Kits News - 12th January 2024

The Kits had a great first week back after the Christmas holidays and it has been wonderful to see the children again and catch up with their news. We welcomed our new starters and it has been lovely to see the existing children make them feel at home as they joined the nursery, sharing their toys and showing them where to hang their coats. 

We started the term by recapping on our Classroom Principle of ‘Gentle Hands’ and our Topic Book was ‘Be Gentle’ by Virginia Miller. We taught the children that being gentle is not only about using gentle hands but also sometimes being quieter and calmer around other children, to avoid upsetting them.

We have been practising using our ‘Gentle Hands’ throughout Free Play as we threaded straws through cardboard tubes, played with the playdough and gently used the tools to fix the Outdoor Learning Environment.

We have also been focusing on using our ‘Gentle Hands’ in our Focus Time sessions as we passed round soft objects to each other and used our ‘Gentle Hands’ to gently stroke them. Our Role-Play Area has been set up as a ‘345 Nursery School Baby Day Care’ and the children have been using their ‘Gentle Hands’ and ‘Kind Hearts’ to look after the babies, changing their nappies, feeding them and putting them to bed. Dressing and caring for the babies also helps the children with their own health and self-care routines as they learn to negotiate different types of clothes and fastenings. 

On Thursday in our Cookery Focus Time we developed our hand strength and used our ‘Gentle Hands’ as we carefully spread cream cheese on rice cakes and added peppers and cucumber on top to make hands. The children used knives to spread the cream cheese and had to be very careful to make sure that the rice cake didn’t break. We ate the rice cakes afterwards and the children discussed whether they liked them or not and what their favourite snacks at home were.