of the story and put together story books of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. They have made wonderful creations drawing hair for the troll as well as using nuts and bolts in the play dough to create their own interpretation of a troll from the descriptions in the stories read. 

We have noticed the seasonal changes in our nursery garden and the first signs of Spring. Our daffodils which we planted in Autumn are beginning to bloom much to the delight and excitement of the children who were eager to show us.  

We have been super scientists, investigating which containers are best at holding liquids. We found out that some containers do an excellent job of holding water and others do not! 

Spring Term 1 2022

Week commencing 7 February 2022

Traditional Tales: The Gingerbread Man.

The children have really  engaged in the story of the Gingerbread Man, joining in the refrains and acting out the story in their own words using props; story maps; and the small world. The children have rolled play dough and pastry to make Gingerbread men and decorated them with different sweets. They have practised their fine motor and gross motor skills  with cutting; picking up pom poms with tweezers; icing Gingerbread men; tracing patterns, as well as using the bat and balls outside.

Autumn Term 2 2021

Week commencing 13th December 2021

Christingle

This week we made our own Christingle. We learnt that the orange symbolises the world, the red ribbon represents Gods love, the sweets show the gifts God gives us and the candle represents Jesus as the light of the world.
They have remembered so much about the nativity story and used this in their learning, talking about Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem on a donkey and of course baby Jesus in the stable. 

The children have also been looking into the ways we celebrate Christmas. By sharing gifts, hanging decorations, sharing special foods and singing songs. 

Week commencing 6th December 2021

‘Our very own Nativity’

The nursery children have enjoyed learning about the Nativity this week. In our performance they sang beautifully and shone like the stars they truly are. 

Week commencing 29th November 2021

Celebrating St Andrew's Day

The children have been learning about Scotland and celebrating St Andrew's Day on who is the patron saint of Scotland. We read a story called 'Katie in Scotland'. Katie goes on an adventure seeing the best spots in Scotland with Jack and Grandma with the help of Nessie The Loch Ness Monster! We have looked at the Scottish flag and noticed that it has four blue triangles. The children made miniature flags to go on our castle in our small world; Looked at the different patterns created on the various colours of tartan and designed their own tartan, drawing vertical and horizontal lines; tasted traditional shortbread and Scottish porridge and created their own interpretations of 'Nessie' using playdough

Week commencing 21st November
‘My Family’

This week we have been looking at 'My family'. The children have shared pictures of their family and discussed who is in their family picture. We have talked and shared books to show there are many different family units and each family is unique.  The children have drawn amazing pictures of the people in their family; manipulated playdough to make facial features; continued practising our cutting skills and used our fine motor skills to thread cotton reels and cubes.

Week commencing 15th November 

'One kind word' Anti-bullying week

This week the children have been learning all about friendship, having respect for other and what being a good friend means. They have displayed 'good friend' traits by looking after each other, taking part in friendship crafts; representing their friends in drawings; sharing activities both inside and outside where they showed good teamwork. On the 19th November we celebrated Children In Need by wearing something spotty.

Week commencing 8th November

Remembrance

This week the children have been learning about the meaning of wearing a poppy for Remembrance day. They have used potatoes to print red poppies; created their own poppy using play dough; used their fine motor skills to cut out and draw poppies; represented numbers 1-5 by counting out buttons and poppies and then having ago at writing the number. The children took part in the   2-minute silence on Thursday Remembrance Day.

Week beginning  1st November 2021

Diwali 

This week we have been celebrating the festival of Diwali. The Hindu festival of light. The children have created their own Rangoli patterns using coloured pasta and chickpeas. We have painted hands with mehndi patterns. Modelled and made their own Diya's using salt dough and painted them with bright colours and sequins. They have tasted traditional Hindu cuisine, and prepared Hindu ingredients in our Diwali home corner. The children enjoyed dancing to Diwali music and learning different movements

Autumn Term 1 2021

Week beginning  11/10/21

Nottinghamshire Fire Brigade. 

We were very lucky to receive a visit from Nottinghamshire Fire Brigade and got the chance to sit on the fire engine.

Week beginning 20th September

Autumn

This week we have been looking at the changing season from Summer to Autumn. The children have created lovely pictures with Autumn items of conkers, leaves, sticks, and beech tree shell casings. We investigated the Autumn items more closely at carpet time and used words to describe what the items felt like when we touched them: Prickly, spikey, velvety, hairy, hard, smooth, shiny. 

The children have had fun painting self-portraits. They have used their imagination to create their own faces with playdough, using different materials to add features to their faces. 

Weeks beginning 6th & 13th September

Exploring our environment. 

Summer term 2

Coral reefs

This week we have been looking at coral reefs. We have learnt there are 3 types of coral: branching coral, rice coral and smooth coral. We know that coral reefs are only found in shallow tropical seas. The biggest coral reef being the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the most colourful in Indonesia.

The children have used different colour felt tips to draw their coral reef. We have used broccoli and sponges to recreate a colourful coral reef outside. Made turtles as we have learnt that turtles eat the algae from the coral: used dried pasta shapes and glittering sequins in our coral reef playdough. In addition the children have had fun putting on scuba diving equipment and finding out what each piece of equipment is used for.

Ocean occupations

This week the children have been learning about different occupations associated with the Oceans. We have looked at: Marine Biologist, Lifeboat crew, Clean up Beach volunteer and scuba divers. The children have cut out and put together split pin divers. Learnt what equipment scuba divers need to swim in the ocean safely. We have watched lifeboat launches and talked about how they save lives at sea.  Read the book 'Clean up our Beach' and how important it is to keep our beaches clean of rubbish and plastic. 

Plastics and Recycling

The children have learnt about how we can look after our planet by recycling plastic, paper, cardboard, cans, and metal. We have seen where our nursery bins are emptied at the end of each day and where all the recycled cardboard from school goes. We have made our own planet earth from cardboard and paper; Made our own recycling posters and watched Sir David Attenborough speaking about how we can reduce plastic in our oceans.

Floating and sinking

Today we did a science experiment to see whether our sea animals would float or sink. We used 5 cups. One with water, one with water and salt, one with water and sugar, one with water and baking powder and the other with water and bicarbonate of soda. We placed an animal in each one to see what would happen. The children made their predication and used fantastic vocabulary to explain what they saw. All of the animals sunk to the bottom so we decided in the afternoon to try the experiment again using grapes to see if the results would be different. 

Ocean predators

This week the children have been learning about Great White Sharks and Killer Whales. We have read non-fiction books and found out some interesting facts...Did you know that a Great White Shark has 300 teeth! We have moulded clay to create our colourful sea creatures;  Using our cutting skills created sharks: Had fun recognising and rolling the number balls down the guttering into the water; The children have also been learning about shapes and drawing their ocean creatures.  

‘Under the sea’

The children have learnt facts about Octupuses, jellyfish and sea horses. They have done blow paintings to create some beautiful colourful jellyfish; manipulated playdough to create the arms and tentacles of octopus and jellyfish; described the texture of kinetic sand in the small world; weaved different materials to create the colours of the ocean; Drawn our under the sea animals and even had a go at writing the names of them. We have also learnt how to ‘sign’ the Ocean animals crab, dolphin, whale, star fish, and shark.

Oceans
 

Our new topic this half term is 'Oceans'. The children have looked on the globe and learnt there are five Oceans: Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic. We have painted different colours of blue on to foil to represent the different colours of the Oceans: Made Ocean animals out of play dough and decorated them with seashells; Discovered and named Ocean animals in our rock pools and in our small world; Drawn beautiful pictures of starfish and other Ocean wildlife. On Tuesday 8th June we took part in 'World Ocean day'. We read books on how we can clean up our beaches and keep the Oceans clean from plastic.

Summer Term 1

Calverton past and present 

The children have really taken an interest in the history of Calverton this week. They have learnt that Calverton was a mining village where coal was mined. We have looked at artefacts relating to mining; Had a go at observational drawings of miner's lamps using charcoal; recreated a miner's wheel using play dough and creative materials.

We have discussed and looked at pictures of what life was like in the past and compared it to life today. The children have washed clothes using wooden wash boards, soap and scrubbing brushes; pegged the washing out to dry; observed bread being made by Mrs Dolby and tasted the bread once cooked.  

Houses in cold countries

Continuing our topic this half term we have looked at houses in cold countries: Igloo, yurt and log cabin. We have discussed what each home is made of and where in the world we would find these homes. The children looked at the shapes of the houses learning new vocabulary; circular, dome, semi-circle, curve. Constructed Igloos using sugar cubes and marshmallows; used their imagination in the small world Arctic tuff spot with Arctic animals and Arctic people and explored sensory play with shaving foam and ice blocks.

Houses in hot countries
 

We have looked at houses and homes in hot countries across the world. Trulli houses (southern Italy); Bedouin tent (Desert); Rondavel houses (Africa).

The children have made Rondavel houses from painted paper cups adding straw for the roofs; constructed Rondavel houses using play dough and sticks; drawn Trulli houses using white chalks; assembled their Bedouin tents; tasted fruits that grow in hot countries and engaged in the small world with a setup of an African village.

Castles and Palaces

The children enjoyed learning about The Queen’s residences ‘Buckingham Palace’ and ‘Windsor Castle’. We learnt what life was like living in a castle many years ago; drew pictures of castles and Palaces; made our own jewelled crowns and played with our small world castle and knights.

Houses and Homes

We have looked at different types of homes and learnt new vocabulary; detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat cottage. The children have looked at shapes and patterns of houses and have enjoyed having a go at brick laying using real bricks and mixing sand and water for the cement; den making equipment creating their different homes out of the materials.  In our morning activity the children have drawn their own interpretation of a house they would like to live in; collaged houses using different materials; using their scissor skills cut out from magazines household items to furnish their home; Explored textures with brick rubbings using crayons. 

St George’s Day

We celebrated St George's day on Fridy 23rd April.  We learnt that St George was a brave Knight who fought a dragon. We looked at the St George flag and discussed the shapes that made up the flag. We proudly flew the flag alongside the Castle the children had made. The children made shields from red collage squares to represent St George's flag. In the afternoon we had traditional afternoon tea in the nursery garden with cucumber sandwiches, strawberries, and scones.

Spring term 2 2021

Easter

 This week we have talked to the children about the meaning of Easter and the celebration of 'new life'. We have had Easter themed activities which the children have thoroughly enjoyed and engaged in throughout the week. We had our Easter egg hunt in the nursery garden where the children found all 54 eggs that had been hidden! They had a super time. We have tasted hot cross buns and learnt to sign hot cross buns! We finished off the week with the nursery parade of the Easter bonnets. All of which were amazing! The children looked fantastic.

The Colour Monster

One day the Colour Monster wakes up feeling very confused.His emotions are all over the place; he feels angry, happy, calm, sad and scared all at once!

To help him, a little girl shows him what each feeling means through colour. In nursery the children have discussed the feelings and emotions of the colour monster and related these feelings through their own experiences, art work and other activities.

St Patricks Day

We celebrated St Patrick's Day on Wednesday 17th March. The children engaged in learning about the history of St Patrick's day with Mrs Page; They watched children in Ireland prepare and celebrate St Patrick's day; Tasted traditional Irish food of soda and potato bread and painted shamrock using shaving foam

The Gingerbread Man

To end our theme on traditional tales the children have engaged in one of our favourite stories ‘The Gingerbread Man’. Activities included; Rolling out ginger scented playdough adding raisins and buttons to create their own gingerbread man; Designed their own gingerbread person using different collage materials; Acted out the story using the small world resources and our story telling wooden spoons; Counted pom poms to match the number on the gingerbread men; Mixed ingredients to make gingerbread men; Iced and decorated their very own gingerbread man…and taken it home before it ran away!

St David’s Day

1st March 2021

We have learnt that St David is the Patron Saint of Wales.  To celebrate St David’s Day we made daffodils, which is the national flower of Wales; Tasted some delicious welsh cakes; Prepared leeks in the home corner; Listened and watched children preparing and celebrating St David’s Day

The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Continuing our Traditional Tales, the children have thoroughly enjoyed reading and listening to the story of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. The teaching staff acted out the story much to the amusement and delight of the children. They then had the opportunity to act out the story themselves. The children have made their own scene of the three Billy goats gruff trip trapping over the bridge to be challenged by the troll waiting on the other side! They have enjoyed exploring different colours in their creation of a ‘Troll’ blott painting resulting in amazing art work!

Spring Term 1 2021

Jack and The Beanstalk

The children have embraced the activities with our traditional tale of Jack and The Beanstalk. Look at what the children have been doing at home and at nursery.

Traditional Tales: The Three Little Pigs

Continuing our theme of Traditional tales this week we have been reading the story of The Three Little Pigs. Some of the activities included: Cutting out shapes to create their own little pig. Made houses out of straw, sticks and bricks using different collage materials. Explored the textures of straw and sticks to see if they can build houses in our small world area as well as outside. Our tricky challenge involved making a house out of marshmallows and straws. Acting out the story using the repeated refrains from the story. 

Garden Birds

As part of the RSPB big Garden Birdwatch which takes place on 29th to 31st January the children have been given a bird spotting chart. They were asked to identify birds that they have seen throughout the week in their garden, when they visited the park and on walks. Here are some of the other activities we have done this week in relation to Garden Birds: Made environmentally friendly bird feeders. Some of which are now hanging in the nursery garden. Designed, painted, and used collage materials for our paper plate birds and bird houses. Practised our fine motor skills using pegs to pick up our imitation worms to feed 'the birds'. Drawn and labelled the parts of the bird. What wonderful work the children have done.

Traditional Tales: Goldilocks and The Three Bear

This week the children have enjoyed the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears and have done some lovely activities associated with the story. Sizing objects from small, medium large. Sorting objects in to 'hard' and 'soft'. Re-telling the story in their own words, using props they have found in the home. Filling different size containers with porridge oats. Getting creative with painted paper plate bears and delicious bear toast!

Pumpkins! 

In October, the children looked and investigated pumpkins. We looked inside and described what it felt like. We scooped the seeds out and let them dry out indoors in the nursery. In December, the children each potted a pumpkin seed and took it home over the Christmas period. They had to ensure that it had sunlight, warmth, and water.  

Take a look at our success.

In Nursery we have been learning about the story of ‘Christmas’. They have investigated our curiosity cube which contains the Nativity scene. Drawn their own Nativity pictures and have dressed and acted out their own Nativity with the songs we have learnt for ‘Our Very Own Nativity’.

Anti-bullying week

We have taken time to talk about and discuss what a good friend means. We have introduced new vocabulary: Kind, caring, gentle, truthful, honest, interested, thoughtful, understanding to describe ‘ a good friend’.

‘Diwali’ 

We have been celebrating ‘Diwali’. The Hindu festival of light. The children have decorated Rangoli patterns using coloured rice. Modelled and painted clay to make their own Divas. We looked at and painted Mehndi patterns on our hands. They have tasted traditional Indian cuisine and have prepared their own recipes using traditional Hindu ingredients in our role play kitchen. 

Remembrance Day 

The children have been learning about ‘Remembrance Day’ which is also called ‘Poppy Day’. We use Poppy Day to remember the soldiers, sailors and airmen who have died. The children have painted poppies onto stones which we displayed outside, created poppies from play dough and painted their own poppies. On Wednesday we also took part in the 2 minute silence. 

Autumn 2020
 

Following our Autumn theme, we have looked at and investigated pumpkins and squashes this week. The children have used their observational skills to draw and paint pumpkins and different squash. We have been really impressed with their art work. We have used descriptive words ‘bumpy, smooth, circular, round to describe what we see. Slimy, gooey, wet, slippery, stringy to describe what we felt when we placed our hands inside the pumpkin.   We are drying out the oval seeds found inside the pumpkin and plan to plant them next term as part of our science investigation to see what happens!

Take a look at our nursery environment...