We wish you a Merry Christmas....

It has been an even busier week than usual. The children are thoroughly exhausted from partying and enjoying all things Christmas.

This week we have made reindeer food, make crispy Christmas pudding cakes and decorated biscuits…mmmmmmm.

Take a look!

Christmas Party

On Thursday we put on our party clothes and joined in the fun along side KS1 and Reception. Such great fun! We even had a visit from a very special person. In the afternoon we had a movie (with popcorn) and continued the fun by playing pin the nose on Rudolf. FABULOUS!!!

A visit from Father Christmas

As always we had a special visitor join our party…yes you guessed, Father Christmas. Everyone was so very excited and he brought everyone a gift too!

It is with a heavy heart that we said goodbye to our wonderful Mrs. Shields today. She has been a huge part of nursery life and she will be missed massively. I am sure you will agree that she deserves a fabulous retirement…she has earned it, no more early starts Mrs. Shields!

A HUGE thank you from everyone, for all your support and hard work over the years.

On behalf of the nursery team, it just remains for me say a big ‘thank you’ to you, our wonderful parents and families, for trusting us with your most precious children; it is a huge privilege. Have a Happy and Holy Christmas, and we will see you on the 6th January 2025.

God Bless and keep each other safe

Barbara, Michelle, Emma, Steph, Justine and Frances.

This week...

An emotional week for everyone as we journey to the stable. The children have been very reflective as we went on our Advent pilgrimage around school. Each station held a piece of the Christmas story which the children were able to describe beautifully.

We also visited the worship area where we discussed the Nativity scene and the Advent wreath. We now have two candles lit, one for ‘hope’ and one for ‘peace’.

Our visit to Clarence House Care Home

On Wednesday along with Reception we visited Clarence House Rest home to deliver cards and gifts to the residents who were so appreciative and touched by such a kind gesture. We also sang the songs from our Christmas Nativity…there was not a dry eye in the house!!

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog 

This week we have enjoyed a trip to visit the residents at Clarence House, where we sang our nativity songs. We hope they enjoyed it as much as we did 

Our learning has continued as we have met number block number 3

We discovered that ‘3’ is everywhere. The 3 little pigs, 3 Billy Goats Gruff, 3 bears and even 3 sides in a triangle. We watched a story about the 3 bears here and discussed all the bad choices Goldilocks made. Click here to watch.

We then had a space hopper race, 1,2,3, go!

In the garden we went on a number hunt to look for number 3, we found lots!!

Why don't you have a number hunt this weekend 

Have a lovely weekend 

Michelle 

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone,

I can't believe we only have one week left at nursery before we break up for Christmas. How time flies when we are having so much fun.

 This week, we have been having a go at writing our new letter sounds, i, n, p, g, o. We used the RWI rhymes to help us to write the sounds, using our duck fingers to hold the pen in the correct way. This helps the children to control the pen when forming the letters, as it’s very tricky. All of the children had a really good go. Well done.

We have also been growing our brains learning about shapes. The children have been recognising that there are shapes everywhere around nursery. The children even made shapes using their hands which is very inventive. Here is a shape game for you to play at home. Have a go at feeding the monster the correct shapes. Click here and have fun! 

Lastly, I just wanted to say how proud we were of the all the children on Wednesday. We went to visit Clarence House care home. The children showed such kindness towards the residents, and really enjoyed talking to them. It was lovely to see. 

Have a wonderful weekend. I am looking forward to seeing you all on Monday for our last week before we break up.

Emma  

Shapes, shapes everywhere.

This week we started to explore shapes. We discussed what makes them special. Is is their sides, corners or curves. We watched short song to help us remember….it even sang about a dodecagon. We counted twelve sides!!!! Click here and here to find out more at home. Enjoy finding shapes around the house, the garden and even when you are out and about. They are absolutely everywhere!!

Meet number 3 - 3 is one more than 2 click here

Three arrives with a bang- and a song and dance about her favourite number 1,2,3, Everybody look at me.

One two three does magic tricks with apples to show the others who goes first, who’s biggest and how to surprise your number friends. Click here.

We are learning:

To count to 3

To compare numbers 1, 2 and 3- bigger and smaller

To order numbers 1-3

To know that 3 is made of 2 and 1

To write number 3- make a curve just like me, then one more and you’ve got 3

Bake off Day

A big thank you to everyone who sent in cakes for our bake off day. We really enjoyed sampling them. The school was full to the brim with cake!!

Worship

We visited the chapel to see the last part of our Advent pilgrimage to the stable. We found an empty manger. We talked about the feeling inside of all of us as we patiently wait for the arrival of Jesus on Christmas Day.

Next week…

KS1 Christmas Party is on Thursday 19th 9.30-11.30, and everyone is invited to join us. If it is not your child’s usual session you can drop them off at 9.30 and collect them at 11.30…exhausted! Dust of those dancing shoes children it is always a noisy but fun couple of hours.

KS2 is holding their Christmas Carol Service on Monday 16th December at church at 2.00pm and 6.00pm. It is always a beautiful service and well worth attending. It fills your heart with the spirit of Christmas. I hope to see you there.

On Friday 20th December school and nursery will close at 2pm for the Christmas holidays.

Keep a look out for your Christmas Taskmaster activity sheet…for those quiet moments!!!!!

Have a lovely weekend and I will see you all on Monday.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Another fabulous week at nursery!

Travelling Nativity

As in previous years our journey to the stable has been aided by our travelling Nativity. Everyone has truly embraced it’s meaning and has contributed wonderfully. Thank you.

I am sure that you will agree when I say how wonderful the Foundation Nativity was this week. I am beyond proud of all our children who sang so beautifully. Our children are a only three and four years old and for them to have the trust in us to perform like professionals…well I have no words. Truly magical.

Advent Prayer Candles

Cut out a candle for each week of Advent.

Christmas Cards

As in previous years, and in our ongoing commitment to look after God’s wonderful earth, we ask that the children do not send cards to everyone on nursery. If they would like to make one at home to send to everyone at nursery that would be fabulous!

Christmas Party

Key Stage 1 and Foundation Christmas party is being held on 19th December 9.30-11.30 am. All the children are invited to join us but if it is not your child’s usual session could you please arrange for them to be collected at 11.30 am. We will be baking a special birthday cake for Baby Jesus to eat at the party!!! Mmmmmmm!

Visit to Clarence House care home

On Wednesday 11th December we will be visiting Clarence House Care Home. We will be joining Reception (in two small groups) to take some cards and decorations we have made to help spread some Christmas cheer. We may even sing a couple of our Christmas songs.

If you do not want your child to take part in this visit could you please let me know a.s.a.p.

Emma’s Blog

Hello everyone 

Firstly, I would like to say how proud I am of all the children working so hard to make our Nativity be so special. A big well done and thank for your support.

 Advent has begun and the children have been making preparations for Baby Jesus. We have decorated the Christmas tree. They have been hanging baubles, then (lots) of tinsel. It looks very sparkly.

The children also helped build a Nativity display. They chose where each person should go in relation to the stable. We noticed that we were missing the big star, so the children made a beautiful sparkling star. Our Nativity is now perfect.

We have all been so busy working hard, preparing something that is top secret, but you will find out soon!

The children continue to love dough disco, and we have started to have a go at our Christmas song. Here it is for you to enjoy at home, click here and have fun.

…and to all the children, look out for the cheeky elf in nursery next week!

 Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

 Emma 

Michelle’s Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog.

We have well and truly entered into the Christmas spirit as we have had a week of preparation for Christmas. We have entered the season of Advent and what a wonderful week it has been. We hope you all enjoyed the Nativity performances. We were so proud of all the children, we hope you were too.

Our Advent celebrations continued as we acted out the Nativity story, using the Nativity set in nursery. 

We have had lots of busy elves, making gifts, painting and making sure all our creations are ready to go home.

The children have enjoyed using their imaginations as they have dressed up in the Christmas dressing up clothes!

 There have been lots of Father Christmas's chasing the reindeer and Mrs. Christmas has been caring for everyone.

We are looking forward to next week when we can watch the rest of the school perform their Nativity plays.

Have a lovely weekend 

Michelle 

Such a fabulous week at nursery. I think everyone deserves a rest this weekend…maybe even a treat!

Thank you for your wonderful support.

Stay safe and God bless

Barbara

This week...

Each week seems to be getting busier and busier at the moment! I can’t believe we have been at nursery for one term already!! Looking at the calendar the next couple of weeks are going to be even more hectic, starting with our Christmas Nativity next week. This years production is called ‘Follow the Star’, we hope you enjoy it.

Worship

Thank you to everyone who has sent in pictures of their child enjoying the Travelling Nativity. There are some fabulous drawing depicting the Christmas story too!

Next week we will be journeying through Advent together. We would like to start by learning this song (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star), maybe you could help at home.

Advent is a time to wait (hold hand up as you say “wait”)

Not quite time to celebrate, (shake head and wag finger from side to side)

Light candles one by one, (put 4 fingers up, one at a time)

Till Advent time is done. (wave hands, palm down)

Day by day we work and pray, (put fist on top of fist, back and forth)

To prepare for Christmas day! (give yourself a hug)

As a group we will be reflection on:

How we can get ready at home?

How we can get ready at school?

How we can get ready for Jesus?

Don’t forget to join us at our family Mass this Sunday at Our Lady Star of the Sea church. We would love to see you all there.

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone.

What a wonderful week of fun and learning we have had.

We have had so much fun this week in PE with Mr. Murray. He has been teaching us how to bounce a large ball, and throw it up into the air without letting it roll away. We dropped the ball from our hands, letting the ball bounce at our feet before trying to catch it. As you can imagine, balls were flying everywhere! Mr. Murray also asked the children to run around the outside of a big circle, and he would shout out 'change' and the children had to turn and run the other way…very confusing. Mr. Murray made it tricky by randomly shouting ‘change’, the children loved the challenge.

To continue our learning thread about our body, and to link numbers 1 and 2, we have been looking at pictures of everyone’s eyes and mouths (and other body parts, have we got one or have we got two?). We showed the children pictures of just the eyes and mouths of the friends and nursery ladies, we had to work out who was who. It was very tricky. We talked about how some things are the same, and how some things are different, for example, different/same coloured eyes or different shaped mouths, different skin tones and how we all have one nose and two eyes etc.

We have been very busy rehearing for our Nativity. The children have worked so hard, and we are looking forward to performing it to you all next week.

Here is a story about the Nativity. Click here. 

Have a lovely weekend. Rest up, ready for our big performances next week.

Emma 

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog 

We have had such a busy week as we have enjoyed singing our Nativity songs ready for next week. We can't wait to join Reception in telling the very special story of the first Christmas. We have loved seeing all your photos of the travelling nativity that you have shared with us. Thank you so much for taking care to send it back to nursery the next day. This means we can make sure every family will have a turn before the end of term.

We have been busy little elves this week but sorry, it's all top secret at the moment. You will just have to be patient and wait and see what we have been up to.

We have also continued learning about our bodies. This week we have learnt about our lungs. We watched a video about a little boy with asthma and it explained how our lungs work. Click here.

We then did a painting using our lungs, not a paintbrush. We used straws to blow the paint.

We have included some photos of the hail storm we had last week as we were too late to include them in the blog.

See you all next week and have a lovely weekend 

Michelle 

Christmas Cards

As in previous years, and in our ongoing commitment to look after God’s wonderful earth, we ask that the children do not send cards to everyone on nursery. If they would like to make one at home to send to everyone at nursery that would be fabulous!

Christmas Party

Key Stage 1 and Foundation Christmas party is being held on 19th December 9.30-11.30 am. All the children are invited to join us but if it is not your child’s usual session could you please arrange for them to be collected at 11.30 am. We will be baking a special birthday cake for Baby Jesus to eat at the party!!! Mmmmmmm!

Visit to Clarence House care home

On Wednesday 11th December we will be visiting Clarence House Rest Home. We will be joining Reception (in two small groups) to take some cards and decorations we have made to help spread some Christmas cheer. We may even sing a couple of our Christmas songs.

If you do not want your child to take part in this visit could you please let me know a.s.a.p.

Lastly, I thought I would just mention that after years of Nativities, it helps the children if they do not see you in the audience. If you sit where you can see them and they can’t see you it will limit the chances of them getting upset or distracted. Thank you.

I hope to see you all at Family Mass on Sunday.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

A big thank you to everyone who managed to come along to our parent drop in session on Tuesday. It was so lovely to see you.

This week we have started to make our Advent Prayer Station. Advent Stations are a prayer journey that helps us prepare for Christ's birth. Our contribution to the whole school will be Mary setting out on the journey to Bethlehem.

The Travelling Nativity is still winding it’s way towards your home, everyone will get a turn before we break for Christmas.

Meet Two!

Another one

One discovers it’s tricky to play tennis when you’re the only block in the world. She bumps into a magic mirror and meets another One- and they join forces to make Two. Click here to watch.

Two

Two finds a pair of magic dancing shoes and shows One that everything is better with 2, singing, counting things that belong in pairs. Click here to watch.

We learnt:

• Counting to 2

• The ‘Twoness’ of two

• How to write two- one curve down is what to do, then straight across to make a two. Have a go at home but don’t forget the duck fingers!

Read, Write Inc.

This week we started to learn the next five sounds from Read, Write Inc. Speed- set 1. i, n, o, p, g.

Click on the links below to watch Geraldine the Giraffe explore the sounds.

‘i’ click here

‘n’ click here

‘o’ click here

‘p’ click here

‘g’ click here

Keep a look out in your child’s book bag to have a go at writing the sounds. The sound mats we sent home before half term will help you out and as always don’t forget your duck fingers!

Here is Oxford Owl website for more information. Please focus on the sounds we have covered at nursery, we need to walk before we run!

Emma’s Blog

Hello everyone,

 The cold weather is definitely here now, but that doesn't stop the children playing and learning outside. We are starting to have a go at zipping or buttoning our coats up by ourselves. We know it can be tricky, but by having a go, it is a step closer to them putting their coats on independently. Here is a video you can watch together and practice. Good luck. Click here.

To continue with our learning thread about our bodies, we have been looking at why it's important to wash our hands before eating, after using the toilet, or just when our hands are dirty from doing everyday activities. This is to help the children understand the importance of keeping our hands free from germs. We did an experiment where I used a bowl of water and sprinkled pepper on the top to represent the germs, then by adding washing up liquid on our fingers (which represented the soap on their hands), the children dipped their fingers into the water. The pepper (germs) moved away from their fingers which we told them was like when you have washed your hands using soap and warm water, all of the germs go away. It's amazing to see, so have a go at home. Here is the video about germs. Click here. and here.

Have a fabulous weekend everyone. Wrap up warm when your out and about, and I will see you all on Monday. 

Emma 

Michelle’s Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog 

This week we have taken some time to consolidate some of our previous learning. We have continued to learn how to care for our teeth in our very own dentist. We have explored and discussed which foods are good choices for our bodies and our teeth. I have been impressed with the children's knowledge about healthy eating. I'm sure you will be amazed with their knowledge too, if you ask your child which foods are bad choices and should only be eaten as treats occasionally.

This week we met Numberblock two. We have learnt that one plus another one is two. We have investigated and explored pairs of two. We had to sort out the washing, all the socks had got mixed up. The children worked hard to find the right ones to make a pair. This is a good game to play at home. Get them to match the socks after laundry day.

Another busy week and more planned for next week.

Have a lovely weekend 

Michelle 

Parent information

As part of Lancashire Educational Psychology Services new early years offer, they are delivering a series of CPD events for Parent Carers.  These are aimed at any Parent Carer in Lancashire with a child aged 0-5 years. Click on the button below for more information.

Another busy week and only one more before our Nativity. We can’t wait!

Have a splendid weekend everyone and see you all on Monday!!

Stay safe and God bless.

Barbara

This week...

Christmas preparations are well underway! We are learning our songs for the Nativity…the children are loving them! We have also started making our Christmas surprises (secret, sorry)

I would like to start this weeks blog with a few important reminders…sorry!

School Admissions September 2025

If your child is in their last year of pre-school/nursery you can now apply for their primary school place at: www.lancashire.gov.uk/schools

It's quick and easy - and you will receive email confirmation of your application.

You must apply even if you already have siblings in school.

If you live in Lancashire you can include out of area preferences on your online application.

The closing date for primary reception applications for September 2025 is 23:59 on 15 January 2025.  

If you are applying for Our Lady Star of the Sea you are required to submit further documentation:

• your child baptism certificate

• signed faith reference (click the button below)

Water bottles

May I please remind everyone that only plain unflavoured water should be in your child’s water bottle. We have milk available if they prefer.

Christmas Nativity

We will be starting to learn our Christmas Nativity songs next week! We are all excited. The nursery children will be stars in our production. They will all require white leggings, a plain white t-shirt and a strand of silver tinsel please (named please). We have the shiny star costumes here ready and waiting.

Nativity productions will take place on:

Tuesday 3rd December: this production will be the dress rehearsal for the main school only. If you want your child to take part they will have to be in nursery at 8.45 am and collected at 10.30 am if it is not your child’s usual session. Please note a DVD of the production will be taken at this performance that you will be able to purchase.

Wednesday 4th December: Parent performance 9.30 am

Thursday 5th December: Parent performance 9.30 am

Please note: tickets are priced at £2 and owing to fire regulations are limited to 4 per family over both performances.

Have you ordered your tickets….they are selling fast. Complete the order form sent out last week and bring in asap.

Christmas Party

This year the KS1 Christmas Party is being held on Thursday 19th December 9.30-11.30 am. All the children are invited to join the fun but if it is not your child’s usual session they must be collected at 11.30 am. Dust of those dancing shoes children!!!!!

Parent Drop in session

On Thursday 19th November 3.45-4.45 pm we will be holding our half termly parent drop in session. We invite you lovely parents to come along to nursery and see what we have been doing and to have a chat with the nursery team. Please try and pop in to see us!

Travelling Nativity

Our Travelling Nativity has started its journey to the stable. The children who have already had chance to take it home have loved sharing the birth of Jesus as a family. We have seen some lovely drawings in our sketch book too. Thank you to everyone that has sent us pictures of your child enjoying this special story sack. We have been sharing them with the nursery friends.

If you have not had your turn yet don’t panic it will be your turn soon!

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone,

 What a week of learning and fun we have had.

 We have been busy practicing our cutting skills. The children have been cutting out pictures of healthy foods, such as fruit and vegetables, and unhealthy foods, like cake and sweets (which we talk about only having on our treats days). We have on our wall, a big picture of the inside the human body and we have been deciding where our cut outs should be placed discussing how the healthy foods benefit our bodies and help our brains work. The children enjoyed talking about how they like eating healthy foods and making good choices. Here is a short video about how its good to eat healthy food. Click here. Enjoy! 

The children have been working hard with their pencil control by having a go at writing the sounds that we are learning, m, a, s, t, d. We have been using the rhymes to help us write.

We have also been having a go a writing our numbers 0 and 1, again using the rhymes to help us write them. It has been lovely hearing the children say the rhymes as they are practicing.

0- round in a loop like an empty hoop.

1- one line down like a stick, makes a 1, that was quick.

Keep having a practice at home if you can.

Have a lovely weekend see you all on Monday.

Emma

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog.

The weather has definitely been colder this week but that hasn't stopped our play. We have been developing our throwing and catching skills this week, in the garden and in PE with Mr. Murray. As it gets the closer to the start of Advent Christmas we have started practicing our songs for the Nativity, we are so excited. Don't forget to order your tickets if you haven't done so already.

Our brain growing continues as this week we learnt about digestion. We watched a video that shows what happens when we eat food. Watch the video here

We then did our own experiment to watch what happens to the crackers. First we crunched them up in a bag, then added liquid and watched as the crackers were broken down 

We've also learnt more about what our body needs and how to make healthy food choices. 

Have a lovely weekend 

Michelle 

Our Lady’s Christmas events

Check out Mrs. Gregan’s blog this week for more information!!!

Click on the button below for events and dates.

Have a fabulous weekend and we will continue our learning journey on Monday.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Another busy week…

We have continued our exploration of the body and how to stay fit and healthy. We started by watching the following short videos:

Click here to find out about the main parts of the body and here to find out about the major organs of the body. We have also been discussing which foods are good for our body and which are treat foods.

Remembrance day

This week we have been talking about the importance of peace, unity, and bravery in our everyday lives. We have been encouraging the children to share their thoughts related to these themes, and discuss ways they can practice these values at home and school.

We talked about the reason poppies are used to remember those who have given their lives in battle; because they are the flowers which grew on the battlefields after World War One ended. We watched a short video that depicts The Great War experienced by the animal inhabitants of a WW1 battlefield. Click here to watch at home. Everyone spotted the poppies straight away. We even have made our poppy wreath for or Worship table.

On Monday we will be observing a Moment of Silence: to honour those who have served in wars and conflicts. We will sit quietly and think about the themes of peace, unity, and bravery during this time.

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone,

What a wonderful week we have had, continuing to grow our brains.

We have been busy making firework sticks using sparkly pipe cleaners. The children were challenged to wrap the pipe cleaners around the stick. It was a little tricky, as the children had to use both hands to control the twisting and wrapping. This activity targets improving fine motor skills, like the pincer grasp and hand strength. The children enjoyed making the sounds of fireworks as they were making them.

We have also continued to be creative this week, making poppy's for our nursery remembrance wreath to go on the worship table. The children painted part of an cut out egg box in the poppy colours, and as we were making them, we discussed what the poppy represents. Here is a video showing you how to make a egg box poppy wreath if you wanted to have a go at making one at home. Click here and have fun!

We have been enjoying PE outside this week with Mr. Murray. There has been lots of throwing activities and balancing the bean bags on our heads. We have been working as a team, sorting the coloured cones into our house colours. The children really enjoyed this time with Mr Murray.

As the weather is changing, we have needed to wear our coats a lot more. We have been teaching the children how to do the 'coat flip' to help them put their coats on themselves. Here is a video for you to have a go at home. This will help the children become a lot more independent when putting their coats on. Click here.

Have a fantastic weekend, and a big rest. See you all on Monday.

Emma

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog.

We have had a very busy week as we continue to learn all about our bodies. This week we have explored our insides, trying to work out how our bodies work and how all our organs fit into such a small space. We think our bodies are amazing, but we are learning that we have to look after them. We have to get lots of exercise and make healthy food choices.

We discovered that our potatoes and carrots had grown and were ready to eat. We worked hard digging them up, sorting and washing them. Then we had a carrot picnic in the garden. They were delicious!

We have also been busy learning about remembrance by making poppies and also bonfire night by making fireworks pictures on the computer.

We have also had lots of practice at writing the numbers we have met, 0 and 1.

Why not have a go at home. Don't forget your duck fingers!

Have a lovely weekend 

Michelle 

Christmas Nativity

We will be starting to learn our Christmas Nativity songs next week! We are all excited. The nursery children will be stars in our production. They will all require white leggings, a plain white t-shirt and a strand of silver tinsel please (named please). We have the shiny star costumes here ready and waiting.

Nativity productions will take place on:

Tuesday 3rd December: this production will be the dress rehearsal for the main school only. If you want your child to take part they will have to be in nursery at 8.45 am and collected at 10.30 am if it is not your child’s usual session. Please note a DVD of the production will be taken at this performance that you will be able to purchase.

Wednesday 4th December: Parent performance 9.30 am

Thursday 5th December: Parent performance 9.30 am

Please note: tickets are priced at £2 and owing to fire regulations are limited to 4 per family over both performances.

PLEASE CHECK YOUR CHILDS BOOK BAG TO ORDER YOUR TICKETS

Water bottles

May I please remind everyone that only water should be in your child’s water bottle. We have milk available if they prefer.

Spare clothing

An urgent request for any spare clothing you can donate to nursery. Our clothing stocks have dwindled and need replenishing. Please can you help? As always we would be most grateful.

Travelling Nativity

This week we will be starting sending home our Travelling Nativity sack. We start early to make sure that everyone has a chance to journey to the stable with us. It contains the story of The First Christmas, candles and some figures so that your child can act out the story that you have read together. Also in the sack this year there will be a Journey to the stable reflection book. We would love your child to draw a representation of the story in the book. Remember to write your child’s name on the page so we can share the reflections at school.

We would be grateful if you could send some images of your child using the story sack for our Worship book. If you send them from your phone we will print them here. Enjoy!!

Children in Need

Next Friday (15th November) we will be collecting for Children in Need. The children are invited to come to nursery in their pyjamas, bring along a teddy and pay £1!!! All proceeds will go to Brian House Children’s Hospice. Please give them your support.

Parent Drop in session

This half we will be holding our drop in session on Tuesday 19th November 3.45-4.45 pm. This is an opportunity just for you to come to nursery and see what we have been learning. It will also give to chance to chat to the nursery team . Please try and bob in to see us.

Number 1

This week we met number 1. We discovered the concept of ‘oneness’. One is a single unit. If one is the quantity then what is being counted is arbitrary, and the size of the one thing counted is also arbitrary, e.g. one sun or one ant- there is one of each even though the sun is bigger than an ant.

One is represented as a Numberblock, as a finger, familiar things, as a spoken word, as a movement (one hop), as a numeral. Related words for oneness, e.g. first and alone.

During this episode there is opportunity to attach the number name ‘one’ to a single unit.

We use ‘one’ in multiple situations, e.g.

• The answer to ‘how many…?’

• One is the amount

• One is the quantity

• First means position one

• Once means one time

  We encourage the children to use a stem sentence to talk about a single unit, e.g. “ I see one apple.”

Click here to meet one and everything will make sense! In this episode a little block falls out of the sky, meets her numberling, ONE, and discovers one wonderful world of numerous single things that appear during the song. One also sings about being first in line and being lonely.

As you can see it has been another very busy week! Have a lovely weekend and I will see everyone on Monday.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Wow, what a week! We have hit the ground running. We have now started to learn our letter sounds. This week we have introduced m, a, s, t, d. More information on how we say and write the sounds can be found here, please take five minutes to find our more. Resist the temptation to race a head we will be taking it slow and steady and will not move on in haste. We will be sending home two sound mats this week for you to reinforce the sounds we are learning at home.

Here are a few short videos to work through over the next couple of weeks:

‘m’ click here

‘a’ click here

‘s’ click here

‘t’ click here

‘d’ click here

If you keep going back to the videos and spot objects around your environment it will help your child to remember! Also using your sound mat have a go at practising writing the sounds. Remember to say the rhyme as you write and to use duck fingers! Good luck everyone!

Meet Zero the Hero

We have started our Maths Mastery learning too! We met Zero the Hero.Ask you child how many ‘0’ is! Click here to watch.

We learnt that 0 means nothing…not even 1!

0 has no blocks…no blocks at all!

0 is one less than 1!

I have sent home a picture to colour in. When your child has finished send it back to nursery so that we can celebrate! Which brings me nicely on to this half terms My Happy Mind!

Why not ask your child if they can write this number the rhyme goes like this…‘round in a loop like an empty hoop’. Don't forget those duck fingers!

My Happy Mind

This half term we will be exploring our Character Strengths. Click on the button below to find out more and how you can support your child at home.

We will be creating a celebration board to documents everyone’s strengths. Watch this space!

Emma’s blog

Welcome back everyone, I hope you all had a fantastic break.

We have been very busy at nursery growing our brains and having lots of fun too!

It has been lovely seeing how the children have got right back into nursery life, learning, playing, helping and caring for each other, and most importantly, being kind to one another.

As it’s a new half term we are finding out about our bodies. Did you know, we all have a skeleton which is made up of 206 bones!!? We have been learning about our major organs, how to look after them by eating healthy foods and doing lots of exercise.

We played a game where the children worked their brains to sort which foods were healthy or unhealthy. Healthy foods got the 'thumbs up' group, and unhealthy foods got the 'thumbs down' group. The children agreed that they have unhealthy foods on their treat days.

To continue with the thread everyone had fun dancing to the skeleton song. We learnt how our skeletons bones are connected to another bone! Here is the song to enjoy at home. Click here.

Have a lovely weekend everyone. See you all on Monday for more brain growing.

Emma

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog.

I hope you all had a wonderful relaxing half-term.

We have jumped head first back into our learning this week. This week we have started learning our first letter sounds. We are also making sure we work those muscles in our hands and fingers that will enable us to be fantastic writers. Both Emma and I have been sending home activities to do at home to get our funky fingers strong. Please do look out for these activities in your child's book bag and please send it back for your child's next nursery session.

We have also had lots of fun learning about our bodies, starting will h our skeletons. The children needed some convincing that they all had a skeleton but we have learnt that we have 206 bones in our skeletons. We sang this song click here.

We were all fantastic on our trip to the library for story time. The librarian was impressed with how well everyone sat and listened to the the stories. 

Our learning continues as we have started to learn about numbers, starting with zero the hero.

Have a look lovely weekend everyone 

Michelle

Our trip to the library

On Wednesday we all went to St Annes Library for story time. It was quite a long way to walk but we did it!! We were all a bit tired when we got back though!

The Librarian read some spooky stories…oooooh!! The children sat so beautifully and did excellent listening. I was so very proud of them.

Click here to listen to one of the stories we read.

Fireworks

On Wednesday we started our fire work pictures. We started by making a HUGE splatter painting in the garden….sorry is everyone went home splattered, I know I did. We intend to do some ICT splatter pictures next, these shouldn’t be so messy!

Such fun! We are going to see how many colours we know the names of! Click here for the colour song! See how many colours your child can name…

Next week we are going to make a colour investigation table…we can’t wait!

If you are having fireworks at home or going to a bonfire remember to stay safe. We have been talking about the dangers of bonfires and fireworks. Click here for short video.

Worship

This week we read the parable of the Good Samaritan. Click here to watch and discuss at home. We have been trying to be even more kind and to love our neighbour as we would love ourselves…that’s what Jesus would want us to do.

Purple Mash

Purple Mash is an award-winning cross curricular website for nursery and primary school children, enabling them to explore and enhance their knowledge in a fun and creative way. Hosted online and compatible with all tablets and computers, it delivers an exciting mash-up of curriculum focused activities, creative tools, programs and games.

This we we will be sending home instructions on how to access the the website and also your childs unique login code. Keep a look our for work that is set from your childs key person too. Enjoy!!

Phew, I think that some of what we have been doing at nursery this week…we have achieved so much more!!! I think a well earned rest is in order thei weekend.

Have a lovely weekend everyone I will see you on Monday for another busy week!

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week....

Time flies when you are having fun and we certainly have been having fun at nursery. We have all noticed how much the children have progressed and can’t wait to move their learning further on when we return after the half term holiday.

Next half term will be extremely busy…we have Bonfire night, Remembrance Sunday and of course Christmas. Click on the buttons below to see what we will be getting up to!

Just for your diary the date for the Foundation Stage Christmas Nativity will be on the 4th and 5th of December. More details will follow after the holidays…watch this space!

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone,

I can't believe how fast this term has gone. We have really enjoyed this time getting to know each other and the routine of nursery. We are so proud of them all.

The children have embraced taking the responsibility to look after the nursery garden. As autumn has arrived, there are plenty of leaves that have fallen onto the ground. The children have enjoyed sweeping them up, listening to the sounds they make when you jump on them. With all of the autumn treasures in the garden, we made a sticky tape wrist bands and used these to collect things we could find (luckily there were no bugs stuck on… phew!). Here are some interesting facts about autumn, click here.

The children have continued working hard with their fine motor skills by threading pipe cleaners though small holes, they also enjoyed filling and pouring with small utensils. To continue our hand strengthening during the holidays, here are 2 new dough disco songs for you all to have a go at home! Click here and here!

I hope you all have a wonderful break. Rest lots, and I will see you all in a weeks time.

Emma

Michelle’s blog

Hello and welcome to this week’s blog.

I can’t believe that we have reached half term already, it only seems like yesterday that we were starting the new term in September. I am so proud of all the children, they have been on an amazing start to their nursery journey, and have really started to grow their brains. We have learnt this half term all about how our brains work to keep us happy and calm, how we need to keep our brain happy and healthy so that the hippocampus, amygdala and pre-frontal cortex parts of our brain can work together. If you haven’t already, now would be a fantastic time to explore the Myhappymind website, as there are some useful resources for parents on there too.

We have also had a fantastic start to the year of worship by learning all about Creation and how God made our wonderful world for us. We have learnt how God loves us all and we should follow His example and share our love too. I do have to say that this is something the children are particularly good at, they are so full of love for each other.

As we get to know each other we have started to play games together, sharing and taking turns. It is wonderful to see the children begin to think of others and realise that they can get so much pleasure by making others happy.

We have also started to really practise our physical skills, both inside and out, where we have had lots of opportunities to learn to jump, throw, catch and run. This is something we will continue to develop throughout the year, all ready to wow everybody with our physical skills at Sports Day in the summer.

I hope you all have a lovely half term break. When we come back we have lots more learning planned as we grow our brains even more.

Michelle

Worship

This week we started to learn the words and actions to ‘My Lighthouse’ in preparation for joining the whole school for celebration Assembly on a Friday. Click here to try the actions at home and here to listen to the song! The message is that God is a beacon of light, a fortress that defends, protects, and rescues us from our own doubts. The children love it!

Finally, here’s a little adventure you could do during the holidays…don’t forget to send some pictures!

Water bottles

A gentle reminder that if children are choosing to bring in water bottles from home can you please ensure that they only have water in them. As part of our healthy eating and drinking policy the children have the option to have milk or water only in nursery. Thank you.

Please remember that Nursery is closed for the half term holiday from Thursday 17th October until Monday 28th October.

Have the most wonderful half term and enjoy the time you spend together with loved ones.

Stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

All things Harvest this week!

We have been talking about God’s Wonderful World and how it allows us to grow foods to eat. We found out how food was harvested and stored for the Winter months and how we should be grateful. We watched a couple of short videos. Click here for Harvest Time Down on the Farm and here for What is Harvest Festival?

We even made our own bread and ate it for snack! Everyone said it was delicious! We found our about wheat and how to make bread with my friend Pip, click on the button to see the slides. Maybe you could make some bread at home too!

We also danced the Harvest Samba, click here to dance at home!

We had great fun mixing our own playdough too!

Harvest Festival with Reception

Such a wonderful celebration! It was so lovely to be together as a whole Foundation Stage. We found out about Harvest Festival and talked about the generous donations we had collected and why?

To finish our assembly we said a prayer to say ‘thank you’ to God for giving us the world to live in and for the opportunity to grow such fabulous foods. We then danced the Harvest Samba all around the hall…and played instruments! It was joyous!

After worship we all had a BIG play in the nursery garden…together. It was magical!!

If you fancy a Harvest Story at home click here!

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone,

Summer has definitely gone now, and autumn is finally here, but it hasn't stopped the children from having fun.

Our nursery garden is full of Autumn colours and leaves. There are still plenty more to fall too, that means lots of sweeping! Never to miss an opportunity to be creative the children have been turning the leaves in to leaf people! They have brought them alive by gluing the leaves onto paper and adding faces and body parts! They look fabulous!!!

Here's an Autumn song. Hope you enjoy singing along to it. Click here. 

To continue working on our fine motor skills, the children have been having fun making dens using lots of different fabrics and large pegs to hold their den together. The children found it a bit tricky, as the pegs were quite wide to grasp, but they kept on trying, just like one of our learning characters, Sadie Spider…try, try, try to catch that fly!!!!

To further challenge the children’s fine motor skills we have been having a go at a fun finger and hand strengthening activity…stretching their hand muscles. The activity involved stretching hair scrunchies over a large cup, just like putting a sock over their feet. I will also be sending this activity home for you to practice, so have fun! It will help the children to put their socks on independently after PE sessions…good luck everyone!

Have a wonderful Autumn weekend and I will see you all for our last week before half-term.

Michelle’s blog

Welcome to this week's blog everyone.

We continue with our brain growing as we have been developing our pincer grip. We do this by taking part in lots of activities where we have to use our fingers to grip and pick up. I hope you have been enjoying the Evil Pea game that has been going home. I have enjoyed hearing the children tell us about how they played it at home with their families. This game helps children to develop a pincer grip, which they will need to become confident writers. We have lots more games planned, so they children can share their learning at home.

This week we have noticed that Autumn is definitely here. We have explored and investigated the leaves in the garden and have noticed that they are changing colour. Why not go for an autumn walk and see what you can discover. Here are some ideas.

Have a lovely weekend 

Michelle 

Wow! What a fabulous week!

It’s hard to believe we have nearly been at nursery for half a term! Can I remind everyone that nursery will close on Thursday next week for the half term holiday, we return on Monday 3rd November. Make sure you have a good rest because we will be starting number work (cardinality and counting) and sounds (phonemes) when we return!

The cardinal value of a number refers to the quantity of things it represents, e.g. the numerosity, ‘howmanyness’, or ‘threeness’ of three. When children understand the cardinality of numbers, they know what the numbers mean in terms of knowing how many things they refer to. Counting is one way of establishing how many things are in a group, because the last number you say tells you how many there are. Children enjoy learning the sequence of counting numbers long before they understand the cardinal values of the numbers. Subitising is another way of recognising how many there are, without counting.

Don’t panic, it’s fun!

Have a lovely weekend and stay safe.

God Bless

Barbara

This week...

A lovely week at nursery. We have welcomed two new friends to our family here at school. Everyone has been very kind and generous showing them where everything lives and the routines and rhythms of the day.

When I think about everything that we do in a day and week at nursery I just can’t believe it. The children take everything in their stride. it’s no wonder they are exhausted by Friday. After half term we will be starting Read, Write Inc, sounds and Maths Mastery….even more learning, FANTASTIC! We love to grow our brains!

Read Write Inc (for those who want to know a little bit more and get ahead of the game!)

Read Write Inc is a method of learning centred around letter sounds and phonics.

Click here Please remember we will only be learning Set 1 Speed sounds. Sounds will be introduced slowly to ensure we can say the sounds correctly and have a go at writing them. Pencil hold is key!

If you scroll down the page there are some videos to watch. They are very useful especially how we say the sounds We are not at the blending sounds stage…save that video for later.

When we start (after half term) be guided by the information that I will post weekly.

Worship

The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. This week we have been making our own Rosary and practising the Hail Mary, Our Father and Glory be. There is a lot to remember maybe you could help our at home.

Everyone has made their own Rosary to use at school. We went to the school Chapel to pray the Rosary. We also took our prayer jar; we put new prayers in each week.

This week we have new prayer leaders to help us to make the sign of the Cross and how to hold our hands in prayer.

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone,

 Firstly, it was really nice chatting and meeting some of you for the first time at our parent meetings. Thank you for coming. If you have not managed to catch up with me, just drop me an email.

We have been practising our gross motor skills in the garden this week. Gross motor skills involve the larger muscle groups in the arms, legs and core. We have been using different sized paint brushes in water, and the children have been busy painting walls, floors and even the outdoor play houses (not to mention themselves!). The children even used large sweeping brushes dipped in water as well. Working on gross motor skills prepares the children for writing, like holding the paper down with one hand and writing with the other.

We have continue our learning thread by making colour monster biscuits. The children all got involved to help make the biscuit mix. We discussed ingredients and the utensils that we would need to be able to make the biscuits. When they were cooked, we decorated them with icing and colour monster sprinkles. Everyone enjoyed eating them for our snack as a treat. Nursery suddenly became very quiet at snack time on that day, I'm not sure why?

Here is a video to watch how to make 'hair do cookies'. If you get time, have a go. I would love to see your bakes. Have fun. Click here.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

See you all on Monday 

Emma

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog.

We had a really wet start to the week so this meant we had the opportunity to play lots of games indoors, practising our turn taking and sharing. We love the opposites game where we have to  find the opposite picture. It's quite tricky at times. Any practice you can give your child to find an opposite word will help with their recall and language development.

Another game we have been playing is sound lotto. This is where we have to listen really carefully and identify the sounds that we can hear. This is a good game for focus and concentration. It will also help with sound recognition when we start our Read, Write, Inc sessions. If you don't have this game at home you can easily play this outside by asking your child what they can hear.

We continue to develop our fundamental movement skills and have focussed on throwing and catching this week. Why not have a game of throw and catch at home this weekend.

Finally, it seems you have all been enjoying the Evil Pea game that I have been sending home. Don't worry if you haven't had a turn yet, everyone will get a chance to take it home.

Have a lovely weekend

Michelle 

My Happy Mind

This week we have been working hard to keep our brain calm and to improve our concentration skills.

We played mindfulness bubble bounce, have a go at home. Click here.

Harvest Festival

Thank you to everyone who has already brought in nappies for our contribution the the Harvest Festival. Don’t worry if you haven’t managed to yet we have until next Friday.

Family Mass

Don’t forget our first family mass on Sunday 6th October. As with everything that we offer in school, these are just opportunities and are never compulsory, just another way of coming together. Ironically, the theme of the Gospel that weekend is children coming to God - seems just perfect.

Lastly, I hope the weather stays fine and you manage some lovely family time outdoors. Here’s a little weekend challenge if you are up for it! Click on the button below.

Remember stay safe and God Bless

Barbara

This week...

Another great week at nursery. The children are quickly becoming more confident and more willing to ‘have a go’ (just like Tommy Turtle) at new learning experiences. We read the story about Tommy being afraid to try new things in case they went wrong. We found out that making mistake is ok, as that’s when we do our best brain growing!

Autumn colours

This week we have been noticing that the leaves are falling from the trees and changing colour. We decided to do some printing using the clours we had noticed.

We got very messy…fabulous! Next week we will be doing autumn collages! Watch this space!

Worship

This week we have explored St Vincent de Paul. He aspired to live the gospel message by serving the poor with love, respect, justice, hope and joy, and by working to shape a more just and compassionate society. He was on a mission and so have we! Everyone has been trying to serve and think of others before themselves. I am more than proud of everyone. Click here to watch a short video.

On Friday we had a visit from Bishop Paul. We drew pictures of Our Lady and the created a display in the hall. Check out the main school webpage to see how the visit went.

Emma’s Blog

Hello everyone! We have had a very busy week growing our brains and having lots of fun.

We have been practicing our throwing and catching skills using different sized balls. We tries underarm and overarm throwing. This will help us with our gross motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination. Have a go at home (if it’s not raining!). Mr. Nay also had us a throwing shuttlecocks, which were really fun to throw. The children loved watching them glide and spin as they landed. We played a game where we had to throw the shuttlecocks and hit the cones (target practise). This was really tricky but the children all had a go, just like Tommy Turtle.

It’s great this year as we have lots of P.E. sessions. We have PE with Mr. Nay and Mr. Murray on Monday and Wednesday, and on Wednesday afternoon and Friday we do dance!

This week we have been practicing using a knife and fork in spaghetti cutting activity. This was the like colour monsters feelings different colours and all mixed up. Our task was to sort the different coloured spaghetti and then to chop it up. This also helps with eye hand co-ordination and fine motor skills. The children loved it and we even had some great fork twirling too! Continue to practice at home with your knife and forks, as it all helps to strengthen the children's hand muscles, getting them ready for writing. Here is a little fun activity to watch and have a go at practicing with a knife and fork. Click here and enjoy

Dough Disco time!

This weeks song is about being in the jungle. I hope you are all enjoying having a go at home. Here is the link. Have fun.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

 Emma 

Michelle’s Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog.

This week has been as busy as ever as we have played lots of games together. Playing games gives children lots of opportunities to learn how to share and take turns as well as extending their vocabulary and concentration and focus. One of the games we have been playing is Kim's game, which is great for memory, the children really have to use their brains to recall the information. Click here to play at home

We have also played a game where the children have to rescue the peas released by the Evil Pea. This game helps to develop a nicer grip which the children will need to be confident writers. Look out in your child book bag as this game is coming home for the children to play at home. Click here to watch Supertato and find out more about the Evil Pea. Click here.

I hope you have lots of fun playing games this weekend and remember children need to learn to cope with losing, so don't let them win every time!

Have a lovely weekend

Michelle

What to Expect, When Parents Guide

This guide is for parents of children from birth to five years old. It will help you find out more about your child's learning and development in the EYFS ...

Absences

If your child is off nursery could you please email me as by 8.00am, stating the reason for the absence. Thank you.

b.draper@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

House teams

This week your child has been allocated their house team. Ask them at home to see if they can remember…it is quite tricky!

Red- Plessington

Green- Marsden

Blue- Harcourt

Yellow- Bamber

Don’t panic if they can’t remember just ask at the gate and we will tell you!

My Happy Mind

Our exploration of the brain is going well. I now hear the children talking freely about their hippocampus, amygdala and (not quite as easily remembered) prefrontal cortex. We are really trying to be in control by making all three parts work together in harmony- H.A.P.

This week we made a small world scene with all our My Happy Mind characters and our own mini me’s. Great fund and wonderful dialogue. We are continuing with our happy breathing. Here are a couple of exercises to try at home!

Click here and here

Harvest

Harvest mass for the main school is being held in church on Friday 11th October. Although nursery will not be attending you are more than welcome to come along and celebrate. Nursery will have our own celebration during our Friday worship session.

As in previous years we will be collecting items to be distributed around our local community. This year nursery will be collecting nappies, a much needed item in todays economic climate. We urge everyone to give generously. Thank you in anticipation.

Well, I think that’s enough from me for one week!

Have a fabulous weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday.

Stay safe and God bless.

Barbara

This week...

Another fabulous week. As I watch the children I see them forming lovely friendships. There are lots of giggles and exciting things to learn! We have been blessed with sunshine this week and as such we have spent a lot of time outside in the garden…it has been wonderful!

We have continued our exploration of the brain and Gods Wonderful world…more about that in a moment.

I would like to remind everyone that nursery are having our parent meetings a bit earlier than school. I am sure you are keen to come along and have a chat, to hear how they are getting on. Each collection time we will ensure the forms are available for you to book a time with your childs key person. I will also be available if you need to have a chat!

The dates are: Tuesday 24th September 3.45-4.45 pm and Tuesday 1st October September 3.45-4.45 pm. These sessions are for you to come long and have a quick catch up, therefore, we kindly ask that you do not bring your child along unless absolutely necessary. Thank you.

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's blog.

I have been so pleased with how well all the children have continued to settle in.

It is so nice to see them coming in with big smiley faces, ready to start their day of learning and exploring.

We continue our theme of getting to know everyone and learning all about me. We have continued finding out about our families by exploring the idea of being in a bigger family, such as nursery, school, and God's family.

We have had a go at drawing this week as we drew ourselves and attempted to write our names. Activities that help with developing a good pencil grip can be found here.

I will be sending home a little activity to practice and develop a good pincer grip. Look out for it in your child's book bag.

Have a lovely weekend and we will see you next week 

Michelle 

Emma’s Blog

Hello everyone, 

 We have had a fantastic week of learning.

 We have continued learning about the colour monster and our feelings. The children have been so busy making their own colour monster out of kitchen roll and googlie eyes. We talked about how they were feeling at that precise moment; they matched their feeling to the appropriate colour then painted their colour monster to represent their emotion. We had some I can't wait for you to see them when you come for your.parent meeting

My key group have also been drawing colour monsters in our floor book. We have some wonderful artists. I am looking forward to showing you the floor book too. 

The children are enjoying dough disco. They are all really focused, listening and following the instructions. Here is another new song to have a go at home. Click here. The more the children ‘have a go’, the stronger their hands, fingers and wrist muscles will be ready for writing and it’s great fun…for everyone!

We have been looking at similarities and differences and asking the children what is different about each other and what is the same, which was a bit tricky. Here is a spot the difference game to do at home, enjoy. This will start to improve their observational skills! Enjoy! Click here.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone, and I can't for more fun next week.

 Emma 

My Happy Mind

This week saw the introduction of a new character and also two weekly Happiness Heroes! Firstly let me introduce Team H A P. H A P reminds us how our brain works together

H is for Hippocampus (it helps us store memories)

A is for Amygdala (responsible for our emotions)

P is for Prefrontal cortex (regulates our thoughts)

Team H A P works the best when it works together. That’s why Team H A P has three heads. This week we have been drawing Bertie, Betty and Team H A P. Take a look.

Question of the week is: What is your biggest dream? Mmmm let me think?

Worship

This weeks Gospel talked about serving each other and that is exactly what we have been trying to do all week. I must admit it is very tricky, but we have done very well. Everyone has been thinking of others before themselves and thinking about the needs of our friends, I am beyond proud! We will be continuing this next week and FOREVER!

We continue to be grateful for our Wonderful World and we have discussed how we should all do our bit should take care of it…by

Reducing the amount of waste we create.

Reusing items more than once.

Recycling a product to a new use instead of throwing it away.

Rethinking how our actions affect Gods Wonderful World

Click here to listen to Wonderful Earth by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen.

Fundamental Movement Skills

Physical literacy is when children have developed the skills, confidence, and love of movement to be physically active for life. You may often often hear talk of “fundamental movement skills.” But what exactly are they? And what are the fundamental movement skills that children need to develop to become physically literate?    

Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are the basic movements traditionally associated with human physical activity. The most common FMS include skills such as running, jumping, throwing, catching, skipping, and hopping. 

Here are a few tips to help your child:

• Encourage your child in her running by making frequent trips to parks and other places where there are open spaces. When presented with an open field, most toddlers want to run and explore. Play games that promote running such as chasing a soccer ball or take turns chasing each other.

• Help your child to develop throwing by playing catch with soft foam or fabric balls, or place simple paper targets on the wall for her to throw at. You should use balls that are small enough for your child to easily grasp.

• Show your child how to form as “basket” with her two arms in front of her stomach. Gently toss the ball into her basket from a close distance of one to two metres. As her confidence grows and her fine motor skills improve, she will eventually start to use her hands more than her arms.

• Help your child to develop her kicking skills by having soft, lightweight balls available. You can even play one-versus-one soccer at this age. Use your imagination: create goals using patio furniture, trees, shrubs, and other objects. Let her score lots of goals to encourage her, and make sure you cheer and celebrate.

• Investigate swimming lessons at your local recreation centre by age three or four. Many programs encourage parents to be in the water alongside their child at the early ages.

Finally, we have started our family wall but we are still a few friends mission. If you haven’t managed to send in a picture yet don’t panic next week is fine. Email it to me if your like and I will print it for you.

I am really proud of all our wonderful children they are embracing lots of new experiences and most of are having lots of fun! Have the most splendid weekend and will see everyone on Monday.

Remember to stay safe and God Bless.

Barbara

This week...

Such a busy week in nursery! The children have enjoyed lots of new and exciting activities, including Fundamental Movement skills with Mr. Nay and Mr. Murray. The introduction of My Happy Mind and much much more. We are all exhausted!

My Happy Mind

This week we started our myHappymind journey to support the children's mental health and wellbeing.  We are delighted to be a myHappymind school! myHappymind is an award winning programme for schools and nurseries, families and organisations. It teaches preventative habits that support mental health, resilience and self-esteem. All the concepts that are taught are based on science and research and grounded in neuroscience and positive psychology. myHappymind is commissioned by the NHS. 

We have set up our own Happiness Heroes team to spread happiness around nursery and school and support others with their wellbeing through techniques such as Happy Breathing.

 myHappymind modules include: Meet the Brain, Celebrate, Gratitude, Relate and Engage.

This week we met Berty and Betty and found our about our brain and emotions.

Next week we will be continuing our journey and be asking the children this question: to plan a nice surprise for a friend or family. Perhaps you could have a little chat at home about what they could do.: maybe sing a song, draw a picture, give a hug or ask a friend to come and play. Let me know how you get on.

Mrs. Gregan will be formally launching the programme on the 25th September with a coffee morning. Keep checking the school blog for further details and and get involved.

In the meanwhile I have attached a Parent pack for you to take a look at. Click on the button below. Enjoy finding out!

Worship

This week we explored how our wonderful world was created.

We stared by seeing what object was in our magic box…it was a globe ball, a good way yo start our conversation. Each day we have looked at what God crated for us to love and look after. I have attached the slides for you to have the discussion at home too. See what your child has remembered (or put in their hippocampus-the memory part of our brain!)

Also, we talked about Jesus-who is Jesus? He was a teacher, a healer and a very good person. We are going to try to be like Jesus and be kind and thoughtful to each other. We are doing very well. One friend said on Wednesday“ I am like Jesus”; how wonderful!

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone.

What a wonderful week we have had. Not only have we been growing our brains, but we have had lots and lots of fun doing so.

 The children have been busy getting to know each other and making new friendships. We have been talking about our families, the people we live with, where we live and if we have any pets. The children also drew what we had discussed. They really enjoyed talking about their pets and we found out that a lot of the children have dogs.

To help the children with their pencil grip and control, I've introduced dough disco. Playing with the dough helps to strengthen children's fine motor muscles to enable them to develop their grip which in turn will help to develop their drawing and writing skills. But most of all it's fun! What is dough disco, I hear you say. Dough disco is a fun activity that involves moulding play dough to music and performing different actions, such as squeezing, patting, poking, squashing into a pancake, tearing, twisting, rolling into a ball, rolling into a sausage, and pinching. Here is a link for you to have a go at home. I hope you enjoy, and remember, have fun! Click here.

Also, here is a recipe to make your own dough at home. Mix 2 mugs of plain flour, 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar, 1 mug of salt, and 2 mugs of boiling water, and give it all a really good mix up. You can also add food colouring as you wish. Enjoy!!

Have a lovely weekend, and have a great time if you are going to the kite festival.

See you all on Monday.

Emma 

Michelle’s blog

Hello and welcome to this week’s blog.

Our learning this week has been focused on learning ‘All About Me’. We have explored what makes us unique and what makes us similar.  We used the mirrors to look in detail at our features and then had a go at painting them. We then all drew a picture of ourselves in our new floor book.  This year we are really going to try to ‘Reach for the stars’ and try to do our best. 

We have used our imaginations this week as we explored our role play home corner. We took it in turns to play mummy, daddy, brother, sister and baby. This enabled us to explore families and to think about our own families. We looked at the pictures of our families and found that we are all different, but we know that our family will always love us. Thank you for sending in your family photos, but don't worry if you haven't managed yet, there is still lots of time.  Just email to any of us, or send in a printed copy. We don't mind, but we would love to see all of our families on our family wall.

Here are some fun activities you could try at home. Click here.

Have a lovely weekend

Michelle

I’m sure all our learning will explain why your child is so tired at the end of the day…one or two friends even all asleep during the day!!

I hope that everyone has a lovely weekend in readiness for another busy week next week!

Stay safe and God bless.

Barbara

Our first week at nursery!

Welcome to our first blog of the year.

This year in nursery and in school, we are taking time to focus on our school name and how we can shine like stars in the sky. If we truly are to live the life that God intended us to, then we must look at how we can do all of those small things well and shine like a star. This message will be the golden thread in everything that we do and who we are this year; recognising all of the stars that shine so very brightly. We have got off to a great start and have all been shining brightly, but we must keep trying.

Each Friday you will be able to catch up with all the learning we have been doing at nursery and perhaps join in at home. The blog is full of ideas to extend learning and revisit, so get involved!

It is always lovely to hear the children enjoying finding out with their families. You could even send us pictures to share with or friends. Just email them either to me or your childs key person and we show them on our fabulous Touch TV.

It has been a fantastic start to the week. There may have been a couple of tears at drop off time but they haven’t lasted long at all. Everyone has been exploring the continuous provision both inside and outside, it is so very exciting. We have started to build new friendships, but it is a bit tricky remembering lots of names.

Each week your key person will write a short blog about your childs learning at nursery for the week. It will include photos and some activities you may want to try at home.

It is important that you visit the nursery to keep up to date with everything that will be happening in nursery, we would not like you to miss anything. You may also like to read about what is happening throughout the school too.

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful summer.

 Welcome to our nursery blog.

 The children have had a fantastic first week and it's been wonderful getting to know each and every one of them. We have been busy making friends and following nursery routine, the children have also enjoyed exploring inside and outside of nursery, enjoying the different spaces to play. 

As it’s our first week, we have been talking about our feelings. When starting nursery our feelings sometimes could be a little bit mixed up. The colour monster story is about a monster who wakes up with mixed up emotions and a little girl who helps him to sort them out using colours. The book is a brilliant way to express and talk about how we feel; to help the children learn to identify and discuss their emotions. It helps us to develop social skills, confidence, and empathy. We have been using different coloured pom poms to express how we are feeling. The children have really enjoyed the story.

 Why not watch and listen at home. Click here.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I can't wait to to see you all on Monday for more learning and lots more fun. 

Emma 

Michelle’s blog

A very big welcome to our new families and those returning for another great year at nursery!!.

It's been a very exciting week as we have all got to know each other. We have learnt lots of new names and are beginning to know the rhythm of the nursery day.

We are all learning to be more independent by finding out trays and putting our coats on.

You can help your child on their road to independence by giving them time to put their coat on by themselves and also by recognising their name when written down.

We have had such a lovely first week and are really looking forward to next week.

Have a lovely weekend 

Michelle

As you can see we are having a lovely time in nursery. I am so proud with how the children have settled. More fun next week.

Story time

This week we read Little Rabbit Foo Foo. It’s a great story and it made us laugh so much. We talked about choices; was Little Rabbit Foo Foo making good choices? What is a Goonie? Click here to watch and listen at home.

A few good housekeeping reminders

I understand how difficult it is organising our lives around getting to nursery on time, as well the things we ask of you, sorry, but here are a few reminders that will help both your child and nursery ladies.

Please can each child have an Our Lady book bag and not bring back packs as we haven’t got room in our reception area. You can purchase them from Top Marque in St Annes.

When choosing shoes could you think about how you child will be able to get them off for PE etc and then put them on. We encourage the children to be as independent as possible. Velcro trainers/ shoes are probably the best. Hi-top boots are extremely tricky.

Please make sure that your child is wearing appropriate clothing for the weather. We go our in all types of weather. Wellies and waterproofs when raining. Coats for outside play.

Your child will require one snack (fruit or veg only please) for each session. Two pieces for a full day, one for half day. Please note grapes, cherry tomatoes are to be cut into quarters. All snack pots to be clearly labelled.

Anything your child brings to nursery or clothing that could be taken off during the day must be labelled. The nursery ladies get very confused!

Could each child bring a photograph of their family to display on our family wall.

Lastly, could I say a huge thank you, to you, our lovely parents. You have prepared your child so well for the next part of their learning journey. Working in partnership is so important.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I will see you all on Monday.

God bless

Barbara

Welcome to Nursery!

Hello and huge welcome to our nursery.

We are all very excited about meeting you again this week. We have lots of fun things planned! I tried to remember all the favourite toys you told me about when I visited you at home; and I have put them out to greet you when you arrive.

Just a few reminders:

You will need an Our Lady Book Bag

You will need one piece of fruit or veg for each session you are attending

You may need a spare pair of clothing (just in case)

Could all items which could be moved be clearly labelled

Have an early night everyone, tomorrow is going to be busy

Finally, could you please bring in family photo for our family wall

Thank you and see you in the morning.

God Bless

Barbara

If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever....

Well all good things must come to an end. I am always sad when it is time for the children move on to the next stage of their learning journey. The children this week have been quite reflective and have spoken about how they will miss nursery and the nursery ladies. I reminded them that we will always have an invisible string, that will bind us together...forever. That special part in my heart is fit to burst this year, it has been truly magical and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

To the children who are moving into Reception here at Our Lady’s I will watch with keen interest how you shine your light in school…and remember always ‘be kind’.

To the children who will be forging a new path at another school don’t forget to shine brightly for everyone to see how wonderful you are and don’t forget to keep in touch.

To the children who are returning to nursery in September…I can’t wait!!!!

…and finally to you, our fantastic parents, thank you for trusting us with your child. It has been such a privilege to work and learn along side them. You have have been ‘fantastic elastic’ too.

Pirate Party Day

A note from Emma

Hello everyone, or I should say oooh arrrr me hearties! 

 Our Pirate Party was so much fun. The children had a fantastic time (and so did the nursery ladies!). It has been so lovely having our last 'party' all together and seeing the children having a great time. 

 I can't believe this is the last blog of the nursery year. I feel really sad, but also so happy, having seen how the children have grown their brains and worked so hard. They have made some wonderful friendships and shown their kindness to each other on daily basis. We have created some wonderful memories and sung lots of beautiful inspirational songs. I think the children’s favourites have been 'My Lighthouse' and 'This Little Light of Mine.' I am sure plenty of you have heard the children singing these songs at home.

Thank you for all your support and kindness throughout this year.

Have a wonderful summer, and hope all of the children have a good rest, especially those starting school next year, they all deserve it.

Take care 

Emma 

A note from Michelle

Hello and welcome to the last blog of the school year. I can’t believe that the end of the term has come and it is time to say goodbye to all those children going to school. I know they are all going to go on to bigger and brighter things as they shine their light in Reception. For those children who are staying with us next year, we have a busy and wonderful year planned, starting in September.

This week has been so busy, we have just never stopped. We started the week with a wonderful show, The Greatest Show. We were enthralled as Year 5 and 6 sang and danced us through this amazing production. It was just the best.

We then had a Pirate Party on Wednesday and we all dressed up as pirates. This was a really fun way to celebrate the end of the nursery year. We danced, we sang and played so many Pirate games. It was perfect!

We have spent some time this week revisiting some of our favourite activities, we do love a game and we absolutely love a quiz. It reminded us all of just how much we have learnt this year. Here is a link to a website that has lots of games and quizzes, if you get bored over the holidays. Click here.

I would like to say thank you to you all for being so supportive of everything we do at nursery, we couldn’t do it without all you wonderful mummies and daddies. Thank you also for the wonderful cards and thoughtful gifts, you are all so kind.

Have a lovely summer everybody,

Michelle

It would be great if we could go back to page one of the year, but alas Reception is waiting and I just know the children will have a brilliant time.

I would like to thank each and everyone of your for kind words and gifts. Your generosity has been overwhelming. As I sat and read each card I felt a tear of joy trickle down my cheek. Anyone who knows me understands that Early Years is my passion and to have that recognised by our families is truly thrilling. Thank you.

Finally, I hope you have the most amazing summer, make lots of memories which will last a lifetime.

Remember, in those moments of doubt ask yourself …‘what would Jesus do?’ and you will find the answer.

God Bless and stay safe

Barbara

This week...

The penultimate week of the year and preparations are underway for our Leavers Pirate Party!!!

The children (and nursery ladies) are so excited, I hope everyone is getting their costumes organised!).

We asked the children what has been their favourite activity or learning we have done this year and we have been revisiting some of them. It has been such a happy week and we have learnt soooo much!

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone, what a fun packed week we have had!

 We have some exciting news, all of the butterflies have emerged from their cocoons and have been set free in Lytham St Annes, keep a look out for any Painted Lady butterfiles! We hope they are having a nice time. It has been such a wonderful experience. 

Our bee houses are up in the garden, and the children are waiting patiently for the bees to move in. In the mean time, the children have been drawing their own version of bees, we have had some great drawings, even a three eyed bee. Did you know that bees have five eyes, one at each side of their heads, and three more at the top of their head to sense any approaching from predators. I'll let you know if we have any bees moving in next week.

We have been getting very excited for our Pirate Party next Wednesday. We have been channeling our inner pirate by dressing up in pirate costumes and building pirate ships in the garden. Our year 6 helpers joined too. Some friends have been drawing their own map, where X marks the spot for the treasure. It has been brilliant to watch the children having fun, finding lots of treasure around the garden, and putting it in Barbara’s treasure box (I think she may be a real pirate!). However, the box went missing! Super Croccy had to come with a mission for the children to help find the stolen treasure and box. The children love it when Super Croccy comes to visit. 

The children have been asking to put Dough Disco on the blog so they can do it at home. 

Here is a Recipe how to make the play dough. Click here.

Have fun over the summer holidays with all your dough disco moves, and maybe set mummies and daddies a Dough Disco challenge. Have fun!

Click here and here and here!!!

I cannot believe we have one more week left before all the children finish for summer. Next week is going to be sad, but also happy and fun.

 Have a lovely weekend see you all on Monday.

 Emma

Michelle’s blog

Hello and welcome to this week’s blog. We were very excited  when all five of our butterflies metamorphosised . We looked after them by feeding them flowers and sugary water and then we let them free. At first, they didn’t seem to want to fly away, they stayed inside the butterfly house, getting used to the outside air. Then they flew off into the sky. Fly high butterflies, we hope you have good lives.

We also checked on the ladybird larvae, but they have not grown into adult ladybirds yet. We will keep checking.

We have been practising for the Sports Fest on Friday. We used the track and had relay races and backwards races. It’s harder than it looks, running backwards.

We can’t believe it’s nearly the end of the year, where does the time go? They do say time flies when you’re having fun! We certainly have had lots of fun these past months. The children have learnt so much and have grown into such wonderful, lovely, kind people.

We are pleased to say that the fun is not over yet, not by a long way. Next week we will be having a PIRATE PARTY! This is on Wednesday 9.30-11.30. We have got lots of fun, fantastic games planned, like walk the plank and a treasure hunt. Click here if you need any help understanding your little pirate.

We all love story time and we have had lots of pirate stories this week. Here is a bedtime pirate story. Click here.

Have a lovely weekend and we will see you next week for our last week of nursery.

Michelle

Sports Fest!

What a FABULOUS afternoon full of fun! Take a look at the photos.

Come on England!!!

We are all really hopeful for Sunday!

It’s coming home!!!!

A quick note to remind everyone that school will be closing at 2pm on Friday.

Have the most fantastic weekend and I will see everyone on Monday for our last week at nursery.

God Bless

Barbara

This week...

An odd sort of week, blink and you have missed Summer! Everyone has been focused on transitions this week. On Wednesday some of our friends visited Reception for a play and meet the Reception team, and what a fabulous time they all had. i don’t think they wanted to come back to nursey!!

We are all excited for Monday as we will be welcoming Steph back to nursery, after her maternity leave. Please take a minute to introduce yourself.

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone!

I can't believe we are in July and it's still raining! Come on sunshine, where are you?  

At the time of writing this blog, our caterpillar pupa are still in their cocoons, but I will keep you posted. The children have really enjoyed studying them...and waiting…

We have also have been looking at the life cycle of bees. We noted how similar it is to a butterfly (although bees don't lays eggs on leaves like a butterfly). Bees use honeycomb as a nursery, honey factory and food store. The queen lays eggs, which then hatch into white grub-like larvae. The larvae pupate and emerge as bees.

Here are some facts about the life cycle of a bee enjoy. Click here.

The children have been busy helping to make bee hotels for the nursery garden. They have decorated tin cans with yellow and black stripes and by cutting smoothie straws to size to fit inside the can, which was a little tricky. As the bees have lost a lot of their natural habitat due to urban development, and changes in the land and faming, we want to help. Our bee hotels are going to hopefully help towards increasing the availability of nesting resources for solitary bees.

Here is a video of how to make a bee hotel at home for your garden. Enjoy! Click here.

Have a wonderful weekend, especially if you are going to Lytham festival.  

See you all next week,

Emma 

Michelle’s blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s blog.

The weather hasn’t been so good this week, but that hasn’t stopped us at all. We are still very busy investigating all the changes that are happening in the garden. New flowers are blooming, the strawberries are getting ripe enough to eat, and very tasty they were too. The bees have been so busy pollinating all the wild flowers, and the sunflowers are getting taller, but no flowers yet. We have been eagerly awaiting the emergence of the butterflies, but they are still in their chrysalis,  going through their metamorphosis from caterpillars. We did discover we have lots of ladybird larvae in the garden, so we are expecting to have lots of adult ladybirds this year. Here is a short film about the lifecycle of a ladybird. Click here.

PE was lots of fun this week, as we played team games, we had to work together as a team. We also had a go at scoring goals with the footballs and had a penalty shootout.

We have also been thinking about transitions this week as some of our friends will be moving onto Reception, some at Our Lady and some at other local schools. To celebrate our time together we will be having a party, your child should have brought home an invite this week. The children have requested a Pirate Party, so we are busy planning lots of pirate themed games and activities. The next two weeks are going to be busy!

We know that starting school can be daunting for some children (and parents), here is some useful info for you on starting school. Click here.

Have a lovely weekend everyone and we will see you next week

Michelle

Sticky Kids

This week we have started to learn some new songs about being together and what makes a good friend. The children loved them. Here they are to sing along at home.

We’re all together again. Click here.

Who wants a friend like Snorty Bull? Click here.

It’s good to be me!. Click here.

Pirate Party

This week I have sent home our Leavers Pirate Party invitation, Wednesday 17th July 2024 9.30 am -11.30 am. We invite all the children to attend but if it not your child’s usual session they must be collected at 11.30 am. You do not have to send in any food as we are hoping for a sunny day and we will have ice lollies!! Fingers crossed!

Everyone must come dress as a pirate even the nursery ladies!!! Arrrrrr!

Sports Fest

On Friday 12th July, Year 5 are organising a Sports Fest. This will be a sponsored event so that you do not need to worry. You can bring 20p to £20 - there is no minimum to get involved. Sponsor forms will be going out on Monday. On the afternoon, all children in school will be out at the same time taking part in a range of activities designed by Year 5; from dancing to racing, to football and everything in between. For the event, they would like the children to come in a kit or uniform that they belong to. For example: St Annes Football Kit, NW1 Academy t-shirt, Clifton Academy, CN Sports, Rainbows, Scouts, Sea Cadets - whatever you belong to, that is your uniform for the day. Please keep it appropriate, especially with gymnastics wear.

The class are also planning a cake sale in the morning and a tombola too!

Join in the fun!

The next couple of weeks are going to be busy so keep your eye on the blog and group text messages, don’t miss out!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone and I will see you on Monday!

God Bless

Barbara

NEWS ALERT!!!

TWO OF OUR BUTTERFLIES HAVE HATCHED!!! THREE MORE TO GO!

This week...

What a fabulous week! The sun has been shining, which can only mean one thing…lots of water! We have made waterfalls form umbrella’s, hosed and squirted each other down when we got too hot and generally got soaking wet. It was such great fun and we dried in minutes.

The warm weather has made everyone feel exhilarated and perhaps a little sleepy, but we are not complaining.

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone,

I hope your all enjoying this lovely weather as much as we are in nursery. 

Mr. Nay has had us working hard with different racing activities this week. We have been running, galloping, and walking. There was one race that he children found very tricky as it wasn't about who came first, it was about who came last by balancing a bean bag on their head for the whole race without it falling off; they had to move slowly! The children showed lots of determination, trying to keep the bean bag on their heads. The children had so much fun.

To continue learning about mini beasts, we've been finding out about bees and how hard they work, just like us. We watched a video about how bees pollinate and how they collect and carry the pollen. I then demonstrated how bees carry pollen from plant to plant using pretend bees on sticks and we then crushed up puffed crisps to represent the pollen. The children used the bees legs to carry the pollen from flower to flower, and the activity also helped to strengthen their fine motor skills.

Here is a short video all about facts about bees. Enjoy. Click here. 

The children have also become mini beast detectives. We went exploring around the school gardens looking under pots, in the flowers and bushes and we also looked in the school woods. The children found all sorts of bugs, worms, slugs, woodlice and even a black beetle. The children were very excited with their findings. Have a look around your garden to see what bugs you can find, and let me know. 

We have some great news about our caterpillars as all 5 of them are now inside their chrysalis , which is very exciting. We have moved them into their bigger enclosure and it's now a waiting game to see what is going to happen next, we can't wait.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy St Annes Club day if you are going.

Emma 

Michelle’s blog

Hello and welcome to this week’s blog.

We have had a really busy week in nursery. We were excited to discover that our caterpillars have started to change into a chrysalis and are on their way to becoming butterflies. This can take up to 2 weeks, so we still have some time to wait until we can release them.

We watched this video and then tried to answer the quiz questions. Click here for the video.

Click here for the quiz.

We have continued to explore number 10, and this week we have been investigating how to make number bonds to 10. This is really tricky but we watched Numberblocks ten again and it helped us to work it out. Click here to watch.

We have been practising our yoga this week, pretending we were an egg, a caterpillar, then a pupa inside the chrysalis metamorphosing into a butterfly. Have a go at home, it’s very relaxing.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and we will see you next week.

Michelle

More about minibeasts

Here are a few activities to do at home.

Click here ‘What are Minibeasts’

Click here ‘Characteristics of Minibeasts

Let’s hope the weather stays fine for St. Annes Club Day on Saturday, i will keep a look out for everyone. Have a lovely weekend.

God Bless

Barbara