February flew by! It was a month full of festivities with CNY, Valentine’s day, Pancake day and 3 birthdays!

 

The week gone was a lot of fun.

Daniel celebrated his 3rd birthday and all his friends were very impressed by the spiderman cake. Our theme was all about people in the community. As well as going out in the community, we were fortunate to have our local librarian, Stephen, come to us.

The children know Stephen from our weekly library visits but it was so nice to have him at our setting.

You may have noticed the improvements we are making to our outdoor area. Improvements to this area is on our action plan and we are so pleased with the improvements we have made as the children are really enjoying it. Recently we have added tyres, log stepping stones, a mud kitchen and the newest addition is the ‘bug hotel’.

Our week ended with the fabulous Lilly and Larry session. I am amazed at the confidence of our little ones and have included a short video of what they get up to Click on the link below.

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EXPLORERS

Our Preschool group are coming on leaps and bounds with their phonics. They have now gone through the sounds for M A S D T N O I G. Yasmine used the theme of Opticians to find a fun way to reinforce this learning.

 

 

WOODLANDS

Woodlands focused on numbers this week and are doing a fabulous job. The children went fishing for numbers and were very excited to ‘catch’ and identify numbers. Cooking Fridays was fabulous this week as all the groups pulled out all the stops. The Woodlands Pitta bread crisps were delicious!

 

DIGGERS

Diggers loved walking about and meeting people in the local community. They stopped off at the bakery and brought us back some tasty treats. They also made a visit to the opticians and took an eye test. We have had a few new joiners to Diggers and it is lovely to see them settle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTICES

Parent consultations are this week! Please do arrive promptly for your time slot as we have allocated a maximum of 15 minutes for each discussion.

Please remember to provide a sock for your child before Thursday as we will be making sock puppets.

World Book Day – 3 March – Children may come dressed as a book character.

Public holidays – Nursery is closed on 25th and 28th March for Easter.

 

A little late but with all the preparation for our Staff Training Day, I am sure we can be excused.

National Book Week:

Many thanks to our parent volunteers who will be coming into the nursery to read their child’s favourite book with all the children.

Monday 29 February (11.30) – Mia’s mum

Tuesday 1 March (3.15) – Lavinia’s mum

Wednesday 2 march (11.30) – Dhian’s mum

Thursday 3 March (11.30) – Anaya’s dad

Friday 4 March (11.30) – Tobi’s mum

Friday 4 March (3.30) – Khloe’s mum

Don’t forget that the children can dress up as their favourite book character on 3 March 2016.

PARENT CONSULTATIONS

Parent consultations will be held week beginning 29 February. If you have not already done so please do sign up. Parent consultations are a great opportunity to meet with your child’s key worker to discuss their progress.

Tooth brushes please!

After the success of health and hygiene week, we would like children who access the full day or morning sessions to bring in a tooth brush to clean their teeth after lunch. If you are happy for your child to do this then please provide us with a toothbrush that can be kept at nursery. I recommend that you also purchase a toothbrush cap. Amazon sell them for a couple of pounds http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toothbrush-Travel-Caps-x4/dp/B00AX7N1E2

This (“last”) week

Last week was half term and we will be pleased to see the return of some of our children tomorrow. Here are some of the things our children got up to during the week:

Discovery turned 1!
It was our birthday on Tuesday and we had to throw a party, the children were treated to party food and games including a piñata. The team celebrated with a team outing to the local bowling lanes. Laphia would like you all to know that she won!

 

 

 

Many thanks to those parents who sent us cards to wish us well. It was greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXPLORERS
Explorers have been making great progress with their phonics and it was amazing to watch their sessions. They also had a lot of fun with our theme. A number of ‘hazards’ were set up around the nursery and they had great fun identifying them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WOODLANDS
Woodlands children got to grips with their early maths. This week it was all about size and patterns. The Woodlands children also made heart shaped key rings which they gave to their mums for valentines day.

 

Diggers

Diggers had a variety of interesting activities this week; from blow painting to fire fighting

 

This week was absolutely packed. There were so many different activities that it was hard to select for the blog. Make sure you read to the end to watch the cutest video ever

Many thanks to the parents who volunteered to read to the children during National Book Week. I can confirm the following dates and times:

Monday 29 February (11.30) – Mia’s mum

Tuesday 1 March (3.15) – Lavinia’s mum

Wednesday 2 march (11.30) – Dhian’s mum

Thursday 3 March (11.30) – Anaya’s dad

Friday 4 March (11.30) – Tobi’s mum

 

New Joiners

We are pleased to welcome Ashima to Diggers

NOTICES

We have noticed that the children are bringing in a lot of toys from home. This can be difficult for the nursery as other children often want to play with the toys; toys can get damaged or lost etc

Please can we ask that the children only bring in things from home on a Friday for the purpose of Show and Tell.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

This week (16 February) is our 1st birthday! It has been a wonderful year and I am so proud of our children and staff. I would like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to the staff who work tirelessly (some of which is in their own time) to provide a happy, stimulating environment for your children. The love and care which they show each and every child in the nursery is amazing and I am incredibly fortunate to have such a wonderful team.

Party time is on Tuesday and we have some treats and games inshore for the children! Feel free to bring them in their party clothes.

EXPLORERS, WOODLANDS AND DIGGERS

I am grouping everyone together this week because we had a lot of fun as a whole nursery. Chinese New Year, Pancake Day and Valentines Day (Noah’s mum and Leon’s mum – your boys forgot to take home a gift they made you. Please remember to ask for it when they are next in). – enjoy the pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The children all learnt about the history of Chinese New Year and did a fab job trying to act it out. I think we have some future thespians!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weeks are flying by and we are fast approaching our 1st birthday! Many thanks to all the Discovery Family for all the support and hard work over the past 12 months. It really feels like a nursery family and it is lovely to have such wonderful children and parents.

Thank you to those parents that have offered to come in and read to the children during National Book Week. We are still looking for more volunteers so, if you can spare 10-15 minutes during the day to come in and read your child’s favourite story it will be much appreciated.

NEW JOINERS

A big welcome to Elsie who joins Diggers this week.

PARENT CONSULTATIONS

Parent Consultations will be held during the week commencing 29 February. Please sign up in the nursery entrance for your preferred time slot.

THIS WEEK

During the week we celebrated Kyra’s 3rd birthday, and said farewell to Leeanne. Leanne may well rejoin us in future as bank staff and I will of course keep you updated.

EXPLORERS

This week was all about health and hygiene and Explorers were fab! From how to wash hands properly to using a tissue for dirty noses, we covered it all. Explorers have been making excellent progress with phonics and Yasmine has now included a parents board displaying the sound of the week at the Preschool entrance to serve as a reminder.

If your child has received a box of phonic sounds please kindly ensure that you bring it back into nursery every Friday so Yasmine can update the sounds.

 

WOODLANDS

Woodlands had great fun with this theme and it was fantastic to see them enjoying brushing their teeth! Healthy teeth is so important and Kimberley found a great way to make it fun. The children were so proud t display their clean teeth that it got us thinking – should we introduce teeth cleaning after lunch. We welcome your thoughts as to the children having a nursery toothbrush and cleaning their teeth after lunch. We would ensure good hygiene and storage. Please let us know your thoughts.

 

 

DIGGERS

Even our youngest children joined in the fun of health and self care.

 

 

 

 

 

Upcoming
12 February – Chinese New Year parade
16 February – It’s our 1st birthday!!! Please do join us for birthday cake on collection.
15 – 19 February – Half Term (children accessing funded hours only)
22 February – Staff Training Day (Nursery will be closed)
26 February – Lilly and Larry are back!

29 February – 4 March National Book Week