Dear Parents We hope everyone has had an enjoyable half-term break, we can’t wait to hear what the children got up to; as always please write or add photographs in your child’s learning journals. So far the snowy weather has passed us by without too much disruption; however it did bring our bus journey into Hythe town to a halt. Nevertheless, we will continue with the outings on the first week back, as they will compliment last terms topic of ‘Where we live’. If you haven’t done so already, could you please bring in photos of your child visiting local attractions or family and friends, so your Key Person can add them to your child’s personal map. This term, our planning will be based around ‘Growth’. We will be discussing Spring and how plants grow from the seeds and bulbs; What do we need to help us grow healthily?; The growth cycle of a frog and caterpillar. If you have any books or resources to help with the topic, please bring them in. Please see attached sheet to show how each developmental area is being covered by topic. Remember this is in addition to your child’s individual Key Person planning. Story of the week Gardening Gang Since introducing a story of the week, we have noticed an increased excitement towards story time. The children are anticipating the next page and are picking up key words and sentences from the story line very quickly. They help the adult tell the story by enthusiastically shouting out the words of which they know. Additionally, some children tell the story to their friends during their free play. These are some of the books we will be reading this term: This term, children will take turns to have responsibility in looking after our garden. Each week, the Gardening Gang; consisting of a small group of children will plant either herbs, plants or vegetables into the new planter pots. They will also be encouraged to place any recyclable items into the relevant containers and water the garden using rain water from the water butt. If you would like to donate any bulbs or soil to help with this activity, we will be really grateful. Don’t forget, you are more than welcome to come into the nursery and read one of these books or any others to the children at the end of the session. Discovery Bus Visit Our children enjoyed visiting the Discovery bus. Groups of 4 to 5 children took turns in exploring the numerous resources inside. Poppy said ”I liked making a butterfly” and Arti said ”I liked the lights and the magnetic bugs” Thank you to Rachael Stafford for helping out in the nursery; enabling our ratios to be maintained while visiting the bus. We would also like to wish Ralph, who has driven the bus for many years, a happy and fulfilling retirement. Diary Dates 23/02/15 24/02/15 25/02/15 26/02/15 13/02/15 15/03/15 01/04/15 03/04/15 06/04/15 20/04/15 26/04/15 10/05/15 Children return to nursery (Term 4) Hythe town visit Hythe town visit Hythe town visit Red Nose Day Mothers Day Last day of term Good Friday Easter Monday Children return to Nursery (Term 5) London Marathon Round the Houses Race Please sponsor one of our dads to run the London Marathon Stuart Duncan is running the London Marathon in April and would like to raise as much money as possible to donate towards the charity-Children with Cancer UK. He has chosen this charity because he specifically wants to support research into childhood cancer, which is a subject close to his heart. His target figure is £2000 and has already raised half of this amount; if anyone would like to support Stuart and the charity please visit his Virgin money giving page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/StuartDuncan79 or place in an envelope and Leanne will pass it on. Any amount donated will be gratefully received. We wish Stuart the best of luck in his training schedule and reaching his overall target. Family Play and Stay Day Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves at our Play and Stay Day. It was great to see so many families taking part in the activities with their children. Captain Jordan led the way in making treasure maps and then searching for treasure with the children around the setting. Thank you to our staff who gave up their time to support the event. School Readiness It won’t be long before our Butterflies will find out which primary school they have been allocated to. This may bring your family and child mixed emotions about their next transition! You may have some expectations to what skills your child should be able to do before starting school or you may have some unanswered questions, such as:      What does ’School readiness’ mean? Is the nursery doing enough to support my child? Should my child write his name? Is my child ready to go to school? Does my child have to go to the toilet unaided? To collate parents and children’s views, we are initially going to have a ‘Thinking Tree’ under the shelter. Please write your thoughts on the leaves on what you know and what you would like to know about school readiness. We will then gather all the information and arrange a friendly workshop on how we can help children become ready for school. Lunch time Please remember you are more than welcome to join your child for lunch. This is a great way to be part of your child’s experiences at nursery. Parent’s Story time We love having parents come in and read their child’s favourite book with the group. This is very beneficial to enthuse their interest in stories. If you have a spare 15 minutes before the end of the session, please add your name to the rota or let your Key person know. Craft and Music Maybe you have some creative ideas or musical talents that you would like to share with the children. Let your Key person know or add your name to the rotas if you have any spare time. March: Drew (4), Cookie (4) Alfie F.H (4) April: Arti (4) Staff Changes and Job Opportunities Linda and Gail have decided to reduce their hours in the nursery due to personal commitments. We will be employing another member of staff in due course which will support the team in delivering early years care and education. We are also in need of a cleaner for Friday evenings 5.30pm-6.30pm (term time only). Please speak to Leanne for further details. Reading stories with your child, particularly when it includes open-ended questions; enabling the child to offer their own ideas and views, is a powerful means of enhancing children’s spoken language skills and early literacy development. Please make use of the local library or our story sharing box. For more information please visit: http://www.wordsforlife.org.uk/3-5/milestones http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/research/ nlt_research/2613_face_to_face_research_literature_review_highlights Red Nose Day This years charity event is on Friday 13th March. The staff and children will be supporting the event by making pizzas and wearing funny clothes, hair and faces. A collection box will be in the nursery all that week for kind donations. Thank you Updated Records To ensure we still have correct personal information for each child, can you please complete this form and return asap. Child’s full name: Address: Telephone Numbers: Home: Work: Mobile: E-mail: If we should need to contact somebody and there is nobody at the above address or phone number, please indicate your emergency contacts where we should try to reach parents or another carer (stating whether relative, friend, etc) Name: Address: Name: Address: Phone Number: Relationship to the child: Phone Number: Relationship to the child: Names of people who may collect your child from nursery. (Please notify us of any changes as no child will be released to an unauthorised person) Child’s Doctor: Name: Address: Health Visitor: Name: Phone Number: Phone Number: Does your child require any other additional needs, such as: Occupational therapy, speech and language therapy etc.?(Please give contact details) Has your child been in hospital recently: Does your child have any ongoing health problems( inc allergies): Saltwood Nursery: Term 4 Things that grow Physical development (PD) Personal, Social and Emotional (PSE) Strengthening core muscles and balance by using stepping stones, beam, tunnels and walking along lines. Sharing and taking turns with resources Behaviour and self-confidence working together in groups. Respecting and listening to each child's views and opinions. Puppet role-play to encourage turn taking and views on the activities ahead. Drawing around hands/feet and then cutting around them. Using the ride-ons to help with spatial awareness. Stepping stones big and small using jumping skills. Dancing to Wake up and Shake up. Strengthening hand muscles and grip by using play dough and tweezers. Communication and Language (CL) Understanding the World (UW) Describing about big and small things that you can see. Exploring the surrounding areas; finding natural resources and observing living things. Discussions on all things that grow Taking photographs of each other and objects within the environment. Providing photographs and pictures to help with their understanding. Discussion of how and why things grow (Frog cycle) Listening to stories; anticipating key parts and carrying on the story in role-play. Investigating changing forms of seeds, beans and plants. Communicating with Makaton signs and pictures. Using simple ICT programmes. Maths (M) Expressive Arts and Design (EAD) Environmental sounds - recreate living sounds. Recognising and sorting objects by size, colour and shape (e.g. Seeds, pots and tubs) Measuring other children's height, hand/feet size and hair. Dancing and actions to recreate a growth cycle or a caterpillar/plant/baby to child. Paint ing pictur es and exploring colour chan ge. Using glue and collage materials to create pictures. Role-play opportunities; recreating the hungry caterpillar. Counting songs. Weight, capacity, size of objects in a container (e.g. Soil, leaves, sand and water etc) Estimating the height of our plants. Literacy (L) Recognising and discussing what makes us different and unique. Recognition of the sound/letter of the week. (m, c, b, d, r, n) Listening to and joining in with the story; anticipating endings and making our own stories up. Blending sounds together.