Nursery
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Sports Day for Nursery Tilbury Pioneer Nursery had a fantastic sports afternoon! The children all enjoyed participating in various sporting events and challenges. We saw some rising stars in the running races, fantastic jumping in the hurdles and a lot of strong throwing arms in the bean bag games. A big thank you to the parents who came to support their children and our afternoon. |
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Our morning Nursery pupils are now on transition for Reception by attending full days during Summer Term 2. Here are some photographs of a very successful lunchtime!
Summer Term 2
Topic: Going Green
Welcome back to our last and final term, a full 8 weeks! This term is going to be a lot of fun for everyone as we wind down for the school year and see all the children growing into such confident and capable learners. We have exciting things planned such as a nursery trip to Barleylands and a sports day event.
Our theme for this term is “Going Green” which we are excited to explore as it opens up so many possibilities. This topic will look at what we grow in the garden, following on from all our planting we did last term. We will discuss what we need to have vegetables growing, the conditions required, what we might see and what might affect it. We will also be looking at beanstalks and sunflowers in regard to maths and height as well. We will be continuing to observe the changes in our own garden and invite children to share what they might be growing at home or nan’s house or whomever. The core text stories we will be reading in relation to this topic are: The Tiny Seed, Jack and the Beanstalk, Olivers vegetables and Billy’s Sunflower. Our last core text book will be When I grow Up which will lead nicely into introducing the older children to growing up and moving on to reception in preparation for the next school year. This will be followed with transition periods for the children in reception where they can explore their new environment and meet the teachers.
Early literacy
We will be continuing to develop our Read Write Inc skills in our different groups with the children all showing such fantastic progress. We will be looking at introducing the children to fred talking and blending which will help them secure knowledge needed for the next step in learning to read. We will be supporting children to develop their early literacy stories through the sharing of stories, experiential writing and looking at other genres of writing including poems.
The nursery is really looking at extending children’s vocabularly this term as well, which we invite families to support at home. This can be down to simply asking children to extend on stories they tell or observations they make through using what, why, how questions and also introducing new words to them in the correct context.
Early numeracy
Maths will be a big focus in the nursery this term as we look closely at the curriculum to further support children in acquiring skills and knowledge to help them meet their age related targets. While children have progressed fantastically in the nursery it is now time to really knuckle down and support and extend their learning so they are well prepared for reception. We are doing a big focus on relational counting e.g. identifying one, two and three and counting this accurately. This can be supported at home with counting out apple slices, toys, getting children to find different numbers of things in back yards such as sticks. Also on walks to school asking children to identify numbers that can be seen, counting trees etc. We will also be continuing to build on math concepts that we revisited last term including capacity, floating and sinking, measurement, shapes and prepositions.
Vocab we will be covering includes: longer, shorter, between, next to, in front of, underneath, heavy, light, float, sink.
Physical development
We will continue to have our PE sessions in the hall on a Friday. This is a nice opportunity for children to get familiar with leaving the classroom and participating in PE sessions. In our outdoor and indoor provision we will be providing plenty of opportunities for children to develop their fine motor and gross motor skills as this is the
precursor to writing. Please continue to support your children with this at home as together we can help children to progress in their learning.
Reminders
Juice Free
Our nursery is water only (and milk provided). This is important for children’s health and hydration, especially coming in to some water weather. Please encourage children to bring a labelled water bottle.
Reading books
Home reading books are changed weekly on a Monday and Thursday. We encourage children to do this by themselves to encourage their independence. Please talk to your child about the book, encourage them to predict what might happen next and discuss how the characters may feel. Please remember to return all books.
Book bags
Please continue to check your child’s book bag each afternoon as we often put important notices and messages in there.
Sunhats
As the warm weather is (dare I say it) here please ensure your child has sunhats and sun cream applied before nursery.
Summer Term 1
Topic: Let's Invent! Build It!
Welcome back to a new term and a very warm welcome to all the new children and families that have started with us.
Our theme for this term is “Lets Invent! Build it!” which we are excited to explore as it opens up so many possibilities. This topic will first of all investigate different types of houses and structures people live in; including town houses, apartments, flats, cottages, and caravans. We will then discuss who we live with and where we live. This will include investigating a map of Tilbury and using the computer to navigate google maps. How exciting would it be to take a virtual walk down our own streets! We will then look at the story “The Three Little pigs” and the housing that they lived in. This will then lead on to the story “Sleeping Beauty” and the beautiful castle she called home. Finally we will end with the story of “Hansel and Gretel” and the interesting structure that the story explores.
Early literacy:
We will be continuing to develop our read write inc skills in four separate groups. This will take place in the mornings at 9am like the rest of the school and straight after registration for the afternoon nursery. This is in line with the rest of the school so will help children to develop good habits. Some of our read write inc groups will be continuing to develop their sound recognition and begin Fred talking and others will be beginning to blend. We will be supporting children to develop their early literacy stories through the sharing of stories, experiential writing and looking at other genres of writing including poems.
Early numeracy:
This term we will be covering number basics as part of our math input, which are separated into four smaller, differentiated groups. Number basics helps children to develop basic skills such as confidently counting to 10, counting backwards, solving number problems and all in all really understanding number. We will be building on math concepts that we revisited last term including capacity, floating and sinking, measurement, shapes and prepositions.Vocab we will be covering includes: longer, shorter, between, next to, in front of, underneath, heavy, light, float, sink.
Physical development:
We will be having our PE sessions in the hall on a Friday. This is a nice opportunity for children to get familiar with leaving the classroom and participating in PE sessions. In our outdoor and indoor provision we will be providing plenty of opportunities for children to develop their fine motor and gross motor skills as this is the precursor to writing. Please continue to support your children with this at home as together we can help children to progress in their learning.
Reminders:
Juice Free:
Our nursery is water only (and milk provided). This is important for children’s health and hydration, especially coming in to some water weather.
Reading books:
Home reading books are changed weekly on a Monday and Thursday. We encourage children to do this by themselves to encourage their independence. Please talk to your child about the book, encourage them to predict what might happen next and discuss how the characters may feel. Please remember to return all books.
Book bags:
Please continue to check your child’s book bag each afternoon as we often put important notices and messages in there.
Important dates for this half term:
Read Write Inc Workshop for Am Nursery: 27th April 9-9.30
Thursday 4 May 2017: Nursery Closed- Polling station (ALL DAY)
Parent and child session:
Monday 22 May 2017
10.45-11.40am - AM Nursery
2.30-3.20 - PM Nursery
We really value your continued support and commitment to the nursery and are very excited about what this new term will entail!
Spring Term 2
Topic: Glorious Food
Welcome back for Spring 2, we are finally seeing some warmer weather as we gladly welcome the season of spring. It has been fantastic seeing all the children come back with big smiles on their faces and with amazing holiday stories. All our children have settled in well and it has been great seeing them confident in our environment. Well done parents for seeing this hard transition through.
We had a fantastic last half term exploring transport and the children were all so knowledgeable by the end of our topic.
This half term we will be exploring healthy eating as our topic, looking at the core text stories The Hungry Caterpillar, The Gingerbread Man and The little Red Hen. We will be exploring what it means to eat healthy and why it is important for us to do this. It would be fantastic if conversations around this could also be had at home, over dinner etc.
Our topic for last half term saw a lot of learning opportunities and exploration for our children. The children enjoyed learning the different ways to get around and all enjoyed sharing stories of themselves and the transport they had used. We heard stories about taking trains, buses, trucks, boats and aeroplanes. The children were able to embrace their creative sides, creating and painting their own transport pictures such as rockets, trains, and planes. A lot of different material and media were used including recycled boxes, paint and collaging. The children eagerly welcomed our socio-dramatic play area which was turned into an airport lounge. We had a lot of journeys to different places around the world, especially New Zealand!
Keep a lookout for our new socio-play area which has been turned into a healthy eating cafe.
Early literacy
With our topic “Healthy Eating” we continue to build on our knowledge of key concepts such as recalling information, characters and settings. We will look at exploring these in depth as we focus on only three core texts this half term. Reading is a great way to inspire interest and an important step in early literacy learning. These books will help inspire discussion around what it is to be healthy and what foods we consider healthy. Through reading children are continuing to develop their vocabulary, understanding and speech as well as engaging in learning about different cultures and exploring new concepts and ideas.
Early numeracy
Mathematics in the nursery is very play based and hands on. We like to include it in our everyday activities as much as possible as it gives children a great understanding on the real life application of maths. We also ensure we have rich math language learning environments so that children become familiar with words such as capacity, number, shapes etc. This term we will be further developing our understandings on counting and number, exploring what it looks like to count out items and how number represent these. This can be supported at home by counting different items such as fruit in fruit bowls and using the mathematical language associated with this.
Expressive Arts and Design
This term we will be looking at healthy eating through our core text books and have a lot of fun and creative ideas planned around this. We will be using different materials and media and will allow children to explore and develop preferences with how they choose to be creative. Expect to see a lot of butterfly and caterpillar paintings appearing in the nursery over the coming weeks.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The children are all feeling very confident in our environment now and are further developing their relationships with their peers. This term we will be continuing to focus on building and maintaining positive and reciprocal relationships and what it means to be a good friend. We will be looking at how we interact with friends, their emotions and how we can help and support each other. Teachers will be modelling and demonstrating this language and will be encouraging children in these areas as well. It would be great if these discussions could continue at home, through interactions with siblings and family friends so that it can be supported in all areas of children’s learning.
Physical development
Children are always encouraged in developing their gross and fine motor skills by being able to choose resources outside including, balls, bats, hoops, frisbees, bikes etc. Children enjoy engaging in our P.E program and dance and are learning about the importance of exercise and the effects it has on our bodies.
As you have been coming and going to the nursery last term you may have noticed some changes outside. The nursery is currently involved in the exciting task of redeveloping our outdoor environment and we are already seeing some fantastic learning and play opportunities coming from this. With the introduction of planter boxes (just in time for spring planting) and a new stage area as well as more engaging resources we are looking forward to seeing the children exploring all that this new environment has to offer. Keep an eye out on the progress! Also please send in any old pots, pans, and cooking equipment so they can be used in the creation of our junk orchestra as well as in our mud kitchen.
Reminders
Clothing
Please ensure you clearly label every single piece of clothing, including coats. We have a lost property box at the door- please remember to have a look through occasionally. It is helpful to have spare clothes in case of accidents.
Drink bottles
Please feel free to bring in named drink bottles with water only in them. Juice is not appropriate for nursery.
Wet play
Please bring in a suitable waterproof coat and wellington boots so that your child can take part in all experiences outside, whatever the weather.
Nursery timetable
Please ensure you drop your children off and pick them up at the correct times. This is important in allowing teachers time to set up and prepare for following classes and the next day.
AM Nursery 8.40-11.40
PM Nursery 12.20-3.20
Thank you
Miss Cullimore, Miss Cowell and Mrs Taiwo
Spring Term 1
Topic: An Eye on London
Welcome back for our third term, we hope everyone had a relaxing holiday break and we cannot wait to hear all about them from the children. Once again we welcome some new faces into our nursery who will be starting with us from this term. We look forward to getting to know you and your children and helping them to settle into nursery routine. We understand that this can be a heart wrenching process, and want to reassure you that your children are confident and secure in our environment and our doors are always open should you need to discuss anything with us.
Our Nursery Christmas concerts were fantastic and the children all did so well. The concerts were enjoyed by many and showed how much hard work and effort the children had put in to ensure they gave their best performances for everyone. Well done Nursery!
What a busy start to 2017 we have here in the nursery as we start our Eye on London transport topic. We are confident that a lot of learning and fun will be had.
Our topic for last half term saw a lot of learning opportunities and exploration for our children. The children enjoyed learning about how unique we all are and getting to share stories about themselves, and their families. We saw a lot of creative art pictures come about with the children drawing and painting family portraits and recreating our core text stories such as the three little bears. The children eagerly welcomed our socio-dramatic play areas of the baby clinic and the post shop and we saw a lot of play centered on families and a lot of letters written to santa and to family and friends.
Keep a lookout for our new socio-play area which has been turned into an airport.
Early literacy
With our topic “An Eye on London” we start to look at and consolidate our knowledge on character, setting and sequence in stories and predicting and recalling information we have read. Reading is a great way to inspire interest and an important step in early literacy learning. We will be reading a variety of texts over the coming weeks, looking at both fiction and non-fiction books. Look out for our discussions and activities that are inspired from these texts on our working wall.
Early numeracy
Mathematics in the nursery is very play based and hands on. We like to include it in our everyday activities as much as possible as it gives children a great understanding on the real life application of maths. We also ensure we have rich math language learning environments so that children become familiar with words such as capacity, number, shapes etc. This term we will be further consolidating our knowledge on number, and in particular on securing 1-1 correspondence and counting onwards and backwards. At home it would be fantastic to encourage your children to count various things around the house or out on walks so that this number basic knowledge is secured.
Expressive Arts and Design
This term we will be looking at transport and how we can get creative through this topic. We will hopefully see a lot of children out constructing various transport modes and getting imaginative as they go on journeys in these constructions.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The children are all feeling very confident in our environment now and I know they will be a big help in helping our new friends to feel secure and welcomed. This term we will be focusing on building positive and reciprocal relationships and what it means to be a good friend. We will be looking at how we interact with friends, their emotions and how we can help and support each other. Teachers will be modelling and demonstrating this language and will be encouraging children in these areas as well. It would be great if these discussions could continue at home, through interactions with siblings and family friends so that it is supported in all areas of children’s learning.
Physical development
Children are always encouraged in developing their gross and fine motor skills by being able to choose resources outside including, balls, bats, hoops, frisbees, bikes etc. Children enjoy engaging in our P.E program and dance and are learning about the importance of exercise and the effects it has on our bodies.
We look forward to all that is happening this term and in continuing to support, encourage and engage with your children on their learning journeys.
Reminders:
Clothing
Please ensure you clearly label every single piece of clothing, including coats. We have a lost property box at the door- please remember to have a look through occasionally. It is helpful to have spare clothes on case of accidents.
Drink bottles
Please feel free to bring in named drink bottles with water only in them. Juice is not appropriate for nursery.
Wet play
Please bring in a suitable waterproof coat and wellington boots so that your child can take part in all experiences outside, whatever the weather.
Nursery Timetable
Please ensure you drop your children off and pick them up at the correct times. This is important in allowing teachers time to set up and prepare for following classes and the next day.
AM Nursery: 8.40-11.40
PM Nursery: 12.20-3.20
Miss Cullimore, Miss Cowell and Mrs Taiwo
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Parent & Child Session Wow! What a fantastic turnout for the parents' session the Nursery had yesterday! The children loved having their parents come join them and were excited to show them all the fun and learning that we get up to. Pizzas were made in honour of National Pizza Day and the children and parents got creative with making fantastic animal masks and box transport models as part of our theme this half term. An enjoyable way to end for the half term! |
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Our local library lady visited us! What excitement was had in the nursery when we were visited by Cheryl Taaffe from the local library. The children all eagerly sat down in anticipation of what stories they might hear, and what they might find in her special books. The children, after peeking in her bag, came to the conclusion that it was a story involving an owl and a story involving a shark. With the help of these props, the children all engaged in listening and predicting what would happen in these stories and had great fun with this interactive story approach. All the children went home with a special reading pack as well, gifted from the library with a fantastic story inside. Reading is so important in children’s early development, especially in regards to language acquisition and understanding. With special visits like this Tilbury Pioneer further inspires a passion for reading within our nursery children in a way that is fun and engaging for the children. We look forward to future visits and exploring other books throughout the year. |
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Autumn Term 2
Topic: All about me!
What a fantastic first term we have had. All of the children have settled in well to nursery routine and are making excellent progress. Well done Mum’s and Dad’s for seeing this hard process through! This term we welcome some new faces, especially in our afternoon class. It is great to see our spaces filling up with new friends. We are enjoying hearing holiday stories from all the children, it seems like the break was good fun for all. What a busy last term of 2016 we have ahead as we gear up towards Christmas. I am confident that a lot of learning and fun will be had by all during this time.
Our theme for last half term went down very well and no doubt at home you were hearing a lot of our nursery rhymes. The children enjoyed exploring about our bodies through head, shoulders knees and toes, and had a lot of knowledge to share during twinkle little star about space and the planets. Old McDonald’s farm and the Wheels on the Bus were very popular as well and saw us exploring bus making through shapes and recycling and a lot of drawing and exploring of different animals.
This term we continue exploring All About Me and have a lot of talk around families happening already and how unique and special we all are. Our doctor/baby clinic has been eagerly welcomed by the children and we have a lot of socio-dramatic play and shared learning happening around this. If possible it would be fantastic if your child could bring in a family photo and baby photo so we can look at our own unique families and how we have changed as we got older.
Early literacy
With our topic “All About Me” we continue to look at book conventions such as how to hold the book up the right way, which way to turn the page, predicting what will happen next in the story and being able to recall events that took place after reading a book. Reading is a great way to inspire interest and an important step in early literacy learning. We will be reading a variety of texts over the coming weeks, looking at both fiction and non-fiction books. Look out for our discussions and activities that are inspired from these texts on our working wall.
Early numeracy
Mathematics in the nursery is very play based and hands on. We like to include it in our everyday activities as much as possible as it gives children a great understanding on the real life application of maths. We also ensure we have rich math language learning environments so that children become familiar with words such as capacity, number, shapes etc. This term we will be introducing weight and length concepts into our mathematical vocab which will see us weighing and measuring ourselves and things we can find in our environment.
Expressive Arts and Design
This term with Christmas coming we will be exploring a lot of different imaginative and creative artworks in relation to this which I know the children will be looking forward too. We will also be continuing to use different mediums to create portraits to demonstrate how unique we all are.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The children are all feeling very confident in our environment now and I know they will be a big help in helping our new friends to feel secure and welcomed. This term we will be focusing on communicating and sharing with each other and what this might look and sound like in play. Teachers will be modelling and demonstrating this language and will be encouraging children in these areas as well. We will be engaging in a lot of circle games to encourage children to use each other’s names and be aware of who we all are in nursery and our own uniqueness.
Physical development
Children are always encouraged in developing their gross and fine motor skills by being able to choose resources outside including, balls, bats, hoops, frisbees, bikes etc. We will also be kick starting our P.E programme which will introduce children to the importance of exercise and different activities and games which support movement and co-ordination through games, dance and physical activity.
We look forward to all that is happening this term and in the lead up to Christmas. We will be starting our practice for our Christmas show in the coming weeks and learning our Christmas songs for our performance.
Reminders
Clothing
Please ensure you clearly label every single piece of clothing, including coats. We have a lost property box at the door - please remember to have a look through occasionally. It is helpful to have spare clothes on case of accidents.
Drink bottles
Please feel free to bring in named drink bottles with water only in them. Juice is not appropriate for nursery.
Wet play
Please bring in a suitable waterproof coat and wellington boots so that your child can take part in all experiences outside, whatever the weather.
Nursery Timetable
Please ensure you drop your children off and pick them up at the correct times. This is important in allowing teachers time to set up and prepare for following classes and the next day. AM nursery 8.40-11.40, PM nursery 12.20-3.20
Miss Cullimore, Miss Cowell and Mrs Taiwo
Autumn Term 1
What a fantastic start to the term it has been! It has been wonderful welcoming back our older children and hearing all about their holidays. It has also been a real pleasure in giving a huge welcome to all our new friends and families to the nursery. The children have all been so brave and are settling in amazingly. We understand it isn’t always easy leaving your precious children with us, especially if they are a little upset as you leave. We can assure you it doesn’t take them long in finding their footing and we soon find them engaging in learning and play experiences and before we know it they will be confidently and comfortably exploring our exciting space.
Our themes for this term that we will be exploring are ‘Sing a Song’ and ‘All About Me!’. We will be learning and singing different nursery rhymes and investigating who we are and what makes us unique, looking at our features through self-portraits. This is a perfect way to start our school year as we greet new and old friends and establish and re-establish friendships. We will be using mirrors and discussion to help us with these portraits, talking about eye and hair colour, what makes us special and unique. We will also be touching on our feelings and emotions, what makes us happy and sad as children start adjusting to their new and exciting routine.
The children have loved exploring the environment as they come in, seeing what we have on offer. Our older children have taken delight in new set ups and our new friends are enjoying finding what interests them. I wonder what we will explore next?
Early literacy:
With our topic “Sing a Song” we are looking at important early learning literacy conventions such as rhyme, vocabulary and sentence structure. We will also be exploring books to do with our nursery rhyme themes looking at farming books, transport books and space books. Children are enjoying storytime and exploring book conventions such as how to hold the book up the right way, which way to turn the page, predicting what will happen next in the story and being able to recall events that took place after reading a book. Reading is a great way to inspire interest and an important step in early literacy learning. We will be giving reading logs to children and every week we invite them to take a book home to read to be returned the previous week.
Early numeracy:
Mathematics in the nursery is very play based and hands on. We like to include it throughout everyday activities as much as possible as it gives children a great understanding on the real life application of maths. We also ensure we have rich math language learning environments so that children become familiar with words such as capacity, number, shapes etc. We will be looking at shapes this term and will introduce a variety of 2D shapes to the children. We will also begin our mornings with our counting as well as looking at the calender. At home you could invite them to count different things around the house and draw their attention to shapes around them. Our “Sing a Song” topic has helped introduce ideas such as sequence and pattern to children as well as they learn the order of song, and the repetition involved.
Expressive Arts and Design:
This term we have been exploring art and creativity in different forms. We are creating stars, rockets and moons as well as starting our self-portraits using different mediums. These include pencils, charcoal pencils, pastels and paints. Children will have the opportunity to colour mix as they begin looking closely at different shades of eye colours and hair. This will help reflect how special and unique we all are. At home you could encourage your child to draw or paint pictures of themselves or other family members.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development:
This term we are focusing on feeling a sense of belonging in our classroom. For some children it is their first experiences in a context such as this so we are supporting them to feel valued and welcomed. We have also been starting to talk about the importance of friends and how we should be interacting with each other; including gentle and kindness, sharing and introducing the class rules. The environment has many opportunities for children to collaborate, share dialogue, speech and foster relationship building. At home you could play board games, or encourage your child to talk about what they like at school and who their friends are.
Physical development:
Children are always encouraged in developing their gross and fine motor skills by being able to choose resources outside including, balls, bats, hoops, frisbees, bikes etc. We will be playing circle games, encouraging the children to make sure that they are moving safely and looking for spaces. The children will have many opportunities to practice their cutting skills and manual dexterity by bead threading and using the tweezers to pick up smaller objects. Having experiences on offer at home help your children to further develop these highly important skills.
We would also like to introduce to our nursery team Miss Cullimore, Miss Cowell and Mrs Taiwo. For those families who were with us last year Mrs Taiwo will be a new face. Mrs Taiwo is our fantastic new teaching assistant who has come to us with years of experience both in nursery and in private child care. She is a real asset to our team and is looking forward to getting to know all the children and being a part of their learning journey. Look out for our staff profiles to come in the coming weeks.
Reminders:
Clothing:
Please ensure you clearly label every single piece of clothing, including coats. We have a lost property box at the door- please remember to have a look through occasionally. It is helpful to have spare clothes on case of accidents.
Drink bottles:
Please feel free to bring in named drink bottles with water only in them. Juice is not appropriate for nursery.
Wet play:
Please bring in a suitable waterproof coat and wellington boots so that your child can take part in all experiences outside, whatever the weather.
Book bags:
Please ensure your child brings these in each day to nursery and that they go home each night. We do put important letters and notices in there most days.
Miss Cullimore, Miss Cowell and Mrs Taiwo
