This week at Nursery, we read the story The Little Red Hen, which led to lots of exciting learning opportunities. At the start of the week, the children helped Mrs Razaq to make bread. They mixed the bread ingredients with water, kneaded the dough, and then rolled it into ball shapes, ready to be cooked.

This week was also our Science Week. The focus for Science Week in Nursery was exploring how animals are similar and different and the theme for the week was Curiosity – What's Your Question? We were very fortunate to have a visit from four little chicks. The children were full of curiosity and asked lots of questions about how the chicks grow and change, and how they look different from the Little Red Hen in the story. We have added more photos to the album to show what we've been upto.

The Nursery children have been exploring the numbers 1–5 and discovering number patterns within 5. They have been learning that 5 can be made using different combinations of smaller numbers.

We used Numicon tiles to show this visually, practiced using our fingers, and have started representing these number patterns with pen marks on whiteboards. Outside, the children showed these number patterns using different coloured circles. 

On Thursday 26th February, the nursery children were visited by St Mary’s Primary School, who brought their school tortoises, turtles, and rabbit. The upper Key Stage Two children spoke knowledgably about the school animals, explaining how they care for them and what food they like to eat.

The nursery children loved holding and stroking the animals and enjoyed spotting similarities and differences between them. Please take a look in the photo album for more photos. 

 We had a fantastic time at our Reading Day on Friday 13th February! The children came to nursery in their pyjamas with their favourite teddies. We enjoyed singing to our teddies and rocking and bouncing them on the parachute.

In the afternoon, our parents joined us for a special storytime session, complete with hot chocolate and biscuits. At home time, each child took home their very own reading book to enjoy! There are more photos in the album

During our Art & DT week, the nursery children explored the work of artist Andy Goldsworthy. They discovered that art can be made using natural materials—not just paint, glue, and crayons! Inspired by Andy’s creations, the children designed their own amazing natural art masterpieces.

There are photos in the album to show some of our work.

The Nursery children have been thoroughly enjoying the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. As part of our learning, the children made their own porridge, carefully measuring just the right amount of milk and cooking it for just the right amount of time. We all agreed it tasted “just right” 🙂

In class, we have also been practising how to hold a pencil correctly using the three friends pencil grip. The children then applied these skills to create their own drawings of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

During the second week, we were very surprised to discover that someone had been in our nursery — porridge had been spilled on the floor and our special helper chair was broken! After some thoughtful discussion, we decided it must have been Goldilocks. We created “wanted” posters and displayed them around the nursery.

The following day, we received a letter of apology from Goldilocks. Once we realised she meant no harm and was truly sorry, we chose to forgive her. We then worked together to help Mrs Kasyoki fix the special helper chair.

There are lots more photos in the photo album for you to enjoy.

This half term, our learning has been all about Traditional Tales. We have especially enjoyed reading “The Three Little Pigs”. At Nursery, the children had lots of fun huffing and puffing to try and blow down the straw and stick houses. We discovered that the brick house was far too strong to topple!

The children also enjoyed getting creative by making their own Three Little Pigs houses, using glue to attach straw and sticks, and printing brick shapes with paint. They have been drawing pictures too, both in the writing area and on large pieces of paper on the floor. Outside, they built larger houses with construction materials and role-played their ideas using pig masks and tools from the builders’ area.

In the classroom, our home area became the Three Little Pigs’ house, and the children loved retelling the story in their own words with dressing-up clothes and visual picture cards. What a fun and exciting week! We can’t wait to dive into our next story, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”! There are more photos in our album for you to enjoy.

Last week, we hosted a nursery parent-and-child maths workshop, which was very well attended. It provided a wonderful opportunity for parents to learn more about how maths is taught in the Early Years. The session concluded with fun, interactive, number-focused games that parents and children could enjoy and complete together. We have added more pictures to our photo album - Take a look!

 Our Nursery children have been learning about winter and the changes to the weather during the winter months. We spent one day at home due to the cold winter weather, but on our return to nursery we continued our winter learning.

In our keyworker groups, the children sorted summer and winter clothes and talked about which clothes we need to wear during winter and why. We also enjoyed playing a winter bingo game together.

The children took part in an ice experiment, where they explored a large block of ice and discussed how it felt. Throughout the day, they observed what happened to the ice in warmer temperatures and watched it change from ice into water. The children learnt new vocabulary such as ice, melt and drip.

The children had fun using playdough to make their own snowmen, using their creativity and fine motor skills. Take a look at some of their super snowmen! There are more photos of our learning in the photo album.

The nursery children have been learning about why it is important to work safely in a space. This week in PE the children have been developing their upper arm strength and coordination skills by moving and stretching in different ways. 

The children carefully balanced a beanbag on different parts of their bodies and moved around the hall in a space, all whilst taking care to not bump into each other.

Lots of fun and giggles had and new skills learnt.  There are more photos in the photo album. 

On Monday, the nursery children went on a magical minibus ride around Shelton. We had so much fun and saw lots of wonderful things.

We saw the park, the Mosque, the Church, the Bus Station, our own homes, lots of cars and people, and we even had time to stop at St Mark’s Primary and say a quick hello to the teachers.

We had a great time ☺️🚌☺️There are more photos in the album

On Tuesday 21st October, the Nursery children enjoyed a visit to Hanley Park. This half term, the children have been exploring colours through a range of fun activities, including sorting, matching, painting, printing, and colouring. During their trip to the park, the children focused on spotting the vibrant colours of autumn. The children were really excited to find a wonderful variety of leaves in shades of red, green, orange, yellow, and brown. There are more photos in the photo album

In Nursery, the children have been continuing their learning about colours. Last week, we enjoyed the story The Colour Monster and explored how colours can represent different feelings.

This week, we shared the story Mouse Paint and had lots of fun experimenting with colour mixing to make new colours. The children have also been busy painting their own mouse pictures.

We have created some wonderful artwork using just blue and red pens.

There are more photos in our photo album

This week, the nursery children have been developing their upper arm strength and their core muscles more. We have been having lots of fun dancing with scarves and lying on our tummies drawing pictures on long pieces of paper. There are more photos in our photo album.

This half term, the children have been learning all about the 100-year celebration of Stoke-on-Trent becoming a city. As part of this topic, they’ve also been exploring the importance of where they live and their local community.

To support their learning, on Wednesday 25th June, the Nursery children enjoyed a special visit from Stoke City Football Club. Alice, a representative from the club, came in to talk about the team and what happens on a typical match day.

She kindly brought along a signed football shirt for the children to try on, which caused great excitement! Alice also explained what happens when a goal is scored, which led to lots of cheering and celebration from the children.

We had a fantastic morning learning all about our local football club. The children were full of enthusiasm and many proudly shared that they’d love to be professional footballers when they grow up!

There are more photos in the album

In RE, the children have been learning about places that are special. We have talked about places that are special to the teachers and places that are special to the children.

On Thursday 8^th May, the Nursery children visited Park Church in Shelton. At the church, the children met Pastor Jon and he told the children that he cares for people in the community and shares stories from the bible.

Inside the church, Pastor Jon told the children that he shares stories from the bible and sings songs with over 250 people every Sunday. The children played musical instruments and sang the song “Our God is a Great Big God”

The children enjoyed visiting the Church’s Sunday School and Wendy told the children a lovely story.

We had a lovely time finding out why churches are special places for Christians to visit. - There are more photos for you to look at in the photo album.

On Thursday 3^rd April, the Nursery children visited Amerton Farm. During our visit, the children had an opportunity to hold and feed the farm animals and find out about where they live, what they eat and how they are cared for.

The children had fun playing at the outdoor play area and going on a tractor and trailer ride. There are more photos in the photo album for you to look at.

This half term, the children have been learning about people who can help us. On Tuesday 29^th April, the children had a visit from PCSO Paul Washington and PSCO Nigel. They talked to the children about how they help people and how they help to keep Shelton a safe place to live in.

They told the children about what to do if they were ever lost and what number to call in an emergency.

The children enjoyed looking at the Police van and listening to the loud siren.

There are plenty more photos to look at in our photo album.

On Monday 3^rd February, children from St Mary’s Primary school visited St Mark’s Nursery and brought their school tortoises.

 The Nursery children loved finding out about the tortoises and they all enjoyed holding them and touching their hard shells. There are a number of additional photos in the photo album.

This half term, the children have been learning about Space. We read the story “Whatever Next” and we made our own rocket. The children then pretended to go to the moon in their rocket.

Outside, the children used the star patterned parachute and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The children then pretended to be a rocket and counted “3,2,1 – Blastoff!”

We also had lots of fun using different construction and making our different rockets. There are lots more photos in our photo album.

It has snowed! The children had lots of fun visiting our outside area during a snowy morning. The children made snow patterns with their hands and feet and made their own ice castles. - More photos in the photo album on the right hand side.

At Christmas, the Nursery children took part in a Nursery Christmas singing concert and performed it for their families.

The children were fantastic and made everyone proud! More photos are in our album.

The Nursery children had a very special visit from Santa. The children were very excited to have a visit from Santa and tell him how much they enjoy being at nursery. Please see our photo album for more pictures!

During the Autumn term, the children took part in SoundPots with Mrs Davis. The children have been learning to join in with new songs and dances.

The parents joined us for a fantastic Soundpots session where we all had fun singing and dancing and learning new routines. There are more photos in the photo album!

During our Nursery DT week, the children designed and made their own Christmas decorations. We recycled and used plastic yoghurt pots to make a Christmas bell and cardboard tubes to make a Christmas candle.

We were delighted with our results. There are more photos in our photo album.

During our Art week, we looked at the artist Andy Goldsworthy. We learnt that Andy likes to create art pieces using only natural materials. We looked examples of his art work and then created our own pieces of natural art work. See our photo album for more pictures.

The children have all settled well into their new Nursery class and have begun to make new friends. During the first few weeks, the children have started to join in with listening and attention activities, had dinner in our dining room and have helped Mrs Shaw pick apples off the trees. We have had lots of fun!

We are delighted with the progress that they all have made and how happy they are at Nursery. See the Nursery Photo Album to see our pictures.