As part of Maths week, the Nursery have been focusing on playing board games. Some key maths skills learnt when playing board games are: counting each square landed on, saying number names in order and recognising spots on a die (our subitising skills were put to the test). We started the week by reading the story of The Naughty Bus and This is the Bear and the Scary Night. Combining these two classic tales enabled us to create a ‘human board’ game like we played at Easter.

The teddy bears had been left on the buses and our intrepid maths experts had to get to the bus depot to rescue them. They had to navigate the giant board game which included challenges such as moving forwards and backwards!

Taking further inspiration from the story of The Naughty Bus, we took our London Buses out into the outdoor areas and the children positioned them in different places – just like in the book. Inside we set up a photographer’s studio and created imaginary settings in which to photograph our ‘naughty bus’. We hope to use the photos to inspire our writing.

This week we have been learning all about maps and how they show us where something is located and how to get there. We have been sharing the book, Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney. We looked at globes, atlases, road maps and the use of technology such as Satnavs and Google Maps.

The children then chose to make a map of a familiar environment such as their bedroom (like the character in the book), map their house or the Nursery building.

In the large block area, we also became Town Planners and used the blocks and roadways to create imaginary towns and cities. We collaborated to lay out and construct an imaginary place where people work and live. We had to think about all the different places that are in our community such as parks (very important!), hospitals, houses, schools and swimming pools (even more important in this hot weather!). We have certainly put ‘Me on the Map’!

As part of One World Week, the Nursery were given Egypt as their country to learn about. We talked about the flag of Egypt and particularly learnt about the famous pyramids and ancient kings and queens called Pharaohs.

We made golden collars that the ancient Egyptians would wear (unfortunately school budget does not run to ancient golden artefacts so we made do with making our from paper plates!) We had a laugh playing a game of ‘wrap the mummy’! We split into two teams and raced against the sand-timer to wrap our friends in loo roll! We then laid the mummies in their sarcophagus along with their golden collars! (We will use the tissue paper for next week as we shall be making our own seed paper – watch this space to see how we get on.) Oh, and Hazel came to visit and decided to photo bomb us!

As part of our mathematics based ‘Sunflower Challenge’ we have been learning all about height. One of our challenges was to find out as many facts as we could about sunflowers. We discovered that the tallest sunflower ever grown was just over 9 metres (30 feet and 1 inch). To show how tall this actually is, compared to the height of the children, we took a helium balloon outdoors. It had the exact height in string of the World’s tallest sunflower, attached to it. We tried in the morning but it was too windy – like many experiments some fail. So, we tried again the next day when the wind had dropped and it was nice and calm. Hurray, success! And boy was that sunflower tall!!!

The children of the Nursery Class would like to send a big congratulations to His Majesty King Charles III, on his Coronation this weekend. In recognition of this historic occasion, we have produced these stunning portraits of our new King.

Do look out for our art work in the local area as some of them are on display in local shops. If you see one of our portraits, why not take a selfie and send it to  Miss Killelay? We would love to see how many you can find!

Have a lovely long weekend everyone and enjoy this very special celebration

p.s. thank you too, Your Royal Highness, for the extra day to celebrate! 😉

We are continuing our exploration of seeds on our journey to becoming sunflower experts as part of our ‘Sunflower Challenge’. The children have been posting lots of updates on our Nursery Padlet to show how their sunflower seeds are getting on at home.

This week we have been using technology in the form of digital microscopes to help us look even closer at natural objects.

We started off by learning how to use a magnifying glass effectively (very ‘old school’) then switched to the digital microscope to see if this gave us a better view.

The children had to use all of their coordination skills as they had to hold onto the digital microscope with one hand whilst operating the focus with the other hand all the while keeping an eye on the laptop screen to view the image!

We were amazed at how things look under the digital microscope. We were even able to take photos with the microscope too – we wonder if you can tell what the close ups are?  It was not long before the children became curious about how their skin or hair looked under the microscope – scabs are amazing!!!

And by Royal Appointment, as part of our preparations for the forthcoming Coronation, we also made King Charles Grass Heads!  We shall keep you all posted to see if our new King sprouts a head of green hair!

The return to Nursery following the Easter break has seen the children begin  our Sunflower Challenge. Over the coming weeks, the children aim to become sunflower researchers and, fingers crossed, sunflower experts!

We have started by talking about what we already know about seeds. We then researched information to be found on seed packets – there was so much to be learnt just by simply looking at the packet itself before we even sow some seeds.

The children then made their very own sunflower growing kits to take home. Our Nursery padlet will share the updates to see whose seeds will be the first to germinate! We cannot wait to research more. Next week we shall use digital technology to look even closer!

Elsewhere, we took advantage of the warmer weather and opened up our outdoor sand pit for the first time this year.. eee by gum, it’s just like being at the sea-side! The new and improved mud-kitchen (thanks to the very generous support of our families and friends through our sponsored event last Autumn) is proving exceptionally popular. There is still a little bit of work to be done, but the mud is there so what more can we ask for!