Nursery
Tweets by @crontonceschoolThis term we are looking at measures. Last week we used the balances. We learned that the heavier object went down and the lighter object went up. We used the vocabulary heavy, light, heaviest, lightest, heavier than, lighter then. The children enjoyed finding objects around nursery and estimated which one would be the heaviest and lightest. Then they put them on the balances together to find out who was right.
Last week we revised syllables. We played a game where we had to fish for words/picture cards. We took turns saying the word and clapping the number of syllables at the same time. This is an important part of our phonics development and we had lots of fun!
This term we introduced Tales Toolkit. It provides interactive, child led resources aimed at early years, using storytelling to engage in quality interactions with children. Tales Toolkit uses easy to remember symbols representing story structure. These are character / setting / problem / solution. The children have absolutely loved it and have taken on the language and structure very well already to tell their own stories.
It was so nice to see all our dads, step-dads and grandads for our Father's Day morning. I'm not sure who enjoyed the morning more, the children or the adults! Seeing the children proudly showing them around our setting and showing them what they can do was great. Watching the adults have the chance to spend time in the setting with the children was lovely.
11th May - As you know, we have been learning about road safety recently. A very nice lady from Knowsley Road Safety Team brought some books for us to take home and some reflective stickers for our bags. She also brought us something for our small; world area....
11th May - Mr Walker has been very poorly, so we made him a get well card. Mrs Walker came in to say hello because she misses us. She loved the card! She also brought us a colour by numbers book each so that we can practise our colouring and our numbers. Thank you Mrs. Walker!
w/b 8th May This week we were making repeated patterns. Focusing on colours, shapes or objects.
5th May - This week we learned about the Royal Family and what a coronation is. We made crowns and Union Jacks and ended the week with our Coronation Party.
4th May - In Spanish today, we practised vocabulary for minibeasts and then listened to a story about Maria the mariquita and her amigos.
24th April - Some of the children enjoyed doing a shape hunt outside today, as part of our maths topic. .
21st April - Some mindfulness and yoga at lunchtime.
wb 17th April - enjoying the spring sunshine. Practising more of our patterns, looking at the spring flowers growing and developing our ball skills.
18th April - In Maths Time today, we practised making different patterns with the chalk outside.
We had a visit from a very special visitor on our last day of term and he left us some eggs. Can you guess who he was?
This week we have been looking at number 10. Today we played ten pin bowling - counting how many we knocked over, then writing our names with our score.
This week in Spanish we learned the names of parts of the face. The children are really enjoying these lessons and are doing really well.
This week we have been enjoying the first week of spring and looking out for signs that spring is finally here. We have been painting daffodils whilst talking about the parts of a plant and the special job they have.
We had a great day on our trip to 'Imagine That!' today. We had lots of fun exploring in the science room and making our own slime. Then we had a great time making our own magnets, painting a real car and then enjoying lots of different role play areas.
Our first day of science week. We read the story of 'Who Sank The Boat?' and the children then made their own boats. Then they carried out an experiment to see if their boats would float or sink, while carrying the animals from the story. \
Of course we couldn't have World Book Day without our weekly Story Time visit from Grandad Fielding! This week the story was about an adventure on a train, followed by a song and some colouring.
Following on from our stories based in Africa and all the animals we met in them, we did a wild workout with Andy from CBeebies today.
We had a visit from Mrs Hull, a dental nurse, this week. She talked to us about how to look after our teeth by brushing twice a day for two minutes and eating and drinking healthily.
World Book Day March 2023 The children looked fantastic! We had a great day sharing favourite stories as well as reading stories based in Africa over the week.
8th February - The children enjoyed our Well-being Day today. We planted seeds, did some yoga and drew pictures of things that make us happy. One of the children even brought us a bunch of beautiful yellow flowers to bring us happiness. They certainly did!
2nd February - Another wonderful afternoon with our story telling Grandad Fielding, his guitar and Buddy the dog.
w/b 30th January - lots of creativity this week in nursery. modelling, making, story-telling...
w/b 30th January - This week the children have been identifying, extending and making repeated patterns.
w/b 23rd January - rhyming odd one out!
w/b 23rd January Traditional circle games with Mrs. French at lunchtime.
w/b 23rd January This week we learned all about Chinese New Year; how it is celebrated and why the years are named after animals. Then the children enjoyed developing their cutting, sticking ad folding skills making dancing dragons.
w/b 16th January This week we started going into the hall for our lunch. The children have taken to it brilliantly!
w/b 16th January We have been focusing on squares and triangles this week; talking about their properties and the difference between them. The children made their own squares with the sticks and then worked with a partner to put them together to make a rectangle.
w/b 16th January Following many of the children's interests through their play, we opened a beauty salon in our home corner this week. The children are loving it!
w/b 9th January - This term we are focusing on shapes in maths. This week we looked at circles and triangles. Here the children are exploring nursery to see what triangles they can find.
w/b 9th January Story Time with Grandad Fielding. This week the children made paper aeroplanes after their story and had lots of fun, as you can see!
w/b 9th January This term we are reading traditional tales. This week we enjoyed Jack and the Beanstalk. We talked about new vocabulary and then matched words to the story characters or objects to describe them.
w/b 9th January Making triangles in maths time. We learned that triangles have 3 straight sides, so the children knew they needed 3 sticks each.
w/b 9th January In phonics, we are focusing on rhyming words this term and the children have made a great start.
We had a lovely first day back today to start our Arts Week, with a pantomime organised by the Friends of the School. We really enjoyed it...oh yes we did!
Hola amigos! Today we met Jose's friend Elena.
Number 5 Week
Nursery rhymes are important for young children because they help develop an ear for our language. Both rhyme and rhythm help children hear the sounds and syllables in words, which helps them learn to read. Action songs or nursery rhymes with sing-song phrases and movements, help to enhance their creative language, vocabulary and motor skills.
Voice sounds in phonics
What the EYFS framework says about maths - ‘Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically’. This week we have been exploring numbers 1 – 4. Recognising the numerals, counting objects within 4, matching amounts to numerals etc.
Boogie Beebies – ‘Doing the Ocean Motion’. Engaging with music or dance allows children to grow in their motor skills, communication, expression, creativity and imagination, social emotional skills, and so much more.
We have been practising writing our numbers this week.
Odd Socks Day - the start of our anti-bullying week. We took part in lots of activities based around the story of The Rainbow Fish and being kind, sharing, being good friends etc.
Jumping in leaves can be lots of fun and is great for both gross motor skills and fine motor development. The running, jumping, rolling, and throwing of leaves helps children to develop their balance and strength. Then, they have to switch gears and use their fine motor skills to gently pick up a single leaf.
Sorting the compare bears into colours and sizes. 
Playdough is a wonderful sensory and learning experience for children. As the children shape the dough into a ball or a favourite character in this case, they're thinking creatively. The squeezing, pinching and pulling movements also strengthen their hand muscles and develop fine motor skills.
The children are really enjoying their Spanish lessons and are doing very well. This week they learned how to say 'yes' and 'no' and 'my name is'.
Our Autumn / Elmer's Walk.
This week we have been sorting autumn leaves into groups according to their colours. We have been identifying and searching for different colours around nursery. Then the children enjoyed sorting objects into colour groups during their independent learning.
Measures in maths. We wanted to find out who was the tallest in nursery. The the children wanted to see if they could build a tower taller than them, without it falling over.
We met a new friend in Spanish this week. His name is Jose and he is going to help us learn new words in Spanish.
Phonics Time - Phase 1 - body percussion sounds. We had lots of fun making different sounds with our bodies.
Well done Nursery, Reception and KS1 for a fantastic Harvest Service. We were very proud of you.
After reading Oliver's Fruit Salad, we decided to make our own fruit salad for snack. The children really enjoyed learning how to cut the fruit safely and then tucked in!
Wow, what a great morning! Farmer Olly came to visit us with his tractor, his huge tractor. The wheels were even taller than Mrs. King! He talked to us about what he does on his farm and told us all about his tractor and what it does, He very kindly brought us some stickers and some farming activity books. Thank you so much Farmer Olly.
Starting to learn Spanish has been lots of fun!
In maths we have been looking at measures and linking it to our topic of Harvest. We have been learning to use vocabulary such as taller and shorter than, biggest, smallest, medium sized etc.
For European Day of Languages, we learned all about Spain. We learned how to say hello in Spanish and had our own Flamenco dancing school lesson!
Our weekly visits from our storytelling Nursery grandad, are proving very popular with the children.
The children have really enjoyed our nursery rhymes topic. Here some of them decided to sing and do actions together, developing their language and negotiation skills, deciding what they would sing, who would be the farmer in the den etc.
Over their first few weeks, the children have had fun exploring the different areas around Nursery; learning to make new friendships, develop their fine and gross motor skills and settling in to new routines.
Our adopted Nursery Grandad came in to tell us stories and the children love him!
We have been singing traditional and modern nursery rhymes and the children have been having lots of fun singing them and dancing together within their continuous provision.
Linking to our colour theme, our author this term is David McKee who wrote the Elmer stories. We have been enjoying the stories, getting to know the Elmer characters and learning new vocabulary.
This term we are learning about colours and how to sort groups into categories. 
Week ending 9.9.22
We have had a lovely first couple of days in nursery; welcoming back our children from last year and welcoming some of our new children. They all had fun exploring our different areas, especially outside in the sunshine. The children have been showing us their fine and gross motor skills, as well as having a go at learning new skills. All of the children have already begun to interact with each other and form friendships. It is already clear that the children have an interest in books and we look forward to encouraging that.
This year, it will be Mrs King and Mrs Wilson looking after you! We are both very excited to welcome you into Nursery and cannot wait to have some wonderful times learning new things together.