Kits News - 10th January 2025

It’s been a great week back at 345 Balham Nursery School and the children have returned to the routine well, enthusiastically exploring their environment.

Our Topic Stories for the week were Maisy Goes to Nursery by Lucy Cousins, a story about Maisy having lots of fun at nursery by taking part in many different activities that relate to our nursery setting. Our second story was Friendship is Like a Seesaw by Shona Innes, a book about friends playing together, sharing and taking turns, and being kind to each other, which acted as a great way to re-introduce our Classroom Principles.

The Kits have been busy exploring the Role Play Area, our 345 Nursery School Baby Daycare. The children used their imagination skills and Kind Hearts to look after the babies by feeding, dressing them, changing nappies and putting them to sleep. On the Maths table, the Kits practised their counting skills and learned to recognise numerals and numerical order by using boxes with numbers and a pretend train with lots of carriages with animal passengers. They used Gem Blocks with coloured wooden blocks to build lots of creations and counted all the gems and blocks used. The playdough was popular this week, where the Kits made pretend cupcakes and counted how many they made and how many more they needed to complete the tray.

For our Art project this week, we took part in Process Art where the children created their art using various Acrylic paints, spreaders, and gift cards. They then used glue and a variety of materials.

On the Fine Motor table, the Kits have been practising threading using a variety of cotton reels and animals using laces. They explored playdough using rolling pins and various cutters. They also manipulated the dough by squeezing, pinching and rolling it to strengthen their hand muscles.

The Kits were keen to explore water play with shaped ducks, where they practised their shape knowledge and sang ‘5 Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day’, practising their counting skills. They played with the fake snow that the Kits made for Science with penguins, and they used their imagination skills to make snowmen, houses, and other creations.

In the Small World Area, the Kits have been playing with the Dino World, where they named a variety of dinosaurs and discussed size, colour, and what they like to eat, as some prefer meat and others prefer plants. The Fire Station was popular with the Kits as they used a pretend hose to extinguish the fire and rescue people from the house. The Trains and track were also a hit with the Kits as the children went on a journey to London. In our Mark Making table, the children practised using a variety of felt pens to make large arm movements; they practised tracing their names and sounding out some letter sounds using the associated Animaphonics actions. They also explored letter stamps.

During our Communication and Language/Literacy Focus lesson, the children discussed their Holiday News, which was lovely to hear! Our Science Focus Lesson was fascinating as we discussed the weather changes and made fake snow using two ingredients: bicarbonate of soda and hair conditioner. The children measured and mixed using their senses and conversed about the texture and smell during the lesson. The Kits used excellent listening and Fine/Gross Motor Skills while completing our Practical Life Activities. The children practised many skills throughout the Focus lesson. This included pouring and transferring using pipettes, matching and twisting lids, and many others.

The Kits loved playing Tennis in our Outdoor Learning Environment this week using raquets and soft balls. They practised kicking balls and throwing the ball in several ways. The Ride On’s were popular, too, where the Kits have been doing excellent sharing using a sand timer. The Kits continued to use the climbing wall, slide and ladder safely with their friends. They also played musical instruments and danced to various nursery rhymes and songs. The children loved playing with sand, diggers and multiple vehicles, using many imagination skills. They pretended to build houses and fix the road. The guttering and cars were popular, as the children discussed speed, speed, and slow, as the gutters were on different levels. They practised naming the other colours, too. They also explored the Garage using cars, discussing where the vehicles were going: to work, the shops and many other places.

Back at 345 Balham Nursery School, the Kits had lots of fun meeting all their friends and teachers after their half-term.

We look forward to next week for more fun!